How Every Yogi Can Incorporate a Yoga Block Into Their Practice

Adding a yoga block to your yoga practice is a great way to open up your muscles on a deeper level, feel the full release of more difficult poses, and have fun experimenting with the limits of your body by learning how a block feels in various poses.

No matter what style of yoga you prefer, blocks can enhance the overall experience. 

• In Vinyasa Yoga, where each movement in and out of the poses is connected to the breath, a block can help you go deeper into feeling the fullness of each pose as it provides a time to pause and draw 3-5 deep breaths.
• In gentle yoga, sometimes called Hatha Yoga, where poses are held longer than a Vinyasa class, but shorter than a Yin or Restorative class, a block can erase any misconceptions that they are only for those who need help to go all the way into a pose and instead help you go deeper in the body-mind connection as you hold a pose. 
• In Yin and Restorative Yoga, a block can offer just the right amount of support to relax on a deeper level.

It is also important to know that deeper relaxation can be found in all yoga styles through the use of one or more blocks as they offer a bridge to connect the body and breath by the supportive nature of simply using them.

Now, let’s explore the beauty of a block in the following sequence that can be done in 15-30 minutes depending on how much time you wish to linger in each pose.

A Yoga Block Sequence for Every Yogi

A Yoga Flow to Incorporate Yoga Blocks 

• Easy Pose 

  • Start by sitting on a block with your legs crossed in easy pose. By sitting on the block, the spine naturally lifts and lengthens, allowing the shoulders to draw back, and the chest to expand providing the ability to take deeper breaths.
    • This is a great place to sit for 1-10 minutes meditating, doing pranayama, and clearing your mind to start your yoga sequence.

• Child’s Pose

  • Slowly move off the block and come into Child’s pose. There are three great ways to use a block here. One option is to place the block between your knees and fold over it, allowing the block to support your chest. 
  • Another option is to rest your forehead on the block, allowing a deeper lengthening through your neck and spine. A slight warning here is that this is best done if you are not able to draw your forehead to the mat. If you are able to bring your forehead to the mat, placing the block at your forehead can cause more stress in your neck. 
  • The final option for a block is to hold the block in both hands and press your hands into the block as you settle into the pose to get a deeper release through your arms and shoulders.

• Triangle

  • Triangle is a great pose to really go deeper into by the use of blocks! By placing the block at the inside of the foot at the top of the mat it becomes a helper to rest the hand on and feel the full stretch through the arm, allowing a deeper opening through the chest and shoulder. It also allows the ability to breathe into the pose and allow additional release as a result. Make sure to do this on both sides of the body.

• Chair 

  • By placing a block between the knees as you sink into chair pose, you will be able to feel a deeper intensity in your glutes and quadricep muscles. This creates new muscle memory in the brain and strengthens those muscles.

• Seated Straddle Fold 

  • Sitting on your mat with your legs extended out into a ‘V’, there are two different ways to use a block in this pose. You can place one or two blocks at the center of your ‘V’ to rest your forehead on in order to relax into the pose more and feel a deeper release through your neck.
    • Another option is to hold the block in both hands and press your hands into the block as you extend your arms straight out to get a deeper release through your arms, shoulders, and spine.

• Bridge

  • Laying on your back, with your feet hip-distance apart on the mat, slowly lift your hips and lower back into bridge pose and slide the block under your hips, where they meet your lower back. Depending on how high you can lift your hips, you can have the block standing vertically or horizontally underneath your hips. 
    • By doing this, you are able to expand your chest more, increasing your lung capacity and allowing deeper breaths.

• Fish

  • Extending your legs straight out on the mat, place the block in the middle of your back, with your elbows on the mat and hands under your hips, and let your head fall back over your shoulders. The addition of the block allows a deeper chest expansion, allowing for deeper breathing.

• Savasana

  • Once you are settled into final Savasana, you can add a block to rest your head on like a pillow or place a block or two under your knees. Resting your head on the block allows you to lengthen your neck if laying down feels too constricting and placing one or two blocks under your knees elevates your legs, causing a deeper opening through the spine.

As you can see there are a variety of benefits to using a block in your yoga sequence! A block used with mindfulness and precision can open your body into new levels of the poses that you may not have previously explored. It is so empowering to feel the poses on a deeper level, tune into the body-mind connection by finding deeper relaxation, and explore each pose in a playful, open way to create greater flexibility and range of motion.

Blocks are such a unique prop that offer the ability to help feel the healing, stress releasing, and connective power of yoga, I hope you will give them a try!