Yoga using props

The practice of yoga as exercise is modern, though some of the asanas are ancient and many more are medieval. A band or strap of cloth was however used in ancient times, some 2000 years ago, to support the body in one asana in particular; this device was the yogapaṭṭa, a term defined in Monier Monier-Williams's Sanskrit-English dictionary. Such a strap is depicted in a relief sculpture on the Great Stupa of Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh, dated c. 50 BCE to 50 CE, in other sculptures from the 7th century CE at Mamallapuram and Ellora, and from the 14th century at Hampi.{{cite web |last1=Powell |first1=Seth |title=The Ancient Yoga Strap |url=https://www.theluminescent.org/2018/06/the-ancient-yoga-strap-yogapatta.html |website=The Luminescent |access-date=20 June 2021 |date=June 2018}}

File:048 The Sama Jataka (32999350973).jpg|Yogi (top right) using a strap, in relief sculpture of the Syama Jataka, the Great Stupa of Sanchi, c. 50 BCE to 50 CE|alt=photo of Sanchi temple sculpture showing ancient use of yoga strap

File:Mahabalipuram Caves (detail of yogi using strap in yogapattasana).JPG|Yogi (centre) using strap around waist and legs, Mahabalipuram Caves, c. 7th century|alt=photo of Mahabalipuram rock sculpture showing ancient use of yoga strap

File:7 La statue de Narasimha Hampi Vijayanagar Karnataka India April 2014.jpg|Yoga Narasimha with yogapaṭṭa strap, Hampi, Karnataka, c. 14th century|alt=photo of Hampi temple sculpture showing ancient use of yoga strap

Textual evidence begins with the ancient bhāṣya commentary to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which names an asana called sopāśraya, meaning "with support"; this was interpreted by medieval commentators such as Vācaspati's 10th century Tattvavaiśāradī and Vijñānabhikṣu's 16th century Yogavarttika as meaning the use of a yogapaṭṭa strap.The commentary is on Yoga Sutra 2.46, that an asana should be steady and comfortable. The 19th century Śrītattvanidhi illustrates a seated posture named yogapaṭṭāsana, "the posture with yoga strap", with the band tied around the folded legs. Norman Sjoman states that this seems to have been an alternative meditation pose when the yogi's back needed additional support.{{cite book |last=Sjoman |first=Norman E. |author-link=Norman Sjoman |title=The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace |title-link=The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace |publisher=Abhinav Publications |year=1999 |orig-year=1996 |isbn=978-81-7017-389-2 |page=85, and plate 20 }}

File:Nath yogis on Babur's 1519 visit to Gorkhatri (detail of yoga using strap).png|Painting of Nath yogis on Babur's 1519 visit to Gorkhatri. One yogi is using a strap to support his pose. 1590-1593|alt=medieval painting with yogi using strap

File:Varati Ragini from chawand Ragamala 1605.png|Sitting with a strap. Chawand, Rajasthan, 1605

File:Yogapattasana in Sritattvanidhi.jpg|yogapaṭṭāsana, "posture with yoga strap", in Sritattvanidhi, 19th century|alt=19th century book illustration of yoga pose using strap

In the 8th century Pātañjalayogaśāstravivaraṇa,{{cite book |last=Birch |first=Jason |author-link=Jason Birch |chapter=The Ujjain Yogacintāmaṇi |title=Āsanas of the Yogacintāmaṇi: The Largest Premodern Compilation on Postural Practice |date=2024 |publisher=École française d'Extrême-Orient and Institut français de Pondichéry |location=Paris and Pondicherry |page=182 note 341}} Shankara glosses the posture mentioned by Patanjali as "The One with Support is with a yoga strap or with a prop such as a crutch"; later commentators such as Vācaspati, Hemacandra and Vijñānabhikṣu speak of the posture only as using a strap. The scholar James Mallinson however comments that a crutch (stambha or adhārī) is seen both in miniature paintings of yogis and in current use (in India).{{cite book |last=Maas |first=Philipp A. |chapter='Sthirasukham Asanam': Posture and Performance in Classical Yoga and Beyond |editor-last1=Baier |editor-first1=Karl |editor-last2=Maas |editor-first2=Philipp A. |editor-last3=Preisendanz |editor-first3=Karin |title=Yoga in transformation: historical and contemporary perspectives |publisher=Vienna University Press |publication-place=Göttingen |year=2018 |isbn=978-3-8471-0862-7 |oclc=1077772000 |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.doa.163 | pages=49–100}} Mallinson states that the meditation crutch was in wide use amongst ascetics from the 16th century onwards; he has travelled India visiting hatha yoga practitioners, and describes the use of the crutch as "rare today, but not unknown", providing a photograph of a yogi at the 2010 Kumbh Mela at Haridwar in evidence.{{cite book |last=Mallinson |first=James |author-link=James Mallinson (author) |editor1-last=Orsini |editor1-first=Francesca |editor2-last=Lunn |editor2-first=David |title=To be published in: Objects, Images, Stories: Simon Digby's historical method |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |url=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/35292/1/Mallinson%202020%20Yogi%20Insignia.pdf |chapter=Yogi Insignia in Mughal Painting and Avadhi Romances}}

File:Stambha_meditation_crutch_Haridwar_2010.jpg|Stambha meditation crutch in use by a yogi at the Kumbh Mela, Haridwar, in 2010. Detail of photograph by James Mallinson

The 16th century Yogacintāmaṇī mentions sopāśrayāsana "Pose with Support" which uses a yoga belt as above, and describes two postures which use a crutch. One is Āsāvari "Best of the Crutches", which uses an āsā, probably meaning a T-shaped prop. Birch states that the yogi can place the prop under one armpit, or have it in front of the body with both arms resting on it. The other is Nidrāharāsana "Posture to prevent sleep", where a fine balance is maintained with the lower legs crossed in Padmasana and the body upright from the knees (a form of Gorakshasana), and the hands again holding a T-shaped prop.{{cite book |last=Birch |first=Jason |author-link=Jason Birch |chapter=The Ujjain Yogacintāmaṇi |title=Āsanas of the Yogacintāmaṇi: The Largest Premodern Compilation on Postural Practice |date=2024 |publisher=École française d'Extrême-Orient and Institut français de Pondichéry |location=Paris and Pondicherry |pages=173, 182–183 |url=https://publications.efeo.fr/en/livres/1019_sanas-of-the-yogacint-ma-i}}

File:Nidrāharāsana in C19th Yogasana manuscript.png|Nidrāharāsana, pose to prevent sleep, in the 19th century Yogāsana, using a T-shaped prop

File:Eyal Shifroni in Vasisthasana with props.jpg use props including blocks, blankets, and chairs to assist correct alignment, as here in Utthita Vasisthasana.|alt=photo of yoga teacher demonstrating use of props for alignment]]

Chairs and other props are used widely in some schools of modern yoga as exercise. The use of props was pioneered in Iyengar Yoga, to enable students to work with correct alignment both as beginners and in more advanced asanas with suitable support.{{cite book |last1=Mehta |first1=Silva |last2=Mehta |first2=Mira |last3=Mehta |first3=Shyam |title=Yoga the Iyengar Way: The new definitive guide to the most practised form of yoga |date=1990 |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |isbn=978-0863184208 |pages=70–71, 80, 108, 118–119}} Iyengar Yoga was created by B. K. S. Iyengar, a pupil of the yoga pioneer Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, and described in his authoritative 1966 book Light on Yoga.{{cite magazine |last=Goldberg |first=Michelle |title=Iyengar and the Invention of Yoga |url=https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/iyengar-invention-yoga |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=20 November 2018 |date=23 August 2014}} The scholar of religion Andrea Jain observes that the book "prescribed a thoroughly individualistic system of postural yoga",{{cite web |last=Jain |first=Andrea |author-link=Andrea Jain |title=The Popularization of Modern Yoga |url=http://oxfordre.com/religion/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.001.0001/acrefore-9780199340378-e-163 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedias |access-date=20 March 2019 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.163 |date=July 2016|isbn=978-0-19-934037-8 }} one that was "rigorous and disciplined", requiring props such as "belts, bricks, and ropes". The props served to guide the practitioner rather than to provide support.{{cite journal |last1=Peters |first1=Leslie |title=Proper Props |journal=Yoga Journal |date=December 2006 |issue=December 2006 |pages=119–122 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vekDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA119 |access-date=25 July 2021}}

For example, in Iyengar Yoga, Sarvangasana, shoulder stand, can be practised under suitable supervision with the shoulders on a bolster, the buttocks supported on the seat of a chair and a blanket, and the legs resting on the top of the chair's back.{{cite book |last1=Mehta |first1=Silva |last2=Mehta |first2=Mira |last3=Mehta |first3=Shyam |author-link=Mira Mehta |date=1990 |title=Yoga: The Iyengar Way |publisher=Dorling Kindersley |isbn=978-0863184208 |pages=118–119}}

File:Cork yoga blocks.jpgs can support the body, such as under the knees in Butterfly (Baddha Konasana).|alt=photo of pair of cork yoga blocks]]

The founder of the OM Yoga Center, Cyndi Lee, describes the use of props as part of a practice of Mindful Yoga. She wrote that students accustomed to vinyasa yoga "would rather strain and grunt" trying to touch their toes, endangering their backs, rather than use props such as a yoga belt or block to reduce the strain or elevate the pelvis.{{cite book |last=Lee |first=Cyndi |author-link=Cyndi Lee |title=Yoga Body, Buddha Mind |year=2004 |publisher=Riverhead Books |pages=145–146}} The students ignored her, thinking that "ease in their practice ... meant easy and that was wimpy. Not enough challenge, boring, too slow." She found that this gradually changed as the students recognised duhkha, which she defines as the pain that comes from ignoring the reality of a situation. In her view, using yoga props was a form of ahimsa, the yogic practice of nonviolence, in this case avoiding having the will or ego fighting the body.

The teacher of Yin Yoga Bernie Clark wrote that many yoga students see props as "cheating", perhaps feeling that since they are used in restorative yoga sessions, they are not suitable for other students. Clark counters that props offer multiple benefits, including increasing or decreasing stress in specific areas; creating length and space; making certain positions accessible; providing support and thus enabling muscles to release; and increasing comfort, enabling postures to be held for longer durations. These benefits are especially noticeable in a slower practice such as Yin Yoga.{{cite web |last=Clark |first=Bernie |author-link=Bernie Clark (yoga teacher) |title=The Why, What & How Behind Using Yoga Props |publisher=Elephant Journal |url=https://www.elephantjournal.com/2015/01/the-why-what-how-behind-yoga-props/ |access-date=18 April 2021 |date=7 January 2015}} Clark cites the founder of Insight Yoga, Sarah Powers, as writing that "when the bones feel supported, the muscles can relax". He comments that highly experienced practitioners can easily miss out on this benefit, feeling that they have no need for props, but that even they may discover in "Butterfly Pose" (the Yin Yoga version of Baddha Konasana) that supporting the knees on blocks allows muscles they did not know they were engaging to relax, transferring the asana's stress to the fascia. He lists a wide variety of props beyond those most commonly used, and suggests uses for them.

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File:Vrischikasana using props.jpg (Scorpion), allowing longer holds without fear of falling.]]

The leading Iyengar yoga teacher Dean Lerner, in Yoga Journal, stated that the benefits of props depend on the experience, maturity, and ability of the practitioner; a mature student can use props to enable "refined penetration into the pose and one's being".{{cite web |last1=Lerner |first1=Dean |title=The Nature and Use of Yoga Props |url=https://www.yogajournal.com/teach/the-nature-and-use-of-props/ |work=Yoga Journal |access-date=18 April 2021 |date=28 August 2007}} Students may be afraid, he notes, of an inverted pose such as Shirshasana (yoga headstand); by practising against a wall, the student can learn to master the fear of falling, and can then continue practising there to develop stability, right alignment, and refined balance. He adds that props can also be used to enable poses to be held for a longer duration, developing stability of mind and body, as well as poise and concentration; these, he states, enable the mind to draw inward and develop objectivity and humility, a step on the journey towards the Self.

{{main|Yoga mat}}

The yoga mat has become ubiquitous in the practice of yoga as exercise, to the extent that it may not even be thought of as a prop.{{cite web |last=Upham |first=Becky |title=Yoga Mats, Straps, Bolsters, and Other Props to Aid Your Practice |url=https://www.everydayhealth.com/yoga/mats-straps-bolsters-and-other-props-to-aid-your-practice/ |publisher=Everyday Health |access-date=25 July 2021 |date=10 September 2019 |quote="Medically Reviewed by Lynn Grieger, RDN CDCES"}} Its main function is "stickiness", to prevent slipping, though it also provides a more comfortable surface such as for kneeling poses.{{cite web |last=((YJ Editors)) |title=Test Your Mat Savvy: 5 Teachers' Favorite Yoga Mats |url=https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/test-mat-savvy-5-yoga-teachers-pick-favorite-mats-one-folds-size-napkin |work=Yoga Journal |access-date=9 May 2019 |date=12 April 2017}} The mat may equally mark out a territory in a crowded class, or create a ritual space as it is unrolled to begin a session and rolled up at the end.{{cite news |last=Jain |first=Andrea |author-link=Andrea Jain |title=Five myths about yoga |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/five-myths-about-yoga/2015/08/14/2b4c8638-41ce-11e5-846d-02792f854297_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=14 August 2015}}{{cite journal |last1=Korpelainen |first1=Noora-Helena |title=Sparks of Yoga: Reconsidering the Aesthetic in Modern Postural Yoga |url=https://somaesthetics.aau.dk/index.php/JOS/article/download/3320/2958/ |journal=Journal of Somaesthetics |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=46–60 |date=2019}}

{{anchor|Chair Yoga|Accessible yoga}}

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File:followinghandaround.jpg

{{main|Accessible yoga}}

Alice Christensen's Easy Does It Yoga, first described in 1979, uses "chair exercises", alongside others on floor or bed, and in later editions also in swimming pools, for older practitioners with restricted movement.{{cite book |last=Christensen |first=Alice |title=Easy Does It Yoga for Older People |date=1979 |publisher=Harper and Row; Light of Yoga Society |location=San Francisco and Cleveland}}{{cite book | last=Christensen | first=Alice | title=The American Yoga Association's Easy Does It Yoga: the safe and gentle way to health and well-being | publisher=Fireside Book | publication-place=New York | year=1999 | isbn=978-0-684-84890-7 | oclc=41951264 | pages=63–91 and throughout}} Lakshmi Voelker-Binder created an approach named Chair Yoga in 1982, on seeing that one of her pupils, aged only in her thirties, was unable to do floor poses because of arthritis.{{cite web |title=About Lakshmi Voelker |url=http://www.getfitwhereyousit.com/about_Lakshmi_Voelker_fitness_exercise.html |website=Get Fit Where You Sit |access-date=8 April 2019 |archive-date=10 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310040428/https://getfitwhereyousit.com/about-lakshmi-voelker/ |url-status=dead }}{{cite book |last=Lehmkuhl |first=Lynn |title=Chair Yoga for Seniors : stretches and poses that you can do sitting down at home |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |publication-place=New York, New York |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-5107-5063-0 |oclc=1134762765 |at=Introduction, page 8}}

Yoga as therapy is the use of asanas as a gentle form of exercise and relaxation, applied specifically with the intention of improving health. This may involve meditation, imagery, breath work (pranayama) and music alongside the exercise.{{cite book |last=Feuerstein |first=Georg |author-link=Georg Feuerstein |editor=Jonathan Shear |title=The Experience of Meditation |year=2006 |publisher=Paragon House |location=St. Paul, Minnesota |page=90}} A 2013 systematic review found beneficial effects of yoga on low back pain.{{cite journal |last1=Cramer |first1=Holger |last2=Lauche |first2=Romy |last3=Haller |first3=Heidemarie |last4=Dobos |first4=Gustav |title=A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Yoga for Low Back Pain |journal=The Clinical Journal of Pain |volume=29 |issue=5 |year=2013 |pages=450–460 |doi=10.1097/AJP.0b013e31825e1492|pmid=23246998 |s2cid=12547406 }}

File:Aerial Yoga.jpg class practising Flying Pigeon Pose, the aerial variant of Rajakapotasana ]]

{{main|Aerial yoga}}

Aerial yoga, a yoga hybrid, requires the use of a silk hammock with straps attached by carabiners to support chains, to permit practitioners to perform variants of yoga poses without weight on their hands or feet.{{cite web |last=Macmillan |first=A. |year=2014 |title=Quick Tips: What is Antigravity Yoga? |website=howstuffworks |url=http://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/diet-fitness/yoga/quick-tips-what-is-antigravity-yoga-.htm |access-date=25 July 2020}} Difficult mat-based yoga postures may prove easier to perform through aerial yoga, while the hammock's movement adds variety to the aerial workout.{{cite news |last=Singh |first=Ayesha |title=New Yoga Sutras |newspaper=New Indian Express |date=21 February 2015 |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/2015/feb/21/new-yoga-sutras-720148.html |access-date=25 July 2020}}

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