A yoga mat is a thin pad which can easily be rolled up and transported to any location. The mat itself can be considered a portable yoga studio; unroll it on any spot (from a public park to your office floor) and you’re ready for a yoga workout or meditation session. Yoga mats are generally rubberized or texturized to provide a non-slip surface for poses, and provide protection against the discomforts of whatever substrate they are placed on, whether indoors or out.
For the yoga practitioner who isn’t yet fully flexible, pair of accessories which can make the practice more comfortable (and beneficial) are the yoga block and the yoga strap. The block allows you to modify poses by resting your weight on the block itself if you’re not yet flexible enough to put your hand on the floor in that pose. In this way, you can maintain the integrity of the asana, keeping your posture and positioning aligned as they are meant to be, without over-reaching your own ability to stretch or bend, and without causing yourself any injury.
The yoga strap, used for similar purposes, allows you to loop the strap around your feet and hold onto the strap rather than your feet, if you aren’t yet flexible enough to reach your feet with your hands. Both items enable you to complete the beginner yoga poses, and to gradually improve your flexibility until you no longer need either the block or the strap to achieve each asana.
Yoga clothing can be simply any choice of garb that allows for free movement. Ideally, you may not want baggy shirts (which can end up around your ears in an inverted pose) or, at the other end of the spectrum, “stretch” clothing that’s too tight and restricts circulation or breathing. The best choices of outfits for yoga are unrestrictive clothes that will stay in place as you move through different poses of your yoga practice.
You can wear sweats or workout clothes you already own, or--if you’re one of those people for whom shopping is a pleasant endeavor--you might enjoy assembling a yoga wardrobe specific to your new practice. The prAna brand of clothing offers a selection of active wear for both men and women, designed for a yoga lifestyle and made entirely from ecologically friendly and sustainable materials. With a variety of price ranges, brands like Danskin, Tonic, Anjali Ohm, and Zobha all offer yoga-specific active wear, and “yoga inspired” clothing for life off the yoga mat.
Thank you for reading the article about Yoga Equipment and Clothing in blog Soft Meditation and if you found this article useful please bookmark this page in your web browser, by pressing Ctrl D on your keyboard.