What Are The Benefits Of Yoga Straps?

I have written about yoga strap uses as well as mentioned some good straps to buy. Now I think I’d speak about some of their benefits.

The main function and purpose of a strap is to “extend” your arms to piece out the lack of flexibility. And this is its main benefit: it allows you to do the poses you won’t be able to do normally. For example, if the seated forward bend pose (Paschimottanasana) is beyond your abilities right now, you can use a strap to do the pose properly: to keep your legs and spine straight and relax your back.

Providing flexibility is not the only benefit of a yoga strap; another thing is to give you support. There are poses for maintaining balance, and they require some strength and stretching, and here a strap can be very useful. There is a pose called Natarajasana (Lord of the Dance Pose) – it’s a rather difficult pose and definitely not suitable for beginners, but you can do it, you can learn to do it properly with the help of a yoga strap. Without enough flexibility you won’t be able to reach your lifted leg with your arms, but you can wrap a strap over the leg holding its ends in your hands, and pull it gently up and towards your head, trying to keep the balance. Yes, the pose is still difficult for a beginner, but you can learn it without much trouble and the risk of getting an injury.

The next benefit is the safety a strap provides. Since the straps, or as they also called belts, are mostly used by beginners, they help to perform difficult poses safely. You won’t overstretch your limbs, pull a muscle, or even fall on the floor (yes, sometimes straps are attached to the walls or a ceiling to give your support in s more difficult asanas, such as Chakrasana, Viparita Karani Mudra or Vrischikasana.

the benefits of yoga strapsAlso, you can use these yoga belts to carry your mat, if you don’t want to spend extra money on a bag. The bag protects your mat form dust, etc., but a strap for yoga mat is easier to use, and you will unpack your mat faster, which is especially useful when you happen to be late to your class.

So to recap, the benefits of yoga straps are:

  • Providing flexibility
  • Giving support
  • More safety
  • Carrying a yoga mat

One thought on “What Are The Benefits Of Yoga Straps?

  1. Really nice informative post. Personally I think straps are very beneficial within yoga, particularly for beginners as mentioned above. As a beginner myself I find I have much more piece of mind when using a strap, and tend not to worry about things mentioned here like over stretching. when practising yoga I like to make sure I always have a certain standard to my surroundings and equipment, for example I think it’s important to have a spacial relaxed surrounding, even when not practising poses that require a lot of space, and having a good quality yoga mat also helps. Thanks again for a great post, Alex.

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