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The Big, Beautiful Yoga Towel
|So, what’s so darned important about a yoga towel? A towel is a towel, right? No, not really. But, before we extol the many rewards of a good yoga towel, let’s discuss a bit about Yoga, itself.
The Benefits of Yoga
Yoga aids you in awakening your inner body and enlivening your outer body! As you clear your mind to give your full attention to each pose, you awaken your “inner body” awareness of the present moment. Your “outer body” profits as each pose nourishes, energizes, and revitalizes every cell, fiber, and tissue through enhanced breathing, flexibility, strength and alignment. The goal of yoga practice is to create a union between the body, mind and spirit.
If you desire to master a yoga pose, you will need extraordinary patience, plus time and dedication. A beginner should not be disappointed if they don’t do a pose flawlessly on the first try. But, slowly over time, as you practice and try to perform each pose flawlessly, without pushing yourself too far physically or beating yourself up mentally, you will find that you are developing flexibility, strength, and energy physically and feeling more peaceful and clear mentally.
Choose a fresh, peaceful space for your practice area, and if you can, one with a bare floor and an accessible wall. Avoid distractions, such as cell phones, during your yoga practice. For optimum function, you should not eat for at least 2 hours before practicing. If you find you need to eat, then try to eat something light, such as a piece of fruit, but no more than 1 hour before you start your yoga practice.
If you should feel pain or discomfort as you undertake a pose, pause or stop, then try again with more mindful movement.
Yoga props and yoga accessories, such as yoga mats, yoga bolsters, yoga straps, yoga blocks, yoga mat bags, and even yoga towels are designed to help you in moving deeper into a pose, in performing a perfect pose, and in practicing in a healthful way.
There are a lot excellent reasons to consider using yoga props, not the least of which is that they help in relieving discomfort, even pain, during difficult yoga poses.
Yoga props also assist in preventing injury when you are sometimes tempted to push too hard to “get it right.”
Doing yoga releases tightness, and using props helps with stress relief by providing the support necessary for you to relax (but not be lazy) in your practice.
The plumb line, that is, “head-over-heels” body alignment, is crucial in doing yoga poses correctly. Yoga props are fundamental in aiding appropriate alignment.
Ease and flexibility of movement are are another healthy part of the benefits to using yoga props. Certain props create space in the joints and allow the body more fluid movement without putting stress on a particular joint.
As we mentioned earlier, yoga practice is concerned with unifying the mind, body and spirit through the development of a deeper awareness and the development of mindfulness. How can yoga props assist in this great goal? When you are able to simply focus your mind on doing your yoga poses perfectly, rather than worrying about transitory limitations, you will go deeper into that balance of mind, body, and spirit.
How to Use and Appreciate Your Yoga Towel
A yoga towel does more than you might think! Absorbency, naturally, comes to mind, particularly if you’re into hot yoga, like Bikram. The ability to wick away moisture (and sweat!) after a especially energizing routine is beneficial, and there are quite a few super-aborbent yoga towels manufactured with microfibers that do just that. Plus they dry quicker than cotton towels. Most are produced with organic dyes and can easily be washed and dried safely. A mat-size yoga towel places a hygienic layer between you and your yoga mat.
To be sure, there’s more than one use for your yoga towel. Many yoga towels are designed implicitly to prevent slipping while you practice your yoga poses. A few yoga towels have “silicone eco nubs” on one side, others have clear rubber dots, still others have a latex-free “gripping” agent. When placed face down, the nubs or dots, or a similar gripping agent, grip your yoga mat (or the floor if you’ve forgotten to buy a yoga mat and there isn’t one available!). Once you diffuse your weight in a yoga posture, the gripping action starts, thus keeping your hands or feet from slipping mid-stretch. If you want a steadier, more stable practice, a yoga towel is crucial.
Yoga towels come in handy as a top layer for your yoga mat, as a yoga mat substitute if you’ve forgotten your mat, or as brought up previously above, while performing “hot” yoga, such as Bikram. Because most yoga towels are of super-absorbent materials, they out-perform a regular towel. A yoga towel that is the same size as your yoga mat is quite fashionable, as well as hygienic and healthy.
There are a variety of yoga towel colors available, but most come in earth tones.
Topics: Yoga |
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