It’s early January. The festive lights have dimmed, the last of the holiday treats are gone, and life is settling back into a familiar pace. While the holiday season may leave you with beautiful memories, it can also bring a sense of imbalance. Your body might feel stiff from long car rides, heavy meals, or late nights, and your mind may still be humming with holiday buzz.

Now is the perfect time for a gentle yoga recovery process: a slow, intentional way to reawaken your practice and restore harmony in body and mind. Think of this period not as something to “fix,” but as an invitation to nurture yourself. Below, we’ll explore how to ease tension, rebuild energy, and pave the way for a steady start to the new year. We’ll also touch on how to transition mindfully back into more dynamic styles like Vinyasa or Ashtanga when you’re ready.

1. Start small with gentle movement for your yoga recovery

After weeks of indulgences and irregular schedules, jumping straight into intense flows can feel jarring. Instead, begin with simple, soothing poses that help your muscles gently unwind. A yoga recovery approach highlights comforting postures that release tension, especially in areas that tend to tighten during busy times—shoulders, neck, hips, and lower back.

Suggested Poses:

• Child’s Pose (Balasana): Enhance the relaxation factor by placing a yoga bolster beneath your torso. Letting go in this posture can ease tension from your spine and hips.
• Supported Bridge (Setu Bandha Sarvangasana): Using a foam yoga block under your sacrum allows a gentle backbend that opens the chest and realigns the spine.
• Neck Stretches: Slow head rolls and side bends release the neck and shoulders, helping to melt away holiday stress.

2. Rediscover your breath

To truly reset, look to your breath. Deep, mindful breathing can soften the edges of post-holiday tension, shifting your state from scattered to serene. By paying attention to each inhale and exhale, you create mental space to refocus on yourself.

Try This:

• Three Part Breath (Dirga Pranayama): Inhale slowly, filling your belly, ribs, and chest, then exhale just as steadily. This simple technique clears mental clutter and reconnects you with the present moment.

Pro Tip: Enhance this quiet time by draping a blanket over your legs. The comforting weight reminds you to slow down, settle in, and embrace your yoga recovery journey.

3. Embrace restorative yoga for deep reset

Restorative yoga is a powerful method for yoga recovery, encouraging profound rest and balance. With bolsters, blocks, and blankets, these postures require minimal muscular effort, letting you linger in each pose and gently reset your nervous system.

Restorative favorites:

• Reclined Bound Angle (Supta Baddha Konasana): Lie back on a bolster placed lengthwise along your spine, allowing the chest to open. Support your knees with blocks or folded blankets. This heart opening pose can lift holiday heaviness and welcome in fresh, compassionate energy.
• Legs Up the Wall (Viparita Karani): Resting your legs against a wall soothes weary legs and fosters calm. Drape a soft blanket over your belly for warmth as you let gravity and time do the work of relaxation.

4. Releasing the need to “Make Up” for the holidays

Your yoga recovery period isn’t about punishment or burning off those extra holiday cookies. It’s about healing and honoring your body’s current needs. Swap out any guilt driven thoughts for a mindset focused on replenishment and kindness. Yoga should always be a space of self respect and compassion, not a chore.

Gentle Flow ideas:

• A few rounds of Cat Cow to awaken your spine.
• Low lunges to stretch hips tight from sitting.
• Gentle twists to aid digestion and help you feel lighter.

By listening closely to your body, you create a space where yoga becomes truly nourishing rather than another stressful item on your to-do list.

5. Returning to your vinyasa or Ashtanga practices

Once you’ve spent time nurturing yourself with gentle and restorative yoga, you may feel ready to reintroduce more dynamic styles into your routine. Vinyasa and Ashtanga practices, known for their flowing sequences and building internal heat, can eventually help restore your strength, flexibility, and stamina.

Tips for transitioning back:

• Shorter Sessions: Start with a shorter Vinyasa flow or a Half Primary Ashtanga sequence. Just 20–30 minutes of focused movement can rekindle muscle memory without overtaxing your body.
• Extra Props: Even in a more dynamic practice, props are friends, not crutches. Use blocks for stability and modify postures if you feel any lingering tightness.
• Pace Yourself: Don’t rush back into advanced variations. Focus on foundational poses first. Sun Salutations, standing sequences, and gentle backbends. Only adding more complex asanas as your body regains strength and fluidity.

Remember that yoga recovery isn’t a separate world from your regular practice. It’s a stepping stone, a gentle bridge that leads you back into the rhythmic flow of Vinyasa and the disciplined structure of Ashtanga, but without risking burnout or injury.

6. Set intentions for the new year

As you navigate this yoga recovery period, consider what you’d like your practice—and your life—to feel like in the coming year. Maybe you want more patience, steadiness, or joy. Your mat can be a sacred space to set these intentions, allowing them to guide both your slower sessions and your stronger flows.

Try Journaling:

After each practice, note how you feel. Over time, these reflections become a guiding compass, helping you identify when it feels right to step up intensity, or when to continue gently nurturing yourself.

7. Consistency is key in all phases of your practice

Whether you’re easing into a gentle flow or gradually reigniting your Vinyasa or Ashtanga routine, consistency helps solidify positive habits. Start small, a few minutes each day, and trust that time will bring clarity and comfort.

Consistency Tips:

• Short Sessions: Begin with short practices to rebuild trust and stability in your body.
• Identify your best time: Mornings can gently wake you up, while evenings help release the day’s tensions.
• Visual cues: Keep your props visible and accessible. Seeing them is often all it takes to remind you of your intention to practice.

Conclusion: A compassionate path forward

The holidays may have left you feeling scattered or fatigued, but embracing a period of yoga recovery allows you to move back into harmony with yourself. By starting gently and focusing on nurturing postures, you can gradually reintroduce more dynamic practices like Vinyasa or Ashtanga as your body and mind become ready.

This new year, let your yoga journey be guided by kindness, patience, and a steady, supportive foundation, no matter which style you return to. As you step onto your mat, remember that you’re always allowed to pause, adjust, and honor the place you find yourself in today.

Ready to build a supportive environment for your yoga recovery and beyond? Explore Hugger Mugger’s mats,bolsters, blocks, and blankets to create a cozy, welcoming space that nurtures your body and spirit at every stage of your practice.

We could all use retreat time. When most of our days are filled with activities and responsibilities, taking a five-minute break—let alone a 20-minute one—can seem out of reach. Not to mention that it often seems a waste to “do nothing”

We in the West tend to believe that the busier we are, the more value there is to our lives. Accomplishing things feels good. How we spend our days is important. But taking time to rest is equally important. Lizzie Lasater, daughter of Judith Hanson Lasater (author of Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times), explains the importance of taking rest:

“For the average person, it takes the body 15 minutes to relax or to reach the state of Pratayahara [cessation of our addiction to sensations]. The next stage, Asunia, is when we move into our body clock—our body time—allowing for re-programming of our parasympathetic nervous system. This shift into the parasympathetic system is important because it helps stabilize and improve our long-term functions, such as our immune system, our circulatory system, our digestive system and our hormones, including fertility. After 20 minutes of rest, your mind goes into an empty state, similar to wiping a chalkboard clean, giving you the ability to think more clearly and reframe our focus.”

The Power of Restorative Yoga

Whether your regular retreat is bodywork, yoga, hot baths, getting lost in great fiction or sauntering in nature, keep at least one of these on your list. In addition, I’d like to add one more thing: Restorative Yoga.

The beauty—and the power—of Restorative Yoga is at least partly that we can stay a long time in the poses. While our Western exercise paradigm assesses the “power” of a physical practice by its speed, how hard we breathe, the amount of sweat it induces, and amount of pain we feel during and after, the paradigm from which yoga has evolved sees it quite differently.

According to the yogic model, we are all amalgams of five koshas, or bodies. The koshas are rather like Russian nesting dolls; each successive kosha nests inside the last. Starting from the outermost, here are the koshas: Annamaya, the physical body; Pranamaya, the energy body; Manomaya, the body of emotion and intellect (mind stuff); Vijnanamaya, the body of higher intelligence; and Anandamaya, the body of bliss. The purpose of yoga practice is to bring all levels of being into balance.

In order for a yoga pose to reach the deeper koshas, we need to give it time. Rushing through a few quick Sun Salutations may loosen some muscles and release a few endorphins, but if we really want to feel restored and balanced on all levels—physical, energetic, emotional, mental and spiritual—we need to slow down and allow time for our yoga to sink into the deepest layers of being.

An Instant Retreat

I can’t say I’ve ever met a Restorative pose I don’t like, but one of my favorites in recent years has been an invention of Restorative guru Judith Hanson Lasater’s that she calls “Instant Maui.”  A slight inversion, Instant Maui is cooling, calming and stimulates the parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) side of the autonomic nervous system. Practiced 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime, practicing Instant Maui can ward off insomnia. It’s a 20-minute beach vacation for your body, mind and heart.

Instant Maui is a variation of Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall). For many Instant Maui is easier to sustain for a longer period of time than Viparita Karani. Legs can become fatigued when they’re extending straight up the wall. In Instant Maui, the legs are completely supported.

I prefer to practice with my pelvis slightly elevated while my legs rest on the chair. Elevating the pelvis creates a gentle inversion that I find more calming than lying flat. If you find you prefer lying level on the floor, by all means, practice Instant Maui that way. Comfort makes for effective practice. If you are experiencing any of the contraindications to inversions—your menstrual period, high blood pressure, or eye problems such as glaucoma or detached retina—lying level is probably best.

How to Practice Instant Maui

1. Gather two or three yoga blankets, a yoga mat, a Standard Yoga Bolster, a folding chair and an eye pillow if you have one.
2. Spread your yoga mat out onto the floor. Place your chair on top of your mat with the seat facing you. a Standard Yoga Bolster in front of and parallel to the legs of the chair. You might want to start with the bolster 6 inches or so away from the chair, but you will probably need to adjust your distance once you get into the pose.
3. Lie down, resting your pelvis on the bolster. Make sure that the fleshiest part of your rear is slightly off the blanket toward the chair so that your torso, from your pelvis to the bottom of your chest, is horizontal. If your torso slants toward your head, Instant Maui will not be very relaxing. If your legs don’t feel comfortable on the chair, you can move it closer or farther away.
4. Our bodies naturally cool down in restorative yoga, so you may want to have another blanket handy to place over your entire body, or at least over your torso. Stay as long as you like. Set aside your to-do list. Do nothing.
5. When it’s time to come out, fold your legs in toward your torso, roll onto your side and relax for a few breaths before sitting up.

Restore Your Energy in Instant Maui

Restorative yoga is not about stretching. It is about settling and opening. If you feel any discomfort, including a strong stretch, in Instant Maui, you may want to experiment with your props. While using a bolster in this pose feels great for some, it is too much for others. You can always switch to a blanket folded to approximately the size of a bolster, or to lying flat on the floor with your legs on the chair. The ideal restorative pose yields little physical sensation.

If your schedule will allow it, 20 minutes In Instant Maui is ideal. But if it’s five minutes on a given day, enjoy that five minutes. Don’t stress out about not practicing long enough. Remember that restorative yoga is a gift to yourself, not another thing you have to get done.

Restorative practice is about replenishing vital energy on all levels. When we are constantly exhausted it is hard to access our joy. Restorative yoga allows the benefits of practice to reach down deep, not just stretching muscles, but nourishing our entire being.

Are you working from home? These days, a whole lot of us are. And it looks like this will be reality for at least another several months. As with most things, there are advantages and disadvantages to telecommuting, depending on your preferences. Introverts may be just fine with this arrangement; extroverts, not so much. Still there are advantages we can all agree on. These include the ability to take a midday walk, to have a leisurely lunch, to enjoy lap time with your four-leggeds, and to take a 5-minute yoga break.

For example, say you’re feeling sluggish after sitting a while at the computer. A 5-minute yoga break might include standing poses, to get your energy moving again. Or maybe you’re feeling agitated, tense or stressed. In that case, a few minutes in a restorative yoga pose might help take the edge off.

Simplify Your 5-Minute Yoga Break

Restorative poses can require a lot of setting up. That’s because the point of restorative practice is to support the body completely, so you can be comfortable no matter how long you stay in a pose. But if you only have a few minutes to practice, complicated setups can take time away from being in the pose, which is, after all, the point.

Supta Baddhakonasana (Reclining Bound Angle Pose) is a restorative staple. It can help ground and quiet the nervous system, and can be helpful in calming digestive issues. The classic prop setup requires two Yoga Blocks, two Yoga Blankets and a slanted Standard Yoga Bolster. This pose is like a quiet oasis in a storm.

But if you’re looking for a 5-minute yoga break, a simpler setup can be just as relaxing. For a simple version of Supta Baddhakonasana, all you need is a Standard Yoga Bolster and a folded Yoga Blanket.

How to Set Up Supta Baddhakonasana

1. Place a bolster either lengthwise on a Yoga Mat, or on a soft surface like a rug or carpet.

2. Sit in front of your bolster with your glutes either an inch or two in front of the near end of the bolster, or barely touching it.

3. Place the soles of your feet together and allow your knees to relax out to the sides. If this position isn’t comfortable for either your knees or inner thighs, feel free to prop your knees up with a couple blocks or to place the soles of your feet on the floor, hips-width apart, with your knees in a vertical position.

4. Lie back on your bolster. Adjust your position, relative to the bolster, so that your back is comfortable. Then adjust the folded blanket so that it supports your head and neck. Make sure your head is not tilting back. Your forehead should be slightly higher than your chin.

5. Place your arms a comfortable angle from your body. Relax and enjoy.

6. When you’re ready to leave the pose, roll gently onto your side, off the bolster and onto the floor. Take a few breaths on your side before pushing yourself up to a sitting position.

Forward bends are asana staples. In yoga practice, we bend forward while standing, sitting and even lying down. Actively lengthening the hamstrings and muscles of the hips helps counteract the effects of sitting in chairs. Forward bending is inherently calming, as long as we approach it with an attitude of ease and curiosity, rather than an attitude of forcefulness. Forward folds are not as easy as they look though. Tight hamstrings or hips can make them less than optimal it’s important that we practice not just any forward bends, but spine-healthy forward bends.

Keeping muscles of the hips and hamstrings supple can also be healthy for your back. Relaxed muscles in the hips and hamstrings help you maintain your spine’s natural “S” curves. Tight hamstrings can position the pelvis so that the tailbone is tucked under, a recipe for lumbar disc problems down the road.

It’s important that we maintain continuity between the pelvis and spine while we bend forward. As a general rule of thumb, the pelvis and spine should move together, both to foster continuity and protect the discs, but also to keep the sacroiliac joint in its most stable position.

In seated forward bends, sitting on a yoga blanket to encourage forward movement in the pelvis and bending your knees slightly can help keep your pelvis and spine moving together. A Pranayama Bolster is the perfect size to give support under your knees. Utilizing props is the best way to ensure that you practice spine-healthy forward bends.

How to Use Props for Spine-Healthy Forward Bends

Here’s how to utilize props to create a spine-healthy Paschimottanasana (Seated Forward Bend Pose).

1. Sit with your legs outstretched, parallel on a yoga mat.
2. Fold a yoga blanket so that it’s about three inches thick. Sit on the blanket so that your pelvis is on the edge and your legs are on the floor. If you feel your pelvis tilting back and your lumbar vertebrae poking out in back, fold another blanket for under your pelvis.
3. Place a Pranayama Pillow under your knees. If you don’t have a Pranayama Pillow, you can roll up a blanket and place it under your knees.
4. To move into the forward bend, tip the top of your pelvis forward and lengthen your front body. In other words, lead the forward bend with your pelvis. Keep your spine long as you come forward. It’s okay to gently flex your spine once your pelvis is tipped forward.
5. Stay for 5-10 deep breaths, allowing your torso to oscillate to your breathing. Check your arms and shoulders. Are you tensing there? How about your facial muscles and throat? Relax where you can. On an inhalation, come up out of the forward bend.

Looking to see the world from a new perspective? Going upside-down is one way to shift your point of view—literally.

Inverted yoga poses can shift your perspective, and possibly cultivate fertile creative ground in the body/mind. In addition to their many physical benefits, inversions are said to allow us to see with new eyes. When we turn upside down, the world looks different. The world hasn’t fundamentally changed of course; it is our relationship with it that has changed. This shift opens us to new perspectives.

Translated literally as “good-for-all-of-you” pose, Salamba Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand) is one of the fundamental asanas in yoga. Nicknamed the “Queen” of poses (Headstand is “King”), Shoulderstand improves balance, drains fluid from the lungs and legs, stretches the back of the neck and opens the heart. In the scale of heating to cooling poses—referring not only to temperature-raising or -lowering qualities, but also to the autonomic nervous system’s sympathetic “fight or flight” vs. parasympathetic “rest and digest” response—Salamba Sarvangasana sits just to the cooling, relaxing side of the center.

If you thumb through the appendix of B.K.S. Iyengar’s classic book, Light on Yoga, you will see that Salamba Sarvangasana is listed first or second as a therapeutic pose for almost every category of physical imbalance.

If I had to pick a pose that endures as my favorite after more than 30 years of practice, it would be Shoulderstand. My body almost audibly says “ahhhh” when I kick my legs up and settle onto my shoulders. Shoulderstand makes me happy both during and after I practice. It sets me up for the day.

Practice with Care

In order for Shoulderstand to live up to its many promises, it must be practiced with patience, mindfulness and care. If you have never practiced it, I highly recommend that you learn from an experienced teacher. If you have neck problems, retinal problems, glaucoma or heart problems, it is better not to practice Shoulderstand.

That said, with proper support and guidance, some individuals with neck problems can practice safely. I have suffered several whiplash injuries, and have learned how to practice without injury. It is also advisable to avoid inversions during your menstrual period. If you have high blood pressure, an experienced teacher can guide you through the steps to safe practice.

I can’t stress adamantly enough the importance of practicing Shoulderstand with props. I’ve heard this story from several different Iyengar yoga teachers: In his early years of teaching, Iyengar’s students began to experience neck issues such as arthritis and degenerative disc disease from practicing Shoulderstand on the floor. This prompted him to devise a new way of practicing with blankets that alleviated much of the problem. Elevating your shoulders and arms on a stack of blankets while your head rests on the floor accomplishes two things: It keeps the neck from flexing past 75 degrees, the maximum angle that most cervical spines are able to bend forward. It keeps the weight of the body off the fragile cervical vertebrae and intervertebral discs.

How to Practice Shoulderstand

1. Place a yoga mat perpendicular to a bare wall. Fold three to five firm (wool, thick cotton or quilted) yoga blankets so that they are approximately 18 to 24 inches by 24 to 36 inches. Stack the blankets on top of each other with all their main folds facing away from the wall on the mat, with the wide side is parallel to the wall. Your stack should be four to six inches or more in height. Start with more height if you have neck issues or if your neck is long. Adjust the position of your blankets so that the folded edges are about 28 to 30 inches from the wall. Depending on your height, you may need to adjust this distance.
2. Sit on your blanket stack with your left shoulder facing the wall. Gently roll back and swing your legs up so that they touch the wall. Your head should be resting on the floor with the tops of your shoulders resting about three inches from the edge of the blankets. Place your arms next to your sides, palms down.
3. On an exhalation, press your arms into your blankets and your feet against the wall, and curl your abdominal muscles in to lift your pelvis up. Your shoulders should be close to, but not over the edge of, your blankets. Clasp your hands and stretch your arms out along your blankets, rocking side to side to situate yourself onto the tops of your shoulders so that your torso is as vertical as possible.
4. Then bend your elbows, taking care to keep your elbows no wider than shoulder-width apart, and place your hands on your back for support. Now plant your base—your shoulders, upper arms and elbows—to lift higher onto your shoulders.
5. It’s fine to practice here with your knees bent and your feet on the wall. If you want to extend your legs upward, one at a time, remove your feet from the wall and extend your legs upward. Stay for 5 to 10 deep breaths.
6. Very important: Do not turn your head while in Shoulderstand, as this may occlude your carotid artery and result in a blackout. Instead, lengthen your throat and the front of your cervical spine. Relax your throat, jaw, facial muscles and eyes.
7. To release the pose, with your feet on the wall, exhale and lower your upper back, lower back and finally the pelvis down onto your blankets. Slide off the blankets toward your head so that your pelvis rests on your blankets and your shoulder blades and head rest flat on the floor. Place the soles of your feet together and relax your knees out to the sides.
8. Relax here for three to five minutes to allow your body to integrate the effects of inverting. Observe what you feel. What shifted in Shoulderstand? How is your breathing? How is your heart rate?
9. I strongly suggest that beginners practice at a wall for at least a few months, if not longer, before straightening the legs to vertical. A teacher experienced in teaching Shoulderstand with blanket support can help you decide when you are ready to move away from the wall, and when to increase your time in the pose.

Geeta Iyengar’s book, Yoga: A Gem for Women, claims that Shoulderstand nourishes the throat, home of the thyroid and parathyroid glands by bringing fresh blood into the area. The throat is also the home of your vishuddha chakra, the chakra governing creativity and expression. Practiced with patience and care, Shoulderstand can relax and calm, as it opens you to fresh perspectives.

We could all use retreat time. When most of our days are filled with activities and responsibilities, taking a five-minute break—let alone a 20-minute one—can seem out of reach. Not to mention that it often seems a waste to “do nothing”

We in the West tend to believe that the busier we are, the more value there is to our lives. Accomplishing things feels good. How we spend our days is important. But taking time to rest is equally important. Lizzie Lasater, daughter of Judith Hanson Lasater (author of Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times), explains the importance of taking rest:

“For the average person, it takes the body 15 minutes to relax or to reach the state of Pratayahara [cessation of our addiction to sensations]. The next stage, Asunia, is when we move into our body clock—our body time—allowing for re-programming of our parasympathetic nervous system. This shift into the parasympathetic system is important because it helps stabilize and improve our long-term functions, such as our immune system, our circulatory system, our digestive system and our hormones, including fertility. After 20 minutes of rest, your mind goes into an empty state, similar to wiping a chalkboard clean, giving you the ability to think more clearly and reframe our focus.”

The Power of Restorative Yoga

Whether your regular retreat is bodywork, yoga, hot baths, getting lost in great fiction or sauntering in nature, keep at least one of these on your list. In addition, I’d like to add one more thing: Restorative Yoga.

The beauty—and the power—of Restorative Yoga is at least partly that we can stay a long time in the poses. While our Western exercise paradigm assesses the “power” of a physical practice by its speed, how hard we breathe, the amount of sweat it induces, and amount of pain we feel during and after, the paradigm from which yoga has evolved sees it quite differently.

According to the yogic model, we are all amalgams of five koshas, or bodies. The koshas are rather like Russian nesting dolls; each successive kosha nests inside the last. Starting from the outermost, here are the koshas: Annamaya, the physical body; Pranamaya, the energy body; Manomaya, the body of emotion and intellect (mind stuff); Vijnanamaya, the body of higher intelligence; and Anandamaya, the body of bliss. The purpose of yoga practice is to bring all levels of being into balance.

In order for a yoga pose to reach the deeper koshas, we need to give it time. Rushing through a few quick Sun Salutations may loosen some muscles and release a few endorphins, but if we really want to feel restored and balanced on all levels—physical, energetic, emotional, mental and spiritual—we need to slow down and allow time for our yoga to sink into the deepest layers of being.

An Instant Retreat

I can’t say I’ve ever met a Restorative pose I don’t like, but one of my favorites in recent years has been an invention of Restorative guru Judith Hanson Lasater’s that she calls “Instant Maui.”  A slight inversion, Instant Maui is cooling, calming and stimulates the parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) side of the autonomic nervous system. Practiced 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime, practicing Instant Maui can ward off insomnia. It’s a 20-minute beach vacation for your body, mind and heart.

Instant Maui is a variation of Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall). For many Instant Maui is easier to sustain for a longer period of time than Viparita Karani. Legs can become fatigued when they’re extending straight up the wall. In Instant Maui, the legs are completely supported.

I prefer to practice with my pelvis slightly elevated while my legs rest on the chair. Elevating the pelvis creates a gentle inversion that I find more calming than lying flat. If you find you prefer lying level on the floor, by all means, practice Instant Maui that way. Comfort makes for effective practice. If you are experiencing any of the contraindications to inversions—your menstrual period, high blood pressure, or eye problems such as glaucoma or detached retina—lying level is probably best.

How to Practice Instant Maui

1. Gather two or three yoga blankets, a yoga mat, a Standard Yoga Bolster, a folding chair and an eye pillow if you have one.
2. Spread your yoga mat out onto the floor. Place your chair on top of your mat with the seat facing you. a Standard Yoga Bolster in front of and parallel to the legs of the chair. You might want to start with the bolster 6 inches or so away from the chair, but you will probably need to adjust your distance once you get into the pose.
3. Lie down, resting your pelvis on the bolster. Make sure that the fleshiest part of your rear is slightly off the blanket toward the chair so that your torso, from your pelvis to the bottom of your chest, is horizontal. If your torso slants toward your head, Instant Maui will not be very relaxing. If your legs don’t feel comfortable on the chair, you can move it closer or farther away.
4. Our bodies naturally cool down in restorative yoga, so you may want to have another blanket handy to place over your entire body, or at least over your torso. Stay as long as you like. Set aside your to-do list. Do nothing.
5. When it’s time to come out, fold your legs in toward your torso, roll onto your side and relax for a few breaths before sitting up.

Restore Your Energy in Instant Maui

Restorative yoga is not about stretching. It is about settling and opening. If you feel any discomfort, including a strong stretch, in Instant Maui, you may want to experiment with your props. While using a bolster in this pose feels great for some, it is too much for others. You can always switch to a blanket folded to approximately the size of a bolster, or to lying flat on the floor with your legs on the chair. The ideal restorative pose yields little physical sensation.

If your schedule will allow it, 20 minutes In Instant Maui is ideal. But if it’s five minutes on a given day, enjoy that five minutes. Don’t stress out about not practicing long enough. Remember that restorative yoga is a gift to yourself, not another thing you have to get done.

Restorative practice is about replenishing vital energy on all levels. When we are constantly exhausted it is hard to access our joy. Restorative yoga allows the benefits of practice to reach down deep, not just stretching muscles, but nourishing our entire being.

Even if you’re flexible, it’s not that easy to maintain your spine’s natural curves when you sit in Dandasana (Seated Pose). As with every pose, there are as many variations as to how Seated Pose will look as there are people. Dandasana, despite the fact that it looks simple, is challenging for almost everyone. At least, it’s challenging for almost everyone to practice it in a way that supports a healthy spine.

This is because it’s not actually natural to sit with your legs straight in front of you. No matter how bendy you are, practicing Dandasana with straight legs will probably not allow your spine to be in its natural curves. A more natural pose might be to bend the knees and separate the legs a bit.

However, if you want to practice Dandasana with straight legs for the hamstring experience that comes with it, a Yoga Strap and a Yoga Blanket can help keep your spine as upright as possible. As long as your sacroiliac joint and pelvis are initiating your forward bend—moving along with the rest of your spine—Dandasana can provide a healthy hamstring stretch.

Here’s how:

Sit on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you. Reach back and feel your lower spine. If the spinous processes—the knobby protrusions on the back of each vertebra—are poking out into your back, this means that your lumbar is in a convex rather than concave curve. If you know your hamstrings are on the tight side, try sitting on a folded Yoga Blanket to help your pelvis tilt forward more easily, which will also allow your spine to find its natural curves more easily.

Check your lumbar spine again. You may still feel the spinous process poking out. If so, you can bend your knees a bit to allow your spine to straighten. Whether your knees are straight or bent, take a yoga strap and place it around the balls of your feet. Hold the strap with both hands and use it to help you bring your spine to upright. Stay upright in the pose rather than bending forward. Take five to ten deep breaths, grounding your sit bones as you lengthen your spine upward.

If you decide to bend forward from here, keep the strap taut as you bend forward. Make sure that your pelvis moves forward with the rest of your spine.

If you’d like more information about how to use Yoga Straps, check out our Yoga Props Guide.

Restorative Yoga aims to give us time to relax and renew our energies. You needn’t spend hours relaxing in Restorative poses to gain a benefit—although it might be nice to gift yourself a long, luxurious Restorative session once in a while. Practicing just one pose each day can calm our nervous systems and allow us to meet our responsibilities more gracefully.

Supta Baddha Konasana is a favorite Restorative pose among my students. In addition to its general calming effects, it can relieve gastrointestinal distress or menstrual cramps. Supta Baddha Konasana can quell agitation and restore your energies.

I’ve found that most yogis and yoginis love practicing Supta Baddha Konasana with the support of a slanted Yoga Bolster. The Yoga Bolster gives gentle support to your back while keeping your head above your heart, which can help you stay awake more easily. It’s okay if you fall asleep—sometimes that’s just what our bodies need. But staying conscious while we relax allows the pose to become a meditation.

How to Set Up

• Gather your props: a Standard Bolster, Yoga Block, Yoga Mat and Yoga Blanket.
• Place your block crosswise, either flat or on its side, near the “head” end of your mat. Place one end of your bolster on top of it so that the bolster sits at a slant with the head side of the bolster elevated.
• Sit in front of the end of the bolster that is on the floor with your buttocks barely touching the bolster.
• Fold your blanket in quarters so that it is about 36 to 40 inches wide. Any of our blankets will work:  Mexican Yoga Blankets or Recycled Plaid Blankets. Fold your blanket in quarters.  Set your blanket in front of you so that the wide side is closest to you (in computer vernacular, you’ll be looking at a “landscape” rather than “portrait” shape). Roll the blanket up so that you are making a long “snake,” 36 to 40 inches wide.
• Place the soles of your feet together in Baddha Konasana. Draw your heels in toward your groins any amount, making sure your knees feel comfortable. Let your knees fall out to the sides. Place the center of your “snake” on top of your feet and tuck its ends under your ankles and thighs so that it lifts and supports your legs. If the bend is too much for your knees, scoot your heels out a few inches, away from your groins. You can also try propping the knees a bit higher with folded blankets, in addition to your snake.
• Lie back on your bolster so that your whole torso is supported and your head is resting on the high end.
• Let your body settle completely into your blankets or bolster. Now inhale deeply into your abdomen, allowing it to expand fully in all directions. Imagine that your breath is massaging your abdominal organs. Exhale completely, so that you are releasing all the breath each time. Continue to breathe deeply for a minute or so, and then let your body relax into to natural breathing. You can stay in Supta Baddha Konasana for five to 20 minutes. The longer you stay, the more your body will settle into it, and the more deeply and completely your body will rest.

Few things in life are more comforting than curling up in Balasana (Child’s Pose). Balasana quiets the mind and restores spent energy. Among its many benefits, Balasana focuses the breath into the back body and supports the natural outward expansion of the lungs on each inhalation. Like all forward bends, Child’s Pose turns our focus inward.

But for some people, especially yogis whose knees and/or hips don’t flex deeply, Child’s Pose may not be all that comfortable. The good news is that most of these people can enjoy Balasana by adding a few props.

The photo above shows the most deluxe version of Supported Balasana, but some practitioners may feel completely comfortable just lying over a Standard Bolster that’s flat on the floor. Using the other props shown in the photo—a Yoga Mat, Yoga Blanket, Sandbag and one or two Yoga Blocks, can make it more pleasant to hang out in Child’s Pose for a long time.

You can find a more detailed description of Balasana and its benefits here.

How to Set Up Supported Balasana

1. Start by kneeling on a mat with all the props you’d like to use close by.
2. Stack two blocks in front of you, or alternately, you can place one block on its side with the wide side parallel to the far end of your mat.
3. Place the far end of your bolster on top of your blocks, so that it’s slanted in front of you.
4. Place a folded blanket on top of your thighs.
5. Bend forward over your bolster.
6. Turn your head to one side, mindful that it would be good to turn your head the other way after a minute or two.
7. Placing the Sandbag on your low back can be tricky while you’re in the pose. If you can’t manage it, ask a friend to help. If you’re alone you can practice without the Sandbag. It still feels great.

Restorative Yoga practice is highly adaptable and creative. Feel free to experiment with the props to suit your needs. Let us know what variations you’ve discovered.

You can find more out about how to use our blocks, blankets and bolsters by visiting our Props Guide.