A yoga block is often used as a yoga assistive device while practicing yoga at ordinary times. But when it comes to yoga blocks, everyone may not be really familiar with them. There are many kinds of yoga blocks. Today I am going to introduce the common yoga blocks to you so that you can buy the yoga blocks suitably and what you want to buy.
A yoga block is a kind of auxiliary equipment, easy to balance, support, and complete some high-flexibility asanas. Specifically, it has three good effects as below:
1. Reduce the difficulty of exercise: for beginners and people with poor flexibility, it can assist to complete some movements with high flexibility and reduce the difficulty of the exercise.
2. Auxiliary to advanced asanas: To improve the ability of yoga practitioners, deepen the depth of asanas, and advance training difficulty, and effect.
3. Good for providing stable support, and avoiding injury: in the process of completing the training action, not only it can support the body firmly, and find the body position, but also achieve a better stretch. It can also avoid sports injury through the support of a yoga block.
After explaining the roles of a yoga block, it is necessary to introduce the material, size, and type of yoga blocks in detail, in the order for you can understand yoga blocks more intuitively.
1. The material of the yoga block
Yoga blocks are made of three common materials: EVA, Cork, and Wood.
1.1 EVA Yoga Block
It is the most common material and has advantages, such as being non-slip, waterproof, environmental protection, and non-toxic. Flexible crack resistance, lightweight and easy to carry, moderate hardness. And the choice of color is also more. It is most important the price is cheap and durable. The disadvantage is that the durability is relatively poor, and force will lead to deformation, but daily use or beginners with enough.
1.2 Cork Yoga Block
Cork is the bark of a special oak obtained by plucking. In the growth period of 200 years, oak trees were peeled per 9 years is not die. On the contrary, it can grow a new bark, just like shearing wool, which is renewable recycling.
Cork oak is a kind of inexhaustible natural raw material. This bark is extremely precious, there is “soft gold” adulation in the international market. Yoga enthusiast improves the environmental protection concept day by day, to make the market for cork yoga block increase ceaselessly.
The cork material has a comfortable touch, moderate weight, better support, and better durability than EVA material.
1.3 Wood Yoga Block
Wood durability is better, and the weight can support the body better, with good stability.
The disadvantage is that there is a certain heavyweight, inconvenient to carry, high cost, and relatively expensive price.
2. The size of the yoga block
Choosing the right size for you is also important.The common sizes of yoga blocks on the market are 23x x 15x 7.5cm (3x 6 x 9 inches) or 23x x 15x 10cm (4 x 6 x 9 inches). There are two types of blocks in terms of the above thickness.
7.5cm thick is relatively common and suitable for assisting and fine-tuning posture. The thickness of 10 cm is more suitable for the use of deep posture, according to their own action intensity can choose. EVA, CORK, and WOOD all have these two conventional sizes. CORK and WOOD also come in other sizes to suit different yoga positions.
Through the indication of the material & size, we also have a general understanding of the types of yoga blocks. In the following is that I will describe what yoga blocks will be used in the actual practice of yoga.
Which brick should be used in the asana depends on the role and position used.
1. It is better to use wood or cork bricks for support under the hands and feet. First, the material is more stable. Second, wood or cork bricks made of hard material will have a stronger sense of bone extension when being used as support. However, bricks made of soft EVA material will not have such a feeling.
2. If it is used in the inner leg clamping, hands clamping, standing posture/inverted three-dimensional posture and against the wall, etc. It is better to use soft EVA brick, especially for beginners.
Its strength is difficult to control, so as to avoid the hard brick not clamping or not resisting falling down to hit the foot injury. In the professional yoga assistive device of the Iyengar system, in addition to the regular shape of bricks, there is also a quarter-brick, half-brick, thin brick, etc. We will not introduce other bricks with different shapes this time
Through the above simple introduction, I wish you can buy the yoga block that you want and are suitable for.
To summarize, you can buy ordinary EVA yoga blocks as beginners. Its standard size is 23x 15x 7.5cm (3*6*9 inches), and the texture is slightly hard, so it is very suitable for awakening muscle and bone awareness.
But also its usage is relatively simple, usually push, press, lift, and so on, suitable for standing with two legs together in various positions. Helps activate the muscles in the inner thigh. The price is also preferential. To choose a lighter color yoga block, because beginners just began to practice, and their attention is difficult to concentrate. They are easy to be affected by bright objects and get into a hyperactive state.
For those people who have been practicing yoga for a period of time, want to improve their yoga posture, and have a certain concentration, you can choose to buy more colorful EVA yoga blocks and natural color wood cork yoga blocks.
What yoga really exercises is the heart. A happy-go-lucky heart, to be like the four words of Indian philosophy teach:
1. Whoever you meet, he/she is the right person.
2. Whatever happens, it’s the only thing that will happen.
3.No matter what moment it begins, it is the right moment.
4. It’s over, it’s over, just be quiet and enjoy the fun of yoga and the process of choosing your favorite yoga block.
