Have you noticed them: clustered at the back of the yoga studio like a friendly fleet of fluffy pillows, silently waiting to join you on the mat?
Perhaps the most famous and beloved member of the yoga accessory family, the humble bolsteris the perfect accompaniment to a restorative yoga practice. This passive style of yoga offers an invitation to complete and delicious surrender; a place where tense muscles develop, cluttered minds clear, and emotions rebalance. Ahh….
A complete restorative yoga session aims to move the spine in all directions, through gentle backbends, twists, forward bends and inversions achieved through a set of specialized postures.
This is the booster’s time to shine! Instead of using physical effort to hold the postures, a soft but firm cushion (or sometimes more than one) is placed on, under, or next to the body to lovingly and securely hold it in place. Once held, the body begins to melt and sends a green light to the mind to do the same. This is where the deep, healing magic of restorative yoga happens.
With many roles to play in the restorative journey, reinforcement is a studio favorite. Plus, with so many benefits, it’s also worth having a booster for your yoga practice at home.
To understand this great soft accessory a little better, we have listed 8 wonderful qualities that a bolster brings to your practice.
1. Opening
Are you guilty of hunched over all day, fiddling with a desk, or gripping the steering wheel tightly? (Nowadays, who doesn’t?) Sloppy posture creates tension and curvature in the shoulders, the neck struggles to support a head loaded with thoughts, and the chest sags around the heart. Even a short period of time wrinkled in this way can cause muscle stiffness, soreness, and even a headache. Not to mention, it’s difficult for your lungs to inhale a full breath of energy-boosting air.
Elevating the upper body on a bolster provides expansion and opening to the heart center. Once here, fuller, deeper breaths become effortless—a perfect antidote to a restrictive, wrinkled posture.
Use the bolster to create width around the upper torso. With this placement, the shoulders widen and move away from the midline, allowing the heart to open. Each new breath is free to inflate the lungs, providing fresh energy to revitalize the entire body, mind, and spirit.
2. Energy
Too tired to practice yoga? Together, restorative yoga and a booster have you covered! Backbends create warmth and energy, but when the tank is running low it’s hard to muster the strength to maintain form. Ask a comfortable pillow to do the work for you; All that’s left to do is relax and enjoy the benefits.
Explore ENERGY in Setu Bandha Sarvangasana
Slide a cushion under your sacrum to keep it in place, a little higher than your hips. Let your pelvis and sacrum sink into the softness of the support for a deliciously refreshing rest.
3. Grounding
Have you ever experienced the unsettling combination of twitchy limbs and scattered thoughts? Chances are, you feel disconnected and literally need to put your feet back on the ground.
Explore GROUNDING in Savasana
Use the comfortable weight of a cushion to anchor the largest bones in the body: the femurs. Place it on your thighs and wait patiently for your legs to release and gently descend, while the feeling of volatility fades.
4. Support
Restorative yoga uses props to bring the floor closer to the body, not the other way around. In this practice there is no effort, force or contortion to push the body where it is not ready to go. Rather, the practice, through the use of props, happily accepts where the body is at that moment.
Filling this space between the floor and the body makes several key poses accessible for more rigid bodies. Wide, stable touch points are vital to feeling safe: use the best yoga bolster to occupy any negative space, allowing the whole body to release into the earth, feeling deeply supported, warm and safe.
Explore SUPPORT in Savasana
Slide a bolster under your knees so your legs can dissolve into the floor. This placement also dilutes any pressure from a cranky lower back.
5. Parenting
Who doesn’t need a warm, supportive hug from time to time? When you simply want to feel better, your bolster can provide you with a warm, welcome hug. (Okay, I admit it’s not as good as a human hug, but it’s pretty good. And the good thing is that your pillow won’t care if you cry or get angry.)
Explore NUTRITION in Balasana
Enhance the welcoming and comforting qualities of balasana (child’s pose) for deep emotional understanding and reassurance that everything will be okay. Curl up like a child, turn your back and let the world pass by.
6. Flexibility
Restorative yoga advocates acceptance and contentment over drive and ambition. Instead of risking injury by overstretching, move the floor closer to you with the help of a bolster.
7. Explore FLEXIBILITY in Upavista Konasana
Place the cushion (or two, or three!) right in front of you as a soft landing platform for your hands or head. Little by little, your flexibility will increase. Each time you practice this pose, try moving the bolsters further away to accommodate your new elasticity.
8. Explore PERSPECTIVE at Viparita Karani
In this gently revitalizing pose, the bolster provides flexible support for the sacrum to widen while the leg bones descend safely. Being upside down acts as a calming balm for the entire system and invites us to see things from a new perspective.
Choosing the right bolster for you.
Our cushions come in 2 shapes: rectangular and round.
1: Round Bolster
The cylindrical bolsters are a little narrower and feel especially good under the body in backbends.
2: Oval Bolster
Being wider, the rectangular option will better support both the length and width of the back in lying asanas.
3: Pranayama Bolster
Do you want to work on your breathing? Place this thin cushion under your chest to encourage full, deep, energy-boosting breaths.
Wavy Cushion
Say hello to this versatile, gently curved accessory. Our lightweight wave cushion will happily support you in chest-opening poses and also make a comfortable seat or headrest.
How to Care for Your Cushion
To help preserve the beautiful print of our yoga accessories, we recommend hand washing them in cold water with a mild soap. For solid colors, machine wash in cold water.
