Yoga Mat Straps Are the Palms-Free Prop You Want

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I transported my yoga mat in a carrying strap for years. Slipping every loop round my rolled up mat was a welcome different to lugging it round with my fingers or cumbersomely shoving it right into a mat bag. By no means (not as soon as!) did it happen to me that my mat strap might be used to alleviate stress from my keyboard-weary fingers and wrists at school. That’s, till I acted on recommendation from a yoga trainer whose pupil practices with one.

Geared up with the Mat Strap Plus, which is kinda like two large hair scrunchies connected to one another by a rope manufactured from hair-scrunchie materials, I examined Reclining-Hand-to-Massive-Toe Pose on my yoga mat at residence. The expertise made me notice I’d been doing the pose flawed for the 12 years I’ve practiced yoga. (I do know, I do know, we attempt to keep away from calling issues like “flawed” in yoga. However I used to be jerking my shoulder ahead from its socket, lifting my lifted leg’s hip towards the ceiling, and cramping my hand making an attempt to maintain maintain of my sweaty foot, all whereas sipping shallow stutters of air in between flecks of ache. So, yeah, I’d say flawed.)

By slipping my fingers via the loops of my mat strap, I used to be capable of maintain onto the large scrunchies in the course of the stretch. This allowed for higher grip and nil pressure on my fingers and wrists—not like with typical straps, the place my fingers typically clench means too tightly to maintain from sliding. I may even push the scrunchies additional up and over my forearms to offer my fingers and wrists a break altogether.

All of the sudden, I may relaxation my shoulder blades towards the mat, stage my hips, and preserve the raise of my leg by urgent my foot into the strap. Plus, I may decrease my lifted leg away from my face as a substitute of pretending that I may comfortably grasp my toes in that place. (I can’t.)

Yoga mat straps really work higher than common straps. And if I wasn’t so completely satisfied about this revelation, I might be offended that nobody had informed me this sooner.

Utilizing Yoga Mat Straps to Relieve Palms and Wrists

In contrast to the standard yoga straps you borrow at your studio, a mat carrying strap usually has (at the least) two loops on both finish that provide extra traction. “A pupil can place every hand via the loops of the strap and use their forearms as leverage. Additionally, you possibly can wrap the loop ends of a strap across the palms, distributing strain to the entire hand and relying much less on grip energy,” says Lori Brandt, sports activities medication therapist and yoga trainer.

This could profit college students who expertise grip energy points, arthritis, carpal tunnel, tendon or ligament accidents to the elbow, wrist, or hand, even cervical backbone circumstances leading to hand weak point, says Brandt.

Poses wherein Brandt finds the yoga mat strap loops notably useful to take the strain off her fingers and wrists embody:

Like different yoga straps, mat carrying straps additionally help higher alignment. That means you possibly can really feel the stretch the place you’re purported to—minus the wrestle.

“If we are able to attain the foot with out compromising anatomical alignment, we’re capable of acquire profit from the pose with out inflicting extra pressure someplace else,” says Denver Clark, yoga trainer and founder/director of the Embodied Yoga Institute in Bradenton, Florida.

Sorts of Yoga Mat Carrying Straps

Brandt recommends mat straps which have a number of loops and never only one on every finish, particularly for anybody with higher physique accidents.

“The decrease the loop, the extra leverage you get to take pressure off the cervical backbone and shoulders,” Brandt explains.  She mentions the Stretch Out Strap for instance.

Although I’m happy with my Mat Strap Plus, it does have a tendency to slip all the way down to my wrists once I try to wrap the loops round my forearms in Reclining Hand-to-Massive-Toe, for instance.

I do love the Mat Strap Plus’s stretchiness; it appears to double its dimension when totally prolonged. And the scrunched cloth permits for higher grip than I’ve skilled with non-scrunchie polyester straps. Alternatively, plenty of non-scrunchie cloth straps have adjustable loops, which you need to use to tighten the maintain round your fingers. (The Mat Strap Plus loops aren’t adjustable.)

Security Concerns

A yoga mat strap may help you come right into a pose extra safely. Nonetheless, as with every kind of strap, there are finest practices to remember.

• Slippage “Individuals should be aware that the strap is safe round their foot so it doesn’t slip off,” says Brandt.
• Danger of Overstretching There could also be a bent to make use of the leverage of a strap to push your physique extra deeply right into a stretch, so be aware of not overstretching, explains Brant.
• Danger of Pressure “I wish to remind my college students, ‘A strap will not be a torture gadget,’ that means we have to maintain it gently to keep away from including pressure within the forearms,” says Clark.

As for me, utilizing a yoga mat strap in varied poses jogs my memory that there’s much more room than I beforehand thought to really feel comfy and supported, a lesson I believe applies to life off the mat, too.