Yoga Blocks: A Versatile Prop for a Wide Range of Clients

Photographer: Lukas Pawlaczek

The versatility of Yoga Blocks can provide tremendous support and assistance in various positions, offering deeper and more effective ways for clients to execute their exercises for both modifications and progressions. In this article, I explore eight different exercises in order to improve a client’s alignment or range of motion, offer support and or help target specific areas of the body utilising yoga blocks and discuss their benefits for different types of clients.

1.    Supine - Modified Roll Up: (Blocks Under Hands or between the Knees). 

Begin by lying on your back with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor, and yoga block in hand. Press the block between your palms as you curl your upper body off the mat, reaching towards your feet. The yoga block provides additional support and engagement for the lower abdominal muscles, while collaboratively asking clients to find the upper body connection at the same time, making this exercise more accessible for clients with limited flexibility, abdominal strength and scoliosis.

Pelvic Curls: By placing the blocks underneath the feet, clients can find stronger activation through their hamstrings and glutes while offering a stability awareness. A great variation of this is placing one block under one foot, and the other under the opposite hand is great way to let clients feel hip disassociation, and opposition.  

2.    Prone - Swan Dive Prep:

Lie on your belly with your legs extended and hands placed next to your shoulders. Instead of fully straightening your arms, place a yoga block next to your chest, and position your hands on top of it. As you lift your upper body off the mat, try to disassociate other muscles in the lower extremities, so you're only using your arms to lift into extension, without gripping into the lumbar spine. This variation helps develop back and arm strength and awareness, and flexibility. By letting the head be heavy as you return to the mat, it provides a really great stretch for the deep cervical extensors. This is a great for clients who want to advance their thoracic extension while feeling no tightness through their lumbar spine.

Swan: A challenging variation! It’s great to challenge clients’ control through their lower abdominals, while finding deep external rotation of the shoulders and activation of the glutes and hamstrings. Asking clients to feel the “pinkie finger” side of the hand into the Yoga Blocks asks for a strong underarm connection. It’s a great variation for surfers, dancers, cyclists, and swimmers as it promotes hip extension while using the glutes and hamstrings while in thoracic extension. 

Thoracic rotation: Placing one yoga block under one hand stretched out in front, and the other behind the back of the head, rotate towards one side, ensuring the Pelvis stays in neutral.  This variation allows extra range of motion in the thoracic, while maintaining lumber-pelvic stability.  

Lat Pull Back: Placing one Block under both hands behind you, with your fingers facing forward, lengthen the legs out in front, and Roll the Pelvis up from the Mat and stretch your arms! A great stretch! This exercise is strong for the hamstrings, and you want to ensure there is no hyperextension in both the knees and elbows.   

3.    Side - Mermaid Stretch:

Sit on one hip with your bottom leg extended and your top leg bent for support. Place a yoga block underneath your bottom hand and reach your other arm overhead, creating a side bend. The block assists in maintaining proper alignment and prevents excessive strain on the supporting muscles. Placing a yoga block underneath the outside hip helps for clients who are tight through their hip flexors and lumbar extensors or pre-natal women. It helps to improve flexibility, posture, and provides a great lateral stretch through the diaphragm, quadratus lumborum and psoas. 

4.   Standing - Balance Challenge:

Stand tall with one foot on a yoga block and the other foot on the floor. Find your balance and engage your core with standing exercises such as lunges, heel raises and roll downs. The yoga block provides an unstable surface, challenging your clients stability and proprioception. Athletes and seniors can benefit from this exercise as it enhances balance, co-ordination, and strengthens the muscles in the ankles and feet. 

5.    Monkey

Stand with both feet on the yoga blocks and bend your knees so your hands are on the floor. Keeping your hands connected to the floor, start to stretch your legs, while leading with the tailbone and feeling extended through the thoracic. A great exercise for more advanced clients who are waiting more lumbar extension. By keeping the hands fully connected to the Mat and using your legs and your upper body to fold offers a strong working stretch creating extra space through the lumbar pelvic region.  

6.    Four Point Kneel - Thread The Needle:

Begin in a tabletop position, with your hands and knees on the mat. Place a yoga block under your left hand and reach your right arm up towards the ceiling. Thread your right arm through the space between your left hand and knee, rotating your upper body. The block provides support and stability as you deepen the twist, allowing for a more controlled and accessible movement. Surfers and dancers can benefit from this exercise as it aids in spinal mobility, and hip rotation, and can help prevent lower back pain.

7.    Plank

Begin in a four point kneel position with your hands on the blocks and find your way to your plank. Have your heels together and your toes slightly apart to ensure your connection to your upper inner thighs, glutes and hamstrings. With your hands pressing on the blocks, feel like you're pulling your chest through your shoulders while reaching back with your heels at the same time. This provides a great working two-way stretch, and a feeling of strong extension through the thoracic. For clients who are limited in core strength and control, lowering the knees is a great option. It’s great to spend some time accurately setting up the hand/arm position with your clients who feel they are weaker in the wrists, the blocks can really help them to engage their hands, forearms and upper arms more.  

 8.    Lunge

In a four point kneel, place one block under both hands and step back to find your plank. Keeping your hands connected to the blocks, step one-foot in-between both hands to find your Lunge. This is great for clients with less flexibility in both their lower and upper extremities and enables clients to maintain a connection through their upper body and their spine. You can stretch back to deepen the stretch, ensure the pelvis stays in alignment. Reverse to have one Block under one foot with the hands on the floor for clients who are longer in their hamstrings but shortened through the spine/upper body. 

Bradley Inness owns Ateom an intimate boutique studio nestled in the Byron Bay Hinterland, NSW, Australia.