Building a Restorative Yoga Practice at Home
We asked one of our Love My Mat customers, Sarah, to share how our products are helping her to develop and expand her personal yoga practice.
Here is Sarah's story;
My on-again, off-again relationship with yoga began in 2009 when I discovered the joys and benefits of prenatal yoga. It helped me to stretch out my pregnancy aches and allowed me to feel more grounded and connected to my growing and changing physical body. I relished my practice time. Once my beautiful daughter arrived in 2010 I easily slipped into the role of motherhood and I just as easily let taking care of myself slide and my yoga practice wane.
In the years leading up to 2018, I continued my non-committal relationship with yoga, had another baby, found myself at the mercy of anxiety and had a spiritual breakdown that led (with the help of therapy) to an awakening. It’s been quite a journey, and a very healing part of it has been developing and deepening my yoga practice. I have a much better understanding of the importance of cultivating this spirit, mind and body connection in my life.
I share all this because my practice evolved so much in 2019, and it’s this evolution that led me to Love My Mat. My yoga journey began with a mostly asana based practice. I liked the physical challenge and how it forced me to be present in my body and I used it to shut down my overthinking mind. However, as time passed, I found myself needing to hone more of the quieter practices of yoga and I began taking more restorative classes. Restorative classes are slow, gentle and intentional, and provide me with the opportunity to check in with my whole self which has been incredibly healing and helped me to develop a more holistic yoga practice.
I very much wanted to be able to practice at home which meant I needed props, enter Love My Mat. They handcraft the most beautiful yoga props to support your practice. They’re made from reclaimed fabric and eco-conscious materials and have been designed and are sold by an experienced yogi with a heart for meaningful practice and preserving our earth. In short, I love them. A bolster, eye pillow and hand weights (I actually cheated a little and opted for knee pillows which I use in my regular practice but also double as pseudo hand weights) are a great place to start building your home collection. These basics will allow you to practice supported poses such as gentle backbends, legs up the wall, child’s pose and twists. If you happen to have blocks at home then you really are set to get started. (Prana bolsters and the 10 lb sandbags are definitely on my wish list next.)
Having these props on hand has been so helpful to furthering my restorative practice at home. Now in addition to being able to simply practice at home, I also find myself pulling out the props when I’m feeling stressed, PMS strikes or I’m having digestive issues. (They are gorgeous, so I never put them away and always have them handy.) I’ve also set a goal for myself in 2020 to develop a better bedtime routine so I can get some more quality sleep and I know I’ll be using my props to support this as well. There have been so many benefits for me having my own props on hand and they have been a valuable investment in expanding my yoga practice beyond the studio and into my home, but also into the way I’m living my life.
(Author’s Note: All this and I didn’t even talk about the way it has helped me as a parent with my kids--I will have to save that for another post!)
If you would like to share your story of how our Love My Mat products have made a difference in your yoga practice or beyond contact us at info@lovemymat.com. We would love to hear from you and share your journey.
