Iyengar Yoga is known for its use of props. (For what it's worth, many of the props we use were actually created by Iyengar Yoga's founder, B.K.S. Iyengar.) Often, students (especially students newer to Iyengar Yoga) are resistant. This can be for lots of reasons: They see props as cheating. The props make things too easy. They feel they already know the pose. They feel they can go "further" and that the prop is holding them back. They are happy working the way they've always worked. They just "don't like" props.

As B.K.S. Iyengar is quoted as saying, “The brain is the hardest part of the body to adjust in asanas.”

Far from a hindrance, props can allow us to deepen our practice in so many ways. They can help us stay in a pose longer/with ease, find better alignment, work in a new way, and/or shift our focus while we are in the pose.

A great example is sitting on height at the beginning of our practice. When we begin our practice, we are working to center ourselves and to bring our attention to the present moment. If our back hurts, or we're struggling to sit comfortably, it's pretty hard to center ourselves.

(As an aside, when my husband first started practicing yoga, and I saw his lower spine rounding as he sat in Swastikasana (simple cross-legged pose), I offered him some folded blankets to sit on. His response? "Oh no. I get the blankets of shame." I laughed, then did my best to explain that they were not the blankets of shame, that they were instead to help him work to his best ability and to find some ease in the pose. I don't think he believed me at the time. Now, years later, he's almost admitted that they are not the blankets of shame (and he does use them when needed).)

Anyway, back to why we sit on height at the beginning of class - To reduce the effort it takes to hold ourselves there. To create comfort and ease in the pose, allowing us to shift our focus to drawing our attention inwards. Look at the difference without and with height:

Here, you can see that, with height, my spine is more lifted and my thighs are descending from my hips. I can tell you, too - I felt a lot more at ease in the pose when siting on height. Without height, I felt gripping in my legs and core to be able to sit straight. There was little ease in that version. (To see more about how sitting on height can help you work in a pose, see my post on Dandasana (staff pose).)

And, in Iyengar Yoga, we never stop using props! For instance, I was recently working on Purvottanasana (sometimes called tabletop, the Sanskrit translation is intense stretch of the front (east) side of the body). I'd thought at first that my shoulders lacked the strength to really lift my chest but then realized that my shoulders (especially my right shoulder) lacked the flexibility to lift my chest (note the angle required between my arms and torso). I then devised a props setup that allowed me to stay in the pose for an extended period of time, without bearing much weight on my hands, with my head supported, and which allowed me to work mainly on the flexibility of my shoulders.

Props are an amazing asset for our practice. They can help us reach a goal, stretch in a new way in pose we think we "know," find better alignment, find awareness in different parts of our bodies. And, yes, sometimes props are intended to make poses easier. They minimize discomfort. Make a pose more accessible. Help us honor our body where it is in that moment - not where we think it is or where we hope it is but instead where our body actually is in that moment of that day in that practice.

Again, "The brain is the hardest part of the body to adjust in asanas.”

As a teacher, I never introduce a prop or suggest its use without first putting a great deal of thought into it. I think of why we are doing the pose, what I hope my students will gain from it that day, and what challenges may exist in reaching that goal. (My post on Utthita Trikonasana (triangle pose) dives into this idea of working different ways in the same pose.)

Anyway, I hope this has inspired you - even in the slightest - to give props a chance. In your practice, as in life, learning to work with support can be an amazing thing.