What is a yoga wheel and what is it used for?
Yoga wheels are marketed to offer instant back pain relief, improve posture, bring versatility into your stretch routine and help build core strength.
The yoga wheel is a new therapeutic tool to deepen your yoga practice and take it to a new level. You don’t need any special prerequisites to successfully practice with it. It helps to reduce tension and renew fascia/connective tissue.
'The yoga wheel is the best tool on the market by far,' says celebrity personal trainer, Peter Maciver.
But as well as building strength and stamina, there are so many other advantages of adding a yoga wheel to your workout arsenal. Below are three of them:
1. It Can Help You with Difficult Stretches Safely
'For me, one of its best uses is that it's a simple and safe way of easing people in to backbends,' says Peter.
'Yoga props are key to helping practitioners evolve their practise, and the wheel really helps release your back. It's particularly great if you don't feel comfortable with doing traditional backbends.'
2. It Can Help Prevent Injury
'Many years ago, yoga tools were back-forbidden,' reveals Peter, 'but this tool has been developed in a way to work with your body, and one of the brilliant things about them is that they can help to prevent injury.'
Think of the wheel as scaffolding for your body - it can help keep you upright and lends the support that's lacking during traditional poses without props.
3. Massages Your Body & Helps Relieve Back And Neck Pain
The yoga wheel is a wonderful prop for gently rolling out your spine all the way from the neck to your tailbone. Thanks to its width, a yoga wheel goes directly between your shoulder blades – the area which is impossible to reach with other massaging props. Just 10 minutes a day of the back massage will help you alleviate tight shoulders, back or neck pain and reverse the hours of sitting and hunching over your desk.
Do not expect a miracle relaxation during your first use though. As with the massage, ironing out those tight knots in your neck and spine may feel uncomfortable and even slightly painful. Moreover, if flexibility is not your strong point, you might want to add some additional props such as the yoga blanket or yoga block for support and to decrease the backbend.
You can use your yoga wheel for the legs massage as well. Similarly to a traditional foam roller, a yoga wheel can help your sore and tight muscles by increasing blood flow and speeding up recovery. A yoga wheel takes the upper hand though as it is much durable compared to the foam rollers, which tend to lose shape with use, and provides a better warm up before the workout.
Next blog post, we will go more in depth of how to PROPERLY use this new yoga tool!
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