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You probably think of your yoga bolster as your go-to for relaxation or restorative yoga poses, right? But did you know you can use this common yoga prop for some cool and creative active moves, too?

It's true! There are an abundance of ways we can use a yoga bolster for more than chilling out. (Although chilling out is a most excellent use for them, as well! 😉)

Here are 3 of my favorite creative ways to use a yoga bolster for active, rather than passive and restorative(!), purposes:

1) Chaturanga w/ a bolster on your back

Yes, we’re making chaturanga even spicier!

Chaturanga (or chaturanga dandasana) is our “push-up” in yoga. In this pose, we push the weight of our body away from the floor through our upper body.

Chaturanga is already a very challenge yoga pose, of course, but for a strong yoga student who is able to practice chaturanga with relative ease, it might be interesting and helpful to increase the challenge in the pose. And one great (and very unique!) way to do that is to use a yoga prop that we typically use just for rest and relaxation, and place it on our back to increase the load in the pose!

Not only does placing the bolster on our back add some load, increasing the work of our upper body and core in this pose, but this is also a great check for your alignment – if the back of your head stays touching the bolster as you lower down, you know your head is in line with your spine. Double win!

a way to make chaturanga harder with a yoga prop

2) Dhanurasana w/ a yoga bolster

By resting your pelvis on the bolster in dhanurasana (bow pose), you can explore a slightly different version of the pose. Instead of focusing on lifting up, think about kicking back with your legs, which can help you feel more quad engagement and create a more balanced backbend along your spine.

Whereas our typical dhanurasana involves more of an up/down direction, this version consists of a more horizontal directional movement as we kick our feet into our hands toward the back of our mat in order to lift our chest off the floor and into our backbend. It’s a fun twist on a classic yoga asana!

3) Reclined bolster lowers

This creative bolster move is all about getting in touch with your shoulders. Lie on your back and hold the bolster above you. Then, slowly lower it overhead and bring it back up.

This isn’t a strength move, but it’s perfect for building awareness and control in shoulder flexion (the direction of movement in which we lift our arms overhead). Lowering your arms overhead with the bolster in your hands will also make your shoulders feel more engaged than just lowering your arms on their own.

I love this as a great way to prep for other yoga poses like downward dog (adho mukha svanasana), wheel pose (urdhva dhanurasana), and handstand (adho mukha svanasana).

Want to see my two other favorite active yoga bolster moves – plus a more in-depth description (with extra technique tips and visual demonstrations) for the three creative yoga prop moves I included above?

Check out my full tutorial video right here. I hope all of these creative moves help inspire you in your yoga practice and/or your yoga teaching and class sequencing! Thanks for reading and watching, yoga/movement geeks! 🤓