Props
Props are also called aids. They are designed to help us achieve or hold positions (asanas) in a healthy way. In other words, a yoga prop is simply an object used for practicing yoga poses. For example, a block or belt are typical props. But bolsters or meditation cushions can also serve as props. When we see photos of great yogis in classic yoga asanas, they are usually doing poses without props. However, the less experienced among us often benefit greatly from the use of props to achieve the otherwise unattainable, to make a pose "safer," or to derive greater health benefits from a pose. In both Ashtanga and BKS Iyengar's method of yoga, both often involve the extensive use of a series of props that they pioneered. These are especially beneficial for beginners and stiffer students.
Yoga definition
Yoga is a complex subject with this very simple definition: Yoga Cittavrtti Nirodhah (the Yoga Sutra, I.2), which translates as "Yoga is the cessation of movements in consciousness," according to B.K.S. Iyengar in his book Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Yogis divide consciousness (citta) into three parts: Mind, Ego, and Intelligence. In his book Light on Life, Iyengar compares these components to layers.
Iyengar on the mind and the ego
The outermost layer is the mind. It is responsible for sifting through all the information it receives through the five senses, as in "I'm hungry" or "I'm cold." Because the mind is constantly generating thoughts and images, Iyengar compares it to a computer that cannot stop itself from processing, making distinctions, or making thoughtful decisions. The ego is the innermost layer of consciousness. It gives us the sense of our separateness or "I-ness" and the feeling that we are at the center of everything. The ego is valuable because it is important to know that you are not the stranger sitting next to you on the bus or in the tree in your front yard. But the ego has earned a negative reputation because it also holds on to all desires, accomplishments, prejudices and opinions and has accumulated as the sum total of all successes, worries, possessions, jobs and whatever else. The ego holds on to life and often lives in its glorious past or fearful future. Between the mind and the ego lies the middle layer, the intelligence. The distinguishing characteristics of intelligence are its ability to perceive itself and its ability to decide to do something it has not done before. In other words, intelligence is the part of our consciousness that enables us to objectively observe ourselves (including the mind and ego) and initiate change. Iyengar describes intelligence as "the revolutionary of our consciousness."
Iyengar about the use of props
Iyengar says that when one layer of consciousness is active, it expands and causes the other layers to retreat. So when we activate our intelligence, we force the overactive mind and the clinging ego to step back, giving us the experience of stillness that is yoga.
" There is no purpose to using a prop if we don't learn something from it."
Props re-educate and calm the mind by awakening the intelligence of the body.
The importance of yoga props
Most of us think that the physical brain is the only place where intelligence and perception take place. But Iyengar says that this view devalues the innate intelligence of the body - the yogi's vehicle on the path to calming consciousness. He insists that intelligence can be cultivated in every cell of the body. One of the methods he has developed for expanding intelligence is the use of props when practicing asana. The skin is our first layer of intelligence, and the nerves in the skin supply the mind with information, Iyengar says. Since an average square inch of skin contains more than a thousand nerve endings, our consciousness is awakened and enlivened when a prop touches the skin. Intelligence arises not because we feel something, but because we can observe where the prop touches us and where it doesn't, and in what ways the prop teaches us something new. "Every prop must imprint the body," says Iyengar, so that intelligence can be cultivated. There is no point in using a prop (prop) if we don't learn anything from it.
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