By Victoria Jackson
I did a bit of yoga spring cleaning recently – better late than never! I’ve been laundering cushion covers and topping up the filling in my bolsters. The floor is gritty with buckwheat hulls that escaped during the process. I’ve swept up so many times, but there always seem to be a few more. They’re the yoga equivalent of those polystyrene packaging bobbles that end up everywhere. But it’s worth the effort because I love my bolsters and I usually finish my home practice cuddling up with them for a few restorative postures. Although my asana practice gets more energetic as the days lengthen, it still feels good to close with some longer, softer poses. It provides balance and stops things getting overwhelmingly yang.
Given how happy I am playing around with my bolsters at home, it’s easy to think it’s always been this way, but I remember well my first experiences of Restorative Yoga classes and how baling the array of props seemed then. I had to pay really close attention to the teacher’s demonstrations and it used to feel like such a distraction – needing to fold blankets just so, arrange the bolsters carefully, and figure out what to do with so many blocks. Can’t we just get on with it? Does it really need so much fuss?