Restorative Yoga is the practice ofasanas, each held for longer than in conventionalyoga as exercise classes, often with the support ofprops such as folded blankets, to relax the body, reduce stress, and often to prepare forpranayama. The practice was foreshadowed byIyengar Yoga'suse of props in its deliberate style of asana practice.

Restorative Yoga sessions allow the body to slow down and relax in a small number ofasanas. Each pose is held for longer than in conventional classes, sometimes for twenty minutes, so a session may consist of only four to six asanas. The long holding of poses is oftenassisted with props such as folded blankets, blocks, and bolsters to ensure the body is fully supported and so to allow the muscles to relax.^[1][2]

An early disciple ofB.K.S. Iyengar, the yoga teacher andYoga Journal editorJudith Lasater helped to popularize restorative yoga, based onIyengar Yoga's asanas anduse of props.^[3][4][5] Lasater states that "you will need" ayoga mat, fouryoga blocks, three firmbolsters, three hand towels, three eye bags, eight firm blankets, a broad 6 feet (1.8 m) long yoga belt, a folding metal chair with the front rung removed, and two 10 pounds (4.5 kg) sandbags. For home practice, she suggests substituting throw pillows, couch cushions, or large bags of rice or dry beans as improvised props.^[6]

Lasater proposes twelve asanas and their variants, for a total of twenty poses, with detailed instructions that occupy much of her 2017 bookRestore and Rebalance. The poses are reclining or supported variants of Baddha Konasana, Balasana (child's pose),Uttanasana,Downward Dog,Prasarita Padottanasana (wide-legged forward bend),Urdhva Dhanurasana (upward bow),Setu Bandhasana (bridge), legs up the wall,Sarvangasana (shoulderstand),Halasana (plough), Urdhva Paschimottanasana (upward-facing forward bend), and Shavasana.^[7]

The yoga teacherCyndi Lee suggests a short sequence of six asanas, all with the use of supports: reclining bound angle pose (Supta Baddha Konasana), legs up the wall (Viparita Karani), a prone twist with both knees to one side (Jathara Parivartanasana), a sitting forward bend (Paschimottanasana), child's pose (Balasana), and corpse pose (Shavasana, with or without supports).^[8]

Lee links the need for Restorative Yoga to the stress of modern life and the resulting habitual state offight-or-flight, appropriate to emergencies but harmful when chronic. The biological response involves the hormoneadrenaline signalling emergency, raisingblood pressure,heart rate, andmuscle tension, while resources are diverted from the digestive and reproductive systems, and from processes of cell growth and tissue repair; Restorative Yoga can in her view help to reverse that process.^[9] Lee describes yoga relaxation as combining the active quality of standing to attention inTadasana with the passive quality of lying down like a corpse inShavasana. The combination offers in her view a middle path, receptiveness.^[10]

Geraldine Beirne, writing inThe Guardian, called Restorative Yoga "all about healing the mind and body through simple poses often held for as long as 20 minutes, with the help of props such as bolsters, pillows and straps".^[11]

Themartial arts coach Eric C. Stevens, stating that he found being still more difficult than a "five mile run", was surprised to start the Restorative Yoga class with Shavasana, and to see so manyprops in use - blanket, pillow, eye bag, strap, blocks. He found his mind strongly challenged during the class, and he slept very soundly afterwards. He recommended the practice for people who feel close toburnout.^[12]

Restorative Yoga is mainly for practitioners suffering from injuries, stress, or illness, who therefore require a yoga practice that can bring them back to a better quality of life; classes are necessarily small so that each person can receive detailed attention to ensure they are safe and properly supported.Yin Yoga uses props in a similar way, and holds poses for similarly long periods, but is aimed mainly at healthy practitioners, and is taught in larger classes.^[13]

Claimed benefits, according to Jillian Pransky inYoga Journal, include the skill of conscious relaxation through long-held, supported resting poses; discovering where tension is being held in the body, allowing focus on the breath; triggeringthe relaxation response, in which the body leaves its "fight or flight" and begins to experience the opposite, recuperative mode; and practising the ability to look inward, by stopping the focus of "doing" and instead practising "being."^[14]

• Yoga as therapy
• Restorative yoga props

• Gates, Janice (2006).Yogini: Women Visionaries of the Yoga World. Mandala. pp. 89–94.ISBN 978-1932771886.
• Lasater, Judith (1995).Relax and renew : restful yoga for stressful times.Rodmell Press.ISBN 978-0-9627138-4-2.OCLC 33388596.
• Lasater, Judith (2017).Restore and Rebalance: Yoga for Deep Relaxation.Shambhala.ISBN 978-1-61180-499-7.OCLC 975032763.
• Lee, Cyndi (2004).Yoga Body, Buddha Mind.Riverhead Books.ISBN 978-1-59448-024-9.

• Ashby, Anna (2022).Restorative Yoga: Power, Presence and Practice for Teachers and Trainees.Singing Dragon.ISBN 978-1-78775-740-0.OCLC 1257314772.
• Baginski, Caren (2020).Restorative Yoga: Relax. Restore. Re-energize.Alpha Books.ISBN 978-1-4654-9263-0.OCLC 1152340266.
• Carey, Leeann (2015).Restorative Yoga Therapy: the Yapana Way to Self-care and Well-being.New World Library.ISBN 978-1-60868-359-8.OCLC 890615522.
• Clarke, Julia (2019).Restorative Yoga for Beginners: Gentle Poses for Relaxation and Healing. Rockridge Press.ISBN 978-1-64611-184-8.OCLC 1132272108.
• Grossman, Gail Boorstein (2015).Restorative Yoga for Life: a Relaxing Way to De-stress, Re-energize, and Find Balance.Adams Media.ISBN 978-1-4405-7520-4.OCLC 883207433.
• Long, Nancy Hodge (2016).Restorative Yoga: Restful Poses to Cradle the Body, Comfort the Heart, Calm the Mind. Crystal Heart Imprints.ISBN 978-0972100359.
• Norberg, Ulrica (2016).Restorative Yoga: Reduce Stress, Gain Energy, and Find Balance.Skyhorse Publishing.ISBN 978-1-5107-0530-2.OCLC 914219245.

• Yoga International: Restorative Yoga without 'tons of props'

• Yoga styles
• Yoga as therapy

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata