Yesterday, one of my high school classmates, Dale, sent me a video, much like the one below (which is an advertisement by respected yoga instructor Lucas Rockwood with whom I am a bit acquainted and seems pretty good) and asked my opinion on the yoga trapeze.
Well, to start, I have no experience with yoga trapezes. And secondly, as I have written in the past, I do not use yoga props or accoutrements of any kind - no blocks, no straps, no belts, no blankets or balls. No nothin'.
Just my mat and my body. I like to keep things simple. My original yoga "teachers" (i.e., two classic books, Yoga, Youth, and Reincarnation and Yoga for Beauty and Health taught yoga poses without any props. So, I have nil experience with them and have managed to do fine.
That said, one must evolve with the times and so I thought I'd do a little research (professional researcher that I am) on the yoga trapeze because it can be set up at home. And, I always want to share with you ways to enhance your home yoga practice.
First, I wanted to see how much these yoga trapezes cost. You can find the one Rockwood uses for $88 on Amazon.com which isn't too bad. Ones from other websites cost as much as $255 or so. A much steeper investment.
Based on Rockwood's claims and myriad Amazon reviews, the yoga trapeze offers a way, in the convenience of your home, to do various yoga inversion poses (which I have often blogged about) that benefit the back and spine especially by helping to decompress the veterbrae.
This assumes though that 1) you can set one up - and I am woefully challenged in taking things out of a box and setting them up - especially something that I am going to figure out where I can hang it up and 2) that I can actually use the trapeze without someone helping me.
Both of these issues present major, major challenges for me!
However, I must say, the idea is intriguing. Especially since some of the reviews stated the following:
"This swing was the best thing I ever did for myself. I'm relieving so much tension in my shoulders and body and decompressing my back. I truly think that everyone needs one in their house."
"I tend to use this for back and hip pain as it's wonderful for traction and really stretching out your back while getting some movement in the joints. I used to be at the chiropractors every week and I haven't had to go in months now!"
However, some other reviews identified some problems in installing the trapeze and having to mount a stool to be able to get into it.
So, for the moment, I think I will pass on the yoga trapeze.
However, it's something I may revisit because hanging upside down like a bat could be fun and rejuvenating! I just don't think I can do it on my own at this time! I will stick with the shoulder stand and plough pose as my go-to inversion poses that I can do sans props.
However, you may wish to give it a whirl by checking out the video below or looking up other ones on youtube.com.
Enjoy!
Laura Venecia Rodriguez, the yoga at home for beginners coach
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