How To Use Yoga Wheel?

Yoga can be minimalist at its core. Mats are not even a must if you have a suitable surface under your feet. However, accessories such as a strap or blocks can be helpful regardless of whether you are a beginner or looking to add new challenges to your practice. But many overlook the versatility of the yoga wheel, using it only in the case of back pain or needing support in the Wheel Pose. 

The yoga wheel is a prop that can help beginners who need extra support and be an excellent aid for those suffering from back pain. It is also used to build strength, enhance flexibility, increase the difficulty in a pose, and create new balancing challenges. 

The yoga wheel is unique; able to make yoga safer and more manageable or harder and riskier. It combines the benefits found in blocks, straps, knee pads, balance balls, and foam rollers into a single piece of circular equipment. It won’t necessarily replace them, as it depends on a person’s practice. But it can bring simplicity along with added benefits. It all depends on how you utilize it.

How To Use A Yoga Wheel?

A yoga wheel is a versatile tool that can be used passively or actively. 

People use them to:

• Ease back pain and stiff neck and shoulders
• Open the chest and improve posture
• Add stability or support to a poses
• Reduces risk of injury
• Increase the difficulty of balance to poses
• A flexibility aid when too tight to do the full pose
• Deepen flexibility
• Increase strength
• Make a pose more dynamic for cardio and strength benefits

1. Yoga Wheel To Ease Back Pain And Stiff Neck & Shoulders 

A yoga wheel can be used like a foam roller to ease back pain, including stiffness in the neck and shoulders caused by tension in the upper back, especially between the shoulder blades. 

How To Use A Yoga Wheel Like A Foam Roller

To use your wheel like a foam roller, you get it under your back and gently roll it up and down your spine to massage your tissue. 

There are a few ways to lay across the wheel. For example:

• Sit in front of the yoga wheel with feet flat on the mat
• After a deep breath, slowly exhale as you use your feet and legs to roll your body onto the wheel
• Use your hands as needed for extra stability
• Go slowly, and remember to breathe

2. Yoga Wheel To Open The Chest And Improve Posture

Hunching from working on computers and typing on phones causes our bodies to close and restricts our breath. The wheel can help us open up our chests either passively or actively. 

Reclining Easy Pose: Passive Stretch

The Easy Pose is the perfect passive stretch to open the chest. It’s beginner friendly but also perfect for anyone that needs calming and wants to focus on their breath. 

• Sit in a cross-legged position in front of the wheel
• Ensure your sit bones are in contact with the mat
• Raise your body so you are sitting tall, not slouching
• Place hands on legs or knee, palms up, relaxed
• On an exhale, extend back onto the wheel, resting your head on the top
• Relax, and keep your breathing steady 

Locus Pose Variation: Active Stretch

The Locust Pose is a classic chest-opener that strengthens the back, core, and legs. 

To do the wheel variation:

• Lean over the wheel, position it in the middle of the abdomen
• Have legs stretched out behind, toes tucked on the mat
• Hands out in front, shoulder width apart, as if getting ready to plank
• Find the balanced midpoint of the wheel so you can bring your arms behind you
• Lace fingers
• Breath out and lift, leaning up toward the sky

3. Yoga Wheel For Balance: Adding Support Or Challenge

The yoga wheel can help with balance by adding support in a backbend or using it on its side like blocks. It can also increase the challenge. 

Head Stand With Yoga Wheel Support

Many people use the yoga wheel to support posts for the back when building up to do the wheel, such as Fish Pose. But it is also an excellent prop for other poses, such as the headstand, to relieve stress.

• Begin as usual, with forearms on the floor but while holding the wheel in front of you
• Place the top of your head down between the forearms
• Ensure you have the essential triangle shape between the head and elbows
• Bring the wheel to the back of your head so it’s gently resetting against you as support
• Continue to hold on to the wheel, so it maintains position throughout the pose
• Lift hips upwards, walking feet towards your face
• Engage your core, and begin lifting your feet, continuing to grip the wheel for added balance

Toe Stand On Yoga Wheel

The toe stand on a yoga wheel looks elegant and calm. However, mastering it can be tricky, and attempting to advance too quickly can lead to falls and injury. It requires a strong core, excellent balance, and open hip flexors. Proceed gently. Stop if you feel any pain. 

• Hold the wheel on either side 
• Place a foot on top
• Lower your body, bending the knee as if preparing for a regular toe stand
• Once you feel balanced, bring your other foot up, balancing in a squat
• Keep the feet flat
• Keep body leaning forward, with shoulders away from ears
• When stead, gradually extend the second foot outwards
• Bring palms together at the center of the chest

4. Yoga Wheel For Flexibility

A yoga wheel can help when you don’t have the flexibility to do the full stretch. Alternatively, it can be used to increase a stretch. 

Plow Pose Assisted By Yoga Wheel

The Plow Pose is a powerful stretch that increases spine flexibility while promoting circulation to the nervous system, which is vital to managing many chronic conditions. But not everyone can reach their toes to the floor, so this variation helps.

• Lay down on the mat
• Place the yoga wheel on the mat above your head
• Place arms on the mat, on either side of the body, palms down
• Bring knees to the chest
• Push upwards, extending the legs, tilting them towards where the ceiling meets the wall
• Place hands into the lower back
• Now gradually bring your legs to the wheel
• You can roll the ball further away to increase the stretch as desired

Lizard Lunge Yoga Wheel Variation

Using the wheel in the Lizard Lunge creates a deeper stretch while increasing the balance difficulty. 

• Kneel with the other at 90 degrees, like a knight
• Place the wheel behind the foot flat on the mat
• Raise the foot so it and the ankle are resting on the wheel
• Breathe. On the exhale, place your hands on the inside of the foot in front of you, under your shoulders
• On the next exhale, raise the back knee from the matt, and roll the wheel away from you, gradually extending the leg, pressing palms into the mat
• Breathe as you lengthen and press, stretching the spine

5. Yoga Wheel Increases Strength And Cardio

The yoga wheel will increase strength and aid in core drills as you build muscle. 

Pike With Yoga Wheel

The pike is an excellent strength-building exercise for people working towards the handstand. 

• Get onto your hands and knees in the tabletop position
• Place the wheel between your feet
• Slowly add your shins to the wheel until you are in a raised plank position
• Take a breath
• Inhale, bringing your legs towards you by raising your sit bones to the sky
• Stay straight, keeping your core engaged
• Inhale as you slowly roll the wheel away until you’ve returned to a raised plank
• Repeat

Rolling Bridge Using The Yoga Wheel

Many use the wheel under their back for support when doing a bridge. But you can use it to create an intense workout for the core and hamstrings but putting it under your feet. 

• Lie on the mat as if preparing for bridge, knees bent, feet flat, arms alongside your body
• Have a wheel in front of your feet
• Move your feet to on top of the wheel, bringing it closer to your bum
• Breathe
• On the inhale, begin extending your legs by rolling the wheel forward with your feet, allowing it to move up the calves
• On the exhale, draw it back, gradually raising your knees until your feet are firmly on top of the wheel
• Repeat

Conclusion

There is no end to the creativity the yoga wheel can bring to your practice. However, with any new equipment, begin slowly to minimize the risk of injury as you become familiar with the prop. Namaste.