The most popular new yoga accessory is the yoga wheel, which has numerous advantages for both new and experienced yogis. A yoga wheel can ease back pain, increase strength, and increase flexibility.
The yoga wheel is arguably the most adaptable and user-friendly yoga prop available. This is probably the reason why yoga wheels have become so well-liked.
Quick of 8 best yoga wheel exercises:
Yoga Wheel Exercises for Relieving Back Pain
- Wheel Reclined Butterfly Pose
- Yoga Wheel Spine Massage
- Wheel Assisted Fish Pose
Yoga Wheel Exercises for Strength
- Yoga Wheel Rolling Plank
- Wheel Lunge
- Balancing Garland Pose
- Wheel Pike
But how exactly do you apply a yoga wheel to your yoga routine? What positions can a wheel change? In any case, what advantages do yoga wheels have?
Let’s delve into the specifics of this ground-breaking yoga tool, including why and how to use a yoga wheel, the best yoga wheels available, and our personal go-to yoga wheel poses.
What is a Yoga Wheel?
Simply put, a yoga wheel is a hollow, ring-shaped prop made of cork, plastic, or wood. It is used to improve yoga practice and support your body in backbends, exercises, and restorative poses.
The amazing thing about this basic cylindrical tool is that it can help practically anyone, regardless of how long you’ve practiced yoga or how recently you started. The wheel can be used as a basic massage roller or passive stretching tool. Additionally, it is frequently used off the mat as a fitness accessory.
There are various sizes of yoga wheels available for use on various body types. Mini yoga wheels are especially useful for newcomers who don’t want to bend their backs as far or who prefer a milder massage.
For taller yogis or experienced yogis who really enjoy deep heart-opening backbends, larger wheels are ideal. No matter the size, specific yoga wheel exercises can speed up your progress toward your fitness and yoga goals.
How Do You Use a Yoga Wheel?
This supportive prop can be used in countless yoga poses and yoga wheel exercises due to its adaptability and shape.
To get a nice stretch without going too far, use it in heart-opening backbend poses. A yoga wheel functions as a support system similar to a yoga block when it is placed beneath your thighs or quads. Yoga wheels can also be used as a simple foam roller for releasing tension.
The core muscles can be strengthened, weight can be added to arm workouts, and balance can be improved with the use of yoga wheels during more dynamic movements.
Rolling back and forth provides a good core workout if the wheel is positioned underneath your toes. You can even squat on top of the yoga wheel to increase stability and balance.
Yoga Wheel Exercises for Relieving Back Pain
Wheel Reclined Butterfly Pose
Butterfly pose is a simple seated stretch where you simply bring the soles of your feet together and stretch your hips. You may remember it from gym class when you were a kid. This modification includes a yoga wheel to help you open your heart as you relax your hip flexors.
How to Do It:
1. Start in a seated position and bring the soles of your feet flat against each other, letting your knees drape toward the floor
2. Bring the yoga wheel behind your lower back, centered on the spine
3. Inhale and then slowly recline onto the wheel as you exhale, letting your head and neck relax fully backward
4. Take a deep breath and rest your arms on your knees with palms up
Benefits:
Even the butterfly pose alone can help with posture and body awareness. It concentrates on the muscles in the lower back, hips, and thighs. The addition of the wheel transforms it into a heart-opening stretch that feels especially good on the upper back and neck. Our hip flexors and necks both carry a lot of tension, which is released by this wheel assisted pose.
Yoga Wheel Spine Massage
Use the yoga wheel to massage your back as you roll over it for a more vigorous yet gentle spinal release.
How to Do It:
1. Start sitting on your mat and bend up your knees
2. Place the yoga wheel at the base of your spine and lift your entire body on top of it
3. With your hands and feet flat on the ground, use your legs to gently roll back and forth on the wheel as it massages away any tension
4. If it is too intense, you can roll your mat or a yoga towel over the wheel for added cushioning
Benefits:
It doesn’t even feel like exercise when getting a wheel-assisted massage. In the middle of the day, you can use the yoga wheel for a quick 5-minute break and you’ll feel as though you just received an expensive massage (but for a lot less money, of course). While targeting pressure points and warming up the vertebrae, the rolling motion enables you to concentrate on specific areas of the back.
Wheel Assisted Fish Pose
For beginners, the Fish Pose (Matsyasana) can be a little intimidating and even dangerous. However, it is much safer and more convenient with a suitable warm-up and the help of a yoga wheel. In your yoga practice, you might start to yearn for this pose that opens the back.
How to Do It:
1. Start in a seated position with your legs extended in front of you
2. Place the yoga wheel behind you and gently roll onto it, allowing your full upper body to drape back and open your heart toward the sky
3. Exhale and release the neck and head, keeping the toes pointed and feet flat on the floor, letting the yoga wheel hold your full body weight
4. You can reach behind your head and grab hold of the yoga wheel for a full backbend or extend your arms to the side for a more relaxed stretch
Benefits:
This straightforward backbend provides all the advantages of a heart-opening pose along with a slight inversion. In addition to lengthening the spinal column and relieving shoulder blade pressure, it also improves mood. Compared to the traditional fish pose, it is far safer and more user-friendly.
Yoga Wheel Exercises for Strength
Yoga Wheel Rolling Plank
We all know that holding a plank position is the key to building a strong core, but this wheel-assisted variation takes it a step further by testing your ability to move, concentrate, and balance. After a few sets of this, your abs will be burning!
How to Do It:
1. Start in tabletop position with the yoga wheel at the base of your mat
2. Lift one leg up and place the top of the foot on the wheel, then bring the other to meet it
3. You should now be in a plank position with legs extended and feet on top of the yoga wheel
4. On an inhale, roll the wheel forward with your knees bent and core engaged
5. Hold for a few breaths and then roll it back to plank, repeating as many times as you’d like for a core strengthening challenge
Benefits:
While strengthening the core and boosting metabolism, the plank pose is known to aid in balance and coordination. Your upper body and spine are both strengthened by it as well. Make the plank dynamic for more ab strengthening by placing the yoga wheel underneath it.
Wheel Lunge
How to Do It:
1. Start in a standing position with the yoga wheel near the back of your mat
2. Place one foot on top of the wheel and extend your leg backward until your standing leg reaches a 90° angle lunge
3. Keep the chest lifted and front leg bent with the front knee stacked above your angle just like a standard lunge
4. Roll back and forth for an added quad stretch and conditioning
5. Repeat on the other side
Benefits:
Strengthening your glutes and quads with this wheel-assisted lunge is a great lower body exercise. Lunges are known to increase balance difficulty while also increasing blood flow and joint mobility. For a more dynamic workout that simultaneously stretches and strengthens, the yoga wheel allows you to flow in and out of lunges.
Balancing Garland Pose
Garland Pose (Malasana) has recently become a lot more enjoyable and fascinating. Although difficult, balancing on a yoga wheel is not as difficult as it appears. As you adjust, the wheel supports you because your toes are pointed outward and maintain a reasonable level of stability.
How to Do It:
1. Begin with the yoga wheel in front of you and slowly lift your left leg onto the yoga wheel
2. Adjust your foot outward to the shape of the wheel as you step your right leg onto the wheel, allowing your butt to reach downward and knees to point outward
3. Bring your hands to the heart center and press lightly against your sternum to help with balance
4. Try to keep your lower back straight and open your chest upward as you look directly forward and activate the inner legs
Benefits:
Malasana is excellent for your pelvic area, especially in pregnant women. Your balance will be tested while your hip flexors and groin are stretched out in this position. Additionally, it strengthens the inner thighs, boosts blood flow, and strengthens the colon.
Wheel Pike
As you can see from the previous pose that worked your core, a yoga wheel is especially useful for strengthening your abs and energizing asanas. Your heart rate will increase and your abdominal muscles will tone up in this wheel pike-plank position.
How to Do It:
1. Start in a tabletop position with feet hip-width distance and wrists aligned beneath the shoulders
2. Draw in your lower stomach and lift one leg at a time onto the wheel, adjusting until the top of your shins are on the wheel and you are in a plank position
3. Begin rolling the wheel forward and shifting your weight more into your hands
4. Your glutes will reach toward the sky in an inverted “V” shape with major core engagement
5. Careful not to curve your back or let your hips sink down
6. Breathe with your movements and continue rolling the pike forward and backward with contracted abs and strong arms
Benefits:
As well as adding stability to the front body, a stronger core helps prevent back injuries. In particular, the wheel pike strengthens your core and provides support in long-term seated positions as well as for inversions and handstands. Additionally, the act of crunching can promote digestion.
Wheel Assisted Crow Pose
If you’re anything like me, you’ve been trying Crow (Bakasana) for years and haven’t quite gotten it. You can now achieve this pose and get ready for a future in which you can express this enjoyable balancing asana without a yoga wheel by using a yoga wheel.
How to Do It:
1. Start in a seated Malasana pose with your toes pointed outward, knees bent, and butt squatted to the floor
2. Move your hands shoulder-width apart and place the yoga wheel between your legs
3. Begin engaging your core and shifting your knees into your armpits, resting the shins on the back of your triceps
4. Lift one foot onto the wheel and then the other, keeping the toes pointed and top of the foot lifted off the wheel
5. Practice moving the wheel around as you shift your body weight forward into your arms, eventually lifting your toes off the wheel altogether
Benefits:
Your hands, shoulders, arms, abs, and thigh muscles all get stronger with Bakasana. To keep the arms balanced and concentrated requires mental fortitude as well. You can ease into the crow pose with the yoga wheel while still feeling elevated and supported. It’s ideal for developing form, strength, and alignment as you gradually progress toward full expression.
Benefits of a Yoga Wheel
Increase Flexibility
This prop significantly increases flexibility, but in a gentle way, whether you are gently holding the wheel between your hands in Child’s Pose or fully reclining on a yoga wheel during Fish Pose.
A yoga wheel allows you to achieve the deep stretch you desire without running the risk of injuring yourself because it offers firm yet comfortable support. Depending on how you use the yoga wheel, you can achieve a more intense or milder stretch.
For instance, you can use the wheel as a higher surface for your hands in Child’s Pose to achieve a deeper stretch. You can achieve a deeper upper body stretch by lowering your head between your biceps and opening between your shoulder blades.
On the other hand, you can use a small wheel underneath your shoulder blades while in a mildly reclined Fish Pose if you want to increase flexibility without exerting yourself too much. This and other gentle heart-opening poses are excellent yoga wheel exercises for beginners.
The wheel maintains your alignment as you lengthen and stretch because of its balanced cylindrical design that follows the body’s natural curves.
Back Pain Relief
Thanks to our sedentary lifestyles and hunching over devices, almost everyone today experiences some form of back pain. Before learning about all the other incredible mental and physical benefits, back pain is the most frequent reason why people start practicing yoga. The level of back relief, however, was just raised by these rolling yoga props.
Whether you’re on the mat or off, a yoga wheel is one of the most accessible and cost-effective ways to relieve back pain. You can use it whenever you want; it’s similar to a free self-administered spinal massage. You can get a light massage that eases tension and promotes spinal decompression just by rolling the wheel along your spine.
The wheel should be positioned at the base of your spine as you lay down. The yoga wheel should roll all the way down to your tailbone before rolling back up to the base of your neck as you support yourself on it with your legs.
You can adjust as necessary, depending on your dexterity and the size of the wheel. You will undoubtedly understand how crucial it is to have a supportive yet cushioned yoga wheel that won’t be too harsh on your vertebrae.
Before beginning your yoga practice, use this rolling motion to loosen up your back muscles, increase blood circulation, and improve blood flow. For a comparable result, use the same roller movement on your hips and legs.
Backbend Support
Backbends are definitely extremely intimidating for new yogis! By providing support and preventing you from extending further than you’d like, these wheel-shaped props greatly increase the accessibility of backbends. While mini yoga wheels offer a more gentle spinal extension, a larger wheel offers a deeper stretch.
While still allowing you to experience the heart-opening relief of a full backbend, the yoga wheel functions as a scaffold of support to prevent injuries. Since I had a back injury, I’ll be honest and say that without a yoga wheel, I might not have been able to do backbends. Similar to an exercise ball but more firm and versatile, the cylinder shape is straightforward yet supportive.
Improve Balance
You’ll discover that a yoga wheel is the magical tool you’ve always wanted as you practice more difficult balance poses like Crow Pose. By engaging your core and maintaining arm balance, you can still practice proper form, but now you have the yoga wheel to support your toes or shins. The wheel-assisted Crow Pose will be covered in more detail below.
A yoga wheel is useful in standing poses like Half Moon because it is taller than a block and can be used as a balancing mechanism underneath one arm. The additional support aids in stabilizing muscles and enables you to improve your form.
Simply standing atop a yoga wheel is a great way to practice balance. Some yogis prefer to perform the Garland Pose (Malasana), which is a little easier on the inner thighs because your feet are gripping the circular wheel while standing on top of a yoga wheel.
Build Strength
A yoga wheel can also help you build strength and make your yoga practice a little bit more difficult. Your practice will burn a ton more calories if you use the wheel for planks and core exercises. Yoga poses are additionally made more dynamic and active by the wheel for increased cardio and muscle building.
Close Note
Yoga wheels are great because there are so many different ways to use them. In addition to offering therapeutic benefits to make space in the body, massage the spine, and of course, balance, yoga wheels are a great way to advance your practice. . . cultivate creativity and have fun!
FAQ
Is a Yoga Wheel Worth It?
The best prop you can buy for your yoga practice might be a yoga wheel. It is more dynamic than a foam roller and more adaptable than a block or bolsters. Yoga wheels can help with balance problems, back pain relief, core muscle strengthening, and posture improvement.
Is a Yoga Wheel Good for Beginners?
Beginners should use yoga wheels because they reduce the risk of injury while performing poses like backbends and heart-openers. With each rolling motion, the wheel rolls over the kinks in your spine while supporting it as you lengthen and stretch.
What Muscles Does the Yoga Wheel Work?
A yoga wheel can work your back, core, arms, or legs depending on the pose you try.
How Do You Practice With a Yoga Wheel?
Any yoga practice can easily incorporate a yoga wheel by modifying poses like the fish pose, the wheel-assisted crow, the plank pose, the backbends, and the child’s pose. This prop aids in increasing flexibility and decreasing injuries, whether you hold the wheel in your hands or lay back on it.