5 ways to use a sandbag
Summary
Discover restorative yoga teacher Tawny Cortes’ five favourite poses to practise with a sandbag. Joined by fellow restorative teacher and her friend Yvonne O’Garro, she demonstrates five simple ways to incorporate sandbags into your restorative practice. Rooted in Iyengar Yoga, these grounding variations use gentle weight and longer holds to encourage relaxation and cultivate a deeper sense of calm, stability and support.
Take a moment to discover
1. Discover how to use a sandbag to enhance grounding and relaxation in your restorative poses.
2. Learn why gentle, supportive weight can help soothe the nervous system and encourage deeper rest.
3. Be inspired to deepen your restorative practice and use props in new ways.
I absolutely LOVE using sandbags in my yoga practice. As someone who has an anxious mind and tends to over worry, it’s probably no surprise that I gravitated towards more grounding practices like restorative yoga. With its emphasis on using lots of props to support the body and long holds (postures are held between 5-20 minutes), restorative yoga allows for a gradual downshifting of the nervous system to help relieve the stresses for daily life and leave you feeling replenished and renewed.
Sandbags have been a staple in Iyengar yoga, which is where the restorative yoga practice has its roots. Adding weight to the body, through the use of sandbags or eye bags, can help to provide an experience of grounding, bringing you out of the business of the mind and into your physical body. It provides a subtle soothing signal to the mind-body connection that it is safe, like a swaddle can soothe a baby, stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system (our rest and digest response). This creates a feeling of calm and security, which helps to ease feelings of stress and anxiety.
Here fellow restorative teacher, Yogamatters August co-host and my dear friend, Yvonne O’Garro, and I demonstrate 5 ways to incorporate sandbags into your restorative practice.
Fun fact: it was actually our mutual love of sandbags that first bonded Yvonne and I when we first met!
Reclined bound angle
You will need: 4 blocks, 2 bolsters, 2 bricks, 2 eye pillows, 2 sandbags
A classic restorative posture, reclined bound angle or Supta Baddha Konasana, sandbags can be incorporated into this pose to help ground the thigh bones.
- Start by positioning one cork brick horizontally at the top of your mat, then place a second brick vertically at an angle on top of the first and lay a bolster over them to support the spine.
- Add a neatly folded blanket under your head for extra comfort.
- Sit on the mat with your back to the bolster, bringing the soles of your feet together and allowing your knees to open wide.
- Place two blocks on either side of your legs, with the first flat and the second angled to support the outer thighs, and repeat on the other side.
- Slowly lie back along the bolster, ensuring your head and neck are supported by the folded blanket, and release your shoulder blades down while lengthening the tailbone toward your feet.
- Place sandbags on either hip to ground the thighs, and optionally add a mini bolster over the tops of the feet for extra grounding. Stay in this posture for 10–20 minutes.
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Cork Blocks
Cork blocks provide firm, stable support in restorative poses, helping support the body and other props for deeper release. Paired with a yoga sandbag for gentle, grounding weight, they create a balanced combination of lift and relaxation.
Downward savasana
You will need: 2 bolsters, sandbag, small rectangular bolster
Placing weight along the sacrum (the back of the pelvis) in any downward facing posture like Child’s Pose or Downward Savasana, can help to create length along the lower back as well as release tension.
Place one bolster vertically at the top of your mat and the second bolster horizontally across the width, so they touch and form an upside-down “T” shape. Use a small rectangular bolster or a rolled-up blanket at the bottom of the mat to support your feet. Come onto all fours and rest the tops of your feet on the mini bolster or blanket, then slowly lower yourself onto the bolsters so your lower abdomen rests on the horizontal bolster at the hip crease, while your ribs, chest, and head are supported by the vertical bolster. Turn your head to whichever side feels most comfortable and allow your forearms to rest on the ground, with elbows slightly away from the body to release tension across the shoulders. Place a sandbag over the back of the pelvis, gently pulling it down toward your bottom to create a sense of length, and stay in this posture for 10–20 minutes.
Organic Cotton Chambray Buckwheat Bolster
Filled with sturdy buckwheat hulls which provide comfort and support and you can remove some to achieve desired density
Reclined twist
You will need: 1 Blanket, 1 bolster, 2 blocks, 2 sandbags
In this reclined twist there is the option to use one or two sandbags, depending on what you have at your disposal. As you can see in the image above, one sandbag is placed over the right hip, with the weight of the sandbag slightly drawing down away from the body to help anchor the hip down and create more length along the right side body. The second sandbag is placed over the right shoulder, which is particularly useful in helping to draw the right shoulder down towards the floor to help deepen the twist.
Take a folded blanket and roll it into a small support for the natural inward curve of the neck. Place two blocks in portrait orientation side by side on the left-hand side of the mat, then lay a bolster on top. Lie down on the mat with your head on the blanket and the small roll under your neck. Bend your knees and place your feet on the floor, then lift your hips and shift them to the right. Straighten your left leg and hug your right knee into your chest, then exhale and draw the right leg across the body to the left, resting the lower leg on the raised bolster. Ensure the right knee is roughly in line with your hip and that the entire lower leg is supported, with the option of placing another bolster along the outer right hip to release tension. Extend your right arm out to the side, palm up, and if your shoulder doesn’t fully reach the ground, gently adjust your leg or place a sandbag to encourage the right shoulder toward the mat. Stay here for 5–8 minutes before repeating on the other side.
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The Hemp Sandbag
With a cover made from 100% extremely durable hemp and it comes filled with gravel stones, offering excellent weight distribution that you can control.
Savasana with props
You will need: 4 blocks, 1 sandbag, 1 blanket, 1 belt, 1 bolster
Placing a sandbag over the forehead has a similar feeling to using an eye pillow, however the sandbag has a bit more weight to it. Adding weight to the forehead can help to subtly signal to the mind to quieten and settle.
Before lying down for savasana, stack four blocks at the top of your mat just above your head and place a sandbag on top of the stacked blocks. Lie down and gently pull the sandbag forward so it rests across your forehead, with about a third of the sandbag covering the forehead and the rest remaining on the blocks. Ensure the weight is evenly distributed for a comfortable, grounding experience.
Shop Sandbags
Feeling inspired? Our yoga sandbags offer gentle support exactly where you need it. You can fill them yourself to adjust the weight and firmness, or use pre-filled options for convenience. Available in a variety of colours, materials, and sizes—standard or long—they make it easy to find the right fit for your practice.
