Styles & Classes

Restorative Yoga — The Case for Doing Less

Bolsters, blankets, and long supported holds. The pose does almost nothing; that is the point.

Tomas Rel · 3 May 2026 · Solaivo, Porto

In restorative yoga the props do the work. You are propped into a comfortable shape and held there for minutes at a time, until the nervous system finally accepts that nothing is required of it and lets go.

How to practise it

1. Gather props first: two bolsters or firm cushions, a folded blanket, and a strap or belt.
2. Choose three or four shapes and stay in each for three to eight minutes.
3. Support the body so fully that no muscle has to hold the pose — that is the test.
4. Keep the room warm; a cooling body cannot fully relax.
5. Let the exhale lengthen on its own. Do not force it; just make room for it.

Common mistakes

• Under-propping, so the body still braces and never fully softens.
• Coming out of a pose the moment it gets boring. The settling happens after the boredom.
• Treating it as stretching. Restorative is about the nervous system, not the hamstrings.

Rest is not the reward for the practice; sometimes it is the practice.

In the studio, and at home

This is the practice for a hard week, the week of a cold coming on, or the evening after a long flight. Nothing here is in a hurry, least of all you.

Rest is not the reward for the practice; sometimes it is the practice. Restorative yoga is permission, held for a few minutes at a time.