DIY Yoga Props: How to Use Towels and Books Instead of Buying Expensive Bolsters and Blocks

In This Article

• The Day I Spent $340 on Yoga Props and Felt Great About It
• What Yoga Props Actually Do — and Why You Already Own Them
• The DIY Yoga Block: Your Book Collection Finally Earns Its Keep
• The DIY Bolster: What a Rolled Towel Can Do That a $90 Cylinder Cannot
• The DIY Yoga Strap: The Belt You Have Been Ignoring for Three Years
• The DIY Blanket: The Thing You Already Have That Is Literally Called a Blanket
• The DIY Eye Pillow: A Sock. Filled With Rice. I Am Serious.
• Putting It All Together: A Full Restorative Practice With Zero New Purchases
• Final Thoughts — Or: Why I Still Have the $90 Bolster
• Frequently Asked Questions About DIY Yoga Props

The Day I Spent $340 on Yoga Props and Felt Great About It

I want to tell you about the first time I walked into a yoga supply store, which was a Tuesday in October and a mistake I have thought about almost every day since.

I had been doing yoga for approximately three weeks at that point — long enough to feel like I knew what I was doing, which is the most dangerous interval of any new hobby. I had watched fourteen YouTube tutorials. I had a mat. I had downloaded an app. I was, in my own mind, essentially a yogi.

The store was beautiful in the way that stores are beautiful when they are selling you a lifestyle rather than a product. Everything was the color of a sunset over a beach you cannot afford to visit. The woman behind the counter had the calm, unhurried manner of someone who has either achieved true inner peace or has been microdosing since breakfast — I genuinely could not tell which.

“I need props,” I said, with the confidence of a person who had googled “what are yoga props” forty minutes earlier.

She nodded slowly, as though this was a perfectly reasonable thing to say, and began walking me through the store with the gentle authority of someone who has done this many times and is very good at it.

I left forty-five minutes later with a bolster ($89), two cork blocks ($28 each), a strap ($22), a wool blanket ($94), an eye pillow ($24), a block bag ($18), and a small jar of something called “savasana spray” that I have never been able to fully explain to myself or anyone else ($17). I had also somehow agreed to a mat bag, though I have no memory of that decision being made.

Total: $340. Plus tax. Plus the mat bag.

I carried it all home in four separate tote bags, arranged everything carefully on my practice space — which was a corner of my bedroom where I had pushed a chair — and did twenty minutes of yoga before realizing that I had been using the bolster incorrectly for the entire session and had no idea what the savasana spray was supposed to do.

The bolster is now under my bed. The eye pillow is on the dog. The savasana spray is in a drawer next to some expired cough medicine and a phone charger that does not fit any phone I currently own.

I tell you this not as a cautionary tale about yoga stores, which are lovely places staffed by genuinely kind people. I tell you this because I want you to understand that I am not speaking theoretically when I tell you that you do not need any of it. I have been to the mountain. The mountain cost me $340. The mountain is under my bed.

You need a towel, some books, and a belt you already own.

Let me explain.

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What Yoga Props Actually Do — and Why You Already Own Them

Before we get into the specifics, it is worth understanding what yoga props are actually for — because the yoga industry has done such a thorough job of making them seem mystical and essential that most people have lost track of the underlying logic.

Props exist for two reasons. The first is support: bringing the floor closer to you, or a part of your body closer to the floor, in poses where your current flexibility does not allow you to get there on your own. A block under your hand in a triangle pose is not a crutch for people who are not flexible enough. It is a tool that lets you maintain proper alignment while your body continues to develop. The second is restoration: providing sustained, comfortable support for the body in passive poses where the goal is to release tension over time — typically in restorative and yin yoga practices.

Both of these functions — support and restoration — can be accomplished with household objects. Not approximately, not almost-as-well, but fully, completely, and for zero additional money. The expensive props are more aesthetically pleasing, and the better ones are more precisely calibrated in terms of density and height, and if you practice yoga seriously every day for years then investing in quality props eventually makes sense.

But for the vast majority of people who are doing yoga at home on a Tuesday night because they read an article about stress reduction and thought they should probably try it? A rolled bath towel and a stack of cookbooks will do everything you need.

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The DIY Yoga Block: Your Book Collection Finally Earns Its Keep

A standard yoga block is a rectangular foam or cork brick approximately nine inches by six inches by four inches. It costs between $12 and $28 depending on the material, and its entire purpose is to be a stable thing of a specific height that you can put under your hand, your hip, or your forehead when the floor is too far away.

I would like you to look at your bookshelf and consider what you see there.

I do not know what books you own, but I can tell you with reasonable confidence that somewhere in your home there are hardcover books of a suitable size and density to serve as excellent yoga blocks. A standard hardcover novel is approximately nine inches tall and six inches wide — essentially the dimensions of a yoga block. Stack two together and you have a standard block height. Stack three and you have a higher variation for poses where more elevation is needed.

The key requirements for a book-block are hardcover binding, sufficient thickness, and enough structural integrity to support some weight without buckling. A paperback will not work. A magazine will not work. Your grandmother’s complete collection of Reader’s Digest condensed books, however — those are essentially yoga blocks with plots.

I have personally tested the following book-block configurations and can report their suitability with some authority:

A single hardcover edition of a 400-plus page novel works perfectly under the hand in triangle pose, half moon, and revolved side angle. Two stacked hardcovers of similar size provide the standard four-inch block height needed for most standing poses. Three stacked hardcovers — ideally with a non-slip surface like a folded washcloth between the top book and your hand — work well for seated forward folds where you need to bring the floor up to meet you.

One important note: do not use books you care about for any pose that involves significant weight-bearing. The spine of a beloved first edition does not benefit from having your entire bodyweight rested on it. Use the Dan Brown novels. Use the self-help books you bought but never finished. Use the airport thriller that has been sitting on your nightstand for two years. They have waited long enough to be useful.

The DIY Bolster: What a Rolled Towel Can Do That a $90 Cylinder Cannot

The yoga bolster is the prop that generates the most complicated feelings in me personally, given my history with the one under my bed.

A bolster is a firm cylindrical or rectangular cushion used primarily in restorative yoga to support the body in passive, held poses. You drape yourself over it in a supported fish pose. You place it under your knees in savasana. You sit on it to elevate your hips in seated meditation. It is, when used correctly, genuinely wonderful — a bolster under the spine in a supported backbend is one of the most deeply releasing sensations available to the human body, and I say this as someone who has experienced it, very briefly, before putting mine under the bed.

The problem with a $90 bolster is not that it does not work. It does work. The problem is that a tightly rolled bath towel also works, costs nothing, and has the additional advantage of being something you already own and use for a completely unrelated purpose, which means it is not taking up space under your bed judging you.

To make a bolster from a bath towel: lay the towel flat on the floor, fold it in thirds lengthwise so you have a long narrow strip, and roll it tightly from one short end to the other. The resulting cylinder is approximately the right diameter for most bolster applications. Secure it with a rubber band or hair tie if it tends to unroll, or simply place it on the floor and let the mat hold it in position.

For a rectangular bolster — used under the knees in savasana or as a seat riser in meditation — fold two bath towels into thirds lengthwise, stack them on top of each other, and fold the stack in half. The resulting rectangle provides a firm, supportive platform that closely approximates the function of a rectangular bolster, costs nothing, and doubles as perfectly ordinary towels when you are done with your practice.

The one area where the rolled towel has a genuine limitation compared to a real bolster is density. A proper bolster is filled with buckwheat or dense foam and maintains its shape under sustained pressure. A towel will compress somewhat under the weight of your body, which means it is slightly less effective in poses that require the support to stay at a precise height. For most home practitioners doing occasional restorative practice, this is entirely acceptable. For people doing daily deep restorative work, eventually investing in a real bolster makes sense.

But most people are not doing daily deep restorative work. Most people are trying yoga for the first time and want to do a supported fish pose on a Wednesday evening. For those people — which is most people — a bath towel is completely fine, and also it was already in their linen closet, and the $90 is still in their bank account where it can continue doing whatever money does when it is in a bank account.

The DIY Yoga Strap: The Belt You Have Been Ignoring for Three Years

A yoga strap is a flat woven belt, typically six to eight feet long, with a metal D-ring buckle at one end. It is used to bridge the gap between your hands and your feet in poses where your flexibility does not yet allow direct contact — seated forward folds, reclined leg stretches, shoulder openers, and various other situations in which your limbs would very much like to connect but are not currently on speaking terms.

You own this. It is in your closet or in a drawer or hanging on a hook by the door. It is one of the following things: the fabric belt from a bathrobe. A necktie you do not wear anymore. A long scarf. A dog leash (I am not joking — a flat nylon dog leash is essentially the same object as a yoga strap, and it is already buckled). A regular belt from a pair of pants, extended to its longest setting.

The function is identical. A yoga strap extends your reach. Any long, flat, non-elastic fabric item of sufficient length extends your reach in the same way. The D-ring buckle on a real yoga strap is convenient for adjusting length on the fly, but for most home applications, a simple loop tied in the towel-belt or scarf works fine.

The one thing to avoid is anything elastic. A stretchy strap defeats the purpose entirely, because the stretch absorbs the resistance that makes the prop useful. You want something with no give — flat, firm, and long enough to reach from your hands to your feet with some room to spare.

The DIY Blanket: The Thing You Already Have That Is Literally Called a Blanket

I will keep this section brief because I think the argument makes itself.

Yoga studios sell specially folded Mexican blankets for yoga purposes. They typically cost $35 to $55. They are firm, heavy, and fold precisely into a rectangle that can be used for seated support, knee padding, shoulder padding in inversions, and warmth during savasana.

You own a blanket. It is already in your home. It does all of these things. The end.

If you want to get specific about it: a firm folded blanket under your sitting bones elevates the pelvis and allows the spine to lengthen naturally in seated poses, which is particularly helpful for people who have tight hamstrings. A rolled blanket under the knees softens the joint in seated poses. A folded blanket under the shoulders in supported shoulderstand brings the neck into better alignment and protects the cervical spine. All of these applications work with whatever blanket is on your couch right now.

The only meaningful difference between a yoga blanket and a regular blanket is weight and weave density — yoga blankets are typically heavier and more tightly woven, which helps them hold a fold more precisely. If your home blanket is a lightweight throw that collapses under itself, try a heavier cotton or wool blanket. But if you are standing in front of your linen closet right now, I can almost guarantee there is something in there that will work.

The DIY Eye Pillow: A Sock. Filled With Rice. I Am Serious.

An eye pillow is a small weighted fabric pouch, typically filled with flaxseed or lavender, that you place over your eyes during savasana. The gentle pressure activates the oculocardiac reflex, which slows heart rate and deepens the relaxation response. It is, legitimately, a wonderful thing. I know this because the one I bought is now on my dog, and my dog sleeps more peacefully than anyone I know.

You can make one in four minutes.

Take a clean sock — a crew sock, not an ankle sock, preferably one without holes, though honestly the holes do not matter much since the rice will not fit through them anyway. Fill it approximately two-thirds full with uncooked white rice. Tie a knot near the top to keep the rice contained. Optionally, add five or six drops of lavender essential oil to the rice before knotting, shake it around, and let it sit for an hour so the scent absorbs.

That is an eye pillow. It weighs correctly. It conforms to the shape of your eye sockets. It blocks light. The lavender, if you added it, smells like a yoga studio. It cost approximately forty cents in rice and can be replenished from your pantry indefinitely.

If you want to make a more permanent version, take any small piece of fabric — a cut-off section of an old t-shirt, a fabric napkin, a handkerchief — fold it into a rectangular pouch, fill it with rice and a few dried lavender buds if you have them, and stitch or tie the open end closed. This version will last indefinitely and looks considerably more intentional than a knotted sock, which matters if you are the kind of person who cares about these things.

I am not particularly that kind of person, but I respect that you might be.

Putting It All Together: A Full Restorative Practice With Zero New Purchases

Here is a complete 30-minute restorative yoga sequence using only what you already own.

Supported Child’s Pose (5 minutes)

Stack two folded bath towels into a rectangular bolster and place them lengthwise on your mat. Kneel behind the stack and lower your torso over it, letting your arms rest to either side and your forehead on the front edge of the towels. The stack supports your chest and belly and allows your back to release fully.

Supported Fish Pose (5 minutes)

Roll one bath towel into a tight cylinder and place it horizontally across your mat. Sit just in front of it and slowly lower your spine onto the roll, letting it fall between your shoulder blades. Your head should reach the floor or very nearly — if not, place a folded hand towel under your head. Arms rest at your sides, palms up. Eyes covered with your sock pillow. Breathe.

Reclined Bound Angle (5 minutes)

Roll two hand towels into smaller cylinders and place one under each knee. Bring the soles of your feet together and allow your knees to fall open, supported by the towel rolls. This is the pose that costs $160 in a yoga studio when they hand you a bolster and two blocks. Your hand towels work.

Seated Forward Fold with Strap (3 minutes)

Sit with legs extended. Loop your bathrobe belt or a long scarf around the balls of your feet and hold one end in each hand. Slowly walk your hands forward along the strap as your flexibility allows, maintaining a long spine. Hold where you feel a gentle stretch.

Legs Up the Wall (7 minutes)

No props required. Scoot your hips close to a wall, swing your legs up, and let gravity do the work. This is the most restorative pose in yoga and it costs absolutely nothing and it will change your life if you do it for seven minutes every day, which I say with the modest confidence of someone who has read a great deal of research on the subject and occasionally actually does it.

Savasana (5 minutes)

Lie flat. Place your sock pillow over your eyes. Pull your blanket over yourself. Do nothing. This is the hardest pose in yoga for most Americans and the one that requires the fewest props and the most courage.

Final Thoughts — Or: Why I Still Have the $90 Bolster

Here is the thing I have been building toward and have perhaps been slightly avoiding.

The $90 bolster is still under my bed. I know it is there. I think about it sometimes, usually when I am doing a supported fish pose on a rolled bath towel and thinking: that bolster is literally three feet away from me.

I do not get it out. Partly because getting it out would require pulling it out from under the bed, which involves moving a box of things I have been meaning to donate for eighteen months and confronting the general state of the under-bed situation, which is a project for a different day. Partly because the rolled bath towel works perfectly well and has never given me any reason to replace it.

But mostly because there is something I find genuinely useful about the towel version — not just financially, though $90 is $90, but philosophically. The towel version is a reminder that yoga is not about having the right stuff. It is about showing up, on a mat or a patch of carpet or a patch of grass, with whatever you have, and doing the thing. The poses do not care what your props cost. Your nervous system does not know the difference between a cork block and a copy of Moby Dick. Your body, which is the only equipment that actually matters, is already there.

The yoga industry is very good at making you feel like you need more than you have. The honest truth is that you almost certainly have everything you need, right now, in your home, to start a yoga practice that will do everything a practice involving $340 of equipment would do.

The towel is enough. You are enough.

The savasana spray, however — I have no explanation for that. Some things remain a mystery.

At The Frugal Glow, we have a strong and abiding belief that wellness should be available to everyone, not just people with an Amazon Prime account and a flexible credit limit. Budget yoga, frugal self-care, smart swaps that actually work — this is what we are here for. Your practice does not need to be expensive to be real. It just needs to be yours.

Frequently Asked Questions About DIY Yoga Props

Q1: Are DIY yoga props actually safe to use or could I injure myself?

For the vast majority of yoga poses and home practice applications, DIY props made from household items are completely safe. The primary safety consideration with any yoga prop — store-bought or homemade — is stability: the prop needs to hold its shape and position under the weight and movement you are applying to it. A tightly rolled bath towel, a stacked set of hardcover books, and a firm fabric belt all meet this standard for typical home practice. The one area that warrants some caution is weight-bearing poses where instability could cause a fall — if you are doing a balance pose with a prop involved, test its stability before committing your full weight. For restorative and gentle yoga, which is where most prop use occurs, the risk profile is extremely low regardless of whether the prop came from a store or a linen closet.

Q2: What is the best household item to use as a yoga block?

Hardcover books are the most versatile and widely available yoga block substitute. A single thick hardcover provides approximately the standard four-inch block height used in most standing and seated poses. The ideal book-block is stiff, sturdy, and large enough to provide a stable base — think hardcover novels, reference books, or coffee table books rather than smaller-format paperbacks. For poses where the block will bear significant weight, two books stacked and stabilized with a rubber band or placed on a non-slip surface work well. Avoid using books you care about in heavily weight-bearing applications. A dense wooden cutting board or a firm throw pillow can also substitute effectively in specific poses.

Q3: How do I make a yoga bolster from a towel that actually holds its shape?

The key to a stable towel bolster is rolling tightly and evenly from the start. Lay the bath towel completely flat on a clean surface, fold it in thirds lengthwise to create a long narrow strip, then roll it as tightly as possible from one short end to the other — tighter than you think necessary. Secure the outer edge with two rubber bands placed about a third of the way in from each end. For a denser, firmer bolster, layer two bath towels together before rolling. The resulting cylinder holds its shape reasonably well under the weight of the upper body and torso. If you find it unrolling during practice, placing it on top of your yoga mat rather than directly on a slippery floor adds friction and stability.

Q4: What can I use as a yoga strap if I do not have a bathrobe belt?

Several common household items work well: a dog leash (flat nylon, not retractable), a long scarf of any non-elastic fabric, a fabric tie or necktie, a long strip cut from an old sheet or t-shirt, a canvas tote bag handle removed from the bag, or a length of ribbon or twill tape from a sewing kit. The requirements are that the item be non-elastic (stretch defeats the purpose), long enough to bridge the distance from your hands to your feet with extra room for adjustment, and strong enough to hold tension without fraying or tearing. Most standard yoga strap applications require a length of about five to six feet — shorter for tall people and for shoulder work, longer for seated forward folds.

Q5: Can I use a regular blanket instead of a yoga blanket for seated support?

Yes, with one adjustment. Regular household blankets tend to be softer and less structured than traditional Mexican yoga blankets, which means they compress more under the weight of your sitting bones. To compensate, fold your blanket more times than you think necessary — a standard yoga block substitute fold for a household blanket is typically four to six folds rather than the two or three used with a dense yoga blanket. The resulting stack should be firm enough to stay at a consistent height under your weight for several minutes. Heavier cotton or wool blankets work better than lightweight fleece throws for this purpose. The goal is a firm, even surface that elevates the sitting bones slightly above the heels, allowing the pelvis to tilt forward naturally.

Q6: Do I need any yoga props at all as a beginner?

Many beginners do perfectly fine without any props for the first weeks of practice, particularly in more active yoga styles like vinyasa or power yoga where the practice is movement-focused rather than alignment-focused. Props become more useful as you develop a regular practice and begin to notice where your body needs support or where limited flexibility is preventing you from getting the full benefit of a pose. Restorative yoga, yin yoga, and alignment-focused Iyengar-style practice use props most extensively and benefit most from having them available. If you are starting with a YouTube yoga channel or a beginner app, most instructors will suggest modifications and props as they become relevant — and at that point, reaching for a household substitute costs nothing and works immediately.

Q7: What is the rice sock eye pillow actually doing and does it really work?

It works through a combination of three mechanisms. The gentle weight of the filled sock activates the oculocardiac reflex — a parasympathetic response triggered by light pressure on the eyelids that slows heart rate and deepens relaxation. The darkness created by the opaque fabric signals to the brain that it is time to rest, reducing visual stimulation and allowing the nervous system to downshift more fully into the rest-and-digest state. And the optional lavender scent, if you added it, engages the olfactory system with a stimulus that research has associated with reduced anxiety and improved sleep onset. None of these effects require a $24 flaxseed pillow from a specialty store. They require a sock, some rice, and the willingness to lie still for five minutes.

Q8: How much money can I realistically save by using DIY props instead of buying a full set?

A complete set of quality yoga props — two blocks, one bolster, one strap, one blanket, and one eye pillow — from a mid-range yoga retailer costs between $180 and $280. A comparable DIY setup using household items costs nothing if you already own bath towels, books, a blanket, and a belt, which is virtually everyone. Even if you need to purchase a few supplementary items — a pack of rubber bands, a bag of rice — the total cost is under $5. Over a year of regular home practice, the savings range from $175 to $275. Over several years of practice, the savings are simply the entire cost of a commercial prop set, compounding every year you continue not buying one. The DIY versions have meaningful functional limitations only for very advanced or daily practitioners, which is a category that most beginners — the people who most need to know this information — will not occupy for some time.

Q9: What is the one prop worth actually buying, even on a tight budget?

A yoga mat. Everything else on the props list can be effectively replaced with household items, but a decent yoga mat does something that a towel on a hardwood floor or a carpet section genuinely cannot replicate: it provides a non-slip surface that stays in place under dynamic movement and gives you a defined, slightly cushioned practice space. A basic mat costs $15 to $25 at Target, Walmart, or on Amazon and lasts for years with reasonable care. The difference between practicing on a mat and practicing without one is significant enough in terms of safety, grip, and psychological “this is my practice space” signaling that it is the one purchase most practitioners genuinely recommend. Everything else — the bolsters, the blocks, the straps, the blankets, the savasana spray that I genuinely cannot explain — can wait, or be skipped entirely.

Q10: Is there anything a real yoga prop does that a household substitute absolutely cannot replicate?

Honestly, yes — for specific advanced applications. A genuine cork or high-density foam block maintains a more precise, consistent height under sustained weight-bearing than a stack of books, which can shift. A proper buckwheat bolster holds its cylindrical shape more reliably under the torso in long-held restorative poses than a rolled towel, which compresses slightly. A D-ring yoga strap allows for smooth, one-handed length adjustment mid-pose in a way that a knotted scarf does not. And a genuine eye pillow, filled with fine-grain flaxseed, conforms to the contours of the eye socket more precisely than a rice-filled sock, which has a slightly grainier texture. None of these differences are meaningful for casual home practice or beginning practitioners. They become relevant only when you are practicing seriously and frequently enough that these small functional advantages begin to matter — at which point you have also developed enough commitment to the practice to justify the investment. Start with the towels. Upgrade later, if ever.