Way back in the mid-to-late 1980s, Hugger Mugger Yoga Products was a fledgling business in Sara Chambers’s basement. She started with a pair of thigh-hugging shorts and a strap. Soon, she was importing mats and making yoga blocks in her wood shop. Then came yoga bolsters.
Inspired by the bolsters used at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute in Pune, India, Sara began making her own. HM’s bolsters were designed to be faithful to the size, shape and firmness of Iyengar’s bolsters. In fact, they still are. We’ve made a few tweaks to our original design over the years to improve their function. Now our bolsters are even sturdier and longer lasting than ever. We believe that our bolsters are, quite simply, the highest quality and most functional of any bolsters on the market.
Why Our Yoga Bolsters Are Amazing
- Foam Core & Cotton Batting: The key to a great bolster is firmness. But it has to be comfortable too, since bolsters are mostly used in Restorative Yoga. Our bolsters feature a hard foam core tightly wrapped in cotton batting. This keeps the bolster from collapsing and bending when it’s being supported by blocks (as in the photo at the top of this blog). The cotton batting provides a soft, comfortable outer layer so that your body can melt right in. Taken together, the solid foam core and cotton batting create the perfect combination of firmness and softness.
- Upholstery-Grade Fabric: In order for our bolsters to be firm, the filling has to be super snug inside the cover. This means that the fabric has to have great tensile strength. All our yoga bolsters are made with upholstery-grade fabric. This makes them sturdy enough to hold up to the internal pressure of the ultra-firm filling. They’ll also easily support body weight. Our bolsters will give you decades of daily use and continue to look and feel great. We offer solid fabrics in rich colors, and printed bolsters with distinctive designs.
- Carrying Handles: If you really love your personal yoga bolster, you may want to take it with you to yoga class. When you’re toting a bolster to class, along with your mat, blocks, blankets, etc., it can be quite a load. Our bolsters feature carrying handles on both ends, making them easy to transport wherever you want to take them.
- Handmade in the U.S.A.: Since the 1980s, HM has always manufactured our own bolsters, here in our Salt Lake City-based facility. We’ve never farmed out our bolster manufacturing because we’re committed to making sure the quality is the best it can be. Our professional seamstresses sew the covers, and our master bolster maker—who has specialized in making our bolsters for more than 10 years—puts them together. Each bolster is tested for quality, firmness and functionality.
Hugger Mugger Yoga Bolster Choices:
For more information on how to choose the best bolster for your practice, read this post.