Hi and Welcome to your Journey into Yoga! I’m Avery Rich and am so happy to have you along for the ride! I remember back to when I was a teenager - seems like a million years ago now…but I have a vivid recollection of times when I just wasn’t feeling right - could have been a stomach ache or stress about an upcoming test or just feeling restless. I would lie in my bed and take my legs up the wall. I would lie there for several minutes maybe longer, and I recall this being a very effective way to alleviate whatever ailed me. Fast forward to adulthood and lo and behold was I surprised to learn that legs up the wall or vipariti karani is in fact a yoga pose! This posture has so many benefits for the body and mind it’s sometimes hard to believe how much this one pose can do.

Legs up the wall is an inversion pose, which allows the flow in the body to change direction . This in turn assists in refreshing the internal body, and also may help in refreshing the mental body and provide us with fresh perspective.

Without getting into all the big scientific words, suffice it to say that legs up the wall relaxes your entire nervous system, making it one of the most effective poses to reduce stress and anxiety. But wait, there’s more!

This pose helps to take all weight off of the ankles and feet, which gives these overused areas of the body a much needed break. Not only does legs up the wall help to relieve aching muscle and joints, it also helps to regulate the nervous system and reduce cortisol in the body cools and calms the body and can help with all aspects of life including and perhaps most importantly sleep.

In my travels through life, I have been told that legs up the wall could actually be the most effective pose for relieving stress. Based on my own experience with this pose, it is a wonderful way to bring calm and ease to the body and my mind; I am very excited to share this pose with you!

To get started, place a yoga mat or something you can lie on, up against the wall. Sitting down close to the wall, you want to manoeuvre yourself so that your legs can stretch up the wall, with your buttocks as close to the wall as possible. Your legs and body should be comfortable here, so if you need to, shuffle either closer or even a bit further away from the wall to suit you. You are welcome to put a support such as a pillow or folded blanket or yoga bolster underneath your hips if you would like to lift the hips in the pose, but this is optional. Since the posture is cooling, you may want to have a blanket over your torso or even put on some socks, Focus on breathing slowly and calmly, moving your awareness from your feet to your head on the inhale, and from your head to feet on the exhale. Let’s stay here for 20 delicious breaths. To come out of the posture, draw your knees in towards your chest, gently roll over onto your right side and then press yourself up to sitting. stay here for a few breaths in an upright shape allowing your body to settle.

You are welcome to move into a shavasana, or move on with your day.

Thank you for including me on your journey into yoga…until next time stay calm!