Viparita Karani, or legs up the wall, is an excellent pose for recovery whether it’s post-tramp or just the end of a stressful week. One of the key benefits of this pose is that it redirects the blood flood and helps stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest response versus the fight or flight response). Essentially it tells your body to chill out. There are many other benefits, including the obvious of giving your legs a rest, but let’s get to the pose itself.
For the traditional version, sit with your right hip near the wall, then lay down on your side, roll on to your back and swing your legs up the wall. If you have tight hamstrings (and many trampers do), you may need to move your hips away from the wall and bend your knees. You can also experiment by propping up your hips with a neatly folded blanket. Try to rest here for at least 2 minutes, but the longer the better.
If you don’t have a wall or find this version too much for tight muscles, try the version on your chair – I grabbed my office chair.
Just rest your calves on the chair, try to make sure the chair is adjusted to the right height so that your legs are comfortable – close to a 90 degree angle between calves and thighs is likely ideal.
One of my teachers said this pose is ‘the fountain of youth, guaranteed to take years off’ – I can’t promise that, but it does usually make you feel relaxed.
