Relax to the max with legs up the wall
If you haven't ever tried the simple practice of recovery with your legs up the wall, this post might just convince you to give it a shot. Like, now now just to experience the immediate shift it gives your nervous system. Poking around the internets, it seems that one of the reasons this pose has such an immediate effect is because it enables your heart rate to instantly and automatically slow down. Why? Because your ticker doesn't have to work so damn hard to get the blood from your legs to the heart - gravity is giving a major assist!! And when your heart slows - that is a cue for your parasympathetic nervous system to come online and get the resting and digesting going. Yay!
Long before I was a yogi- in fact in high school if I remember correctly - I was told by a track coach (I was a hurdler and 4x200 relayer if you were curious) to do legs up the wall for recovery to help circulate and dissipate lactic acid. Totally! I also remember reading somewhere to put your feet up after a long flight to help circulate the blood pooling, and with one TDY to Bahrain (from San Diego!) and three TDYs to Japan and Korea (I almost earned a Korean service medal) AND seven deployments to the Middle East, I have been on a LOT of long flights y'all. Thanks for all the international travel, US military! Every time as soon as I could I would put my feet up and could feel the strange sensation of the blood moving back.
On two of those previously mentioned deployments I was on a little base in Jordan that had a great dojo room- perfect for yoga with the mats already on the floor. My last class of the week, on Thursdays, was legs up the wall. It was often my most-attended class of the week, and some of my yogis (the hardcore runners) only came on Thursdays for the recovery benefits. What I am saying is, a ton of people experienced the magic (well, neurophysiological effects really) of legs up the wall and kept coming back.
So, this week's practice is Legs Up the Wall. Choose your own adventure, folks!! You can keep your legs in the traditional Legs Up the Wall straight position the whole time, or change poses as I guide you in the practice. It is also an easy flow to remember to do for your own practice, using a timer app (my fave is the one on the free meditation app Insight Timer) where you set the bell to go off however long you want to stay in the pose. I do each pose for 90 seconds in this video, but when I teach I would do three minutes. You can do each one for as long as you like, but probably about five minutes is the max required. Don't forget to finish up with some time in savasana, even a couple minutes, to let everything synthesize!!
Here is your pose cheat sheet. For the figure 4, scoot your hips away from the wall to ease the additional tension of the pose. You can also google "legs up the wall yoga flow" for additional practices; I originally got this flow from an article I found back in 2020 that I cannot find at the moment but I am eternally grateful for!
- Straight
- Squat
- Butterfly
- Figure 4 – Left
- Figure 4 – Right
- Straight
- Sphinx (shins against wall)
- Savasana (even for a minute - it will feel SO good!)
Two important notes about this practice. First, certain health conditions (glaucoma as well as circulatory system issues) might mean this practice might be harmful so do a quick check with this article before you give it a spin.
Second, being still may not feel comfortable or even safe for your body and nervous system. This is for lots of reasons but the two main ones are what our sociocultural system has to say about what resting means, and the other is trauma. We get messages all the time about how productivity is the ULTIMATE goal and doing nothing is a grave transgression. Double down on those messages if you're in or were in the military. It's a bunch of nonsense, my friends!! Our bodies need rest and that drive for production came about with the industrial age in the late 1800s so our poor nervous systems have not caught up in evolution to be able to go go go all the time, nor should they ever because life is about so much more than work and activity.
Now, for trauma. If something awful happened to you when you were in a state of sleep or relaxation, you can bet your nervous system will remember and alarm bells will start going off every time you get close to a state of stillness and/or letting your guard down. Breath and heart rate quicken, muscle tone increases, perhaps even some tightness in the chest. So, if this sounds familiar, you are not alone and your super intelligent nervous system is doing its job trying to protect you. What this means for you for this practice in particular, is keep things moving!! Your hands and arms will be free to move around, you can do little wiggles, whatever you need to keep a little motion going so you can feel safe enough to enjoy the benefits of the practice.
So, my friends, here is the practice!! Let me know what you think or if you have any questions - you can just reply to this email 😎
As always, thanks for taking the time to check out this article and practice. If you know someone who might benefit from this content, please forward or share with them! I'd be delighted and honored for you helping share the love 🥰
In deepest gratitude,
💕Carly
