Legs up the Wall (Viparita Karani)

It goes without saying that having a new baby is exhausting.  There’s little time to rest and recover, and even less time to be alone!  Five to ten minutes in legs up the wall (with or without your baby!) can reset your body and mind.  With legs together, or apart, this pose is a great inversion, reversing blood flow, rejuvenating tired feet and legs and even minimizing swelling.  It can reduce low and upper back pain.   Coupled with slow breathing, this pose will bring you into your parasympathetic nervous system, nourishing the whole body into balance and recovery.  (and a bonus is that you get extra snuggle time with your little one!)

*This pose can also be done in pregnancy, though one should be cautious about lying directly on the back.  Blood flow and circulation can be restricted, as the weight of baby and placenta grows, if it puts too much pressure on the vena cava—the vein the runs from the lower body into the heart.  It’s often fine in the first to early second trimester without props, and when mama is further along, props such as blankets can be used

View all poses from the yoga for mamas series here.

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