Mama Yoga: Legs Up the Wall Pose

After child's pose, this is probably my most favorite yoga pose of. all. time.  Can you see a theme with my style of yoga?  I like my yoga to very restorative (read: lazy and easy).

I love this picture so much!  I had my husband snap this picture while we were in our room at Mammoth Mountain during our recent California trip.  Not that I was tired from snowboarding, since I didn't get to go, being on baby duty 24/7 and all.  I figured I have the rest of my life to snowboard, but Penelope will only be a baby once.  Riding in the gondola with her was fun enough.

In the picture, with me and Penelope, is my sweet friend Stacey, or as Penelope calls her EeCee.  Penelope really liked EeCee.  She is about 31 weeks pregnant and she is a real trooper.  Her boy (4 today!) is Wild with a capital W and even after chasing after him all day, she is always game for camping or surfing or whatever.  If I have another baby, I hope I have her energy and her patience.

If you don't have a lot of energy, Legs Up the Wall pose, is a great all around pose for everyone.  If you only do one yoga pose a day, or a week for that matter, do this one.  Doing this pose for 5 minutes is like taking a 25 minute nap.  It literally gives your body a break.

I first learned about this pose as a girl during a dance show. Actually, it was a video we were shooting for somebody, and we were about 12 years old.  The taping was taking all day long, and it was verging on child abuse, so our dance teacher/den mother gave us a break and lined us all up in a vacant room and told us to stay there with our legs up the wall for 20 minutes and we couldn't move.  Lo and behold, after 20 minutes we were all rearing to go.

Which makes me think, if you could get a toddler to do this for a few minutes, it would be a great thing to do when they need a nap, but are refusing to go down.

If you are pregnant, one of the reasons you get so tired is because your heart is working double time. It is exhausting for your body simply pumping blood back to your heart from your extremities.  Putting your legs up, lets gravity do the work for your body. 

If you get tired of having your legs up, you can do what we are doing in the picture above, for a modification.  It's basically Reclined Bound Angle pose with your legs up on the wall.

Also, if you are pregnant, you can put a rolled up towel or blanket under your right hip if you are worried about laying on your back for a little bit.  But remember, you will feel dizzy and light headed, long before your baby is getting less oxygen. If you are you doing this pose and you feel fine, then your baby is fine.