Yoga Wall Poses

[Skye Severy]

LegsUp-the-Wall Pose is also one of my favorite poses to recommend to my prenatal yoga classes in Charleston, SC because it can help reduce swelling in the ankles and feet. In fact, it might be my second recommended posture for all of my students, next to Savasana (Learn how to modify Savasana for pregnancy and beyond).

There are two ways I like to teach my students to get into Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose.

The first is to simply sit down facing the wall, lift your feet up, and wiggle worm your bottom closer to the wall so your legs can be fully supported.

With your legs up the wall, pick up your babe, and sit them down on your hips. Their back will be supported by your legs and their legs will straddle you. Take a few deep breaths. Maybe even feel your little one rise and fall with your breath. Stay for as long as your little one will allow, then try to bring that calm, chill energy with you into the rest of your daily activities.

I'm Erica. I'm a yoga teacher who helps pregnant and new mamas find more balance in their life through yoga, mindfulness, self-care, inspiration, community, and humor. I spoil my yoga students rotten (in a good way!), and it's my mission to teach mamas that it's not selfish to spoil themselves every now and then, too.

The benefits of using a wall for your yoga practice range widely and are largely dependent on the type of poses for which you are utilizing the wall. Poses against a wall can generally be categorized as balancing postures, inversions, and restorative poses.

Practicing warrior II against a wall enhances stability, encourages length in the spine, and helps students find external rotation in the hips and an opening in the chest. For students seeking to deepen their expression of this posture, a wall provides added balance as you increase the bend in the front knee.

Warrior III is challenging because the hip of the free leg has a tendency to rise up toward the ceiling, but it should actually be dropped in line with the standing hip. Using a wall for the free foot upgrades your stability, which will help with spinning the back toes down, dropping the free hip, and finding proper warrior III alignment.

Standing splits against a wall is great prep for both regular standing splits away from the wall and for splits on the ground! I highly recommend having two blocks to press your hands into for this pose, as reaching all the way for the ground can take you out of the splits and is potentially more destabilizing. One note: you will have to use trial and error to find where placement of your standing foot feels best. I recommend starting with the heel 6-12 inches away from the wall, and moving further away from or closer to the wall as best suits your body.

Some students find traditional supta baddha konasana uncomfortable because the feet and legs are resting on the ground, which can create strain and tension in the hips and low back rather than releasing these areas. A wall offers a unique variation of this pose, minus the strain and discomfort you may experience in the traditional version.

Reclined side splits against a wall is a wonderful prep posture for traditional side splits on the ground. While frog pose is generally used as side splits prep, this wall posture removes the force of gravity (in contrast to frog, where gravity is pulling your body weight down), meaning it is much safer for the knees and less stressful on the body, which reduces the risk of tearing or pulling soft tissue or muscle.

Legs up the wall is a classic restorative posture frequently practiced at the end of class, often with students in the middle of the room and using an imaginary wall. While this is very nice, it never feels as supportive and restorative as having a real wall to rest the legs against in order to fully release and let go.

Using a wall for your yoga practice can add stability in balancing postures, make inversions safer and more accessible, and provide the support needed to fully release in restorative postures. Whether you are looking to find more support, deepen a stretch, or add stability to a balancing pose, a wall can meet all of these needs and more. While the 10 poses demonstrated against a wall here are a great start, there are many more to discover! Get creative during your yoga practice to see how a wall may best serve YOU and the postures you practice.

The Legs-Up-the-Wall pose has plenty of therapeutic benefits, from relieving stress to reducing headaches. To get the most from the pose, practice it once or twice a day. You can do the pose alone or use it in your regular yoga practice.

Improved circulation. Legs-Up-the-Wall is good for reducing leg swelling. When you stand or sit all day, your legs can swell because your body isn't circulating blood well. Holding your legs up in this position helps ease discomfort and keep your blood from pooling and staying in your legs. Practicing the pose reduces your risk for blood clots.

Additional benefits. The overall benefits from the de-stressing effects of this pose can help you feel better. There are claims that viparita karani can help relieve headaches or reduce high blood pressure.

You can modify this pose by putting a towel under your neck for extra support if your neck is sore. To get a deeper stretch, bend your knees against the wall and bring your feet together, making a "V" shape.

To come out of the viparita karani pose, pull your knees into your chest and roll to one side. Rest for a moment, then slowly sit up. Shake out your legs before standing to help balance your blood flow.

Glaucoma. The pressure shifts in this pose can cause fluid pressure in your eyes. This position puts an unnecessary strain on your eyes. Once out of the position, the pressure should return to normal after sitting up.

Excessive fluid retention. If you have a condition that causes extra fluid in your body, avoid this pose. Or get permission from your doctor. The excess fluid in your body could go back down to your heart, putting strain on it. These conditions include:

Make your hips and health happy with this yin yoga wall sequence. Think about how many hours spend sitting. Probably more than you want to admit. Research has linked sitting for long periods of time with a number of health concerns, like high blood pressure and high blood sugar.

Extend your legs and rest them against the wall. If your hamstrings are tight, keep a slight bend in your knees. If your low back bothers you, roll up a small towel and slide it beneath the curve of your low back.

Bend your knees and bring the soles of your feet together. You can deepen the stretch by bringing your feet closer to the floor and/or using your hands to apply gentle pressure in the external rotation.

If you found half-dragonfly to be particularly intense, then full wall dragonfly will be a double treat in the sensation department. You can use blocks here, or if the hold becomes too much, brings your legs closer together.

Ahhh, the perfect wrap-up to all those yin yoga hip holds. Twists balance out your spine and release tension in your low back. Choose the variation of reclined twist you like the best. Repeat on the other side.

If that is not incentive enough, wall yoga can be very therapeutic for people with scoliosis or disc disease. In fact, Rosa told me a success story of one of her students who, over a period of two years, had the angle of the curvature in his spine decrease due to weekly wall yoga sessions.

Before my class began, I went up to introduce myself to the instructor, Rasoul Sobhani, and let him know I was new. He was a little nonchalant about this announcement and whisked me away back to my spot on the wall, assuring me that he would take good care of all the first-timers. And that he did. With a calm, soothing voice, Rasoul took his time to show us how to do the asanas with the aid of the wall and strap, always demonstrating proper alignment, and then he went around ensuring we were set up properly in the poses. I think we all rested more assured when he clued us in to the fact that the straps can hold a weight up to 1,500 pounds!

I have a few sets of these in my home space and have loved them so much. I also have the Yoga Trapeze but I think I still favor my wall ropes. So many things to do with them to feel poses deeper and to help with alignment.

Thread the Needle pose against a wall is a safe and effective way to stretch the hips, particularly the piriformis muscle. Releasing tension in the hips helps to create a sense of physical ease throughout the entire body, particularly in the knees and low back, as well as mental ease and clarity.

In more therapeutic variations of this posture, you may have blocks under your hips to elevate them, creating a slight inversion in your lower belly, and a strap securing your legs together so that you can fully relax and release into the pose, without having to exert effort to hold your legs up.

Inverted poses, including Legs Up The Wall Pose, can be dangerous when practiced during your period. Furthermore, if you have certain medical conditions that may escalate symptoms (glaucoma or high blood pressure) talk to your doctor before practicing inverted poses.

Practicing supported yoga at the wall is a welcome change when you are living a fast-paced lifestyle. Supported Asana embraces slowing down and can be quite accessible. This relaxing sequence uses a wall, often an underutilized prop. You are welcome to use any other yoga props to enhance these variations. The beauty of this sequence is that if you only have a few minutes to yourself without access to any props other than a wall, you can still relax and restore.

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