Legs Up the Wall (Viparita Karani)

Pronunciation and meaning

Viparita Karani: vip-uh-REE-tuh kuh-RAH-nee. Both words carry the stress on the second syllable from the end.

Viparita means turned around or inverted, and karani means doing, so the name is roughly an inverted action. You lie on your back with your legs resting up a wall, and let the floor and the wall hold you.

How to do Legs Up the Wall

1. Sit sideways on the floor with one hip touching the wall and your knees bent, with a folded blanket or a low bolster within reach.
2. Lean back onto one forearm, then swing your legs up the wall as you lower your back to the floor, turning your whole body in one move.
3. Shuffle your seat as close to the wall as feels easy. If the backs of your legs pull, slide a hand's width or two away; the legs do not need to be straight.
4. Rest your arms out to the sides with the palms up, or lay your hands on your belly. Let the feet go loose, soles facing the ceiling.
5. Stay for five to ten minutes, breathing slowly through the nose.
6. To come out, bend your knees toward your chest, roll onto your side and pause there for a few breaths before you push yourself up to sitting.

Make it easier

• Slide a folded blanket or a low bolster under your hips so the pelvis is slightly raised, with the tailbone dropping over the far edge toward the floor.
• No clear wall? Rest your calves on the seat of a chair instead, knees bent at a right angle.

Pregnancy and after birth

Pregnancy. Adapt. Lying flat on your back tends to become uncomfortable as pregnancy goes on, and it is usually best avoided later in pregnancy. Prop your upper back on a bolster so you rest on an incline, or lie on your left side with a pillow between the knees instead, and come out straight away if you feel dizzy, breathless or unwell. Check with your OB or midwife before you start.

After birth. Adapt. Wait until your OB or midwife has said gentle movement is fine. After a caesarean birth, keep the knees bent against the wall at first and always roll onto your side to come in and out, so the belly does not have to do the lifting.

Prenatal and postpartum guides live on joahnnalee.com.

Common mistakes

• Sitting down facing the wall and trying to climb the legs up. Start side-on to the wall and swing round; it is far easier on the lower back.
• Forcing the hamstrings straight. If the backs of the legs are working hard, move back from the wall until they soften.

Legs Up the Wall is one of the simplest restorative shapes, and it often comes just before the final rest of a practice. There is nothing to achieve in it: set it up well, then stay.

In a restorative yoga practice it is usually set up with a bolster or a folded blanket under the hips, and held for as long as it stays comfortable. It is also one of the shapes in a short evening practice for sleep.

Before you rest here, a soft supine twist with pillows under the knees is a kind way to unwind the back.

It is the gentle alternative many teachers offer to Shoulder Stand, the classic inversion on blankets.