Adho much svanasana (downward facing dog)

Adho mukha svanasana (downward facing dog)

To do this pose:

Come to your hands and knees on your mat. Tuck your toes underneath your feet, press into the palms of your hands and lift your hips up to the sky. You can start with your knees nice and bent as you stretch the backs of your legs. Stretch your spine straight while you reach your hips up high. Make sure your head and neck are relaxed and stretch your heels down to the ground. Move in whatever way feels good! 

How this pose is especially beneficial for nurses: 

• It stretches the lower body while strengthening the upper body. This triangle-like position helps stretch the backs of your legs even deeper than a forward fold might as well as stretching the lower parts of your legs like your ankles and calves. These muscles are often ignored and can carry a lot of stress in a job where you’re on your feet constantly! The inversion-like positioning helps to strengthen your shoulders, upper back, and neck without putting as much pressure on your head or spine which puts you at risk for injury. 
•  
• It stimulates your blood flow. Like other inversions, this position places your heart above your head so you get all the benefits of an inversion without all the danger. Gravity is usually pulling your blood down and away from your head, while this puts you in the opposite direction, pulling the blood back up to your head. 
•  
• It improves your posture which protects your back from injury while on the job! Working on aligning your entire spine and stretching it without any forms of resistance helps provide traction, open up the spine and realign it. So do this pose regularly to help protect your back!