Prasarita Padottanasana (wide legged forward fold)

Prasarita Padottanasana (wide legged forward fold)

To do this pose:

Take a wide step out to each side, keeping your feet parallel. Your legs can be close or far away from each other, depending on your body. Once you’re comfortable, start to bend forward from your hips. You can keep your back straight, or round forward, letting your whole upper body relax and hang over between your legs. Your hands can hang heavy, rest on the floor, rest on your ankles, whatever your body craves. Hold this pose, keeping your head upside down to get all the benefits of an inversion pose as well as a hamstring and hip stretch. 

How this pose is especially beneficial for nurses: 

• It provides decompression to the low back. Hanging heavy over this direction helps pull your spine apart, helping prevent disc compression or herniation. As we’ve discussed multiple times, nurses are some of the most at risk for back injuries, so helping your spine stretch out and create extra space helps prevent these injuries in the future! 
• It mimics the benefits of an inversion without the danger or effort of an inversion! Headstands, handstands, and arm balances are hard, not to mention dangerous, but have so many great benefits! So, doing a pose like this standing forward fold is a great option to gain those benefits. Just one of these benefits include stimulating blood flow throughout the whole body including the brain, which promotes wakefulness and energy.