The number most requested yoga pose for my clients!
Supta Baddha Konasana, aka supine bound angle pose
Sit down on your mat with a block, bolster, or pillow nearby.
Bend your knees, put the soles of your feet together.
Keep feet far enough away from your pelvis that you make a diamond with your legs and there isn’t pressure on your knees.
When comfortable, lay back, placing either a block or your bolster on the floor between your shoulder blades.
Relax head, neck, and arms down by your sides.
Close eyes and breathe into hips and heart, letting go of the day.
How this pose is beneficial for nurses:
It opens the hips. Stress is often carried in the hips, but nurses especially since we’re on our feet most of the day.
Opening the hips helps release this stress, anxiety, and negative energy.
Notice what thoughts and feelings are coming up for you during this pose.
It opens the heart.
It feels like half of what we do as nurses is charting, and when we’re not charting, we’re hunched over our patients’ beds.
We also tend to close off our hearts emotionally to protect ourselves from what can be a very somber work environment.
During this pose, let yourself feel whatever comes up for you, without closing yourself off from it.
It’s restorative.
Restorative yoga poses are held for 5- 60 mins so you can truly and completely relax your body.
After 12 hours of physical and mental stress, restorative poses help relax and rejuvenate mind and body!
Try after your next long shift, notice what thoughts and feelings come up for you and LET yourself feel them.
