Vajrasana (hero pose)

Vajrasana (hero pose)

To do this pose:

Come to your knees with your hips up. You can keep your toes tucked or untucked, whichever feels good on your body. Start to lower your hips down until you are sitting on your heels. You can put a pillow or a block between your feet to sit on if you feel any stress in your knees. If you are extra bendy, you can move your feet to the sides and sit on the floor between them, with a foot on each side of your hips. Keep your hands relaxed on your legs, palms up or palms down, and let yourself close your eyes. 

How this pose is especially beneficial for nurses: 

• It strengthens your thigh muscles while opening up your knees. This helps to strengthen the muscles around your knees over time which then protects them from injuries in the future! Like we’ve discussed, knee injuries are very common in nurses and keeping that joint well lubricated, strong, and flexible helps prevent those from happening after long shifts on your feet. 
• It serves as a calming and rejuvenating pose. Often, yogis use this pose to meditate because it helps quiet your mind and body. This can be helpful after a long stressful day and you’re trying to sleep. 
• There is evidence to suggest it aides in treatment of digestive issues, urinary issues, and strengthens pelvic organs. So things like GI discomfort or those pesky UTIs that are common in nurses after not peeing for 12 hours can be helped, possibly prevented with this pose after a long day.