Sahita Kumbhaka (box breathing)

To do this pose:

Sit on your mat with your eyes closed, in any position that is comfortable. Breath in through your nose for four counts, hold at the top of the breath for four counts, exhale through either your nose or mouth for four counts, and finally, hold at the bottom of the exhale for four counts. Repeat this pattern for at least 2-3 minutes.

How this pose is especially beneficial for nurses: 

• It relaxes your monkey mind. Your monkey mind is all your anxious, racing thoughts. Having the counting to focus on helps those thoughts stop. You can do this for a few minutes during a stressful shift or after a stressful shift. 
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• It helps control panic and hyperventilation. Nurses have a high rate of burnout, stress, and anxiety so panic attacks are not uncommon either. This practice helps to slow the breathing and the heart rate when there is an impending panic episode. 
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• It can also help you sleep by quieting...

Ujjayi (ocean breath)

To do this pose:

You can be walking, sitting, standing, running, practicing yoga, etc.! Breathe in through your nose, keep your mouth closed and let your exhale brush the back of your throat, creating a wave sound like you are fogging up a window. Repeat this pattern as many times as needed.

How this pose is especially beneficial for nurses: 

• It stimulates endurance, energy, and focus. This practice can be helpful at work even while providing patient care to help keep you focused and energized. 
• It helps to promote temperature regulation. Some units in the hospital can be VERY cold while others can be VERY hot. This practice can help regulate your body temperature if you get uncomfortable. 
• It also releases tension, tension, and stress after a long day which you can practice on your drive home.

Uttana Shishosana (puppy pose)

To do this pose:

Come onto all fours on your mat. Make sure your wrists are directly under your shoulders and knees directly under your hips. Keep your spine, head, and neck relaxed. Start to walk your hands forward, keeping your hips directly over your knees the whole time. Walk your hands out as far as is comfortable for your body. If you can, rest your forehead on the mat and let your heart sink to the floor. Hold this position and let your chest sink a little further with every exhale.

How this pose is especially beneficial for nurses: 

• It stretches your whole back, the shoulders, and the abdominal muscles. Any back stretch is good for nurses. Back pain is the most common injury reported in nurses and is not JUST confined to the low back. Hunching over our computers and patients can really impact the upper back, neck, and shoulders. This pose can help bring your spine into extension when you’ve been in flexion all day! Do...

Eka Pada Rajakapotasana (pigeon pose)

To do this pose:

Start in downward facing dog. Lift one leg up into a three legged dog, bend the knee, and bring it forward and place your knee on the floor next to the corresponding thumb (Example: Right knee to right thumb). For more of a stretch, bring your front leg more perpendicular to the rest of your body. For less of a stretch, bring your front foot closer to your pelvis. Let your hips sink down, keeping your back leg straight. You can keep your back toes tucked or untucked, whichever is more comfortable. You can also use any props you need like a bolster, block, or pillow underneath your hips, making sure to keep your hips square. You can keep your upper body upright or lean forward, resting on your elbows or all the way down onto your forehead. 

How this pose is especially beneficial for nurses: 

• It opens the hips. The hips hold a lot of anxiety, stress, and pain. Stretching them out in a pose like this can help...

Savasana (corpse pose)

To do this pose:

Lie down on your mat on your back. Let your legs relax out in front of you, letting your feet fall out to the sides. Rest your arms by your sides with your palms facing up and fingers curled naturally. Rest your head on the floor and close your eyes. You can use props for this pose as well like a bolster or pillow under your knees or an eye pillow to make you more comfortable or help you relax even further. Let yourself sink into the floor and completely rest your body, mind, and soul.

How this pose is especially beneficial for nurses: 

• It calms the central nervous system while activating the digestive and immune systems. Being a nurse is stressful, so calming the nervous system after a stressful day can help switch off your mind, anxieties, and stresses. You also heal a lot slower when you’re stressed! Calling out as a nurse is hard to do (even when it’s necessary and absolutely the right thing to do), so...

Malasana (yogic squat)

To do this pose:

Come into a standing forward fold position. Pivot your feet out wider than hip-width apart, toes pointed out at a 45 degree angle. Start to bend your knees and sink your hips down between your feet. If you feel pressure on your knees, rest your arms on your knees in a squat position up higher. If you can, come all the way down and bring your hands into prayer, pushing your elbows into your knees. Reach your tailbone down to the earth, opening up your back and breath.

How this pose is especially beneficial for nurses: 

• It opens the hips. Not only is the job of a nurse hard on you physically, it is emotionally as well. Stress and tension is held in the hips a lot so opening them up can help release these feelings. This pose also helps to open up your low back and improve your posture after hunching over all day. Do this pose when you’ve had a challenging day emotionally or physically, or when you feel like your back is tight....

Baddha Konasana (butterfly pose)

To do this pose:

Come to sit on your mat with your feet out in front of you and your knees bent. Bring the soles of your feet together and let your knees fall to the side. You can put blocks or pillows under your knees or let them fall all the way to the ground. Hold onto your feet and as you inhale lengthen through the spine and as you exhale, bend at the hips and when you’re ready, you can round forward. You can rest on a pillow or bolster in front of you or let your head fall all the way to the ground. Breath in and let your inner hips open while you massage your third chakra, right between your eyebrows. 

How this pose is especially beneficial for nurses: 

• It stimulates your inner organs including your digestive organs and your heart. This pose is considered to be very healing because of the increased blood flow to these organs. Your heart pumps more oxygenated blood out to your body, helping it heal as well stimulating...

Utthan Pristhasana (lizard pose)

To do this pose:

Come into a downward facing dog. Lift one leg up into a three legged dog, bend the knee, and take a big step to the outside of the corresponding foot, with both hands on the inside of your leg. You can stay here in a deep lunge or relax your back knee to the floor and untuck the toes as you move down to your elbows from your hands. You can stay here or start to roll onto the pinky toe side of your front foot and let that knee fall out to the side. Let your head and neck relax and breathe. 

How this pose is especially beneficial for nurses: 

• It stretches the back of your hips and the front on your hip flexors. While we’ve discussed the importance of opening the hips to release stress and tension, the front of the hip is just as important. The hip flexors and thigh muscles help to support your hip joints and your knees and protect them from injury. 
• It opens and strengthens the chest and upper back...

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...

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana (bridge pose)

To do this pose:

Come to lay on your back on your mat. Keep your knees bent and the soles of your feet planted on the floor. On an inhale, raise your hips up to the ceiling and hold them there. Make sure to pull your knees inward and don’t tuck your chin to your chest too much and focus on lengthening out your throat. On an exhale, lower back down to the floor. This pose is usually practiced in two rounds, you can repeat the same, do a more restorative form of the pose by placing a block under your sacrum, or step it up a notch. To do a level up, once your hips are up, start to walk your shoulders underneath you and interlace your fingers so that your arms are underneath you and supporting your weight on your shoulders. On an exhale, lower back down and sit in stillness. 

How this pose is especially beneficial for nurses: 

• It strengthens the low back, glutes, and legs! As we’ve discussed and as we all know,...