Essential animal poses
Do These Every Day
Ever wonder what one of the dirtiest surfaces is? A hospital floor. Yet here I am, seemingly, encouraging you to get down on the floor at work, in your scrubs, and do some yoga poses/stretches. Not exactly; however, I am encouraging you to do these nine stretches daily to improve your well-being. Whether you do them at home or at work you can do them on the floor (bare floor or on a blanket- hello night shift, you know you have a blanket wrapped around you), on a yoga mat, at the nurses’ station, in the teachers’ lounge, in the break room, or in bed, the important thing is that you do them…and here’s why.
These particular stretches/poses are great for working the low back, hips, and shoulders. These are the work-horses of a nurse, CNA, teacher, caregiver of any kind, massage therapist, and anyone who works in a stressful environment on their feet quite often lifting things. Having said that, these poses are for anyone and they don’t require a lot of balance or flexibility to begin with; which are two things that hold people back from attempting yoga poses.
Butterfly (cobbler's) pose is a must-do for hip opening. It can be done on the floor (on a mat), in bed, in a chair, and even up a wall (lie on your back with your butt up against a wall). Butterfly pose: in a seated position (or reclined), bring the soles of your feet together and let your knees fall down to the sides. This allows your hips to open. As you work on this stretch more and more your knees will be able to fall more open and toward the floor. It's OK if your knees are far from the floor and you aren't very open; you are getting the benefits of the pose no matter how far into it you can go. Nice deep slow breaths as you relax your pelvis area and low back. Hip openers are especially important for women because of the storage of emotions and negative energy in our hips and low abdominal area.
Pigeon: This is by far my favorite of all the poses. This pose can be done on the floor, reclined, and even standing. Reclined Pigeon- lie on your back bend both knees placing your feet flat on the floor. Lift your right foot off of the floor, place your right ankle on your left knee, thread your right hand through the square created by your crossed leg and place your right hand on your left leg on the inside of your left leg and place your left hand on the outside of your left leg and pull your left leg toward your chest which will lift your left foot off of the floor. This pulls both legs toward the chest and stretches your low back/hip. Hold for as long as is comfortable. Release and repeat on the opposite side. Classic Pigeon- This pigeon may seem harder to get into but it works the same areas as reclined pigeon. The easiest way to get into pigeon is to start out on all four or in downward facing dog. Place your hands out in front of you on the floor, step your right foot forward and straighten your left leg out behind you, bend your right leg into a 90 degree angle and place that bent leg on the floor and settle your upper body down over that bent leg. Your left leg is out behind you with the top of your left foot touching the floor, toes pointed. Your right foot can be under your chest keeping that leg at a 90 degree or your right foot can be back close to your left hip crease. Anywhere your right foot is, is fine. Wherever your upper body is, is fine. If you need to stay up on your elbows, if you are lying flat over your bent right leg, or anywhere in between, you are getting the benefits of the pose. Stay in the stretch as long as is comfortable for you. Release back to your starting point and repeat on the other side. Standing Pigeon- does require balance. Stand up, feet flat on the floor hip-width distance apart, gaze straight ahead, lift your right foot off of the floor and place your right ankle onto your left knee. You can place your hands anywhere you like. I prefer in prayer position at my heart/chest. Slowly begin to fold over at the waist feeling the stretch in your low back. Fold to comfort and stay folded over as long as is comfortable for you. Slowly come back to center when ready, uncross your leg and place your right foot to the floor. Repeat on the other side. Another variation of standing pigeon is to start the same way, once that right ankle is over the left knee begin to bend your left knee so that you are doing a one legged chair keeping your upper body upright. Release and repeat as above.
Cat and Cow: If you are having some low back pain or tightness Cat/Cow is your friend and they can be done virtually anywhere and everywhere they are just that versatile. Pictured in my drawings are the classic Cat and Cow poses. Cat- from all fours move like a cat stretching, drop your head, push into the mat/floor with your hands which will lift your shoulders, scoop your belly up really arching, pelvis forward, dropping your hips (butt), moving into Cow position, head up, look up, shoulders back, rocking your pelvis back, lifting your hips (butt) will drop your belly some. Moving with the breath, move into Cat with your exhale, inhale into Cow. Cat- head and butt down, Cow- head and butt up. Rock that pelvis. And that’s the trick to being able to do Cat and Cow while sitting in a chair with your feet on the floor, sitting with your legs criss-crossed, or even standing. When sitting you can have your hands on your knees and when standing you can have your hands down at your side, over head, or clasped together behind you. The method or trick of the poses is head up, chest out, butt out for Cow and head down, shoulders rounded, and butt down for Cat to do sitting or standing. Once you learn the pelvic movement (butt up or down) you will rock this pose anywhere and everywhere. So much low back release. It’s a keeper.
The dogs: Upward Facing, Downward facing and Three-legged. There is no wonder these poses are named what they are. We have all seen dogs do Upward and Downward dog. These can be done anywhere as long as you don’t mind getting on the floor and sticking your butt in the air. If you can find a place to do that I would strongly recommend these as a flow on your work break. They are so good for chest opening, shoulder/wrist strength and a little balance.
Downward Facing Dog: Easiest way to get into the pose is to start by standing with your feet hip-width distance apart, forward fold and walk your hands out in front of you on the floor until you are an upside down V. Walking your hands further out in front of you and coming up onto your tiptoes will make the pose easier. A good way to release your low back tightness is to pedal your legs like you are walking in place; bend your right knee coming up onto your right toes, and lowering your left foot toward the floor with a straightened leg, back and forth. This is also a good calf stretch. Coming back to stillness, placing your heels wherever you can if you can lower them all the way to the floor, great, if not, great too. Drop your head between your shoulders and press into your hands, especially into the pads below your index finger and thumb. This will take some of the pressure out of your wrists. Try to keep a neutral back, don’t drop your belly, don’t tilt your pelvis.
Upward Facing Dog: From downward facing dog, shift your body weight forward coming into a plank and then slowly lower all the way down keeping your elbows tucked into your sides (this is just one way to get into the pose, you can certainly start out by being on your belly), hands are beneath your shoulders, tops of your feet are on the mat/floor and your legs are straight out behind you , push up with your hands to straighten your arms and lift up your upper body, face up. (a variation is to have your thighs off of the mat/floor and only the tops of your feet, or curled under toes, and palms of your hands touching the mat/floor). From here you can gently lower back down onto your belly or you can lift your hips and push back into Downward Facing dog.
Three-legged Dog: you simply lift one of your legs while in Downward Facing Dog, the object is to keep that lifted leg straight and press firmly into your hands and keep your hips aligned.
Most yoga flows have all three of these poses and move quickly from one to the other. Some people do not enjoy staying in downward facing dog because of the wrist and shoulder strain, and like to move out of it quickly. Try it, play around with what is comfortable. After all, the dogs do it all the time, there must be some benefits, just look how happy they are.
Supported puppy: Puppy Pose is a dog pose that is usually done on the floor when coming out of Downward Facing Dog. I do not like it, I see no benefit to doing it, so I don’t teach it; however I love Supported puppy pose. This is a great one to do anywhere, counter, kitchen table, back of a couch, nurses’ station, desk. This pose is all about releasing upper arm and shoulder tension, some low back release can be felt too if you add a pelvic lift. Supported Puppy- place your arms on a surface, ideally counter height but lower works too, just have to back away from it further. With your arms on the surface bend your elbows, lower your head down between the edge of the surface and your chest, bring your hands back toward the back of your head/upper back. The lower you sink your head down the more of a release in your shoulders, and the backs of your upper arms. So delicious.
Seated Eagle: Eagle is a wonderful pose for releasing and flushing. It is a full body twist which is good for lubricating that spine and flushing out your organs and aiding in GI motility. Seated Eagle is ideal for doing at work and it does not require good balance like standing eagle does. Eagle arms can be done without adding the legs. If you are just doing the arms you can raise them over head for a spectator shoulder and upper arm stretch; you can fold forward over your eagle arms; if you twist with your eagle arms you get a deep stretch in your shoulder blade. Seated Eagle- lift your arms out straight in front of you, palms up, cross one arm over the other, bend both elbows, turn your wrists so that your palms touch; same with the legs, cross one leg over the other, bend both legs, bring the top leg’s foot behind the other leg.
This Yogi in Scrubs hopes you will add some or all of these animal poses to your work day; whether before, during, or after. Yoga means to yoke; when we do yoga we are yoking the breath with movement. Being aware of your breath and using your inhale and exhale to guide your movements makes them intentional. Yoga can be used as life lessons. Use your newly discovered deep controlled breathing in your day to day and see how you can slow your heart rate and perhaps lessen the effects stress has on you. Yoga isn’t just fun, it is medicine.