This article is an excerpt from the original post at iRest.org here >>
You’re ready for a deep, restorative iRest practice and the teacher begins by asking you to find a comfortable position on your back. You look around the room (or as the case may be, the Zoom) and everyone else seems to be managing well. In fact, they all look pretty blissed out. Why can it be so hard to just lie still?
Not every practitioner can safely lie down with their legs extended, confirms yoga teacher Donna Farhi in her book Pathways to a Centered Body: Gentle Yoga Therapy for Core Stability, Healing Back Pain and Moving with Ease (coauthored with Leila Stuart). The solutions and alternatives are sometimes straightforward: a pillow or bolster under the knees, for example, can ease pelvic and spinal discomfort. Since that is not always a surefire bet, Farhi offers other options of effective reclining poses.
- Constructive Rest Position This pose can be ideal for iRest Yoga Nidra Meditation “not only because it helps to release the deep spinal muscles,” writes Farhi, “but also because it offers a physical balance between attentiveness and relaxation”. It releases the deep psoas muscles while rebalancing and lengthening the spinal column, making it a powerful way to alleviate spinal discomfort. Want to give it a try? Explore this article, complete with photo diagrams.