Supported Inverted Staff Pose

At the @yogajournal shoot we decided to make the name of this pose easier to say, but in fact its full name is SUPPORTED Two-Footed Inverted Staff. A mouthful, I know, I know, but it’s important because both legs are obvi crucial to the pose! You have to be in your legs big-time if your 👣
are on the floor. This is to support the spine.

And, as this is my favorite pose in my current practice (I do it almost every day), I want to tell you that it is at the same time soothing for the nerves and exhilarating for the emotions. For me, it feels almost like there are the effects of a #forwardfold inside the backbend. Try it and let me know what you think! If you go to my video on yogajournal.com/kimweeks, I give instructions on how to do the pose, but because you may never have done it, if you have any questions, pay close attention to where the back of my body is touching the chair and see if you can recreate it. Or email to ask! This is the very essence of #homepractice.
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The chair we used for the shoot was really nice, as it was cushioned; if you wind up buying an “Iyengar chair” or use one at your local Iyengar studio, you’ll see that these chairs have an open back. Also use a folded mat to put on the chair seat, for cushion against the metal (though I personally like the metal because gives more data for how to use the back body to open the front)!