VIPARITA KARANI -- a GREAT RESTORATIVE POSE N K Srinivasan Iyengar

Introduction Viparitana Karani is a restorative, inverted pose.The name itself suggests this: 'viparita' means 'inverted';. Karani means 'aid or tool for action'. You may be surprised to find that the name does not carry the ending 'asana'. Is this really an asana or pose? Yes, but an ancient yoga text included this in "mudras' or seals [signatures or hand gestures] . Hence there is no 'asana' appended to this name.

This is one of the easiest poses to learn. A supported version is simply as follows: keep a pile of 2 or 3 blankets close to a wall. Keep your legs on the wall, your butts supported by the blankets. You can keep legs very close to the wall;thus the legs are vertical to the floor.If that is difficult, you can keep the legs slanting , like a ladder; the angle is less than 90 degrees from the floor. You keep the head and neck flat on the floor or slightly

tilted back. Keep your neck soft and not rigid. So, "Viparita Karani" is also called "legs-on-wall" pose. You can do this without support on the wall. This would require some strength and balance. What could be simpler than this pose? [except the mountain pose or tadasana] You can close the eyes and keep an eye-pad over the eyes. Some keep sand bags over the foot or on the groins to stabilise this pose.

Benefits of this pose One could write a long essay on the benefits of this simple pose. One ancient yoga text says that this pose will conquer old age and death. Another text claims that your hairs [if any] would not whiten ; wrinkles will disappear from the face; you will have a youthful look. Well , these statements are 'poetic excesses' and may only mean that you can attain youthful appearance and have long ,healthy life. In more practical terms, the benefits are easy to analyse. Since the legs are lifted up, blood flows down and more towards your brain. This rests your heart [as any part kept above the heart level does not receive much blood without too much pressure]. So the heart is rested more;

blood pressure would decrease. You can check your pulse rate while doing this pose. This pose rejunevates your chest, intestines and digestive system. More importantly, the fluids accumulating in your legs are drained and cleaned up. If you get swelling of legs due to old age and weak veinous network,you can do this pose for 10 to 20 minutes twice a day and the swellings would disappear. Again, on similar reasoning, if you suffer from varicose veins, please do this pose very seriously almost daily. [On a personal note, I resumed my practice of viparita karani after I noticed some veins sticking out in ugly gnarles in my left leg and some blood clotting in the leg. First I treated by applied moisturising creams in vain. Practice of Viparita Karani removed the veins problem in about a few weeks.] Try this pose for varicose veins along with active standing poses like trikonasana and warrior 1 and warrior 2 [Virabhadra ]poses. Many sportsmen love this pose to recover from strain, injury or fatigue from their work.

This pose heals many problems of chest, neck and lungs. Some claim that it cures asthma.

This pose can rest your heart. When you are stiff and fatigued after long travel in the car or after a flight, do this to restore your energy. In fact this pose is useful after you return from office in the evenings. Many yogis claim that this pose can reduce anxiety and avoid depression, as most restorative poses do. If you have mild blood pressure check bp after doing this pose for a few minutes--say about 2 minutes.If you have high blood pressure,avoid this pose...try simpler supine poses and shavasana or corpse pose. [Some teachers may ask you to do this pose during menstrual period. Check with your teacher..Some would say that this should be avoided during the periods. You may be relieved of menstrual pains or cramps by this pose.Again poses like 'supta virasana' are recommended for menstrual problems. Check with your yoga teacher.I am not able to say anything definite on this aspect.] This pose can help with healing migraine . Many leg problems and sciatica may be easily cured by this pose. Sexual problems: This pose is supposed to activate your

sexual glands and improve sexual impulses. In fact some avoid this pose because this can increase your sexuality

to high levels. At the same time , great yogis used to perform this pose for long periods [1 to 3 hours] for precisely the opposite effect---to suppress sexual impulse and 'sublimate' the sexual energies for higher spiritual gains.So it follows that if done for moderate duration [say 10 to 30 minutes], this pose may increase your sexual impulses due to rejenuvation..Longer durations can suppress your sexual impulses by a different mechanism.

Contraindications and cautions 1 DO NOT PERFORM VIPRATA KARANI IF YOU HAVE EYE PROBLEMS SUCH AS GLAUCOMA, RETINAL DETACHMENT AND OTHER COMPLICATIONS. IF YOUR EYE SIGHT IS POOR,AVOID THIS POSE TOTALLY. 2 DO NOT DO THIS POSE IF YOU HAVE HEART PROBLEMS OF ANY KIND. 3 DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU HAVE HaD SURGERY RECENTLY AND YOU HAD HERNIAL PROBLEMS OF THE INTESTINES NECK INJURY OR NECK SURGERY. Variations of this pose

1 Instead of keeping legs on the wall, you can keep the legs on a chair ,bending your knees. You may practise this

for about a week, before keeping the legs on the wall. 2 You can separate the feet like wall. 3 You can fold your feet as in sukhasana or padmasana or lotus pose...these are difficult and meant for advanced students. 4 You can massage your thighs while you are in this pose.I find this very relaxing to loosen up the thighs after 10 minutes. the letter 'v' on the

Practice Time
1 As a beginner, you should practice this pose only for 2 to 5 minutes. 2 You may increase the duration to 15 minutes after about a week of practice. 3 For profound benefits, practise for 20 to 30 minutes in each session ,if you do not find any discomfort. 4 Some suggest that you can perform this and other poses thrice a week. But I would suggest that you must practice daily--at least for 5 minutes. 5 In general, all restorative poses need long duration to cause relaxation and to increase your energy. So a practice of at least 20 minutes is suggested for this pose.

6 Please avoid the pose if you have pain in intestines or groins.If you have tingling sensation in tips of toes,rub them gently and reduce the duration . ---------------------------------------------------