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In Wall Yoga, the wall is your friend — one you can always turn to when you need a little extra support or a confidence boost — and one that doesn’t shy away from giving you some honest and direct feedback. The wall can give you some welcome benefits:

  • Provides safety and stability

  • Supports your balance

  • Gives you feedback on your alignment

  • Adds variety to reinvigorate your practice

When you embrace the wall as a prop, you open up a world of possibilities for practice. For starters, a wall allows you to practice when you’re not dressed for yoga. Some postures you can easily do in business dress in an office setting. Imagine the benefits of taking a few minutes to stretch and breathe before attending a high-powered business meeting or delivering an important presentation.

Wall Yoga is a great option when the floor surface isn’t inviting. Attention all backpacking travelers: How great does a few minutes of Wall Yoga sound when you’re staying in a super-budget hotel that’s seen better days? Don’t have a wall? Don’t worry; if the walls in your home or hotel room are flush with furniture and framed artwork, you can always use a door. In addition, a tree or the side of a building can stand in for a wall.

You can do many categories of postures, and the wall helps in each instance.

  • Standing postures: The wall provides feedback on your alignment and orientation in space.

  • Safe inversions: The wall provides safety and allows you to experience the benefits of inversions without doing traditional inversions that can be risky for many people.

  • Forward bends and hamstring stretches in hanging postures: The wall provides safety, precision, and guidance for your alignment.

About This Article

This article is from the book: 

About the book author:

Larry Payne, PhD, is the president of The International Association of Yoga Therapists. He founded Samata International Yoga and Health Center and is the author of Yoga After 50 For Dummies.

Georg Feuerstein, PhD, was internationally respected for his contribution to Yoga research and the history of consciousness.

Sherri Baptiste is an inspirational teacher at the forefront of yoga training in the United States. She was born into a rich heritage and family of pioneering teachers; her parents, Maga a and Walt Baptiste, established yoga on the West Coast in the mid-1950s. Her brother, Baron Baptiste, authored the book Journey into Power: How to Sculpt Your Ideal Body, Free Your True Self, and Transform Your Life With Yoga (Fireside). Sherri has been teaching yoga since her teens and is the founder of Baptiste Power of Yoga, a nationally recognized yoga method, as well as a yoga-with-weights teacher-training program and a yoga teacher certification and advancing studies program recognized by Yoga Alliance. Sherri presents classes and workshops throughout the United States; she s a presenter for Western Athletics Bay Clubs, Gold s Gym, Nautilus, Equinox, IDEA World Fitness, Body Mind Spirit, ECA; and she offers many yoga retreats, including retreats at Kripalu, Omega, Haramara, Green Gulch Zen Center, Rancho La Puerta Spa, and Feathered Pipe Ranch. A radio and television personality, she s featured in video, DVD, and CD Power of Yoga and Power of Meditation programs. You can learn more about Sherri at the following Web sites: www.powerofyoga.com and www.yogawithweights.com.

Doug Swenson, author of Yoga Helps, leads Ashtanga Yoga workshops and classes for Yoga teachers and students around the world.

Stephan Bodian is an internationally known author, psychotherapist, and teacher. He leads regular intensives and retreats and offers spiritual counseling and mentoring to people throughout the world. His bestselling app Mindfulness Meditation (with Mental Workout) has been praised in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.