Polly’s Pearl #3 – Legs Against the Wall Pose is a calming pose that fights fatigue, restores your energy, and alleviates low back pain and tight hamstrings. In Chinese Medicine we call this the “Kidney Repose”, because when you stay in the pose for 5 – 20 minutes, it allows the blood to drain out of the legs and pool in the kidney area, restoring the kidneys with fresh blood and oxygen.

Mother Earth is awakening from the depths of her winter hibernation with nutrients stirring as she massages and softens the shells of seeds beginning their journey toward the surface. Life-giving compost covering the ground and sap stored in the trunks of trees are beginning to thaw and slowly transition the natural world from the slumber of winter to the first awakenings of spring. This eternal process can provide a roadmap to follow so that we may also awake, flourish and blossom like our surroundings. Chinese medicine philosophy provides some lessons.

Chinese medicine philosophy has a concept called “living according to our nature”, which encourages us to observe the intelligence in the natural world (Mother Earth, Father Sky, the five seasons in nature) and live accordingly. We can derive clues for nourishing our own health by following the rhythms of the Earth and the daily cycle of energy.