Using the Wall

The largest, cheapest, most underused prop you own. It is perfectly flat, perfectly vertical, does not move, and will hold your entire body weight.

Nine uses.

1. Legs up the wall

Sit sideways against the wall, swing the legs up, lie back. Hips a few centimetres from the skirting board, or right against it, whichever is comfortable. A folded blanket under the head.

Five to fifteen minutes. The highest return for the least effort in the entire repertoire — a mild inversion with no strength requirement and no risk, and one of the most reliably settling things you can do at the end of a hard day.

Put a bolster under the hips for a stronger version.

2. Alignment check for standing poses

Set up Warrior II, Triangle or Half Moon with your back — heels, buttocks, shoulder blades and the back of the head — lightly touching the wall.

The wall tells you immediately whether your body is in one plane. In Triangle, most people discover their top shoulder has been rotating forward for years and they had no idea. You cannot self-correct what you cannot perceive, and the wall makes it perceptible.

3. Downward Dog at hip height

Hands on the wall at hip height, walk the feet back until the body forms an L. Press the hands into the wall, lengthen the spine.

The same shoulder and spine work as the floor version, with none of the wrist load and none of the hamstring requirement. Better for beginners, better for anyone with wrist problems, and it fits in a corridor.

4. Handstand and forearm-balance preparation

Chest to the wall, not back to the wall. Start in a Downward Dog with your feet at the base of the wall, walk the feet up the wall as you walk the hands in towards it.

This builds a straight line. Back-to-the-wall handstands build an arched one, because the wall lets you rest your feet against it and drop your ribs — and that arch is the single hardest habit to un-learn later.

5. Hamstring work with a foot on the wall

Lie on your back with your buttocks close to the wall, one leg up the wall, the other bent with the foot on the floor or extended along the ground.

The wall holds the leg so you do not have to, which means the hamstring can release rather than working against your own hand. Move further from the wall to reduce the intensity, closer to increase it. Three minutes a side.

6. Supported backbend with feet on the wall

Bolster or rolled blanket under the shoulder blades, lying back over it, feet flat against the wall with the knees bent.

The wall gives the feet something to press into, which lets the legs stay engaged while the chest opens. It also stops the whole arrangement sliding, which is what happens on a bare floor.

7. Squat and pelvic work against the wall

Back against the wall, feet a foot or so away, slide down into a supported squat. The wall takes the balance requirement out, so you can work on the position of the pelvis and the depth of the hip fold without falling backwards.

Also the safest way to work on a deep squat if your ankles do not yet allow it — heels can come up on a rolled mat and the wall keeps you from tipping.

8. Shoulder opening in a doorway or at a corner

Forearm flat against a wall or door frame, elbow at shoulder height, and turn your body away.

The precision here is the point: you can control the exact angle of the arm, which you cannot do with a partner or a strap. Move the elbow higher or lower to target different parts of the chest and front shoulder.

9. Seated practice with the back to the wall

Sit on a cushion with your back to the wall, close but not leaning, sitting bones on the front edge.

For long sits, the wall is a reference rather than a support — you notice when you have slumped because you make contact. Some people sit fully leaning against it, which is fine and considerably better than not sitting.

Choosing the wall

Clear from the floor up to about two metres, at least a metre wide. Skirting boards are the usual obstruction — for legs up the wall you can work around a small one by sitting slightly further out.

Solid. A stud partition wall will not take a handstand. Check by knocking; an external or masonry wall is what you want for anything weight-bearing.

Not glass, not a door, not a radiator. Obvious until the day you forget.

Nothing hung on it, for the two metres you are using.

Why the wall is better than a person

An adjustment from a teacher tells you where you should be, briefly, and then they move on. The wall tells you continuously, silently, and you can consult it as often as you like.

For anything about alignment in a plane — is my chest actually open, is my leg actually straight up, is my body in one line — the wall is the more accurate instrument, and it is available every day.