“Invest 1 percent of each day’s time in you and the other 99 percent will benefit”
Prof .Colin Turner

This translates into 12 minutes of your waking hours which is exactly how much time you need for this asana

The Practice:

• Place a folded blanket at right angles to a wall and about half a meter away from the wall. Your blanket should be long enough for you to lie on and thick enough to provide padding against the floor
• Sit on your blanket, sideways to the wall
• Swivel your legs up the wall as you lie back
• Your chin should be tucked gently toward your chest. Place a support, a cushion, under your head if your chin is poking up to the ceiling

• Your legs should be comfortably apart
• If you experience pain or discomfort in your knees, move back a little from the wall
• Let your arms fall relaxed a short distance away form your body, with your palms facing upwards
• Breathe normally. Focus on your breath flowing in and out of your nostrils… your belly gently rising and falling

• Allow yourself to relax deeply into your blanket
• Focus your awareness on the feeling of your bones and how they relate to one another and to the floor
• Stay in this position for 10 minutes, unless your body gives you signals of pain, nausea, light-headedness or shortness of breath
• To come out of the posture:
  • Bend your knees and hug your legs to your belly
  • Roll onto your LEFT side and lie there for a few minutes, with your left hand under your head.
  • Get up slowly, using your hands on the floor to help you
  • Uncurl your body keeping your knees slightly bent and your chin tucked.

Benefits:

Relaxing and energizing: Heart rate may increase initially. Within a minute it decreases, producing a feeling of relaxation and calm.

Resting your chin on your chest stimulates the pressure-sensitive “baroceptor” cells located in the lining of the arteries of your neck. When stimulated, they send a signal to the brain to lower blood pressure and pulse, relieving tension in the cardiovascular system by allowing the heart and arteries to rest more deeply.

Note: This practice is beneficial even if you have low blood pressure. Important: Be careful to come out of it slowly and rest on your LEFT side before you get up…slowly!

Insomnia: This practice enhances the balancing of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and could be useful as a treatment for insomnia if practiced before going to bed.

Varicose veins and haemorrhoids:  may result when the pressure of gravity exceeds what the valves in the veins can handle.Inverting the legs against gravity increases blood and lymph drainage toward the upper body. When you stand up, the flow of these fluids into your lower organs and legs provides therapy for these conditions
Practicing daily may act as a preventative technique for these and other circulatory-related conditions.

Ref: Yoga for Health: Nirmala Heriza, Hatha Yoga cardiac therapist, Cedar-Sinai Medical Centre: Preventative and Rehabilitative Cardiac Centre et.al