विपरीत करणी
Viparita Karani — Legs up the Wall
viparīta = reversed, karaṇī = doing — the gentle inversion
Lie down, swing the legs up the wall, and let gravity work FOR you for ten minutes.
In the simplest words
Lie on your back close to a wall and walk your legs straight up it, so you make an L-shape. Arms flop open, eyes close. Your tired legs pour their tiredness out — it feels like floating.
What it is
The hatha texts speak of viparita karani almost in a whisper — the 'reversing practice' that turns the body's flow upside down — and this supported form is its gentlest door: hips near the wall, legs resting up it, arms open, everything held by the floor. Tired legs drain, the body reads the shape as rest, and sleep-refusing evenings soften within minutes. It delivers a real share of what dramatic inversions offer, at almost none of their risk — which is why this site teaches it, and leaves headstand and shoulderstand to live teachers.
Before you practise — health first
Even this gentle inversion is skipped with glaucoma or serious eye pressure, uncontrolled blood pressure, and during menstruation if your tradition or comfort says so; late pregnancy prefers lying on the left side. Tingling feet just mean bend the knees and come down.
Getting into it
Sit sideways against a wall, hip touching it.
Swing the legs up the wall as you lie back — shuffle the hips comfortably close.
A folded blanket under the hips is lovely; arms open, palms up.
Close the eyes and stay — breath natural, or So'ham riding it.
To exit, bend the knees, roll to the right side, and rest before sitting up.
The breath
Nothing to do — the shape slows the breath by itself; simply watch it happen.
What it is kept for
Draining tired legs, pre-sleep unwinding, the safe taste of inversion, rest that actually restores.