We’ve all been there–the dreaded wedding hangover. You know the one: achy feet, tight shoulders, throbbing wrists and a body that feels like it’s been hit by a train. If you’ve ever felt this way the day after a wedding, then this blog post is for you. As a registered yoga teacher and a wedding photographer, I decided it was time to combine both of my passions for the benefit of fellow photographers!
If you’re like me, you immediately come home from a wedding and begin to upload your images to your computer. And while you most definitely should still do that, I’d like you to consider multitasking during that time and take 5-10 minutes to focus on you! I promise if you do the following poses, you’ll sleep better and wake up feeling like a new person. No yoga experience is needed to be able to do these poses, but as always, if it causes you any pain or you have an existing injury, please stop and move on to another pose!
The following 6 yoga poses will target your sore feet, wrists, neck and shoulders and will help you wake up feeling refreshed and ready to edit to your heart’s content!
6 Yoga Poses for Event Professionals
1. Yoga Massage
– Place a spikey yoga massage ball (you can find them at your local Target) or a tennis ball underneath your right foot and begin to roll it up and down
– Switch sides and repeat on the left foot
Benefits: Relaxes the muscles and stimulates nerves for increased blood flow
2. Forward Fold (Ragdoll and Shoulder Variation)
– Standing nice and tall, inhale deeply
– On an exhale fold over your legs, bending the knees as much as you need
– Hang heavy here, making sure there’s no tension in your neck
– Grab opposite hands to opposite elbows if you like and maybe sway a little side-to-side if it feels good on your low back
– As a variation, you can also interlace your fingers behind your back for a shoulder stretch
Benefits: Helps reduce fatigue, stretches the calves, hips and hamstrings. The arm variation will stretch your shoulders.
3. Gorilla Pose
– From your forward fold, slide the palms of your hands underneath your feet
– Bend your knees as much as you need to and let your head hang heavy
– You can massage your wrists with your toes
Benefits: Stretches out sore wrists and relieves stress
4. Cat/Cow
– Make your way onto the floor coming to all fours in a tabletop position
– On an inhale, take your gaze up to the ceiling as you sink your belly low
– Exhale as you arch your back, taking your gaze to the floor (you should look like a scared Halloween cat!)
Bonus: from your tabletop- feel free to sway side-to-side and forward and back. Move how it feels good to you! You deserve it!
Benefits: Stretches the neck, spine, hips, abdomen and back
5. Thread the Needle
– Come back to your tabletop position
– Inhale as you raise your right arm up to the ceiling
– Exhale and thread your right arm underneath your left arm (your right ear and right shoulder will come down to the floor)
– Stay here for 5-10 deep breaths and come back to your tabletop position
– Repeat on the left side
Benefits: Stretches the shoulders, arms, neck and upper back
6. Legs Up the Wall (My personal favorite!)
– Lie on your back and bring your butt (can I say butt on here?) as close as you can to a wall
– Extend your legs up the wall, resting the backs of your legs against it
– Breathe deeply here and relax!
– If you have a foam block or a rolled up blanket, you can place it at your low back (pictured) and raise your legs instead of using a wall.
– Stay here for at least two minutes to get the full benefits of the pose
– If you don’t have enough wall space to use, you can also do this on your bed up against the headboard.
Benefits: Calms the nervous system and the mind. Relieves tired leg muscles and reduces edema in the legs and feet.
Bonus Pose: Reclined Bound Angle
– Still lying on your back, bring the soles of your feet together and let your knees fall out wide to the side
– Let your eyes come to a close and relax here!
– Benefits: This is a great pose for anyone who holds tension in their hips. It stretches the inner thighs, groins and knees and can even help with sciatica.
