My Favorite Yoga Pose Isn’t Actually a Yoga Pose

If you practice yoga, you know that it’s not so much about the poses as it is about how you feel in the poses. I’d take it a step further and say that how you feel in between the poses—positioning your arms in Warrior 2, lifting your hips into Downward Dog, and rolling from Savasana into fetal position—is what produces so much of the feel-good, sparkly, inner sensations of ahhh that make coming to the mat feel like the best decision you’ve ever made.

That’s why I think it’s special when yoga teachers draw out those transitions into their own moments. Shaking out your legs after Seated Forward Bend, rocking side to side as you come into Happy Baby, and my personal favorite, Windshield Wipers.

Windshield Wipers isn’t technically a yoga pose, although it’s so commonly cued in classes you might think it is. You’re on your back, after Bridge or drawing your knees to your chest, and a teacher guides you to place your feet flat on the mat and rock your knees side to side so your thighs quite literally resemble the stretch’s namesake.

There’s something about the whimsical swaying motion that takes my lower back muscles off guard so they soften—juuust enough that the pressure of the floor through the mat feels like a mini massage amid yoga class. The best part about Windshield Wipers, like any yoga pose, is that there’s no picture-perfect way to practice. Even subtly swiping my knees side to side is a release of physical tension and sufficient to shake up my mood and get me out of my head.

In fact, I think one could judge my mood solely based on how I’m practicing Windshield Wipers that day. Knees moving slowly, just a couple inches to either side? I’m probably in my head and need a minute to warm up. A quick pace with my outer thighs making contact with the mat? I’m energized and ready to go! A long pause on either side before returning to center? I require divine intervention in the form of juicing every last ounce of goodness from that hip stretch.

So yeah, my favorite yoga pose isn’t technically a pose. And yet it delivers the same nourishing vibes that keep me returning to my mat.