Intro: Staff Pose is easily one of my favorite poses, and also one of the most under-utilized poses in yoga. It involves the engagement of every muscle in your body as you try to turn your body into a perfect capital “L” shape, which helps tremendously with overall posture, core, and back strength.
From a seated position, engage your feet by flexing your toes toward you and pressing your heels away. Engage your calves and your thigh muscles. (This might actually bring your heels off the ground if you have well-developed leg muscles). Then squeeze your core like crazy to eliminate the curve in your lower back. Press your hands into the ground next to your hips to press your upper body higher off the ground.
Modification: From here, extend your arms over your head, in line with your upper body. Reach your hands up as high as possible to create maximum length in your spine. Hold this for anywhere from 5 – 15 seconds once you have reached your fullest extension.
Tips: Imagine that there is a string on your sternum and that somebody is continuously pulling that string up. Make sure that as you bring your chest up that you do not create an arch in your lower back, and keep your core engaged like crazy the whole time.