1. Get an Upside Down View
To do the headstand pose, kneel on the floor with a yoga mat or folded blanket in front of you. Place your forearms on the floor with your fingers laced. Place the top of your head on the floor with the back of your head resting against your clasped hands. Walk your feet in, as close to your elbows as possible. Then lift your feet off the ground, followed by your thighs, keeping your knees bent. When you have balanced your body with your feet lifted off the ground, slowly extend your feet upward until your legs are straight in a vertical position.
2. Don't Break Your Neck
If you are new to yoga, do not jump right in to an intermediate pose. To avoid injury, attempt the headstand by leaning against the wall. Try it first in a corner of a room with two walls to support you. Your shoulders, hips, calves and feet should each be touching one wall. When you have mastered two walls, try the headstand position against only one wall. Eventually you will be able to balance in the pose without any support at all.
3. Keep Holding the Pose
The best way to maximize the potential benefits of any yoga pose is simply to increase the amount of time you hold the position. When first attempting a headstand pose, stay in position for 10 breaths, and then gradually increase the amount of time each time you practice the pose. If the pose becomes too easy no matter how long you hold the position, then deepen it by turning your wrists. Do this by bringing the outside of your arms inward, until your wrists are perpendicular to the floor.
4. A Little Help From Friends
To make sure you're doing yoga poses correctly, it sometimes helps to ask a friend to check your body alignment for you. In a headstand pose, your entire body should be straight and perpendicular to the floor. Have a friend or yoga partner look to make sure your ankles, hipbones, center of your shoulder and ears are all aligned properly. If she sees anything bent or twisted, then you aren't doing the pose correctly and could injure yourself.
5. Makes Fewer Trips to the Doctor
The headstand pose, overtime, can relieve pressure and mild pain in the lower back. It opens up the lungs, alleviating strain to help diminish asthma and other respiratory and breathing problem. Inversion poses, like the headstand, also alleviate symptoms of stress and depression. Do headstand poses regularly if you suffer from menopause, infertility, insomnia, digestion problems and sinusitis. Practicing this pose can also strengthen many areas of the body, such as the arms, legs and spine. It changes your blood flow and gives your heart a break. It helps varicose veins since it relieves the blood flow. Eventually, your inner and outer balance can even improve.
Member Comments