Getting Used to Inverted Yoga Poses
One Step at a Time

Inverted yoga poses like headstand, handstand and even shoulderstand can be scary, especially if you have never been upside down before.

To get over the fear, work towards these inverted yoga poses gradually. As a start, use the wall to help support yourself so that you can get comfortably used to being upside down.

Getting Used to Being Upside Down First

Ultimately it would be nice to be able to balance while being upside down. However you can work towards this in stages. If you've never been upside down then the first task is to get used to being upside down. This can be followed by learning to feel your body and control it while being upside down. Then You can then work towards being able to control your balance while upside down.

The following exercises are designed to make getting used to inverted yoga poses simple and suprisingly easy.

Shoulder Exercises

One of the first things that you can work on is shoulder stability.

In most inverted yoga poses you are using your shoulders to support the weight of your body, so even before you get upside down, first learn how to activate your shoulders.

For handstand and headstand you can practice spreading your shoulder blades using the serratus anterior muscle. Then learn how to lift your shoulder blades (while keeping them spread) by using the trapezius muscle. These shoulder exercises help you to do both.

For shoulder stand, the weight of your body rests on your shoulder blades and so for this inverted yoga pose first practice retracting the shoulders blades using the rhomboids.

Another alternative for creating shoulder stability is to work from the ground up. With inversions that can mean activating the fingers to stabilize hand and wrist and also activating the elbows to prevent rotation of the arms.

But Why Go Upside Down in the First Place

So why go upside down?

• A student told me that she likes to do headstand first thing in the morning to help her wake up. She thinks it's preferable to drinking coffee. And that can be one reason to practice going upside down, to wake yourself up.
• Another reason (and this may lead to the first) is that going upside down flips the tension in your body. You'll be making your heart (and other muscles) work harder to pump blood up to your legs. And as a result you may also find that you get a rush of blood to the head. And so that is something to be aware of both while doing inverted yoga poses and when coming out of them. (You may feel momentarily dizzy, expecially if you try to stand up too quickly.
• Another reason is that it teaches you better control of your body. If you can control your body upside down, you are much more likely to have better control while upright.

What to Do After an Inverted Yoga Pose

In yoga there is the idea of counterposes. These help to bring the body back to a "balanced" state. This can be no less true with inverted yoga poses. You can do these before the inversion or after as I mention below.

Counterposes for Inverted Yoga Poses

Since bound headstand, handstand and forearm stand are all positions in which the arms are in an "over head" position, a good counterpose for the shoulders is an arms behind the back pose. And so you could do

• forward bend with hands clasped behind the back letting your arms sink down,

or do a yoga pose like

• bridge
• table top
• reverse plank.

Note that the most usual counterpose for headstand is shoulderstand.

You could do these counterposes before headstand. In the ashtanga system shoulderstand is done before headstand. In other yoga schools shoulderstand is done after headstand.

Resting after Inversions

Another idea is to rest after doing a challenging inversion. Andrey Lappa suggests sitting upright after inverstions. This can give your chance to "center itself" and it is also a chance for you to notice the after effects of a pose. If you just need to rest then childs pose is also an option, particularly after headstand.

Working towards a yoga inversion like handstand you can start off in downward dog. Once you've gotten used to bearing some of your body weight with your hands and shoulders in downward dog, you can then work towards supporting more of your weight with your arms while doing handstand with your feet on the wall in an L-Shaped handstand. (The beauty of this pose is that the wall can take some of your weight.)

Once you are comfortable in L-shaped handstand, then you can work on kicking up into handstand and here again you can work towards kicking up into this inverted yoga pose gradually. You can work at using one leg and then the other and then you can work at using them both together. The nice thing about kicking up is that it makes it relatively easy to get up into this yoga pose. Then you can focus on balancing in handstand.

You then might want to experiment with the double leg jump into handstand. In this action you kick up while keeping your feet together as opposed to scissoring them. Here again you can work towards getting up gradually, each time adding a little bit more power to your kicks.

You can then work on pulling up or lifting up into handstand from there.

Take Your Time

The most important thing is to procedede slowly so that you feel comfortable at each stage of this yoga inversion and so that you can feel your body and control it as necessary at each stage.

Working Towards Other Inverted Yoga Poses

Other yoga inversions that you can work towards in a similar manner include headstand, shoulderstand, and pincha mayurasana or forearm stand.

Shoulder Stand

Shoulder Stand could be considered one of the easier inverted yoga poses because your base is so big. However it can be difficult to get into especially if neck flexibility is limited and or you have weak abdominals. And so using a wall is a good way to get started.

To use a wall when doing shoulder stand or salamba sarvangasana start with your legs up the wall and scootch close so that your but is also against the wall. Then bend your knees and use your feet against the wall to lift your pelvis off of the floor. As you get your pelvis higher you can then work at getting your shoulder blades closer together to help lift the base of the back of your neck off of the floor.

As with all other inverted yoga poses, work slowly and gradually, proceed step by step and learn to feel your body and control it every step of the way.

Once you are used to getting up and down using a wall you can try rolling into shoulder stand.

Headstand and Pincha Mayurasana

For headstand one of the first considerations since your neck could be under a lot of pressure is learning to use your shoulders to help create a solid base. In addition, while in headstand you can use your shoulders to help you balance.

An option for headstand is forearm stand. The poses are similiar in that the forearms are on the floor however in forearm stand the hands are separated and the head is off the floor. This inverted yoga pose may require a bit more flexibility in the shoulders and chest. Usually I use some shoulder stretches prior to actually having my students try the pose.

If you are already pretty comfortable with headstand here are some guidelines for getting into this inverted yoga pose with your legs straight.

Balancing while doing inverted Yoga Poses

Once you are comfortable in being upside down in any inverted yoga pose, you can then work towards balancing in that yoga pose. To make balancing in headstand easier make sure that you use your shoulders to push your elbows into the floor. Focus on keeping your weight midway between your elbows and head. You won't be quite vertical but once you can hold this position, and get in and out of it comfortably then you can work towards balancing with all your weight on the crown of your head.

For shoulder stand you again press your elbows into the floor. You can have your weight between elbows and hands but as you get more comfortably you might try shifting your weight so that it is centered over your shoulders. Remember to keep your shoulder blades squeezed towards each other.

I've included a step by step guide to using the wall for headstand, shoulderstand as well as tips on how to balance in headstand, in Balance Basics: A Simple Guide to Mastering Balance.

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