Handstand, or Adho Mukha Vrksasana, is an advanced inversion that requires body strength and balance. Regular practice of the pose can improve circulation, keep bones and the endocrine system healthy, and help you shift your perspective.
Handstands are a challenging physical pose that requires arm, core, and leg strength. This is a difficult mental exercise, as it literally turns your world on its head and activates the fight-or-flee response of the sympathetic nervous system.
Inversions can be strange and scary for those who are not used to them. Handstand is a pose that can take some time to master, but with practice and good preparation, you will be able to overcome your fear. Sign up for the 30-Day Yoga Challenge if you want to practice yoga daily. You will gain strength and get used to being upside down.
Everyone can learn how to do a handstand. You have to train your body and mind to perform the pose safely. Start with these handstand yoga poses and progress to the full pose, improving your form or exploring the pose in more depth.
Plank
Plank poses prepare you by strengthening your entire body. This also prepares the wrists to be strong enough to support a handstand.
Side Plank
Side Plank is similar to regular Plank in that it strengthens the arms, wrists, and core muscles, especially oblique ones. You can also explore your balance and become more aware of the differences between the left and right sides. Handstands are all about feeling balanced and alert.
Boat Pose
The core is the focus of Boat Pose. The pose also strengthens your hips and stretches your hamstrings. This will help you to control the lower part of the body while you are inverted. Navasana helps to promote confidence and balance.
Downward Dog with steps
Downward Dog can be explored by launching into a handstand and mentally preparing the body for the correct alignment. It strengthens and stretches arms and shoulders, as well as stretching the lower body.
It is also a good inversion to start learning about alignment. The exploration is enhanced by adding dynamic movement to the posture. As you are in Down Dog, move your feet closer to your hands by six inches. Start to adjust to the sensation and imagine your hips above the shoulders and shoulders above the wrists. Imagine your legs lifting as you walk up an additional one to two inches.
Warrior III
The Warrior Pose is named after Virabhadra, the warrior and Shiva incarnation, who represents fierce strength. Warrior II will help you develop your violent mindset so that you can launch into a handstand without fear.
This pose strengthens your legs, improves your balance, and helps you become aware of the hips, which are crucial points for alignment when doing a handstand. Warrior III enables you to prepare mentally for handstands by helping you launch up, balance, and find stability in your body.
Standing Split
Standing split is the precursor to a handstand. This pose warms up the lower body, arms, and mind by allowing you to become familiar with having your leg in the air. This is a great way to test your stability on both sides and to find the best way to transition into a handstand.
L Hops
The exercise is similar in that the leg is extended outward and mirrors the letter “L.” Try extending one leg out with your foot flexed. Then, gently hopping up to experience the sensation of having your feet off the ground.
This movement helps you build core strength and arms, as well as explore how to lift into a handstand.
L Handstand Support
Start in Downward Dog, with your heels close to a stable structure or wall. Slowly raise your feet, beginning with just one foot. Then, move to both.
This exercise has the purpose of acclimatizing your body to inversion and allowing the blood flow in the upper body to reverse. This exercise helps to build strength in your arms and core.
Handstand with Support
Use your L Hops to launch yourself into a href=”https://www.doyou.com/9-exercises-to-prepare you to move your handstand away from the wall-76610/” title=” handstand against a wall/a>. Use your L Hops as a launch pad to get into a Handstand against a Wall. Do a body scan and pay attention to your alignment. Invert your body and mind to feel how it feels.
Child Pose
Handstands can be intense and require counter-poses to relieve the tension. Release into Balasana, and either bring your knees apart to stretch out the hips or keep them together to relax the back.
Handstands require patience. It is important to not focus on the final product but rather to enjoy the experience. No matter if you’re a beginner or an advanced handstander, it is important to build your body and your mind in order to reach and improve the pose.
Start practicing and changing your perspective, one pose or step at a time. Don’t forget to enjoy yourself!