What are the techniques for yoga handstand?

Some people think that yoga movements are very simple and are therefore suitable for women to practice. In fact, there are many yoga movements that are very difficult, and even men may not be able to do them. Take yoga handstand for example. If you don’t master the techniques and just do it headstand directly, not only will you fail easily, but it may also cause certain harm to your body. So, what are the techniques for doing a yoga handstand?

1. Stabilize your big arms inwards

You need to learn to stabilize your shoulder girdle before you can do a handstand. Otherwise, you'll put all your weight on your hands and wrists, which can lead to injury. Before you do a handstand, try this warm-up.

1. Take the yoga block and raise it above your head. Don't activate your arm muscles, imagine they are two noodles. Hold for 1 minute. Let go of the block and relax your arms for 2 minutes.

2. Then, raise your hands above your head again, holding the bricks firmly in your hands and extending your fingertips upward. Stretch your arms straight and imagine your upper arms reaching inward to find your ears. Hold here, pushing the block hard with your hands, for 1 minute.

Which one is harder? The second one, of course. The second way of using the arms is what is needed in handstand.

2. Handstand preparation 1

Some people find this more difficult than jumping up into a handstand, probably because you can't use momentum to jump up, but need to slowly walk up with your feet to understand the feeling of a handstand.

1. Come to Downward Dog with your heels against a wall. Shorten the distance in Downward Dog because your shoulders need to be aligned with your wrists as you come up. Bend your knees and slowly walk up the wall. Move your shoulders forward. Until your feet are at the same height as your hips and your body is at a 90-degree angle. You may need a companion to tell you when you have reached 90°. Hips are directly over shoulders. Engage your core, draw your navel in, and rotate your arms outward toward your ears, just like you were lifting the bricks with your hands.

2. Keeping your core and arms engaged, you can take it a step further and do a one-leg handstand, keeping your other foot on the wall. Hold for a few breaths, then switch to the other leg.

If you find your hands start to shake with the first one, then stay with the first one. Then slowly come down to rest in child's pose.

3. Handstand Preparation 2

Next try practicing a handstand with your back against a wall. When practicing, don't use too much inertia. Here, we don't need to stretch both legs upwards, but let the two legs be perpendicular to each other, find a sense of control, instead of using inertia to fall onto the wall.

1. Come to Downward Dog with your hands one foot away from the wall. Shorten your Downward Dog distance and then lift one leg into Single-Legged Downward Dog, bending the bottom leg a little and keeping the other leg straight and lifted.

2. Bring your awareness to the bent leg and begin to push against the ground to lift your body upward, keeping the lifted leg upward. There must be control. Don't jump too high at the beginning, build up gradually.

3. As you jump higher, the lower leg will be lifted and the upper leg will lightly touch the wall. If you are in control, you will have a moment of stability in control, which requires core strength.

Practicing this step more will give you a more controlled handstand.