Home Yoga Practice: Handstand Tutorial

Transcript

welcome to another home yoga practice this is Allison and this particular video is less of a practice or sequence and more of a tutorial for the posture of handstand in this particular video we'll go over postures that you can do to prepare you for handstand handstand variations at the wall which will help you build strength and handstand variations in the middle of the room which will help you hone your balance all are necessary for this invigorating posture first handstand preparation Begin by stretching your fingers and your wrists extend one arm out in front of you and then grab the finger and pull the finger back towards you use your thumb at the knuckle where your finger meets the hand to get more stretch keep your fingers spread wide your extended arm straight and your shoulder blade on your back go on to the ring finger continue to breathe continue to keep the fingers spread wide middle finger keep your chest lifted index finger stretch the thumbs a little tricky you're going to place your hand on the back of your lifted hand then reach your fingers around and grab the thumb now the finger stretches are important because most of us put two much weight in the heel of the hands and we need the fingers like antenna for better balance change hands again thumb at the knuckle fingers pulling the finger Back start at the pinky then move onto the ring keep the arms straight shoulder blades on the back move on to the middle finger breathe finger spread Palm wide index finger so you're opening up the hand opening open up the fingers for better balance and finally the thumb then release the hands extend your arms out to the side drop your thumb in wrap your fingers around then tilt your hands down like you're pouring like water pictures right so pouring a picture again open the hands take the thumb down fingers wrap around and then pouring right so the hands tilt down you can should get a stretch at the top inner edge of your hand maybe even in the forearms or up into the elbows this is a great stretch for opening the hands one more time open the hands thumb down fingers wrap around and then tilt the knuckles down like you're pouring a water pitcher continue to breathe keep your shoulder blades hugging onto your back for strength and integration release that come onto your hands and knees tuck your toes under your hands are directly underneath your shoulders you're going to turn your fingers back towards you and then sit your hips towards your heels pull your belly up and in move your tailbone down and move your chest forward for this first variation keep the heel of your hands off the floor you can see it from the front and that will stretch your fingers more fully and adequately the next variation we'll do we will have the heel of the hands down but keep the heel of the hand lifted for this first variation if you move the hips back towards your heels you'll also get a nice stretch in the sole of your feet which is also helpful for handstand come out of that first variation and then this time bring the hands perhaps a little closer and put the whole heel of the hand down this can be quite intense especially if you can get into the stretch in the sole of your feet continue to breathe keep keep your fingertips active and your spine long slowly exit out of the pose and then you can bring the backs of your hands together for a sweet counter pose next we're going to practice going upside down you're going to use a block either low medium or high and place the block underneath your sacrum when you're in bridge pose this particular posture is a variation of shoulder stand um or breed Carney right and you will get into a full deep bridge pose really work your shoulder blades onto your back I like to rest the Palms face up and then you're going to bring your feet up to the sky keep your toes and feet engaged your legs strong keep the weight mostly on your shoulders and your head tilting back so the front of your neck is open resist the temptation to move your head here this posture is useful for hands stand preparation because It prepares the body to be upside down helps you understand the spatial orientation of inverting which is going upside down and for me this helps me practice staying strong and integrated in my body even while I'm upside down we'll do a short hold for this tutorial but you could stay up here for even a few minutes when you're finished slowly bend your knees lower your feet to the floor remove the block and come on to your back next we're going to go to strength building exercises you'll use the wall for strength building exercises remember that engagement through your fingertips because most people will drop the weight onto the heel of the hand for this first variation of handstand at the wall you're going to take down dog get your shoulder blades on your back step one foot halfway up you're going to use the top leg as a swing leg and you need it to stay strong the bot bottom leg is your spring leg if you bend the top knee you've lost your power so keep the top leg straight bend the bottom leg and kick up once you're up stretch through your heels stretch your heels up the wall and press through your hands so don't let gravity move you closer to the floor push against gravity push into the earth into the floor with your hands stretch up through your heels tone your belly tuck your tail and stretch these are whole body postures which makes them so invigorating but also challenging when you come down come down slowly and with control rest in child's pose between postures you'll always want to leave enough energy to come out of a pose with grace to come out of a pose with Integrity for our next handstand strength building exercise at the wall sit against the wall and extend your legs out in front of you mark the distance to where your heels are this isn't exact but it'll give you a approximate distance away from the wall for what we often call El pose El pose is actually harder than handstand because your bones aren't stacked so if you can do L pose you you should be fine now you don't want to take your foot up the wall you want the heel at the same height as your sitting bone and then you're going to press into that extended leg bring the other foot to meet the leg move your chest towards the wall not away from the wall right chest towards the wall to get your shoulder blades on your back once you're steady you can lift one leg and extend that foot to the sky this is a great practice for feeling how the body Stacks where the body is in time and space then bring one foot down lift the other foot and you can play here several times to build strength and build awareness of being upside down when you come down rest in child's pose our next posture you're also going to measure the distance from your sit against the wall measure the distance to your heels and then come up into the downward facing dog version remember to place your fingertips first have more weight on your fingertips bring one foot the heel to the same height as your sitting bone in this one you're going to take the leg up the sky and then you're just going to start tiptoeing the other foot away from the wall so here you're using the wall for support but also starting to EXP experiment with balancing on your own it's important to remember that it's easier to balance with the legs apart than the legs together eventually you will bring the legs together and then come down gracefully with strength with Integrity rest in child's pose our next variations are balance building handstands these will be in the middle of the Room Place Your Hands mindfully again you need more weight on the hands than you do in any other posture here your hands are like your antenna come into downward facing dog this is the swing leg spring leg like we did at the wall but now we're in the middle of the room so remember to keep that back leg straight Not Bent bend your lower knee and then kick up you're going to again it's going to be easier to balance with the legs apart and you're going to catch your balance with the legs apart and then slowly start bringing the legs together you may need to kick up 10,000 times before you ever bring your legs together that's okay it's unreasonable to expect you'll be able to do this posture on your first try I probably kicked up at least a 100,000 times before I ever had any grasp of the pose when you come down rest in child's pose the spring leg swing leg is probably the best way to start doing handstands on your own now when you come up and if you're scared of falling you'll kick up and you're just cartwheel out of the pose right so you'll just go to the side right just like a cartwheel and then it's not scary if you fall out of it in a back bend you probably held on to the pose too long our next variation is a hop my teacher used to call this Sumo this is really a great practice to start getting your hips over your shoulders so you're going to springload your legs you're going to bend your knees keep your sitting bones lifted to the sky shoulder blades on your back your shoulder blades are your brakes and then you're going to hop up and get your hips over your shoulders your feet and knees are kind of in like a tuck eventually from here you'll extend your legs up towards the sky this again is a great practice for just working to get the hips over your shoulders it's pretty challenging to get all the way up to a full handstand from here but it's a great learning tool once you've tried a few few times rest in child's pose reconnect with your breath this last variation is by far the most challenging it's coming up to handstand in a pike again you'll start in a short downward facing dog springload your legs that means bend the knees engage your leg muscles get your shoulder blades on your back your shoulders are more or less over your wrists and then you're going to kick up with straight legs right you've really got to keep the legs engaged here keep the feet strong again your your hips have to come over your shoulders your shoulders have to stay steady your gaze needs to be in between your thumbs this one requires the most core strength the most integration through the body but it also sets you up for the best handstand because you have the least distance to travel once you're up again try a few times and then rest in child's pose the last one we're going to do is kind of a standing splits variation so you'll start in utanasana lift one leg like in standing splits place your hands underneath your shoulders and then you're just going to rock your hips over your shoulders take the top leg up and pull the bottom leg after it this is another one where you're more set up in your shoulders so it can actually be an easier posture for building balance and balancing for a longer time this one does require more flexibility in the hamstrings those are your handstand tutorials and your handstand preparation postures thank you so much for your courage on this journey and for practicing the light in me sees and honors the light in you namaste