This video shows you how to perform Headstand in a safe way. This is an advanced pose. Be careful.
If you can’t get your feet off the ground that’s fine. Just remember never jump. Your feet should gently levitate as you engage your hamstrings and glutes consciously. Never jump.
If your feet do not come off the ground then you can practice while keeping your toes on the ground, this is a perfectly acceptable way to train your body. Your body will learn, it just needs time and repetition before it can better understand new positions. Focus on keeping your back neutral and engaging both your glutes and hamstrings as to create tension. Send positive thoughts to that area of your body as you breathe in for four seconds and out for four seconds. It’s important not to exert all of your energy at once rather to slowly let it out; this will enable you to train for longer durations and also lower the propensity of injury. Breathing slowly will help conserve energy; it also helps to engage your parasympathetic nervous system which tells your body to relax and creates optimal conditions for building proprioception.
Try to breathe through your nose. Practice this 10-20 seconds per day, once per week. As your body gets better at having your toes gently walking to your head, your muscles will develop the proprioception requisite to building strength. When first practicing this pose you may feel discomfort – in that case I would recommend to immediately stop. If you feel comfortable: you can increase training duration and frequency. Listen to your body.
If you can’t do this position, then please see my post on introductory poses like Dandasana. Dandasana mimics the same pose but you’re flipped sitting comfortably on your bum. This helps bridge the gap as you focus on keeping a neutral spine and coming forward to 110 degrees; this increases hip flexor range of motion.
Headstand is a great exercise to build muscles in the abdominal, lumbar, glute, and hamstring areas. How does Headstand help with other yoga positions? Many yoga teachers use the cue “jump or step back” … or “jump or step to the front of the mat”; these are cues that navigate us to a certain desired outcome. But it’s important that we don’t interpret these cues literally. It’s important not to jump. Rather than a jump – it feels more like a gentle lift orchestrated by the core muscles of the body, along with the arms, legs, and the rest of the body. Unfortunately, saying all this would be a mouthful and rather difficult to ramble off in the middle of a class. So, remember – when you hear these cues, try to consciously engage your core system. Inhale and visualize air moving in your body to the parts of your body demarcated by tension as you pull yourself up or let yourself fall to the ground gently.
Now nobody is able to levitate on their first yoga class. This can take anywhere from a few months to years depending on your level of fitness, dedication to training, and a multitude of other factors. As you train your body with different yoga postures such as downward dog, crow, dolphin, chaturangas, and more.
In the meantime, before your body is ready to comfortably & gently levitate back and forth you can focus on stepping rather than jumping. It’s very important to practice safely, and if stepping keeps you safe, then be honest with yourself and step until you can do this consciously.
Headstand will help you improve many aspects of your yoga practice. If you’re not able to do a headstand safely, just focus on keeping your feet on the ground and engage your muscles as your feet gently move towards your face.
If you ever feel pain, you should stop and consult a doctor or medical professional.