Foundations For Handstand: High Plank

A handstand is an arm balance.  The foundation of the arm balances I do is the high plank.

If I was super strong I could transition from my high plank to bakasana then to a handstand.  But I am a bit weak.

Not all high planks are equal.  Some will not teach you the requisite postural firmness you need for better arm balances.

In this post I show a video where I give some of the fundamentals of the high plank that I do that changed my practice phenomenally and helped me to develop into this handstand.

Watch the video first to see the movement in action.  Then follow the step by step instructions.  I have written about bakasana before so you can also refer to that post (bakasana on a block).

Do not do anything that hurts.  It is better to practice with a teacher.

Get Set
Come onto your hands and knees.  You need to make sure you are using your hands properly so you don't feel sinking into your wrists.  This means pressing with your fingertips, feeling as though you are trying to grip at the floor or make fists.  Imagine there are little holes in the ground like a tenpin bowling ball that you are trying to press your fingertips into to lift up the ground.

Knees are behind hips.  Shoulders are over wrists.

Lift ribs into upper back. Can you see how rounded and lifted my upper back is?  This feeling of being broad across the upper back is important.  I feel as though I am pushing the arms downwards into the floor.  My shoulder blades come right around the sides of my chest.

My sitting bones go down towards the back of my knees and top of pelvis moves towards the sky to lengthen my lower back.  My lower back is not arched.

The sense is the entire back of my body is lengthened.  This shape is important.  You will need to maintain it.

The actions in my arms are important and maintained.

I push my armpits in the direction they are facing.  Here that sort of means down and back.

I push my hands down and forward--away from my knees.

I feel as though I am pulling my knees towards my hands.

I feel as though I am pushing my hips forwards towards my hands but they do not go anywhere.

You cannot really see these actions.  That is what makes the practice of this posture difficult.  My kneeling plank is already cultivating a postural firmness for me so that my tummy is getting firm through the posture but in a way where I can still feel that when I breathe the tummy can move.

In fact, if you look at my waist area you can see it is like I have little gills there--you can see movement when I am breathing.  I am breathing a lot here! It is hard.  If I could I might try to breathe less.

Lift Up
Maintaining all previous actions, I put the tips of my toes on the ground and lift my knees.

I am careful not to sag my chest or lower back.

Performed well, you should feel very firm in the tummy area without needing to actually try to firm it.  It should come naturally because of the posture.

See how I am trying to be right on the tops of my toes.  Not the balls of the feet.  That is important.

Tip toe forward
From there I try and maintain the same actions but I just tip toe forward--on the very tops of my toes.

A common challenge as you tip toe forward is to keep the tummy firm.  It helps if you keep your knees bent and stay on the tops of your toes.  

I keep all the same actions from before, lifting chest up into upper back, sitting bones down and top of pelvis back to lengthen lower back, feeling as though I am moving my hips forward.

Stay or bakasana

You can just try and stay there, on the very tops of your toes, lifting your chest, firming your tummy.  It is really hard!!

Or you can initiate bakasana by dropping your butt a little, lifting your knees up higher as though into your chest, lightly resting them on our upper arms.

You can stay there or, if you feel light, you can lean forward until the toes feel light and then you can pull the heels into the bottom.

You can still see my little gills breathing.  That is important.  I am firm but calm.

Optional extras!
I am too chicken to do handstand on a bench like that.  I have not yet got the strength.

But if you have built these foundations then a handstand should get easier.

I do the same thing but get onto my tip toes and start to take one leg up.

I give a little tap...

...and up I come...

Sthira sukham asanam.  Firm but calm.

Summary
I have written a few posts about bakasana and even kneeling plank and plank before.

That is because they are really important!

Get a good high plank.  Then keep the actions and get a good bakasana.

These will help build the foundations.

There are other poses that you can do from bakasana so that you do not need to kick up into handstand but instead float from bakasana straight up.  I am still working on that one!  In the meantime, I enjoy the inversion with free spine.

This is the type of step by step approach to movement and posture I use in classes, workshops, and retreats.  You are welcome to join me any time!

Happy and safe practicing.

Much metta,
Samantha

www.artofliferetreats.com
www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com
www.yogacafelk.blogspot.com

Handstand At Ease

Here I wanted to share a way of coming into handstand and being in a handstand where I feel at ease in my spine especially.

My teachers always taught that the spine should feel long and free.

What I do in this handstand is try to capture a feeling in my spine that is like I am standing with my arms reaching overhead.  Only instead of the weight being on my feet I put the weight on my hands.

To do this handstand I do a few key things.

First, I lengthen the lower back by moving sitting bones down towards my heels and gently moving top of pelvis back.

Then I do a sit up in my tummy.  This is the type of sit up you do where you get firm in the middle and soft in the sides and where you feel as though you can still breathe in a way that the tummy will move.  I recommend that you read Simon Borg Olivier's blogpost on is it correct to pull navel to spine to understand what I am doing here (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMe1lRpNYi8).

Third, I keep that sit up in my tummy and reach my arms out as far as possible.  If I were in standing it would be like I was reaching for something off a really high shelf.  The arms move forward and upward.

On the ground I really push my hands downwards into the floor.  I feel for my shoulder blades wrapping around the spine.  I try to roll my outer armpits to my face.  I grip with my fingertips as though I am trying to make a fist with my hands.

I try and keep my neck free.

I breathe.  I check that I feel firm but calm.

I lean more into my hands but it does not feel like I am sinking as I keep pushing downwards which makes me feel like I am lifting upwards.

I walk my feet in if I need to see if I can get more of my hips over my shoulders.

I don't sink into my shoulders.  I keep pushing the floor away.

I keep the sit up in my tummy but I can still breathe there.

I bring more weight over my hands and keep my tummy firm and my feet naturally come onto the tip toes.  They are light on the ground.

I take a leg up and do a little tap with the grounded foot.  If I don't come up I try again.

My legs might come up.  Maybe they don't.  If they do and I am up there I keep the fingertips pressing, keep breathing, relax my face, and try to feel for the lightness in the spine.

This is a spinal releasing posture for me.  It feels lovely and free on my back.

This post is intended for my students who are working on this pose.  It is best not to work on more advanced postures like this without the guidance of a teacher.  You need to make sure your shoulders and wrists and tummy are mobile and strong enough so you do not strain or injure.

We will work on this type of posture in upcoming retreats, classes, and workshops in Canberra, Colombo, and Bali. Looking forward to sharing with you in person.

Happy and safe practicing.

www.yogacafecanberra.blogspot.com
www.artofliferetreats.com

Using Your Core Wisely For Ease in Arm Balances

In this video I am trying to transmit teachings I have learned from Simon Borg Olivier (www.yogasynergy.com) and apply them in arm balance poses that we practice regularly in class, the simplest of which is bakasana.  I advise you to attend Simon's classes where you can.

The basic idea is to generate some thrust or power through the abdomen in a way that you can feel relaxed and calm but which will generate the lift you need for arm balances.  Please re-read earlier posts on how to use your hands and armpits as this is assumed knowledge here.

There are many ways to come into bakasana and my intention here is to find a way that allows you to breathe into your belly while it is firm.  I do not mean to infer that other ways are incorrect.  I like practicing this way because, as you will see in the video, I can smile and talk and have a good time in a strong pose because I am at ease.

The great thing about this way of coming into bakasana is that there is only one basic instruction, albeit with a few caveats.

That basic instruction is to start with a relaxed belly and attempt to push the hips forward.  This is not a pelvic tuck.

If you watch the video you will see I start in standing.  I soften the knees.  I let the sitting bones feel as though they are melting down the back of the legs (give length to the lower back, this is not a pelvic tuck).  I relax my belly and breathe into it.

I poke my fingers deep into my squishy belly so you can see it is relaxed.  As a little sidebar, I don't normally walk around with my t-shirt tied up in an 80s Flashdance knot, I just wanted to show you I am  not sucking all of my belly in and that I am starting with a soft belly.

Then I simply move both hips forward.

If you perform this action yourself you should feel that your lower belly automatically becomes firm.  You didn't have to tell it to do so, it just did.  Isn't your body amazing?  This is what I have learned as creating firmness through posture.

Note, you will be unlikely to feel this if you started with a tense belly.  So, let it relax.  Let it hang out.

When done correctly you should still be able to breathe into your belly, although it will not feel as though it is moving out so much anymore.  This is because it has become firm through the posture.

Once you understand this in standing you can try to maintain this feeling as you fold forward.  Only do this if it feels safe and comfortable for you to do.

You can see that I bend my knees to do a forward bend.  This helps me keep the forward momentum of the hips and the postural firmness.

The thing is, as you fold forward the firmness is going to want to escape.  It will almost definitely escape if you try to stick your bottom back and up.  If you look at me, I am trying to move more forward and down so the hips can keep trying to move forward.

To come all the way to the floor my bottom will actually move back a little.  But I keep trying to move it forward.

If, when you put your hands flat on the floor you feel you have lost the firmness then come back up again and try again.

When you can maintain this firmness, lean further into the hands--as much as is safe and comfortable for you.

Perhaps your feet will start to become light and you can dance your toes in so your knees come to rest on your upper arms.  I am not gripping or squeezing them.  I am resting them lightly.  As lightly as possible.  The power if coming from the firmness I have created in my torso and this helps me generate lift so I do not sink.

I apply these principles in other arm balances too.  However, I use postural firmness like this in all of my postures. My whole yoga practice is using my core.  Using it in a very special way; to quote Simon, to create stability with mobility and ease.

Please watch and re-watch is incredible video on the matter of whether it is correct to pull navel to spine here.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMe1lRpNYi8