Year of Rabbit : Headstand
Headstand (Sirsasana) is a good go-to pose for the year for the Chinese Year of the Rabbit, when balance and peace will be much in demand.
How do we best deal with the challenges and shifts that are in store for us? Prepare for them. The more you conquer the headstand the more fearless you will become. When the world is upside down what do you do? You keep calm and carry on...breathing.
Headstand brings peace and balance between both sides of the brain. It also stimulates the pituitary and pineal glands. It helps us feel more in tune with ourselves, inner peace and sense of celestial navigation.
It conquers your fears. It makes you believe that all you want to do - you can.
From child's pose, lock your elbows and form a tripod with your arms. Lift your hips up and place the frontal portion of your head on the ground against the clasped hands. Walk your feet forward trying to keep knees straight. When hips are directly above your head engage your abdomen and lift the feet gently off the ground. Bring feet up to the buttocks, hold the position for few breaths. Now you can fully straighten your legs up. Never rush. Stay for as long as comfortable. If you are beginner try to stay for 30 seconds.
To gain the greatest benefits from the pose mentally vibrate the Rabbit’s motto which is “let there be peace and let it begin with me.” And enjoy. When you are ready, slowly come out. Rest in child’s pose.
Do not practice if you have high blood pressure or suffer from glaucoma. Contraindicated if you are four or more months pregnant or have had neck injuries. Do not practice if you have headache or a severely blocked nose. To clear blocked nose try Alternate Nostril Breathing. (Click here for instruction on Alternate Nostril Breathing.)
“One who practices the Headstand for three hours daily, conquers time.” ~Yoga Tattwa Upanishad
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I remember Yogi Bhajan said we don’t do head stands in Kundalini Yoga — it’s too dangerous for the neck, the fragile part of our beloved spine!
That is very true Luciano, but in other traditions they do use headstand and Olga, while she loves Kundalini yoga, is a teacher of Sivananda yoga. Thanks for reminding us all of doing shoulder stands instead of neckstands in Kundalini Yoga during this year of the rabbit…Shoulder stands are a great substitution!
Hi Luciano,
thanks for the opportune comment, it gives me an opportunity to tell more about this great pose.
Shoulder stand is a great preparation. For headstand, you should have strong arm muscles to hold the posture and strong abdomen to lift your lower body upwards. So upper and lower body need to be both strong. If you come unprepared or do it without a supervision or someone initiating you into a pose (there are 8 steps that take you into pose that you must follow) chances are you could be doing it wrong.
Good instructions are given here + pictures, http://yoga108.org/pages/show/65-yoga-headstand-shirshasana
Many think that we stand on the head in the head stand, but actually we stand using the strength of our arms lifting through arms and shoulders. Head just receives the benefits of the increased blood flow, nutrients and prana rushing into the barin. There are people with certain conditions that should avoid the headstand. Like if you had injury in the neck or slipped discs + others mentioned above.
Any exercises that strengthen the arms and shoulders as well as abdomen will do to prepare for the headstand.
Also just a half-headstand (knees touch the chest) or inverted V ( or another name is downward facing dog) can give same benefits without danger or any fear of injury.
hope this helps,