Thursday, May 12, 2011

Full unsupported headstand: work in progress:)

Have restarted practice on this pose after a long long while. I have only seen two people in all my life do it, and the first one did it quite badly, sometimes there, sometimes not there. The other guy, from Kerala, was a Kalari fighter and very fit and he could do this very well!

I have been wanting this pose for long -- it is not like any other pose. Most of our crowns are knobbly places.. So the head tends to wobble. Plus even a light touch of hand on the floor, as in other unsupported (nirlamba sirsasana) gives you a great sense of balance. Here, without that flimsy support, you simply feel disoriented. Plus you realise that when the head is rested this way, it has no support barring from a rather fragile looking neck. Most importantly, the main work all happens in the front of the neck, unlike with other poses, including the headstand hand variations. And this part of the body, except in martial artistes, is never worked out at all to help you in this pose. So, I can feel a huge drag there, from chin on upto the chest, and pectorals, where the muscles help hold u in place. It is rather fantastic. Last week had restarted building long holds in unsupported headstand, simpler variations, so I can build on all these supporting muscles. And surprise, surprise, I find that my crow variations have improved tremendously...

This yoga, so amazing!!

2 comments:

Kannan said...

Shammemji,what do you advice for a beginner practicing Yoga as to how to take-up Head stand ? Elbow supporting the head as a tripod besides a wall.

YOGA IN EVERYTHING said...

Surya namaskar is a good way to start, because it involves all the muscles involved with headstand. Plus protects u in case of fall. Dolphin pose is another good preparatory pose for headstand.