shoulderstand

[Guest guest]

now that we're talking about some postures I have

an interest in shoulderstand. This is my least

favorite posture. I hate it but not nearly as much as i

did a year ago. It brings up all kind of lowerback

pain & tight shoulder issues. I know it's the queen of

asanas but what does it mean if you dread it and want to

drop it. Any suggestions on how to learn to love it.

[Guest guest]

You might want to seriously consider a teacher. If you aren't anti-prop,

blankets can do wonders to enable you to experience the effects of this amazing

asana. Don't give up. WELL worth it.

[Guest guest]

I sway between love and hate in this pose. In my

experience, this pose feels lovely when you can lift the

torso and particularly lift the legs up into space. The

legs should not be jamming their weight into the torso

but lifting up and out. This pose is particularly

problematic for those with tight shoulders, and sometimes

it's just a luck of the draw regarding the shape of

your cervical spine whether you have space between

your neck and the floor in shoulderstand. Try the

pencil test -- if you can slide a pencil between your

neck while in shoulderstand, you're oK, but if you

can't -- this may be why you hate this pose. It is

supposed to be a SHOULDER stand not a neck stand -- but

with tight shoulders or just a specifically shaped

neck, this may not be your experience. I am a dedicated

ashtangi, but i do believe in modifications when necessary

and firmly believe in the blanket or some kind of

raised level for those who would otherwise rest on the

neck. I took an adjustment workshop last weekend and

the teacher, an ashtangi, talked about a very

advanced practicioner, i'll keep her name private b/c some

of us will know her, who has wreaked havoc on her

neck b/c of all these years of not dealing with the

shoulderstand issue. I'd be interested to hear others'

experience. Namaste.

[Guest guest]

Not that I have such a problem with this pose,

but I always wonder -- how are you supposed to DO

that pencil test? Do you swing your arm around, grab

the pencil, and then stick it under your neck? Or

what?

[Guest guest]

perhaps a friend??????

[Guest guest]

I think that if your neck is healthy & you don't

have suffered any injury in that part of the body, you

can do shoulder stand perfectly without any props. If

stiffness is your problem, you should concentrate first on

doing all the postures preceding sarvangasana properly,

before attempting shoulder stand at all. In this case,

do the suns, then the standing poses plus the seated

series, and end your session with the padmasana sequence,

leaving out the inverted postures.<br><br>When doing the

shoulder stand, it may also help to hold the posture just

for the amount of time you feel comfortable with, and

if 5 breaths are all you can achieve, so be it. Try

then to build up slowly to the prescribed amount of 25

breaths. But don't rush, and keep listening to your

body.<br><br>However, I don't think it's a good idea to drop a posture

just because you don't feel comfortable in it. Keep

trying (patiently & slowly), and one day you may even

learn to love it.