Handstand

[Guest guest]

First try near the wall.

 

Some people suggest walking up to the wall with full

force and somersaulting into a handstand. Do not try

this. It puts unnecessary pressure on the wrists and

you might also hit your head hard.

 

1) Place the entire surface area of the palms with

fingers at optimal distance, two palm lengths away

from the wall.

2) Do a half down dog.

3) Take 3-4 breaths and blank out your mind. Blanking

out the mind involves not thinking about falling down,

hitting your head against the wall. Remove any

anticipation of fear. Don't even think that you are

about to turn upside down. I mean "Literally do not

think about anything". This is the first and the last

step - having no fear. Once there is no fear, all arm

balances can be done instantly.

4) Assuming you are right handed and your right leg is

the dominant one - Bend your left leg, raise your

right left into extended down dog. Stay here for 2

breaths. Remember **mind blank**.

5) Rod up your arms.

6) Look between your palms with your third eye. Inhale

and on the exhale, push your left leg and thrust your

right leg, followed by the left leg up to the wall. If

you feel like you are totally out of control, keep on

inverting. Nothing will happen because the undebatable

fact is there is a wall behind you and you will reach

it.

7) You might wobble a bit, or hit your head against

the wall. If you hit your your head against the wall,

move further away from the wall. This works. This is

how I learnt it.

 

Vola.

 

Once you do it at the wall, you can do it in the

middle of the room.

 

Hope that helps.

Gayathri.

 

 

 

--- C Chambers <stranded711 wrote:

>

> I'm interested in this question too... specifically,

> the one yoga pose of the primary series I do not do

> at all is the handstand. Should I at least attempt

> this? Do you have any advice for someone trying to

> learn handstand?? Thanks again.

 

There is nothing more worse for a teacher than a talented student -- My "prefers

to be anonymous" peer

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi Gayathri,

 

I have learned handstand the way you recommend, I can do it and hold it...I have

now another question, how to move from that to handstand in the middle of the

room....

do you still do it one leg at a time? or both together? I know is just fear....

but I don’t know how to let it go!

 

Thanks

 

Namaste

Pia

[Guest guest]

In order to overcome fear, I suggest you spend some

time watching kids play around in the park. They are

fearless partly because they don't think about the

consequences of letting go off the bars. And when they

fall, they shed a tear and do it all over again.

Adults have a fear of getting hurt and pain. We

imagine that if we lose control in a handstand, we

will hit our head (Of all the things, I don't like

bumping my head;), twist our arms, we think of the

pain and we don't do it.

 

There are days, when for some reason, I imagine myself

falling off my motorcycle, breaking my bones, and all

kinds of weird morbid things happening to me. Those

days, I don't have the guts to ride. Days when I don't

think about these things are very enjoyable:-)

 

Don't think about the consequences and just flip

upside down. Then you will fall. Don't think about it.

Just flip over again. Do this a few times. You will

notice that you don't really hurt that much after all.

Vola!

 

And with repeated practice and time, you will be

surprised to see that you can do a lot more than you

imagined.

 

There are many ways to do a handstand. I have not

tried all but two.

 

1) Once you can do handstand at the wall, next step is

doing it in a controlled way. When the legs go up, try

not to bang them against the wall. When you kick up

the legs, slow your mind down and traverse the arc up

very slowly so that the feet barely touch the wall.

Then hold it for few breaths. Practice this until you

can do handstand barely touching the wall with your

feet consistently.

 

Then, I moved to the middle of the room and asked a

friend to stand in front of me. When I invert myself,

I asked him to place his right finger close to my tail

bone and his left palm close to my feet but not touch

me. So that gives me security. Practice this for a

while. I still tip over most of the times. Do not try

this in a class if there are students in front of you.

You might fall on them:-)

 

2) Hop up with both legs, touch the feet to the wall

and bring the feet back together to the ground. Do

this for a week. Until you can do it in a controlled

way and the feet gently touch the wall. Then hold for

few breaths. Then very slowly bring both feet up

without touching the wall. And hold.

 

Once you get that, I asked a friend to stand in front

of me. I hopped both my legs up and asked him to place

his right finger close to my tail bone, but not touch

me. This gives me a feeling of security in case I tip

over. And hold. Do this for a long time until you feel

confident that you won't tip over.

 

Hope that helps.

Gayathri.

 

 

--- Maria Pia Menghi <piamenghi wrote:

>

> Hi Gayathri,

>

> I have learned handstand the way you recommend, I

> can do it and hold it...I have now another question,

> how to move from that to handstand in the middle of

> the room....

> do you still do it one leg at a time? or both

> together? I know is just fear.... but I don’t know

> how to let it go!

>

> Thanks

>

> Namaste

> Pia

>

>

>

>

>

 

There is nothing more worse for a teacher than a talented student -- My "prefers

to be anonymous" peer

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

go slow and take baby steps

 

Maria Pia Menghi <piamenghi wrote:

Hi Gayathri,

 

I have learned handstand the way you recommend, I can do it and hold it...I have

now another question, how to move from that to handstand in the middle of the

room....

do you still do it one leg at a time? or both together? I know is just fear....

but I don’t know how to let it go!

 

Thanks

 

Namaste

Pia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ashtanga yoga

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

dont blame you , id be frozen lol trina

-

Maria Pia Menghi

ashtanga yoga

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 6:51 PM

Re: ashtanga yoga Handstand

 

 

 

Hi Gayathri,

 

I have learned handstand the way you recommend, I can do it and hold it...I

have now another question, how to move from that to handstand in the middle of

the room....

do you still do it one leg at a time? or both together? I know is just

fear.... but I don't know how to let it go!

 

Thanks

 

Namaste

Pia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Links

 

 

 

 

 

 

Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.10.4 - Release 27/04/2005

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

GREAT!!! thank you so much!! I will try it tomorrow and then tell you!

namaste

pia

[Guest guest]

Just my experience... I started with the wall behind... (when upside down)

so that when I fall forward, I stay on the wall... .. well... you know

what?! The only scary thing is to fall forward... but if you learn to walk

on your hands a little, you won't be scared anymore... Now that I can turn,

walk forward, bend forward, etc... I just go on hands wherever I like,

whenever I want... According to me, it is THE trick... since when you lose

balance forward, if you do a step forward, you then re-establish the balance

or lose it backward... then you just fall on your feet! To learn walking on

hands, just try it... go on handstand some feet away from the wall, and walk

until you hit it... then try on wall free land... it's not THAT hard, it

just takes good self control for not bending anyhow in case you fall aside

or forward. Well, at the end of summer, I aim at climbing stairs on hands...

that will probably be hard enough though need much strength to lift the

whole body only with one arm! =P

 

Max