Handstands are the unicorn of yoga postures.
It’s the yoga pose we stare at in amazement and disbelief. It’s the yoga pose that floods our social media feeds. And it’s the yoga pose that’s never too late to learn…
Downward Dog To Handstand
Step 1: Face a wall, and place your hands down a few inches away from it, shoulder-width distance apart. Straighten your legs into downward facing dog. Walk forward until your shoulders are stacked over your wrists, and adjust your hands so that your pointer fingers face 12 o’clock. It might feel like there’s a surprising amount of pressure on your hands and wrists, but that’s normal.
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I always thought you were supposed to look at your feet, but Brazitis says you’re actually supposed to set your eyes at a point on the ground in between your two pointer fingers. That simple tweak helped me focus on what my hands were doing, which was huge. Raise one heel to the ceiling keeping your leg straight, then rise to the ball of your standing foot. This part made me feel like I was going to topple over, but that means you’re on your way up.
Step 2: Press into your hands and gently ease off of your bottom foot, lifting your top heel to the ceiling and bringing your bottom heel to meet it. You can use the wall as a tool to find support and proper alignment in the pose. I was surprised just how far away I was from the wall, because it’s hard to sense where your body is in space when you’re upside-down. And again, it might feel like you’re falling, but once you come in contact with the wall, it’s a little less terrifying. Stack your joints, pull the pit of your belly in and up to your spine, draw the shoulders up and away from your ears, and squeeze your inner thighs and calves into centerline.
Step 3: When in handstand, press down into the floor and think about lifting up toward the ceiling through the pit of your belly and your legs. Avoid sinking into the shoulders and wrists, because it will put too much pressure on your joints, which could weaken them. Once you’re up in a handstand, try pressing your feet off of the wall, and see if it’s possible to hold the handstand for a few breaths without assistance. Once I got to this point, I was shook — because I did it! But then I got scared and came down prematurely.
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To avoid my rookie mistake, activate your fingers so that you’re using the pads of your fingers to press into the ground. Flex your feet as if you’re standing on the ceiling to help integrate your legs. When you’re done playing, use your core to lower one foot and then the other foot onto the ground. Finish with a child’s pose.
Half Handstand To Handstand
Step 1: Stand with your back to a wall and walk your hands out to a downward facing dog position. Ideally, you should do this against a wall that you don’t mind smudging with your feet. I tried to wear socks to keep my wall clean, but don’t do that, because you’ll slip (lesson learned). Place your hands shoulder-width distance apart and place your heels an inch or two away from the wall. Press into the palms of your hands and walk both feet up the wall. Press the bottoms of both feet into the wall.
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Walk your hands in toward the wall until your shoulders are stacked over your wrists. Your body should be in the shape of an “L.” Thread your low ribs together, and draw both shoulders onto your back. As someone with not a ton of upper-body strength, this pose was really challenging for me. But this step mimics the sensation of being upside-down, so it was pretty thrilling, if I do say so myself.
Step 2: Walk your hands in toward the wall as you walk your feet up it. You might be wondering, How though?! This was where my body decided I had to stop, because this movement requires a lot of strength, and definitely isn’t as easy as Brazitis makes it look. You might find that you get stuck here, and that’s okay. But eventually, your goal would be to be able to walk your hands in and feet up.
One tip I have about falling: Just do it however your body wants you to. I came crashing down many times, and probably scared my neighbor, but as long as you follow your instincts, and keep your knees bent, you will be fine. And if you do fall, be sure to throw in a few breaths in child’s pose to calm down.
Step 3: You will arrive in a handstand position with your hands a few inches from the wall and the tops of your feet pressing into the wall. Play with pressing your feet away from the wall to hold a free-standing handstand.
Doing a handstand facing the wall can be helpful because it encourages you to “hug your core muscles.” You need to hug the entire body into your centerline to prevent falling over away from the wall. To come out of the pose, walk your hands forward on the ground, walk your feet down the wall, and end in a child’s pose.
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