Beginning Inversions
So, you want to go upside down? There comes a time in every yogi's practice when they are ready for more! Your body has gained in strength and flexibility and it wants to take on greater challenges! You see other yogis jumping into crow, standing on their heads or hands, flying from side crow to 8 limb pose and you think, "gosh, I could never do that!" But, still you have a burning desire to try!
Everybody has to start somewhere... and I truly believe that there are arm balances and inversions that are accessible to every body. EVERY body. We'll go over a few of those here and some tips and alignment to help get you into an inversion and help prepare you for some of the more advanced ones!
Yes, Down Dog is an inversion!
Some Basics:
There are three basic aspects of every pose/inversion we do: strength, balance, alignment. And these can vary based on what pose or what variation of a pose you are taking.
To see how ready you are for inversions you can test yourself out in downward facing dog or plank. Downward facing dog will test your upper body strength and flexibility. The Baptiste practice and other forms of power yoga are known for their difficulty because of the number of vinyasas throughout the flow and the length of time spent in downward facing dog.
Test your strength by holding down dog for five breaths, transitioning to high plank and holding for 2-3 breaths, strengthening the core, then back to down dog. Repeat this 5-10 times or till its difficult to maintain a steady breath.
More Drills:
Take it up a notch if you found that last drill easy! Five breaths in down dog, 2-3 breaths in high plank, one breath low plank straight to down dog.
You can play with variations on the vinyasa or form like elbows close to the body for the push-up or elbows pointing slightly out for more pect emphasis, but all of these variations will get you strong in no time!
If this is where you stop, that is totally fine! Part of yoga is being where you are and embracing it! Remember to stretch and cool down before going about your day.
Watch out for chatturanga, kitty!
Crow Pose/Bakasana
The very first aspect of this pose is flexibility.
You have to have some amount of flexibility in your hips maybe even your hamstrings just to get into the position prior to taking crow. Start in a forward fold, knees can be bent. Before doing anything else, test your balance and strength by transfering weight from your feet to your hands and lifting your heels a bit if you can.
Next bend your elbows backward almost like chatturanga/low push-up creating a shelf. Here's where the flexibility comes in! Rest your knees lightly onto the backs of your arms: the shelf you just created. Some people will have difficulty with getting their knees close to their chest. If that is the case, bring your knees outside your arms and squeeze the outside of your arms instead.
Now we find out how strong we are!
Knees on the backs of of the arms or outside the arms, begin to tilt forward transfering weight slowly into the hands from the feet, lifting the heels completely up till you're on your toes. The key here is core strength. Yes some amount of upper body strength is necessary to balance on your hands, but the real work is happening in the core. So, really pull your bellybutton in and up, suck it in as much as you can and engage the core!
DO NOT LOOK DOWN!
Look just slightly out and down (about a foot or two ahead of your mat) Start to play with your balance. Attempt to lift one toe at a time until both toes are off the ground! Congratulations you're in Crow Pose!
Extra Credit: If you look down and continue to play with your balance, going slightly too far forward WITH CONTROL! you can set your head down gently and you will end up in tripod!
Tripod
Not as hard as Crow? Up to you!
I thought this pose was harder than crow my first time around, but lots of people find it to be easier. Start in a tabletop and plant your head on the floor. The crown of the head should be on the floor, this is further up on your head than you think.
Place your hands on either side of your head and half a foot behind it, like you're making an equilateral triangle with head and hands. Then straighten your legs coming onto the balls of your feet like downward facing dog.
From your tripod-style downdog:
Lift one knee up and onto your elbow shelf. The higher up on your arm into your armpit you can go, the better. This is particularly true in crow pose as well, but it requires some flexibility. Lift the other leg onto the elbow shelf and lift the feet off the ground.
If you can get your heels to your butt you're just a core's breath away from tripod headstand!
Tripod Headstand
Take it up!
Get yourself into your tripod and kick your heels s close to your butt as they will go. The closer they go, the easier it is to find the right alignment you need. When you have the right alignment, your heels just magically keep going and your legs lift and straighten into the inversion!
So, kick your heel to your butt and let your hips line up over your shoulders. You can take one leg up off of your elbow into a sort of half tripod headstand/modified one-legged crow (with head down) or take both legs up into the full headstand.
Keep it up!
If you come to the full pose, do not attempt straight up and down right away. Straight up and down with your legs is difficult to balance at first. Start with a slight pike: hips are lined up over the shoulders, but tailbone is tucked slightly away and legs are slightly forward. You can also try some crazy legs, straddle, bent legs,
Classical Headstand
Take it to the next level...
If tripod and crow were particularly easy or if you've been working those two and you're ready for more, try out classical headstand.
Standing on your head can be pretty scary, but essentially this is almost like a different kind of tripod, as your forearms/elbows and head create the same triangular shape as your hands and head do in tripod headstand. Also, for me, this pose was easier. Everybody is different!
To prepare: on your hands and knees forearms on the ground clasp your hands/fingers together and make sort of a cup. Placing the crown of your head on the floor cup the back of your head with your hands.
Lifting your leg either straight or into the tuck, bring the other leg to meet it hopefully without jumping or kicking. Sometimes jumping or kicking a little is necessary in the beginning, but try very hard to mostly use your core/pulling from the belly and lifting on an inhale. If you've lifted into the tuck, attempt to straighten both legs at the same time.
EXTRA CREDIT: Pike on the way back down with CONTROL! Pausing at a 90 degree angle, coming back up to the top, then coming down again with control. This is an awesome core exercise and if you're having trouble lifting/not kicking, this exercise will get you there!
Take it up again!
Test out this new solid foundation you have created by moving into a downward facing dog with your head down attempting to feel the weight evenly distributed from fingers down your forearms to your elbows, less weight in the head itself.
Walk your feet in! Start to walk your feet up closer to your face. This will cause your hips to line up over your shoulders and may cause some scary feelings, its ok! This is a great place to be! Working on getting the hips over your shoulders and feet closer to your face/narrowing your down dog stance.
When you're ready lift a leg up, either bent or straight. Kicking up can sometimes cause tumbling, and as yogis we prefer a lift from the core into an inversion instead of using momentum.
Crazy Legs
I find that crazy legs (or letting your legs hang bent or straddled or in some other configuration besides straight up and down) is actually easier to balance.
You can try your classical headstand lifting one leg up and bending the knee and dipping it back before lifting the other leg off the ground. It might help you find your center of gravity a bit better! Who knows! Give it a try!
Crazy socks to go with my crazy legs!
I hope that was helpful! Feel free to use the contact page to let me know if you have any questions or comments!
Check back for the next waive of inversion/arm balancing poses: Side Crow, Running Man, and Forearm Stand/Balance!
