Adho Mukha Vrksasana literally translates to Downward Facing Tree Pose, but is most commonly known as Handstand. This yoga pose registers 10* on BKS Iyengar’s 60* scale of difficulty in Light on Yoga.
It took me years to be able to do Handstand. My fear of being upside down, balancing only on my hands, limited my ability to explore the pose. It was only when I released my fear of being upside down that I finally flipped up against the wall.
Now, the same fear arises as I explore taking this pose away from the wall. While an essential tool of support for beginners to Handstand, the wall can become a security blanket for practitioners who are ready to explore Adho Mukha Vrksasana in the center of the room. Here are a few tips for taking your Handstand practice away from the wall:
1) Active legs! Meredith LeBlanc put it best in her response to my post on Pincha Mayurasana. By activating your legs up towards the sky, you engage the muscle strength necessary to maintain the pose in the center of the room
2) Distribution of weight on your hands. Bring more weight into your fingertips than you think. Dropping weight into your wrists will increase your likelihood of falling out of the pose.
3) Escape plan. If you’re about to fall, don’t freak out! You have to options for falling out of Handstand safely. First option: move one of your hands. This will help change the distribution of weight and allow you to fold back down to Uttanasana. Second option: cartwheel. If your legs begin to fall over your head, bring more weight into one hand and take a cartwheel toward that side. Sadie Nardini has a great video demonstrating this escape route.
Surrendering your fear is the most crucial step in the process. Once you abandon fear in favor of possibility, anything can happen! What are your tricks for Adho Mukha Vrksasana in the center of the room?
I recently heard a couple of ideas for the awkward part of trying to go up and not keep going over – 1. go up with a scissor motion (straight legs, wide so one goes behind you) and keep switching sides until you can go up and balance. 2. When you kick up, “tap” your feet together, which helps stop the forward momentum.
There are so many great things you can do; I’m with you Kat; activate those legs. Every student has different weaknesses in their bodies, but I highly recommend practicing plank with the heels against the wall for 8 to 10 breaths. Why? When you press the heels against the wall, you are forced to really activate those legs. Then you can focus on drawing the tailbone long towards the heals while lifting the quadriceps towards the ceiling.
Then, the arms; if you feel a collapse in the wrist, use all five fingertips (especially the knuckle of the index finger)to lift up. Do not rotate the arm bones but draw the triceps towards one another and the biceps away.
Knowing that your body is strong enough in plank is the first step; and I also find that doing it against the wall helps you feel the lift with the navel without really looking for it.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Renee Greiner. Renee Greiner said: RT @katsaks: Getting away from the wall in Handstand http://ow.ly/3Blt6 Thanks @MeredithLeBlanc for your tip! Any other tricks out there … [...]
Thanks, Renee! Great contributions! I’ve never tried the feet against the wall in Plank. I’ll have to explore that with my students and myself! As for those fingertips… claw the ground!
Love the escape routes, that’s a very important thing to bring up. I don’t think I’ve really talked about that with students, except to tell them to get a good chuckle out of it.
A good chuckle goes a long way. And Lorin, I will have to try the toe tap. Never done that one!
Hey Kat,
I came back to this again; and I realized the other day that I limit my ability to do the pose because all of my weight is in the wrists.
And then I realized that guess what, all of our imbalances translate into every single pose. I notice I don’t put enough weight in my fingertips in plank too. The exciting thing is these subtleties are so fun to work on, and when I do put weight in my wrists, and draw my front ribs towards my hips, and back body straight up, I get light. Yay! I’m still at the wall. And I’m okay with that, but I agree it’s the fear that can keep people at the wall who don’t need to be there.
I’m enjoying your blog.
-Renee
Thanks, Renee! Have you tried moving more weight into your fingertips? Taking some weight out of your wrists and into your fingers will help you balance.
[...] II is a harder version of Vrschikasana I since, in Vrschikasana II, you are balancing in Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand). It is much more difficult to balance in this position than in the Pincha Mayurasana [...]