FitSugar

You Asked: Issue With Inversions

FitSugar — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:50:02 PDT

Hi Fit,
I have been practicing yoga on my own for years, and I love it all . . . sun salutations, backbends, forward bends, you name it . . . except for the inverted poses. Despite my best efforts, I have never been able to get into them! Can you recommend any exercises to strengthen my upper body so that I will be able to do them, or do you have any other tips to help me take my practice to the next level? Should I have someone help me? Any advice you can offer will be much appreciated!
Thanks,
secrethoughts

In my yoga classes, inversions are the poses most people have problems with, so you're not alone. They require balance, strength, and most of all the guts to be upside down. I believe it's possible for all healthy people to do them, so to hear my tips on how to get yourself there,

read more.
Strengthening your upper body is a great way to feel stronger when inverted. I recommend regularly doing all variations of push-ups, the challenging Walking Elbow Plank exercise, and Dolphin Dive. I also recommend practicing Crow pose since it will also work your balance. Flexible hamstrings are also helpful, since they allow you to walk into the inversion. This is much better than jumping into it, which makes you more likely to lose your balance and not be able to hold the pose. So also incorporate Tipover Tuck and Seated Straddle into your stretching routine. When you're ready to go upside down, start off with the easiest inversion, Tripod Headstand. It's normal to feel nervous that you'll fall, so practice in front of a wall (with your head about eight inches from the wall). Place your head and hands on the mat, straighten your legs, and walk them in as close as you can toward your head. This is considered an inversion even though your feet aren't in the air. If you're feeling ready, rest your knees on your triceps, coming into Tripod Balance. From here, you can work on lifting one leg at a time into the air. If you're in front of a wall, you can easily place your feet on it for support. As you feel more brave you can lift your feet away from the wall and try balancing on your own. My best advice is to keep practicing and don't give up. As you become stronger and more confident, Tripod Headstand will become easier for you. Once you master that variation, you can move on to other inversions including headstand variations, forearm stand, and handstand. And if you have access to a yoga studio, taking classes and getting one-on-one help from the instructor will help you master inversions even faster.

Strike a Pose: Inverted Locust

FitSugar — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:00:00 PST

Now that you've tried the Locust Prep, I think you're ready to move on to Inverted Locust, or at least ready to give it a try. This is a very challenging pose since it requires both flexibility in your back and strength in your upper body and core. So take it at your own speed and raise your feet as high as you can. With practice and patience, you'll soon be able to lift your legs even higher.

Sanskrit Name: Viparita Salabhasana
English Translation: Inverted Locust

To learn how to do this

Strike a Yoga Pose: Headstand A and B

FitSugar — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 10:15:00 PST

Inversions are some of my favorite types of Yoga poses because I love how energized I feel getting blood circulating to my head. Plus overcoming the challenge of putting your head where your feet should be is quite satisfying. Talk about an ego boost. It should come as no surprise that inversions give you a new and interesting perspective on life.

Since I have shown you all Bound Headstand A, let's move onto Bound Headstand B. Both poses are part of the closing sequence in Ashtanga yoga, and they come right after Extended Fish pose.

Sanskrit Name: Sirsasana A and B
English Translation: Head Standing Posture A and B
Also Called: Bound Headstand and Half Bound Headstand

How do you get into it? To find out

Begin with your hands and knees on the mat. Lower your elbows to the floor and interlace your fingers, bringing your lowest pinky in front of the other pinky so both pinkies are on the floor, forming a semicircle with your hands.
Place the back of your head against your palms, and the top of your head on the mat, so your skull is vertical to the floor. Once your head and forearms feel stable, straighten both legs and walk your feet towards your face as far as you can.
Shift your hips over your shoulders, and keep your elbows planted firmly on the mat. Lift your right leg straight up towards the sky and stay here, or work on lifting your left leg up too, coming into full headstand. If you feel up to the challenge, you can try lifting both legs up simultaneously.
Eventually you can work on holding this for 25 deep breaths, but start off with five at first and work your way up to the magic number of 25.
To move into Headstand B, slowly lower both legs down halfway, so that your legs are parallel with the floor, staying here. If it's too difficult to keep your legs straight, just bend your knees slightly. After five breaths, lower your feet all the way down to the ground.

Fit's Tips: Just as in Extended Fish pose, it's hard to tell if your legs are in the right position, so have a friend watch you do Headstand B to make sure your legs are parallel with the floor. Also, if you're worried about falling over, do this pose in front of a wall. Watch this video to learn how.

Yoga Inversions and Your "Moon Time"

FitSugar — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 03:00:00 PDT

Not all women feel the same during menstruation. Some feel like sitting on the couch cuddled up with a heating pad and a pint of Ben & Jerry's, and others have tons of energy to go for a run. I'm a firm believer in listening to your body, but I also know that a little exercise can help alleviate cramps (and your rotten mood).

Doing yoga is great when you have your period because the movements are slow and gentle, and leave you feeling completely relaxed. The ongoing debate though is whether or not a menstruating woman should do inversions such as shoulderstand, headstand, forearm stand or handstand.

Some instructors think inversions disrupt the natural flow of your period, that it can cause retrograde menstruation, where blood flows in the opposite direction and can cause endometriosis. However, there is no scientific evidence that inversions can cause this.

Also, you're only upside down for a couple of minutes, so can that short amount of time really affect your flow that dramatically? Only you can answer that question. It all goes back to doing what is right for your body. If inversions give you energy and make your period symptoms more bearable, then I say go for it. On the other hand, if inversions put pressure on your uterus or make you feel dizzy or lightheaded, skip them. This applies whether you have your period or not. Yoga is all about feeling good, so do what feels right to you at that moment, and don't let anyone make those decisions for you.

Strike a Yoga Pose: Shoulderstand

FitSugar — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 04:00:00 PDT

OK, so maybe Double Arm Headstand wasn't the pose for you. Here's another inversion that requires less balance and is actually a really relaxing pose. It's great for stretching out the back of your neck and your upper back, two areas that rarely get stretched.

Sanskrit Name: Salamba Sarvangasana
English Translation: All limbs with support
Also Called: Shoulderstand

Want to hear a detailed description of how to get into Shoulderstand? Then

Begin lying on your back on a mat or rug. Come into Plow with your feet over your head and your hips over your shoulders.
Bring your hands to your lower back, fingertips pointing up towards the ceiling. Keep your elbows on the ground, and try to bring them as close together as you can so they are in line with your shoulders.
When you're ready, slowly lift one leg straight up, and then the other. Eventually you want your shoulders, hips and feet in one line.
Try to keep your body completely relaxed, and don't clench your butt muscles. If you find it difficult to breathe (bigger breasted women have this complaint), just shift your hips away from your head a few inches.
If you're feeling any pressure in your neck, press the back of your head into the ground. Do NOT move your head to either side, just keep it in line with your spine to prevent straining a muscle.
Stay here for ten or more breaths, and when you've had enough, you can slowly lower your feet back down towards the ground, coming into Plow pose. From here, you can slowly bend your knees, and shift your hips down to the floor, hugging your knees into your chest.

Since this pose is an inversion, you'll feel a burst of energy from the blood rushing to your brain. That also means if you try and stand up too quickly after doing this pose, you may feel a little dizzy (I've even seen stars before). So be sure to take your time coming out of this pose.

Strike a Yoga Pose: Forearm Stand

FitSugar — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 04:00:00 PDT

I love inversions. I love the challenge of trying to stay balanced. I love how strong my upper body feels while I'm in it, and I love how energized I feel getting fresh blood circulating to my brain.

Headstands, forearm stands, and handstands are all kinds of balancing inversions.
Headstands are the easiest inversion since your head and your forearms are planted on the ground. Handstands are the hardest (I think), because only your hands are holding your body up.

So that leaves forearm stands right in the middle with a moderate level of difficulty. You may find them easier than handstands, since both your forearms are helping you to stay balanced. Plus, you are lower to the ground, so you may find this easier to get into - it's less scary. This pose has a lot to do with shoulder and upper back strength, but it's also about engaging your core muscles.

Sanskrit Name: Pincha Mayurasana
English Translation: Feathered Peacock Pose
Also Called: Forearm Stand

Keep reading for more tips for getting into Forearm Stand.

Gear Review: Lululemon No Limit Top

Jenny Sugar — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:07:07 PST

I don't usually get very fancy with my yoga clothes. A fitted tank with a built-in sports bra is my usual go-to top. It keeps my girls covered and in place, and the fitted body stays put when I go upside down. But some days ~~you ate too many cookies~~ you just don't feel like wearing something tight. You could sport a loose shirt but it doesn't offer the most flattering look, and as soon as you start moving, it can end up exposing your belly even more than a tight tank. Enter the Lululemon No Limit Tank ($64). Sexy is the first word I thought when I saw it, but when I tried it in a yoga class, functional was the second.

Keep reading to hear more details about this unique Lululemon tank.

Do You Love or Hate These Popular Yoga Poses?

Jenny Sugar — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:59:36 PST

Pigeon is easily one of my top 10 favorite yoga poses, but my husband can't stand it - his tight hips scream to get out of pose. Here's a list of challenging yoga poses that people either love or hate. From backbends to inversions, tell us which ones you love, or love to skip.

Have You Ever Injured Yourself From Yoga?

Leta Shy — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:51:17 PST

Yoga is generally seen as a therapeutic practice that can alleviate pain from previous injuries and help prevent new ones. But a recent article from The New York Times Magazine highlights the practice as something quite different - yoga can wreck your body. The stories are scary and cautionary: healthy, advanced yogis having strokes, breaking ribs, and experiencing permanent disabilities because of hyperextended joints, prolonged inversions, and too-deep spinal twists.

The problem isn't just that inexperienced people are incorrectly doing the poses, but also that certain poses are risky, especially when they are done for many years at increased flexibility, without regard to your body's limits. Timothy McCall, the medical editor of the Yoga Journal, even calls the basic headstand pose too dangerous to be taught in most yoga classes, and yogi Glenn Black, who had to have spinal surgery to correct injuries he says he got from 40 years of practice, says that "the vast majority of people" (including many yoga teachers) shouldn't be practicing yoga at all because their bodies can't take it.

The article is a good reminder to check your ego at the studio door and don't push yourself over what your body can handle (and never compete with the room!). "If you do [yoga] with ego or obsession, you'll end up causing problems," Black says. I've found that most teachers make sure to tell their students this. When I took a beginner yoga series at my neighborhood studio, my instructor asked all of us newbies before we started if we had any preexisting injuries and cautioned that some poses would have to be modified to ensure that no one would make their injuries worse, and most importantly, to stop immediately if we experienced any pain or discomfort.

What about you? Have any of you ever been injured from practicing yoga? Tell us the pose you think caused your injury in the comments section below.

5 Reasons You Can't Do a Headstand Yet

Jenny Sugar — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 01:56:36 PDT

Do you have a minipanic attack when your yoga instructor says it's time to work on headstands? Whether you've tried inversions a hundred times and can't stay balanced for more than half a second, or are too intimidated to even try, here are five reasons headstands aren't happening for you and how to get started hanging upside down.

You're scared of falling: This is a very real fear and a valid reason for not even attempting headstand, but how will you know whether or not you can balance upside down if you never give it a chance? There are many ways you can do a headstand and avoid the risk of falling. Try one of these: do headstand in front of a wall, have someone spot you, slowly lift into headstand instead of kicking up, or start with a Bound Headstand Prep where your feet never leave the ground (it's still a headstand if you're balancing on your head!).
You don't have a solid base: Whether you're doing Bound Headstand (shown in the photo above) or Tripod Headstand with your palms on the ground, your base needs to be strong and stable in order to support the weight of the rest of your body. In Bound Headstand, make sure the heels of your palms are pressed against the back of your head, and your elbows are a few inches away from your ears. In Tripod Headstand, keep your elbows at 90-degree angles. A strong base is the first step in building up to headstand.

Keep on reading to find out what else is preventing you from doing a headstand.