It’s time to relax and rejuvenate the body. You close your eyes and feel the calmness of your inner self. You slowly work your way to your knees and begin working toward handstand – Adho Mukha Vrksasana. There are many ways to get into this posture, depending on the level of your practice.
This particular variation is meant for you to find yourself all the way on your knees so you focus entirely on hand placement. Hand placement is to be shoulder width apart, fingers spread wide and flat on the floor. Once your hands have found their home on the floor you are able to slowly roll your toes over until standing on the flats of your feet and begin to raise the hips in the air while gazing at the floor. The floor is your focus and the easiest way not to fall is to not take your eyes off of it. The other variations for getting into this posture would be to start from standing with straight or bent knees and place your hands on the floor. Once you have found your comfortable starting point, you are ready to move into handstand – Adho Mukha Vrksasana. This is done by deep yogic breathing or breathing with all of your lungs, and focusing at your dristi- gaze, which is the floor. You will come to the tip of your toes and tilt your pelvis upward. There will be a place in which you don’t need to rely on your toes for balance anymore, and at this point is when you lift your feet straight into the air. This is all done while maintaining your focus. You may also practice this posture with a partner, who would act as a spot until you feel comfortable here.
You have successfully achieved handstand – Adho Mukha Vrksasana and now you are working this posture. While in it, be sure that you are focusing mentally on your body position. This posture should be identical to Mountain Pose- Tadasana, although upside down. Your shoulders are rolled back and away from your ears. Your upper thighs are rolled in while your gluts are rolled down. The toes can either be pointed or flexed, as long as they are both doing the same thing. Remain in this posture for 10 to 20 breaths or longer and feel the blood of your body move quickly and refresh and replenish itself. Feel your inner energy locks, at the naval and pelvis work hard to keep your body in balance. Hand standing poses are meant to increase stamina, balance, strength and focus. These three things all work in conjunction with one another. You will greatly increase your stamina by working on this posture frequently, and to actually achieve handstand you must work on your balance. To balance, you must focus. Almost all arm balancing postures will give you a decent strength workout, and handstand – Adho Mukha Vrksasana is bound to make you feel great, rejuvenated and ready for more yoga.