Pike Handstand Practice

Pike Handstands are one of the most difficult handstands.  Not to worry!  I will be posting many videos in the future of things to practice that will help you find more strength and balance and this will be here waiting for you.  When I began yoga - I liked to see where my daily practice could take me.  I am the kind of person that likes to know why I'm practicing something - what are the effects in mind, body and spirit.  Yoga is a tuning into YOU!  You are your own best teacher.  Your magnificent body will teach you, if you listen. So, in the beginning of our yoga practice or if you're further along and have been practicing for quite a while - there will ALWAYS be something to learn - something to tune into that we hadn't noticed before.

In the last part of this video - I show a jump into pike - where by body is basically in an upside down  L position.  This is what pike position is.  It's a tuning into the internal locks found in our bandhas - that provide the strength needed deep in our center to draw energy upward.  It's something to practice and feel during our yoga practice.  When we move through our Sun Salutation A - Surya Namaskar A, we will find ourselves in Downward-Facing Dog Pose and from here we begin to transition to a Forward Fold.  This is a wonderful place to begin feeling our handstand - and eventually this jump into pike before slowly controlling the feet down to wrists into our Forward Fold.  This takes hundreds, or thousands of Sun Salutations before we build the necessary strength & flexibility to do this.

My journey with yoga began in March of 2013 - and since then I've done my Sun Salutations most days of the week.  So for about 2 years I practiced this until one day - I felt this control, the hugging in of my arm bones, the weight in the heel of my hands, the squeezing in of my inner thighs and the hollowness in my belly and I almost toppled over in the middle of class!  I'd found it!  It took many more tries before I was able to tune into this with almost every jump into Forward Fold.

As always - be careful.  Be prepared to know where you would land if you fell.  Have an exit strategy - something I will post shortly.  I will link it here when I have it.  Cartwheel out.  Have a wall behind you.  Start small - use props - and in time you will naturally feel your body invite you to the next step.

Happy Handstanding!

Namaste

Pike Position can be taken from other inversions such as Pincha Mayurasana (Forearm Stand)

Pike Position in Headstand (a great place to start!)

Pike Hanstand facing a wall or in this case, a tree, and walk your feet up the wall (also shown in video below) and hold.  Work on stacking wrists, shoulders and hips.  This is my beautiful friend Amanda here.

How about a pike position on a friend when they're in Downward Facing Dog Pose?!  My daughter Ruth and I love this one!  Very little weight is on her sacrum especially when I feel that lift in my feet.  Please only practice this on someone when you have a spotter nearby and when pike handstand is feeling comfortable to you.

Watch this video for visual and verbal explanation of exercise to help you!