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!

Garland Pose - Malasana & Crow Pose - Bakasana

Arm Balances are one of the most challenging aspects of Yoga.  It is also one of the most rewarding!  There is nothing like finding yourself balancing your entire body weight on just your hands!  It boosts confidence and builds incredible strength.  Crow Pose - is one of the most commonly seen yoga poses.  It involves balance the inner knees on the backs of your triceps.  Sounds simple, right?!  It can be :)  Yoga is all about finding the balance point.  Yoga is also about mindfulness.  What does that mean?  Well, much of what we practice on our mats, is a direct reflection of how we practice life.  Our yoga practices are an opportunity to learn about ourselves, to grow, and to be strengthened in mind, body and spirit.  We are prepared for more difficult postures like Crow, when we practice Sun Salutations.  Sun Salutations are a wonderful way to implement mindfulness, focus, breath and strength.  Grab a notebook and jot down what enters your mind as you practice.  This is mindfulness - to be aware of what is happening in our minds.  Find the patterns of your mind and redirect the unhealthy patterns by focusing on breath.  If we aren't mindful, what may happen when we move into challenging postures is a tendency to "beat ourselves up", through thought and maybe even vocally.  Our bodies listen.  They obey.  It's in our subconscious to do so.  With this in mind (pun intended :), we move into Crow Pose!!

Garland Pose - Malasana - Low Squat

(pictured - top right)

1- Begin by standing.  Stand with feet a little wider than hips distance.  Turn your toes outward diagonally.  Keep tailbone tucked slightly and core engage.

2- Slowly begin lowering your hips down to the inside of your ankles.  KEEP YOUR FEET FLAT! If you're struggling with feet flat and you feel your heels lifting as you lower, step your feet wider, or place a folded blanket under your heels.

3- Bring palms together in prayer or namaste mudra.  Press the palms in and allow the triceps to press the inner thighs outward.  Try not to lean forward too much, although this will happen naturally.

**This pose is a wonderful leg strengthener and hip opener and is very helpful to take before moving into Crow Pose.  

***You may also place a block under your sits bones if you have trouble bending your knees this far down or feel that this compromises your balance too much.  You may still bring palms together with hands at heart center and open the hips, while sitting on the block.

Crow Pose - Bakasana

1- From Malasana (Garland Pose) - Place your hands down on your mat directly in front of you.  Keep your hands inside shoulder distance apart - as if you were moving into a plank position.  Keep your elbows inside your thighs and keep them tucked in ward, so the elbows don't splay outward.

2- Bring the inside of your knees as high up on the back of your triceps as possible, but KEEP YOUR HIPS LOW - not higher than your shoulders.

3-  Keep looking forward, and begin to rock forward. Squeeze your inner thighs and knees IN, almost like you're keep your elbows and triceps in and not allowing them to bow outward.

4-  As you slowly rock forward, you may feel your feet have some small lift.  If so, great!  If not, thats OK!  Stay in "mock crow" for as long as you're able.

*One of the most helpful things I learned was to not put my actual knee on the back of my triceps as this created a lot of bruising.

*Use your core - almost as if you are sucking a basketball into your belly button.  Your belly button being the vacuum.

*KEEP HIPS LOW. I began with my hips very high and I would face plant into the ground.  You are very low to the ground, gaze continually forward, never looking at your feet or at hands.

*The backs of your triceps act as a shelf, however, if you move into this pose with the idea that your arms and chest are doing all the work, then you will not learn this pose in a healthy way.  Draw energy up into the center of you, to your power source, the 3rd chakra or solar plexus.  It's called your core for a reason!  It is the center of you.  Also, engage your Mula Bandha (bandha = lock), by pulling in the parts of you that would sit on a bicycle seat.  This helps create an internal lock inside this core, enabling you to find more strength in this posture, rather than sinking into the palms, wrists and upper body.

Most of all -----  HAVE FUN!

The journey is the destination :)  Enjoy your journey!