Back in very early September, I wrote about my headstand bench. It’s been very helpful in my yoga journey as I learn about balance, quiet, core, and stamina in an inversion. The bench allows me to stay upside down without putting strain on my neck, without putting a lot of weight on my head—in short, while being comfortable.
I don’t use it any more.
No, it’s not broken. Yes, I still like it. Yes, I still think it’s well made and an excellent prop. It’s that I don’t feel I need it any more.
Not too long after I wrote about my headstand bench, I found my headstand without the bench. I had reached the point where I felt like I really could stay inverted on the bench for five minutes. I could stay up and stable with my eyes closed for a few minutes, easily. I could play with different leg shapes and everything remained as solid as could be.
One morning, I took my mat to a corner, giving me walls on two sides. I measured out my elbows, put my arms in the triangle with hands clasped at the point, put my head at my hands, walked my feet as close to my head as I could, and gently raised them. As I found my balance point I gently tapped the wall behind me with my foot, then backed off.
It was a headstand. Not the most stable headstand around, but it was Supported Headstand (Salamba Sirsasana)—and I was pretty jazzed!
Perhaps you can see from the picture that my elbows were too far apart. I could feel that while in the headstand. Maybe I thought about moving them, but it was probably wise to just stay with what I had.
As I write this, a couple of months after that first headstand, I find that I like to warm up my neck a little, with something like Half Wheel (Ardha Urdhva Dhanurasana) or Bridge on the Head (Sirsa Setu Bandhasana). After the headstand, I like to spend a few breaths in Rabbit (Sasangasana) and stretch my neck a little bit before going to Child’s (Balasana) or a variant like Extended Child’s (Utthita Balasana). I’m starting to feel solid enough that I’ve begun playing with leg shapes (eagle, stag, frog).
One important thing to learn was how to roll out of Headstand. I’ve not had problems going to either side, but if I overbalance and have to fall out backwards it’s easy to hurt my neck. After I did my first one against the wall I moved away from the walls and practiced a little, going partway up and then intentionally rolling out. The biggest problem was crunching my fingers on my rings (wedding ring on my left hand and class ring on my right). Thanks to an Instagram post by Leigh Coates (@LeighYogiPilot), who’s also been an inspiration on playing with leg shapes, I’ve nearly become able to ensure I get my hands out of the way as I fall.
