A Complete Guide to Headstand Yoga, How-to and Benefits

The Headstand or Shirshasana is a type of yoga that you do while your head is on the ground and your legs are up straight. This is one of the most effective and very restorative forms of yoga practice that is taught and practiced worldwide. Practitioners lay down, place their heads around their neck and pull their bodies upward. This has a lot of physical and mental advantages that include increased blood circulation in the head area as well. Below is a complete guide related to headstand yoga.  

What is Headstand Yoga? 

Headstand yoga is not a completely new form of yoga, it is actually a step or a pose in hatha yoga. To do this pose, you must have your legs up and head down on the ground. After getting into the position, you must maintain your posture for a few moments. It is a very difficult pose to learn and master to do it perfectly but it has a lot of benefits that is why people love to do this pose. Below is a guide on how you can do this yoga with specific steps.   

How to do Headstand Yoga? 

Here’s how to do headstand yoga: 

1. The first step involves sitting on the knees and closing your hands in front of you.  
2. After that, you bend your body towards the ground so your closed arms touch the ground. 
3. In doing so, you push your knees upwards from the back to lift your hips up in the air. 
4. The fourth step involves maintaining a balance with your head to be ready for the legs to go up in the air.  
5. Once your legs are up in the air, try to align your body according to the straight line. After that, you must stay in the pose for as much as possible.  
6. Once you are done with the pose, slowly bring down your legs on the ground. 
7. Roll your body out of the pose and take a deep breath.  
8. That’s all that you need to do to practice Headstand Yoga.  

Do’s and Don’ts of Headstand Yoga: 

There are a lot of do’s and don’ts of this headstand yoga because it is very difficult to do and mistakes while practicing the pose can lead to injuries. Here are some do’s and don’t of headstand yoga.  

• Do your pose correctly and sequentially, do not hurriedly do the pose, instead of that do it peacefully and slowly.  
• Do not use a wall or anything that can provide support, do it on your own as it would help you create balance.  
• Do not practice on a hard surface, as you might slip and hurt yourself. Use yoga props and mats and try to do it on sand or on the grass.  
• If you are unable to hold your body upright, slowly bring your legs down. Pushing yourself to the extreme limit is not good during headstand yoga. This is because our muscles in the neck and arms regions are only capable of performing for the short term.  

Benefits of Headstand Yoga: 

Here are some of the major benefits of headstand yoga pose: 

• It helps increase the strength and movability of the shoulder and neck muscles. 
• Headstand pose helps increase the flow of blood in the head region.  
• It activates the lymphatic system in the body that collects all the fluids and returns them back to the bloodstream. 

• This pose helps the person become calm, and increases the ability to concentrate.  
• Better blood flow in the brain allows the brain cells to function properly. Hence improved mental ability is also one of the rewards of doing headstand yoga.  
• Headstand yoga can also lower the emotional stress and anxiety in life.  
• Not only it helps the shoulders and neck but also impacts the muscles and bones of the spine, hips, legs, and head as well.  
• It helps increase the blood circulation in the lower body as well, when your legs return to the ground, blood rushes through them and this helps remove or prevent any kind of clot formation in your veins and arteries.  

Conclusion: 

Headstand yoga is a part of the Hatha yoga that is practiced worldwide and is known for its benefits for the human body. This is several benefits of doing headstand yoga including the increased strength and movability of these muscles. Increased blood flow in the brain helps the brain cells repair themselves and work even faster and better. There are a lot of other benefits as well, but you need to be extra careful while doing this pose if you are not familiar with the proper method. You should learn about it and then start your practice under the supervision of a teacher to avoid any issues.