To: those who might be interested
Headstand – sirsasan
The headstand is sometimes called ‘The King of Asanas’
and should be practiced by all serious yogic aspirants. However headstand should never be taught in a class
or studio setting to anyone UNLESS a headstand stool or appliance is used
such as Health Mark Yogacise Bench or Original Bodylift Yoga Headstand because:
a) Injury liability issues
b) Student and/or instructor unwillingness, ignorance, or
inattentiveness to follow stringent guidelines for the posture such as;
1. Having a
thin, fit body.
2. not eating or drinking ANYTHING for the preceding 8 or more hours AND not
having eaten any ‘heavy’ meal for at least 12 or more hours before.
3.
beginning with a one second inversion and increasing no more than one second
per day
4. concluding
the asana with the arms raised over the head for at least one minute for every
5 minutes or less of inversion, Urdhva Hastasana or equivalent pose, up to minutes.
ie. 9 min. inversion = 2 min., 22 = 3
5. doing
corpse pose, Savasana, for 3 minutes or longer immediately after Urdhva
Hastasana. Longer is better AND savasana does not truly begin until the heart
and the breathing cease.
6. not
immersing in water for at least an hour after completion.
Just my opinion. My experience is beginning the headstand
with NO instruction, or actually, instruction to NOT ATTEMPT THE HEADSTAND,
beginning in 1978. Working up to remaining in the posture for up to 60 minutes
daily for many months. Having to stop the posture all together after 22 years
due to a back problem which I discovered was a congenital misalignment,
beginning again with a headstand stool in 2010, currently at about 18
minutes/day and increasing one second per day having not missed a day since then.
