Headstand – sirsasan

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.