5 yoga poses that can help you prepare for headstand

Be it yoga or generally workout, headstand is a part of all forms of physical activity. One has to balance their entire body weight on their head and hence most people find it intimidating and unachievable. Well, it is actually true that it is one of the toughest exercises and the risk of getting injured while performing it is also rife. It takes months and even years for some people to get into a headstand smoothly without hurting their neck or back. This particular pose tests your flexibility as well as body's stability. So first you have to ensure that your core and other muscles are strong and flexible enough to perform this exercise. To help you prepare for headstand, here we have listed 5 exercises that you should master.

Step 1: Come on all fours with your wrist under your shoulder and knees under your hips.

Step 2: Lift your knees, straighten your legs to bring your body to full extension. Your toes should be tucked in.

Step 3: Elongate your spine and engage your abdominal, arm and leg muscles.

Step 4: Lengthen the back of your neck and look down at the floor.

Step 5: Hold this position for up to 1 minute and then go back to the normal position.

Step 1: Start with coming on all fours, so that your body makes a table-like structure. Your shoulders should be directly under your wrists and your hips over your knees.

Step 2: Inhale and gently lift your hips upward. With this, straighten your elbows and knee to make an inverted V shape.

Step 3: Press your hand into the ground and straighten your neck. Your ears should touch your hands, fix your gaze to your navel and inhale.

Step 4: Pause for a few seconds, then bend your knees and return to the table position.

Step 1: Sit down on the ground close to a wall with your legs stretched in front of you and feet flat up against the wall.

Step 2: Place your hands on the floor beside your hips and flip over into a tabletop position.

Step 3: Lift your hips up and come into a downward dog pose with your heels against the wall.

Step 4: Engage your core and slowly move both your feet to the wall to come into L-Shape. Hold this pose for a while

Step 1: Place your mat close to a wall and come on all fours. Your forearms should be on the ground, elbows under your wrists and knees under your hips.

Step 2: Lift your hips up off the ground, bring the crown of your head to the floor with the heel touching the wall.

Step 3: Lift one foot up as far as you can to test your core strength.

Step 4: Switch legs back and forth until you are comfortable lifting one leg off the mat without compromising your head and neck safety.

Step 1: Get on your hands and knees with your wrists under your shoulders and knees under your hips. Your head should face the wall.

Step 2: Place your forearms to the floor, keeping your elbows directly under your shoulders.

Step 3: Clasp your hand around the opposite elbow.

Step 4: Place the crown of your head on the floor (a small distance apart from the wall). The back of your head should rest at the bases of your thumbs.

Step 5: Lift your hips and straighten your legs as if you were doing Downward-Facing Dog.

Step 6: Carefully walk your feet in toward your head until your hips are as close to over your shoulders as possible.

Step 7: Slowly try to lift your legs up. First, take your right leg up and then the left one. You can lean on to the wall for balancing the position.

After mastering these 5 poses you will be able to do a headstand easily. But in the beginning, you need to follow some safety measures to avoid any kind of injury. Here are a few things you need to keep in mind.

Don't keep your legs wide apart from each other.

Don't keep your hands and elbows too wide apart.

Try not to collapse your shoulders.

Avoid kicking your legs when coming to a headstand pose.