Headstand: KIng of all asanas Seersasana
Headstand (Seersasana) is considered the king of all Asanas. It was difficult to practice but has many benefits.
शीर्षासन, सलम्बा शीर्षासन, या योग शीर्षासन आधुनिक योग में व्यायाम के रूप में एक उल्टा आसन है; शास्त्रीय हठ योग में विभिन्न नामों के तहत इसे आसन और मुद्रा दोनों के रूप में वर्णित किया गया था। इसे सभी आसनों का राजा कहा गया है।
Step by Step Process to do a headstand
1. Come to your knees, make a triangle with your hands and flush them with the wall.
Interlock your fingers together, palms open, and place your forearms down. Elbows should be the same distance as your shoulders. Keep this position with your arms no matter what.
2. Place the top of your head down on the yoga mat in between your hands.
Rock back and forth on the top of your head to get a feel for the position of your skull. Find the spot where the frontal and parietal sutures meet—it will feel flat, and your neck will be in a neutral position.
3. Take some of the pressure off of your head and into your forearms, pulling your shoulders away from your ears.
Eventually, you will be balancing on the top of your head, but most of the weight should be in the forearms, supported by your shoulders.
4. Slowly straighten the legs, coming onto the toes.
Maybe this is as far as you go. If you feel comfortable here, begin to walk your straight legs closer to your face until you feel your abs catch. Your hips will be over your shoulders.
5. Push more of the weight into your forearms and shoulders, and use your strong core to lift the toes away from the mat.
Bend your knees, bringing your heels to your seat. The knees will still be in towards the chest. Once you have successfully obtained balance, begin to straighten at the hips, bringing your knees towards the sky. Then straighten the legs. Hold for 10-15 breaths.
To come out of the pose, bend the knees first, then bend at the hips, slowly coming down to the mat. Stay in Balasana or Child’s Pose for 5 breaths before lifting the head.
Benefits of Headstand:
- This posture is beneficial if you have anxiety, fear, stress, or worrisome thoughts.
- It can improve mental functioning.
- It can help to prevent macular degeneration and eye defect issues.
- It is helpful to improve nutrient delivery.
- It is an awesome posture for upper body strength and muscular endurance.
- It is helpful to improve human digestion.
- It helps in decreasing fluid build-up in the legs, ankles, and feet.
Precaution during headstand posture
- Keep the whole body in a vertical pose.
- Try to relax the whole muscles.
- In the case of extremely impure blood, the impurities could be directed into the brain.
- It should not be done during pregnancy or menstruation.
- The headstand should be immediately stopped if you experience a headache, feel dizziness, perspire profusely, become very hot, have palpitation of the heart.
origins
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Headstand (labeled at top Kapālī Āsana) from 1830 manuscript of the Joga Pradīpikā
The name Salamba Shirshasana comes from the Sanskrit words सालम्ब Sālamba meaning “supported,” शीर्ष, Śīrṣa meaning “head,” and आसन, Āsana meaning “posture” or “seat.”
The name Śīrṣāsana is relatively recent; the pose itself is much older but was known by other names. Like other inversions, it was practiced as Viparita Karani, described as a mudra in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and other classical texts on haṭha yoga. Hemacandra‘s 11th-century Yogaśāstra names it Duryodhanāsana (“Duryodhana‘s pose”) or Kapālīkarana (“head technique”), while the 18th century Joga Pradīpikā calls it Kapālī āsana, head posture; it is number 17 of the set of 84 asanas described and illustrated there. However, the 19th century Sritattvanidhi uses the name Śīrṣāsana as well as Kapālāsana.[6] The Malla Purana, a 13th-century manual for wrestlers, names but does not describe 18 asanas including Śīrṣāsana.
Description
In the Supported Headstand (Salamba Shirshasana), the body is completely inverted and held upright, supported by the forearms and the crown of the head. In his Light on Yoga, B. K. S. Iyengar uses forearm support, with the fingers interlocked around the head, for the basic posture Shirshasana I and its variations; he demonstrates a Western-style tripod headstand, the palms of the hands on the ground with raised elbows, for Shirshasana II and III; and other supports for further variants. Iyengar names and illustrates ten variants in all, as well as several preparatory and transitional poses.
The yoga headstand is nicknamed “king” of all the asanas. A variety of other asanas can be used to build the required upper body strength and balance.
Cautions
The pose is advised against high blood pressure, heart palpitations, glaucoma, menstruation, or hiatal hernia.
Shirshasana, alongside Sarvangasana and Padmasana, is one of the asanas most often reported to cause an injury.
Variations
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Urdhva Padmasana in Shirshasana
Shirshasana permits many variations, including:
| Transliteration | English | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Salamba Shirshasana 2 | Headstand 2 (palms down, shoulder width) | |
| Salamba Shirshasana 3 | Headstand 3 (palms down, in front of face) | |
| Baddha Hasta Shirshasana | Bound Hands Headstand | |
| Baddha Konasana Shirshasana | Bound Angle Pose in Headstand | |
| Dvi Pada Viparita Dandasana | Headstand Backbend | |
| Eka Pada Shirshasana[a] | Single-Leg Headstand | |
| Mukta Hasta Shirshasana | Free Hands Headstand | |
| Parivrttaikapada Shirshasana | Single-Leg Revolved Headstand | |
| Parshva Shirshasana | Side Headstand | |
| Parshvaikapada Shirshasana | Single-Leg Headstand | |
| Upavistha Konasana Shirshasana | Seated Angle Pose in Headstand | |
| Urdhva Padmasana in Shirshasana | Upward Lotus in Headstand |
Mandalasana, the Circle pose, is not a single variation but a sequence of movements in Shirshasana in which the legs move in a full circle around the body from one headstand variation to the next.
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