Ever wonder how some yogis in your class can make a handstand look so effortless?  Here you are – wobbling, toppling over or worse hitting your neighbor square in the jaw with your clumsy legs, all while the girl in the front expertly rises from the floor in silence with grace and elegance.  It’s like she is floating on air (on her hands of course) completely weightless.  It’s like someone is up in the rafters with invisible string and like a puppeteer, pulls her legs up, up, up until they meet perfectly together in unison at the top. Meanwhile, (over by your mat in the back of the room) your poor neighbor, crying from her injured face and YOU, running for the ice pack. After all, that’s the right thing to do especially if you want to stop her jaw from swelling to the likes of a grapefruit! It is in this moment that you decide to switch studios and set a goal to master that handstand!  You’re going to need to practice and do it in a padded room please! ALONE or maybe with someone you wouldn’t mind “accidentally kicking” JUST KIDDING!!!!  That would not be very yoga-like.

NO MORE lack of grace and NO MORE out of control attempts at the handstand.

You are going to stop hurting others! Because it is possible. Follow these steps courtesy of Jessica OM – Yoga, Lifestyle & Photography and practice, practice, practice!

How to ‪#‎DefyGravity‬:
1⃣ Place hands in-line or close to being in-line with feet… Lock your gaze (drishti) on one point a couple of inches above or below the invisible line between your pointer fingers (you can play with where you keep your eyes focused- it makes a difference when learning)
2⃣ Move shoulders forward slowly over your fingertips while coming HIGH on tip toes… get that booty up in the air as high as you can… pull your lower belly in and up!!!… Keep shifting forward! As you do these actions simultaneously, you should have lift off! ✈✈✈ If not, try rocking up to your very tip toes, lifting your butt as high as you can and shifting your weight onto your hands- pressing down firmly! (Think to press your ears away from your shoulders) and then come back to your heels… repeat a few times to get the feeling of ‪#‎uddiyanabandha‬ …that’s your yoga abs yo!!

3⃣ If you get it, work on opening your legs out to the side (the further out the easier the balance is) maintaining your connection with uddiyana
4⃣ And then slowly bring your legs together for the full handstand expression…
***Challenge: come back down the same way you levitated ⬆!!!

How-to handstand by Jessica Om

Jessica, you make it look so easy! Live in So FLo?  Join her for a yoga class on the beach & check her out on the Jai Healing Arts facebook page!