Handstand Preparation
Benefits: Strengthens the core, shoulders, arms, and wrists; improves balanceInstructions:
Kneel down on the floor on all fours with your back to a wall. Crawl backwards toward the wall until your toe tips touch the base board. Flip your toes and press the balls of your feet into the baseboard. If your shoulders are tight, turn your index fingers out slightly. Firm your shoulder blades against your back torso and pull them toward your tailbone. Then rotate your upper arms outward, to keep the shoulder blades broad, and hug your outer arms inward. Finally spread your palms and press the bases of the index fingers firmly against the floor.
On an exhale, lift your knees away from the floor and the sits bones toward the ceiling. Push your top thighs back and stretch your heels downward onto the baseboard, straighten your knees. Firm the outer thighs and roll the upper thighs inward slightly.
If this 90-degree angle feels too intense, spend a few weeks practicing it.
Next bend one knee and step first one foot and then the other on the wall so that your legs are parallel to the floor and in line with your buttock bones. Press your heels strongly into the wall. Lift one leg into the air in line with its sitting bone as you continue to press the opposite heel into the wall. Stay for five seconds and breathe deeply. Switch sides.
Slowly walk down the wall and rest in Child's Pose.
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