Elbow handstand needs to mobilize the whole body's strength, balance, control and attention to the final expression of asana and the elegance and flexibility of the spine. It requires many elements to work together to enhance the strength and coordination needed to enter asana.
Most yoga practitioners don't get into elbow handstands when they start practicing. However, by incorporating some basic poses into the regular yoga practice sequence, you will be able to strengthen the correct muscle groups, so that you can start practicing yoga with more confidence.
Inclined plate
The balance of all arms and forearms begins with the ramp exercise. This will strengthen the core, as well as the arms and latissimus dorsi.
The correct ramp should make the heel of the palm directly below the shoulder. Bend your elbow slightly to avoid overstretching. Keep your ears as far away from your shoulders as possible. Keep a space between your shoulders and your neck. Don't squeeze your neck and back muscles.
The core remains stable. The pelvis tilts slightly, as if it were to be stuffed into the coccyx, giving the spine more length and strength, enhancing the elasticity of the spine and the strength of erector spinae.
Your feet may be close together, keeping the soles of your feet perpendicular to the ground. And continue to push the heel to the back of the room, the sole of the foot is arched horizontally downwards, and the heel is backward. Imagine a vibrant line extending from the top of your head to your heel.
Dolphin style
Dolphin style has many different Sanskrit names, one of which is half-elbow handstand, which makes it a basic posture and must be practiced to achieve complete elbow handstand.
Kneel in the middle of the mat, put your elbows directly under your shoulders, and then open your fingers. Hook your feet and toes down, push your hips back and up, and enter dolphin pose. Just like in dogs, it is more important to keep your back straight. Therefore, the heel should be pushed toward the floor, but if the thigh fascia is too tight, the knee should be slightly bent if necessary.
Shoulders together can move not only the arms, but also the shoulders and knees. It may be helpful to put a yoga brick between your elbows to remind yourself to squeeze, but make sure that your elbows are at the same distance from your shoulders to prevent overstretching.
Dolphins lift their feet.
Another change of dolphin posture is to support your body with walls.
To do this, put your back against the wall and straighten your legs. Pay attention to the position of your feet. This is where you put down your elbow. Pose as a dolphin and put your feet on the wall at hip height.
Keep the core involved and hug the shoulders. Relax your neck as much as possible, but still keep the focus between your palms.
If you are ready, you can practice lifting one leg away from the wall at a time, so that you have two-thirds of the distance to reach the elbow. But, please continue to use it? Dolphin, put your feet up? Lay a good foundation. Because you first develop muscle strength and coordination, it is much easier to lift your lower body.
Upward dog
Many elbow handstand preparation postures, as well as the balance of all forearms and arms in general, focus on strengthening the strength of arms, core and lateral muscles, while flexibility is often ignored.
However, even if you are strengthening your spine, keep it flexible, which will help you better control your movements and even make you stronger through a wider range of movements.
Such as bridges, wheels, grasshoppers, bows, and even cobra pose and Shangquan postures, will help to relieve and release the tension caused by other upper body strengthening postures. At the same time, they have both strength and flexibility, and can move and control their bodies better.
Head and elbow handstand
Handstand is actually a wrong name for this handstand posture, because in this posture, most of the body's weight is placed on the forearm, and only a little pressure is applied above the head and neck to prevent excessive compression, especially the cervical vertebrae.
Hold the opposite elbows with both hands to reach a proper distance. Above all, don't open your elbows too wide. You want to create a triangle with elbows on the floor, fingers crossed and a firm connection with the ground.
Put your head on the floor, almost with your hands. Continue to push your elbows to the floor and hug your shoulders to create as much space as possible. Lift your hips, straighten your legs, keep your feet, and walk forward until your hips are higher than your head.
Operate one leg at a time and bend one knee so that the heel faces the ischium. If you can control this place, do the same for the other leg. Avoid jumping posture, so that you can learn to lift your legs through careful coordination, rather than jumping posture without determining physical coordination.
Finally, if you have enough core control, you can also try to lift two straight legs at the same time.
Are you ready to try?
Now, you have prepared physically and psychologically through the routine practice of the previous basic asana, and now you can integrate elbow handstand into your yoga practice.
You can start with dolphin or handstand and transition to elbow handstand.
Elbow handstand is one of the most impressive postures, but the journey to get there may be more interesting and unique for everyone. First of all, practicing the basic postures mentioned above will not only develop good habits and muscle memory, but also find out which posture can fully express the posture and which posture is most suitable for you and your practice.
The first choice to enter the elbow handstand is to straighten one leg at a time from the angle of whether the dolphin faces the wall or not, and transfer as much weight as possible to the forearm. Keep the core tight and stick your arms down on the mat to increase the stability and strength of your posture. When your hips are just above your head (you may have to walk forward in a dolphin posture to get there), don't kick your legs and start lifting your other leg to meet the first leg that stretches upward.
conclusion
All yoga poses need to practice the basic poses regularly, so as to establish appropriate muscle strength and habits, so that you can safely enter the more advanced poses and have room for growth in practice. The process of entering the elbow handstand may be full of challenges and setbacks, but once you can finally lift and maintain this forearm balance, you will get far more benefits than a yoga picture worth showing off. Practicing difficult poses requires patience, determination and concentration.