Headstand (Sirsasana 1) with Straight Legs

≤15 min. This practice is for you if you have benefited from teachers that have described the basic foundation and alignment and observed your practice as you learned to balance in headstand. Now you want to show a bit more grace through lifting off and coming down with straight legs. No matter what stage you are at, no doubt you have already felt the many advantages of headstands and inversions and see the physical and energetic benefits of turning your world upside. One of the techniques of learning how to come up with straight legs is to first establish a practice of coming down with straight legs multiple times so that you have an understanding of the hip flexion required and how to engage the core. We will do some hip flexion (and ankle flexion!) poses such as supta padangustasana, dandasana, and uttanasana in order to have a sense of the form of the pose. Sirsasana 1 is the headstand with interlaced fingers wherein the foundation is the forearms. In order to test whether you have the strength for a safe headstand, the practice includes dolphin pose that may also serve to lengthen and for some of us, challenge our hamstrings.