One of the most iconic yoga poses, headstand has long been thought to provide countless benefits for its practitioners. In this class with Rachel, we mindfully explore how you can begin to practice this lovely pose. Practitioners with neck issues are advised to practice the preparatory pose (keep the head off the floor). Note: You will need a wall to do the practice.
This can either be done as a stand-alone class or as Day 5 of Rachel's 7-Day Inversion Challenge.
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Existing Comments
The instruction in this challenge series and the practice and tips in strengthening the shoulders and body in preparation are paramount to helping everyone reach their goals with inversions. You did it again, Racel!
AWWW!! <3 <3 <3 ~ I'm so glad that you found helpful! :)
Headstand feels so much more achievable after doing this class. Love the core work at the beginning and Rachaels cues are always super clear and fun. Question- when working on headstand at the wall at the end should the back of my head nest in or touch the back of my hands and wrists at all or should I maintain space between my head and hands? Thank you!
I may never achieve full handstand but this series has encouraged me to actually start! Thanks Rachel. Being even partially upside down is actually a great and safe way to build shoulder muscle, so I’m very happy I started this challenge.
Can’t say enough good things about this challenge!
While I’ve practiced headstand before, I still can’t achieve full vertical (mostly because I’m afraid I’ll roll over). Going back to the foundations guided by Rachel has given me new tips and elements to improve my practice and achieve my goals in inversions. Thank you, Rachel! All your explanations and the chance to see you beforehand are pure gold.
This series is absolutely wonderful! Although I've been comfortable in a tripod headstand for a while, I always struggle with this type of headstand where the hands are interlinked, not sure why! I did manage to do it during this class though, thanks so much Rachel, I am planning to revisit this entire series time and time again!
Rachel is EXCELLENT at cueing and guiding through two versions of headstand. This is a practice you can use again and again as you develop more shoulder strength and core engagement.
This challenge is awesome. My body feels so good afterwards. Rachel explains everything so well that my entire body feels so strong and aligned after the class. Thank you and I hope there will be more challenges like this one!
Loving this inversion series. I've been working on inversions and this has been so helpful. I found it easy to get into headstand from the second option, which was amazing as I've been struggling getting up there. Thank you so much, will definitely be repeating some or all of these classes regularly.
Thank you Rachel! So awesome. I am really enjoying this series. Like other commenters, I liked the second version of headstand better too!
Another great class in this series. Really clear explanations and I love the emphasis on taking it stage by stage. The first version was very challenging but I found the second version much more accessible and it worked for me, so thanks for offering the two options.
Thanks, Rachel! The two versions were really helpful. For me, my flexibility is such that I feel more aware of my core and lat/shoulder strength with version A and feel closer to alignment than with B, even though I am not up either way yet. But getting there with your amazing guidance. Thanks! Along with Crista, Fiji, Jonni Lyn and Tracey’s classes, I hope to make it with dignity, as you say! Anna
Another incredibly challenging class and a great core workout too! My abs are tingling! Every tiny element of the headstand is covered here, from shoulder placement, forearm position, wrists, thumbs and little fingers, hands, hips, head etc.
I found it difficult to make my head "light" but Rachel advises that this means I need to continue building strength in my shoulders until such time as I can rely more on my forearms and elbows. If it wasn't for Rachel's excellent guidance, explanations, reassurances and modifications, my ego may have allowed me to go too far and injure myself so I thank Rachel for that.
Slowly slowly catchy monkey :-)
Really looking forward to coming back to these classes and seeing my (teeny tiny) progresses over time.
Thanks Rachel!
Welcome to the class! I hope you enjoy it :)