10 Tips for Headstand – Part 2
So in the first two tips we covered the foundation for headstand. Take a moment to read those tips now if you have not already done so and then it is time to continue.
Tip No. 3 – Place the correct part of the head onto the floor.
Sounds pretty self explanatory and if I asked you what part of your head is going to contact the floor, you would probably say the top. Yes? Well, at the simplest level that is correct, yet it is a little more detailed than that. Perhaps you might think this is strange, but in 15 years of doing headstands every now and then, I have never had a teacher, yoga or otherwise, tell me what part of my head should make contact with the floor/mat. When I met my current teacher in 2007, I was finally told. You also are about to be told, aren’t you lucky?
There are two ways to measure; one way that I have read is to place the base of your palm on your forehead between the two eyebrows. The fingers extend on the head toward the crown. The middle finger extending along the mid-line of your head. The place that the end of your middle finger contacts on the top of the head is the contact point for the head on the floor. This method is not foolproof. What if you have stumpy fingers? Or perhaps you have long willowy fingers, fingers that are slightly out of proportion to the rest of your body?
The preferred method that I use, the one taught to me by my teacher when I was doing my teacher training is this: place your index fngers at the highest point of your ears, then draw a straight line with both fingers up through the hair, as though you are parting your hair, until the index fingers make contact at the highest part of your head. The point immediately in front of this is the contact point for the head on the floor.
Most people will find that they have a slight dent there, almost a perfect platform, other people may have a little ridge which can make headstand a little trickier. I have a slight ridge.
Whilst the second way is my preferred method, it is also not foolproof. Ensure that you do not tilt your head as you move your fingers up the side of your head to the top. This is a common error that I see as I teach it to my yoga students.
Perhaps the best way to measure and find the correct part of your head is to use a combination of the two methods. If those two methods correspond then you can be 100% confident that you have found the correct place. If they do not quite correspond, use the second method, as it is possible that your fingers are either a little long or a little short.
Another error I see when people place their head on the floor is that they are too far forward on their head, toward the eyebrows, almost on the forehead, this collapses the back of the neck making it weak and vulnerable to injury.
Tip No. 4 – Less cushioning.
This tip is bound to challenge your comfort zones and I am sure that I will receive comments and e-mails about it. But seriously, use less cushioning in your headstand. In my article, From the ground up, I discussed the importance of having a firm even surface to work on. If the surface is too soft or cushioned your muscles will have to work harder to maintain your balance. You will tire quicker and you will be less skilful in the pose as a result.
At the yoga studio where I teach, we have carpet, on top of which is a thick black plastic type of mat, it is very firm and has a gripping surface on the bottom to prevent slipping. On top of the black mat we then have our sticky yoga mats. For most people this is more than enough cushioning from the hard floor. I see many people place folded blankets onto the floor for extra cushioning. At my yoga studio it is not necessary.
I tried it for a couple of weeks to see what I was missing; I placed a folded blanket under my head and arms for my headstand. Immediately, even though it was nice and soft, I noticed that I lost any connection that I had with the floor. The foundation is perhaps the most important aspect of any yoga pose. Because I could no longer ground as effectively into the floor, through my head and arms due to all of the cushioning, I had to work so much harder to stay up in the headstand. Not only that, I noticed I was wobbling all over the place because the cushioning was having a “bouncy” effect on my body. When I came out of the pose I did not feel light and energised, I felt heavy and foggy, perhaps due to the fact that I could not ground properly and so I could not receive the corresponding rebounding energy. Imagine trying to bounce a flat basketball and you will get the idea.
So do yourself a favour, only use as much cushioning under the head and arms that you need so that you are not in discomfort on the top of the head. Of course you want to be comfortable, if you are uncomfortable you will not stay as long, nor will you actually want to do a headstand.
There is another reason to use less cushioning; when you have a surface that is too soft, the supporting limbs and head can sink into the cushioning. In a way this is going to smooth out any lumps and bumps but what it also does that is detrimental to you is that it absorbs any imbalances that you have in your foundation.
You cannot work on correcting those imbalances if you cannot feel them or if your teacher cannot see them and you are likely to set them deeper into the body.
Rather than immediately go for the folded blanket, try placing another mat on top of yours, or use a folded towel which tends to be less thick than a blanket. If your mat is placed directly on concrete, then yes, you will probably need a little more cushioning.
Tip No. 5 – Descend from above.
The most common way that I see people come into their headstand in a yoga class is to prepare their arms, then whilst on their knees they place their head on the floor. From my observations this is the reason why people are coming into the headstand with the weight too far forward toward their forehead. Instead do this, the way taught to me by my teacher:
Prepare a solid foundation, then come into Dolphin Pose 1 position. From here with the head off of the floor and the elbows and wrists firmly grounded, walk the feet into towards the hands. Once you torso is vertical or as close to vertical as possible place the correct part of the head lightly onto the floor (from Tip No. 3) between your hands. You have already activated the strength in the shoulders, upper back and core muscles to walk in and you can keep them working as you come up into your headstand. Always start the way you intend to continue, in this case with the strength activated and the correct part of the head on the floor from the outset.
Do not start with the incorrect part of the head on the floor then try to activate your strength to lift you up, whilst at the same time trying to correct your head position on the floor. This is what happens in the first way of coming into headstand, and you can probably tell just by reading it that it is not the most effective or efficient way to begin a headstand. You should never try to correct the position of the head whilst some or all of the weight is on it.
Again, we will leave it there for now as you go and work on these extra tips. Happy Headstanding. 
Jump to Part 3.
Tags: alignment, class, foundation, headstand, Practice, tips