Have you ever been really scared?

As a child, remember the pitch-black room in your house that you never wanted to be in alone? 

Your elevated heart beat. The raised hairs on your pale skin. The turn-back-now voice in your head that grew louder every time you took a step further.

You could sense something there, but didn’t know what.  At any moment, something could jump out. At you.

Your curiosity kept you coming back.

Every night you told yourself you would vanquish whatever it was. You told yourself you would be braver. You would muster up just a little more self-courage.

But you couldn’t.

You believed something in there would shred you limb-by-limb faster than your mother could rescue you.

So you froze. The unknown paralyzed you.

And even worse?

You doubted yourself. You never really believed you could do it, so you didn’t.

All you wanted was for someone to turn the light on and for it to be over.

Believe it or not, this is how many students see inversions.

Fear presents itself in many ways. The fear of falling. The fear of the unknown. Not understanding the mechanics. Self-doubt in the moment of execution.

Have you ever believed you were going to fall before you even tried? Have you ever given it the ‘I’m going to fail but I’ll go through the motions anyway’ attempt?

I have. The unknown and uncertainty scare me, not just once upon a time in headstand, but in life.

But I don’t let it control me.

How?  I educated myself.  I arm myself with as much knowledge as possible and wear it like a shield.

Tripod headstand was this way for me when I was learning it.  I was scared of what I didn’t know.

So for Part 2, I want to focus on your Tripod Headstand.  If you haven’t read Part 1, that’s okay, you will still find this useful.

Recall the difference between Supported Headstand and Tripod Headstand.  In Supported Headstand your hands are interlaced behind the head and you are using the cradle that your palms create to support you.  In Tripod Headstand, the hands are on the ground behind the head so you created 3 points of balance for yourself.

Double Your Power in Half the Time

Let’s talk about Balance Triangle.  This is actually another “thing” in itself specifically for Tripod Headstand.  Disclaimer, a little bit of basic geometry coming up.  There are 4 types of triangles (I think there is a couple more): an acute triangle, an obtuse triangle, a right triangle, and an equilateral triangle.  And the theory is all the angles add up to 180 degrees.  Thats enough of that.

The triangle that is important to you is the equilateral triangle, where the angles and distances of each side are exactly the same.  You can look up a picture of one if you can’t picture it in your head.  You want the base of your Tripod Headstand to look just like that triangle, this will increase your stability in this pose dramatically.

The problem with Tripod Headstand is most students, maybe even you, say it hurts their head.  There is too much pressure on my head to do this and I feel like its going to make my head explode.  

A big part of this pain is caused by the triangle that is created on the ground.  Some people, again, maybe you, and even worse you don’t realize it, look more like an obtuse triangle on the ground.  Look these triangles up if you aren’t familiar with them, knowing the shapes will help your headstand.

Some student look like variations of acute triangles.  The hands are in a good place but the head is way too far forward.  At first, you may not realize how this is destabilizing you.  If you head is too far in front of your hands you won’t be able to push properly with your hands.  When you can’t push properly, a majority of the weight will collect in your head, avoid that, and you will start love your Tripod Headstand a little more.

Also, recognize that Tripod Headstand is important to learn because at some point it will become your main transitional headstand, which I’ll talk about, not here, but sometime.

Let’s apply those 2 Things to Tripod Headstand.

Thing #1

Covered partially above already, you must be aware of your head position relative to your hands.

The position of your head greatly determines how much you can actively press with your hands.  This is why establishing the equilateral position for your base is so important, it maximizes the amount you can press down into the earth with your hands. 

Remember, your goal in all headstands is to relieve as much pressure in the head as possible.

And just like Supported Headstand, there are ways you can gain pressing power in your hands.  

Let’s dive into one example.  A simple, but highly effective tool, Plank Pose.

Just like Forearm Plank for Supported Headstand, Plank Pose is going to work the same way. 

You must get in the habit of setting simple achievable goals for yourself and stick to them.  

Work on holding plank for 30 seconds, or 1 minute, just 5 times a day. At first, it will be difficult.  That’s okay.

As you progress through this, hone in on the finer points.

3 Ways to Prevent Your Plank from Becoming Utterly Useless

1. Don’t just hang out in plank, but push the hands down into the ground as much as you can. 

Get in touch with the entire perimeter of the hand pressing vigorously into the ground.  Do that for 60 seconds.  In about 2 weeks time that should strengthen you up. Stick to it.

Then, after you have master pressing the hands into the ground, I want you to add another layer to your plank.

2. Squeeze your thighs together and roll them in slightly.

This should get your stomach to fire up even more.  Combining these two actions in plank closely mimic what you should be feeling when you are upside down in your actual headstand.

3. Draw everything in without actually moving.

One final point in plank. Without moving your body at all, do this:

Imagine pulling your toes toward the heels of your hands and pulling the heels of your hands back toward your toes. This draws energy inward, directly toward your core center. You will feel something different if you do this right.

Thing #2

Proprioception time once again.  Alright, so you understand the leg positioning already.  Get comfortable lifting up to Tripod Headstand and get even more comfortable holding any position with the legs along the way up.  Use technology to help you accomplish this.

The other thing specific to Tripod Headstand that you must pay close attention to is your elbows.  Don’t let the elbows splay way out to the sides. 

The Ultimate Sacrifice you Don’t want to Make

Without making this an overly complicated anatomy lesson. Generally, when the elbows splay out to the sides, you are compensating by rolling your shoulders together which is effectively causing you to “muscle” the pose from your shoulders and disengage your core.

I use to make this make mistake.  Learn from my mistakes.

Have you ever felt your shoulders burning while in Tripod Headstand?

It’s the positioning of your elbows that are causing that problem.  The correct arm alignment for an effortless headstand is as follows: the elbows are right in line with your shoulders and the elbows are stacked directly over the wrists.

Once you get comfortable with the elbow positioning, the rest of the pose will fall right into place.

It’s so important to master this positioning with your arms as soon as possible.  Learn from my mistakes.  It took me awhile to understand this and it also took me awhile to be fully aware of the positioning of my arms and legs at all times in my Tripod Headstand.  Don’t substitute real strength with shoulder strength.

Take a Bat to every Monster Lurking in the Pitch-Black Room that Scared You 

Hopefully, you have a little more knowledge now.

Ask yourself this question:

Is fear holding me back from breaking bad habits?

No matter what stage of headstand you are in, maybe you are almost there and you need just a little refining to nail it, maybe you are there but it just doesn’t feel comfortable on your neck and head, become aware of what is holding you back.

The Zen of Practicing Yoga with Fear: 3 Pivotal Steps to Minimize it

1. Acknowledge It’s Existence

Have you ever tried to clean your kitchen by sweeping everything under the oven or just tidy up your house by stuffing your closet to the brim?

It never ends up working when you check under that oven a year later or when someone opens the closet to an avalanche of [your] stuff tumbling out, and maybe a skeleton or two.

Have you ever been in denial about a relationship or marriage that’s gone sour?

Well, we all know how this one turns out, I’ll spare the details.

My point, don’t deny your fear, acknowledge it’s existence.  Fear changes the way you practice and being fearless changes the way you practice also.

Learn to sit comfortably with fear, it will get smaller, but only if you admit you have it.

As I with perfection, those who are the most perfect are the ones who admit they’re not.

The most fearless people admit it’s there constantly lurking in the background.  They’re ready for it.

2. Show me your Friends and I’ll show you your Future

This applies for headstand and it works for your life.

As Jim Rohn says, “You’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

Surround yourself with people that inspire you and push you.

Think about this scenario:

Imagine practicing yoga with friend #1 and friend #2:

The attitude of friend #1 is positive-infectius. She (or he) is encouraging you to try.  She wants to stand there and catch you when you fall over.  She wants to point out things to you that she thinks you might not notice.

She encourages you to keep going.

Now imagine friend #2.

She is exactly opposite.  Constantly complaining about how difficult everything is. Whining about her boss at work that made her work 2 hours of unpaid overtime and that’s why her hamstrings are tight. Yoga is so hard and can’t she look like a Yoga Journal cover model tomorrow.

Attitude makes a difference.

Find someone that you can practice with that inspires you. And if you’re lucky enough, find a group. You’ll be amazed at how fast your practice changes when you surround yourself with like-minded individuals.

3. Book Appointments with Yourself, Consistently (Expectation Adjustment)

Reward effort, not outcome.

Do you know where one major source of fear comes from?

Not living up to your own exceptions.

Do the expectations (sometimes unrealistic) weight on you like a ball and chain attached to your ankle?

The silly thing:

You Hold the Key

Naturally, consistency requires patience.

And patience requires you being realistic with yourself.

How do I start?

Book your first appointment with yourself and make sure it’s for no more than 15 minutes.

Start with short easily digestible times.

Here are 2 examples to get you started:

1. Do this if you want to Float

Let’s say you can balance in Tripod Headstand but you have to jump to get up (and it probably hurts your neck).

Zero in the placement of your hips.  Chances are you jump because you can’t quite get the hips to stack over the shoulders.

In addition, realize in order to float your legs up, the hips must go beyond the shoulders!

Here is a simple 4-step repeatable exercise. It takes 5-10 minutes max:

Step 1: Set yourself up in Tripod Headstand 3-4 inches away from a wall.

Step 2: Start with your legs straight and your feet on the floor. 

Step 3: Walk your feet forward so your hips start to move.  Don’t stop until your hips touch the wall. This trains you to learn the proper positioning of the hips (and develops your proprioception).

Step 4: Repeat this exercise 9-10 times. It doesn’t take long. Before long, you’ll kick the jumping habit.

2. Do this if you want to Balance

You are almost comfortable with balance. You get up there (kinda) and wobble around for a few seconds and then fall over.

This can overcome with a simple attitude adjustment.

Do you believe in yourself?

If not, change that now and keep reading.

Self-confidence is a powerful thing. Combine it with this:

Step 1: Set yourself up in Tripod Headstand somewhere close to a wall.

Step 2: Put your hands and head down and start with your hands and feet on the floor.

Step 3: Work on walking the feet in, but rather than doing what you normally to get yourself up, try to bend your knees into your chest and hold that bent leg variation.  You’ll have more control over your hips.

Why Trying to do too Much too Quickly Actually Hinders Your Balance (This is what I’ve Seen)

With Tripod Headstand specifically, I see students trying to do too much too fast.

When your palm are pressing into the ground, you feel an extra sense of security which leads to you biting off more than you can chew.

Jumping up to Tripod Headstand is largely unproductive and downright dangerous. Not only do you run the risk of jamming your neck, but you lower back.

How many times have you seen someone doing a headstand that looked like a curve rather than a ruler?

Students don’t even realize when they are bending and compressing their lower backs (especially when they jump). It’s dangerous and it hurts.

Focusing on the shape rather the mechanics and the micro-movements hinders your balance. 

Yes, you may be upside down balancing for second or two but that doesn’t mean it’s correct.

Do what I said above, work on the tucked-leg version of Tripod Headstand. You’ll keep your spine straight, engage your core more, and gain better control over your hips.  Win win.

How to Steadily Improve Your Tripod Headstand Efficiently and Effectively

Here’s a little secret, it’s actually really simple.

Do what you know works and resist devastating bad habits.

Until now, you’ve might’ve been struggling to figure out exactly what those things are, but now you have a guide, an approach that I’ve seen work over and over again. If you’ve allowed bad habits to creep into your practice and derail it, you adjust course and get yourself moving in the right direction.

Remember, pepper your practice with short, repeatable exercises that drive proper mechanics and micro movements. Move away from the “shape-based” mentality, it slows you down big time and eventually brings it to a screeching halt.

Because listen…it doesn’t take 28 hours per day of practice to balance and invert like your heroes. It takes sometimes as little as 10 focused minutes daily. It’s the power of consistency.

Consistency builds momentum. Momentum builds confidence. Confidence builds results. 

Stick with it, and if you follow the strategy I outlined here, you’ll be well on your way to the moon and have a Tripod Headstand to be proud of.