Free Slim Calm Sexy Yoga: 210 Proven Yoga Moves for Mind/Body Bliss by Tara Stiles Page A

strength, and balance you will need for a full headstand.

  Headstand Prep, Feet Walked In
    Take off your socks. Come back into the initial sock slide position. Walk your feet in a couple of inches and stay there for 5 breaths. Walk your feet in a couple more inches and stay there for 5 breaths. Repeat until your hips are directly on top of your shoulders.

  Headstand Prep, One Heel to Hip
    From the position in which your hips are directly above your shoulders, carefully bend your left knee, bringing your left heel toward your hip. Stay here for 5 breaths and lower your foot back down to the floor. Try the other heel.

  Headstand Prep, Both Heels to Hips
    After you’re comfortable bringing each heel to your hip separately and holding it there, try bringing both heels to your hips. Stay here for 5 breaths and slowly lower both feet back down to the floor.

  Headstand Prep Leg Lift, Square Hips
    After you’re comfortable bringing both heels to your hips, try extending your right leg straight out, parallel to the floor, keeping the toes of your left foot on the floor. Keep your hips square. Stay here for 5 breaths. Lower your right leg and try it with your left. Hold for 5 breaths, then lower your left leg. Try it with both legs.

  Headstand
    After you’re comfortable with the previous headstand prep poses, walk your feet in until your hips are stacked on top of your shoulders. Bring one heel to your hip and then the other. Carefully and slowly lift and straighten your legs. Lower yourself the same way you came up.

    Proper alignment makes or breaks a handstand. Your ability to balance may change from day to day, so try not to have expectations when you practice. Instead, keep your focus and you will nail it more often than not. When you are focused and take your time working through all the steps that lead up to the full pose, you’ll build strength and remain comfortable enough to keep breathing easily, and soon enough you’ll be sticking your handstands consistently.

  Forearm Stand Prep
    From down dog, bend your elbows and lower your forearms to the floor.

Lift your shoulders away from the floor.
Make sure your fingers are spread wide and your elbows are directly under your shoulders and behind your wrists.
Try to normalize your breath as if you were in child’s pose.

  Forearm Stand Leg Raise
    Walk your feet in about 6 inches, moving your hips over your shoulders. Inhale and lift your left leg, bringing your hips higher over your shoulders. Try to roll onto the toes of your right foot.

  Forearm Stand
    When you’re comfortable raising one leg, try raising both.

  Handstand at Wall
    Place your hands on the floor about a foot away from a wall. Press to a down dog. Walk your feet in and extend your right leg straight up. Rock up with your leg straight, bringing your right foot to the wall and following immediately with your left, bringing it to rest against the wall, too. You can play with balance here by moving one leg at a time away from the wall.

    TIP:
It’s good to try handstands in the middle of the room so you don’t become dependent on a wall, but it is also occasionally useful to practice using the wall. Staying in handstand at the wall also helps you build the strength in your arms and core that you’ll need to hold the position on your own.
    ONE STEP AT A TIME
    There’s no need to launch yourself into a position if your body isn’t ready to go there. There are no shortcuts with yoga. Something good to consider: Any given pose includes everything that comes before it as well as everything that follows it. By those standards, if you launch into what looks like the pose, you’re not really doing the pose.
    Jumping into a position can also cause injury. Even if you remain injury-free, training your body to move into something when it’s not ready is a bad habit that works against building strength and focus. When you leap rather than move easily from a steady base, you train your mind to