Sanskrit name
Sarvangasana (sarva = all, anga = limb)
How to do shoulder stand
Lie on your back with the arms alongside your body. Keep legs and feet together. Inhale and lift up your legs into a right angle to the floor. Your hips and buttocks are still on the mat. Neck and head rest on the floor.Press your arms firmly into the ground.
Inhale bend your knees slightly, exhale and lift up your buttocks and hips up the floor. You can also use your hands to support your buttocks or lower back. Move up slowly. Don’t jump up. Bend your legs and let the knees rest on your forehead. Breathe here and observe your body. Readjust your arms placing the hands on the lower back to support the back. Relax neck and head, bring your chin a little closer to the chest.
Inhale and straighten your knees, lengthening your legs towards the ceiling. Time by time readjust arms and hands. Bring your elbows close together and your hands are walking closer to the shoulders.
Rest here for several breaths. You can slowly increase the time of holding the shoulder stand, up to several minutes.
To get out of sarvangasana: Exhale and lower your knees to the forehead again. Inhale and with the next exhalation your roll your back vertebra for vertebra on the floor.
Special focus on
legs together: straight but relaxed
elbows: keep them together, close to the body
neck/head: keep them in a neutral position, don’t twist while doing shoulder stand
hands are flat on the back, fingers pointing the spine
Benefits
- Stretches the shoulders and neck
- strengthens the legs and buttocks
- stimulates abdominal organs and digestion
- Calms the brain, relieves stress and mild depression
- Stimulates the thyroid and prostate glands and abdominal organs
- Reduces tiredness and insomnia
- Therapeutic for asthma, infertility, and sinusitis
Contraindications
headache, neck injuries, high blood pressure, diarrhea, menstruation