Dolphin Pose for Yoga Headstand

Series Summary

Yoga poses have become increasingly popular as a form of exercise and meditation. The focus of yoga is a holistic one, employing a broad range of practices which focus on a new way of living, thinking and being in the world. Aimed to unite the mind, the body, and the spirit, the health benefits of yoga are also great and varied. From relieving stress to strengthening and toning muscle, integrating yoga positions and exercises into your daily routine can be beneficial on many levels.

In this free online video series, our expert certified yoga instructor will demonstrate a variety of yoga headstands. You will learn the dolphin pose, as well as the Tripod pose with several different lift factors. Our expert will also delve in to more traditional sirsasana headstand poses, such ekapadasirsasana and dandasirsasana. As an added bonus, you will learn how to do a headstand with an inversion chair.

Video Transcript

"A nice prep pose to get you ready for headstands Shirshasana is dolphin pose. It makes you learn how to use your tripod which is mainly your base for your headstand. So coming to hands and knees, we're going to drop the elbows right underneath the shoulders, and always measuring off to make sure your elbows aren't too far apart, grab a hold of either side of the arms. Without moving the elbows, making your tripod clasping the fingers together, now not clenching, just let everything be relaxed so you can evenly distribute the weight. Coming into dolphin pose, tuck the toes in very slowly with the breath take a nice inhale, now as you exhale, lift those hips up to the sky, let your feet be a good hip-width apart, and you want your hip pointers pointed straight to the sky. Now your head, the crown of the head is facing the earth, but it's not resting on it. Then I'm going to start thinking about my tripod. I'm equally pressing into my tripod from elbows to wrists, fingertips to wrists, back to my elbows, equally distributing the weight. This will strengthen the shoulders, strengthens the arms, getting you ready for your headstand. If you want a little bit of extra in this pose, build a little bit of strength, you can come into dolphin push-ups. Take a nice inhale, as I exhale I am lifting the head pressing forward, tuck the tail bone, and then pressing right back into dolphin. You can do that as many times you like to prepare for your headstand. I'm going to come down very slowly, taking a nice inhale, exhale lowering down the knees, and pressing into child."