Taking a step back from last week’s pose of the week, headstand, we find ourselves at what we call teddy bear headstand or teddy bear pose. While this pose isn’t a “true yoga pose” it’s a great way to modify headstand until you’re ready to get yourself all the way up.
Benefits:
Strengthens the core, improves balance and focus.
How to:
- Get into a tabletop position, with your hands under your shoulders and your knees under your hips. Make sure that your palms are flat on the mat to give yourself a good foundation to the pose.
- Place the top of your head on the mat in front of your hands, forming a triangle. Make sure that your elbows can still bend at 90 degrees to maintain shoulder stability
- Lengthen through your legs, bringing your hips up in line with your shoulders.
- Engage your core, and take one knee at a time up onto the backs of your arms.
- Keep your shoulders engaged and press your triceps away from the floor so that you’re not feeling the entire weight of your legs pressing into your arms.
- Keep your hips in line with your shoulders as much as you can. Use the wall if you need to!
Modify it:
Place blocks underneath your shoulders for extra support in the pose.
Do the pose against a wall until you’re comfortable enough to do it in the middle of the room.