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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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
  3. Lengthen through your legs, bringing your hips up in line with your shoulders. 
  4. Engage your core, and take one knee at a time up onto the backs of your arms. 
  5. 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.
  6. 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.