POSE TYPE
Arm Balance, Inversion
POSE CATEGORY
Backbend
Setup and Key Actions
Start on forearms and knees. Keep your forearms parallel to each other, and your shoulders stacked directly above your elbows. Particularly root down through the inner edges of your hands (they tend to lift up). Tuck your toes under and lift your knees and hips to come into dolphin pose. Keep your shoulders stacked over your elbows, and walk your feet forward toward your elbows (as far as you can without collapsing into your shoulders). Hug your outer upper arms toward each other, press the center of your forearms into the floor like you’re pushing it away from you. Maintain those actions as you lift a leg (like standing splits), bend your standing-leg knee, and kick up into a forearm balance.
When you arrive in the pose, continue to hug your outer forearms in toward each other and push the floor away. Reach up through your inner heels. Keep the back of your neck long as you gaze forward toward your hands. If you’re practicing in front of a wall, see if you can lift both of your heels off the wall together instead of one at a time. (Pushing the floor away and reaching up through your inner heels will help you to move both feet off of the wall together.)
Modifications
If your elbows splay open, hold on to a block, or interlace your hands like you would to prepare for headstand or headless headstand.
