Balance & Invert – Part 2: Forearm Balancing

Welcome to Part 2 of the Balance & Invert Series!

This series explores four categories of balancing in yoga:

1. ✅hand balancing 🖐✅
2. ✅forearm balancing 💪✅
3. low balancing (like crow 🦅)
4. and standing balancing 🌲

Part 2 will focus on Forearm balancing 🖐 most important mechanics and techniques to get you flying high on the mat!

Top 3 Forearm-Balancing Poses

The top 3 forearm-balancing poses in yoga are:

• pincha mayurasana. Like a handstand but on the forearms!
• forearm headstand. Unlike tripod headstand, this headstand has the forearms on the earth.
• low crow. Basically crow on your forearms. However, we will get to low balancing postures in Part 3 of this series, so stay tuned for that post! (or click here if you only want to know how to Crow!)

General Forearm-balancing Mechanics

The top 3 forearm-balancing techniques you can put to use today are:

1. “Eleven” shape forearms. This offers a wide standing base to balance with higher chances of success!
2. Never karakate kick into a forearm balance. Instead, pause at each increment on the way up, notice where you find the most tension and shift as you stack. ☺️
3. Keep the weight in your elbows with a small lean into the hands and fingertips. Similar to when you stand on your feet, we keep our weight 80% (or so) in our heels and use our toes to lightly lean forward to continuously stand (pretty incredible right?!). It is the same thing with any hand balancing poses. We must place a majority of our weight in the base of the palm and, as needed, into the fingers to balance.

Pincha Mayurasana

Okay, you have been doing yoga regularly, you have the top 3 tips for forearm-balancing. Now let’s get into the first one everyone loves to talk about! Pincha Mayurasana.

1. start in dolphin pose (downdog on elbows)
2. gaze between your two forearms, lock in that focus
3. lift one leg and slightly planche over top of the hands
4. the second you feel your foot lift off the ground is when you pull your shoulders back over top of your wrists
5. hold the splits in the air, use them as leverage to keep the balance, similar to holding a stick on a tightrope
6. keep the chin lifted that way if you do fall, it will likely be back to dolphin
7. use a wall! Start by facing away from it, see image below.

Remember, if you’re new to forearm balancing this will take some time each day for a few months. Keep in mind that once you find your center balance point, you’ll have it unlocked for life. If you stop all exercise, your muscles may fade but the memory of what it feels like in that center point remains! Thus you’ll always remember how to do a pincha once you take some time to learn.

Headstands on the Forearms

Next up…headstands on forearms! I find this to be the most challenging inversion because we don’t get to use our handstand to assist much. Here is why:

“You need to break down the mechanics of balancing in a headstand step by step, which takes more than five cues. This means it cannot safely fit into one yoga class.”

• Side note: Please challenge me on this thought if you think otherwise, maybe we can revolutionize it to be safer, add it into all practices, while keeping the flow!

Okay, finally, the forearm headstand! Here are the basic mechanics behind setting up for a successful forearm headstand:

1. A tad different than the tripod headstand, this one has a slight tilt of the head where the flat tippy top of your head is moreso in the cup of the hands.
2. Lean most of your weight into your elbows at first. Slowly shift it, and I mean SLOWLY!, to the outer edges of the forearms and fists.
3. You’ll always lean a tiny bit towards your elbows. these are the “toes” of your balance. The “heel” is the fist and head. We are never fully standing on our toes nor only our heels, there is a balance there!

Takeaway: Forearm balancing – pincha mayurasana and forearm headstands!

What’s will next Monday’s blog be about? Stay tuned.