Intro to Yoga Arm Balances for Beginners

Arm balances and inversions are much less about strength than you think they are! This module takes you through the 5 principles of arm balances and inversions that are very rarely taught in yoga class and that will take you from "how the heck" to "OMG I get it and I DID IT!" These principles apply not just on your yoga mat, but across your entire life. Your yoga mat is a mirror for your life - the places you avoid and are scared of on the mat also hold you back from achieving what you want to achieve in your life.
This lesson will expand your mind and increase your understanding of how arm balances and inversions work. Go get 'em!

Breath is life. Breath is yoga. Learning to breathe is essential for building a healthy, strong and intelligent yoga practice. When learning arm balances and inversions, our tendency is to hold our breath or stop breathing entirely. This causes strain and stress for the nervous system and brings you into a state of "fight or flight." Learn how to activate Ujjayi breath to support all of your postures, not just your arm balances.

Breathing with your poses is essential to finding a rhythm to your practice, and to finding flight more easily! Efforting on an exhale sets you up for success and gives you the ability to engage your bandhas (energy locks) which are essential for finding lightness through your core and on your hands. Learn how to breathe with your postures.

Hands are EVERYTHING in arm balances and inversions! Learn how to activate your hands, how to use your fingers, how to engage your hand lock and create a solid, stable foundation to build on. This hand activation will virtually eliminate wrist pain from your practice and will give you valuable tools to manage and prevent wrist pain in the future.

Your wrists need love! Before bearing weigh on your hands, whether in plank pose, downward facing dog or an arm balance, preparing your wrists to bear weight is essential for the longevity of your practice and for your wrists to be strong and pain-free! These favorite wrist warmups are great for before/after your practice AND for before/after a long day of typing on the computer. If your wrists are tight, this module will change your life!

Most people think they're not strong enough for arm balances and inversions. This assessment is FALSE! It is true however, that most people don't know how to engage their shoulder girdle to create the stability needed to hold an arm balance or inversion. This module covers the shoulder actions and engagement required to create a stable and strong foundation. You don't need more strength - you just nee to learn to activate the strength you already have.

THE BEST KEPT SECRET of arm balancing! It is NOT about strength, it is about stacking your bones! Learn which bones to stack, how to stack the, what it feels like and how to know if you are stacked properly. Once your bones are stacked, liftoff is right around the corner! This is the MAGIC BULLET of arm balancing and inverting. Go from "I can't stay up" to "WOW, I just held for 5 second!"

Finding liftoff on your hands involves shifting your center of gravity forward over your hands. Most beginners stop themselves just shy of the point of balance. Learn just how far you need to shift forward for your center of gravity to allow you to balance. This is a game-changer once you get it and feel it in your body!

Setting yourself up for success involves preparing your core to fire! While arm balances and inversions are not really about core strength, making sure your core is awake, alive, alert and ready to go will make it MUCH easier to balance. Learn how to create the shape you're going for on your back and on your seat before your flip it against gravity. Performing the actions of the pose in different planes will prepare your core for what you'll be asking of it once you start to balance.

Yoga teaches us about a magical capacity we have to lift energy UPWARDS through our bodies using a system of muscular locks called "Bandhas," also called Energy Locks. Bandhas are absolutely crucial to learn how to find lightness on your hands. This video will teach you and allow you to experience Mulabandha (the root lock) and Uddiyana Bandha (the diaphragmatic lock or upward flying lock), the two primary Bandhas we use in our arm balance and inversion practices.

It's time to fly! This module breaks down Crow Pose step by step to get you flying! Please note, modern Western yoga often calls crow pose "Bakasana," but this is actually incorrect. Crow in Sanskrit is = Kak. We've had it backwards for a while! Whether you've head it called Bakasana or Kakasana, this video will UNLOCK crow pose for you in a way you've NEVER experienced before!

Ready to take it up a notch!? Crane pose, or Bakasana, is crow pose with straight arms. It requires a deeper degree of core engagement and more self-trust to learn forward into it, and is fun to try! This one is harder on the wrists, so make sure you wrists feel strong and open before trying it.

Vinyasa classes will often offer for you to "jump back" to Chatturanga from crow pose. HOW THE HECK IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE!? This video breaks it down for you step by step. It's super possible, and it's FUN!

This 30 minute class takes you through a full body, wrist and core warmup for crow pose, and then breaks down crow pose step by step. You'll be flying by the end!

This full length 90 minutes workshop takes you on a crow pose journey! We put together ALL of the fundamentals you've learned in this course so far, and you get to learn from watching the tips I give other people live on the zoom call with me, as well as learning from the questions they ask. This is a full-length workshop you can repeat as many times as you like - you'll unlock something new each time, guaranteed!

Give your body some much needed unwinding and stretching after a tough crow pose sesh! You can repeat this warm-down sequence anytime to loosen, open and stretch out your body after deep core compression and being on your wrists. A delicious way to end any arm balancing practice!