Shoulder Stand or Sarvangasana. In Sanskrit, Sava means “all” or “entire” and anga means “organ” or “body part”. Thus, you have full body pose. No wonder why it’s touted in the Yoga community as the ”mother of all poses.”
I personally like Shoulder Stand for its health benefits and there are many. Inversions are always extremely beneficial to our heart, lungs, brain, lymph system for starters, but hanging out in one has a deep soothing effect on our nerves too. Plus, it helps digestion and supplies fresh blood to our brains. It also improves our complexion and over time may even reduce our wrinkles. Who can’t use those benefits? It also strengthens and improves many other bodily systems and body parts; the list goes on…
Be very gentle with yourself if you are new to this pose. Go slow and if something doesn’t feel right, stop immediately. Taking Shoulder Stand step by step, as with any yoga pose, will enable you to come back tomorrow.
If you are ready, then let’s begin!
Lie on the floor, with your heels toward your sitting bones and your arms to your sides, palms down.
Inhale, then as you exhale, press your hands into the floor and lift your hips off the floor, swinging your legs toward your head.
Inhale and then as you exhale, bend your arms, bringing your forearms vertical. Bring your inner elbows as close together as possible. Gently release your hips into your hands.
Press your upper arms into the floor and away from your shoulders. Press your inner elbows toward each other.
Try not to sink your throat and head into the mat to get your hips up. Better to relax your legs and let them release to a comfortable position while working on the motion of raising your hips first for a few tries.
If you are able lift your legs to a comfortable height, press your inner thighs together and flex your feet. Breath deeply here for 30 seconds. As you become more comfortable with this pose, hang out for 1-3 minutes if you can. They say 15 minutes is best. I have never tried it. 4 or 5 minutes seems to work for me.
To lift our body up over our heads for any amount of time is actually quite a feat! Other parts of our bodies reap the rewards of this inverted pose, but our shoulders are the ones that bear all of our weight. I don’t know about you, but my shoulders bear my tension and stress in my life. Sometimes it feels like my shoulders are holding up an elephant! Sometimes it takes days to even realize it. But God never intended us to bear the weight of our stress alone. In fact He says for us to
Give all your worries to God for He cares for you.
1 Peter 5:7
Lie down and relax for a few moments so that your body can absorb all the physical benefits of this pose. Give your cares and worries to God and let Him heal you from the inside out!
Peace and Blessings Always!
Halleluyah!
