What are the steps to progress towards Sirsasana?

Every asana demands a strong and toned pair of legs. So it is advisable to start with focusing on legs. This month, we started our practise with Utthita Padangusthasana, Adho Mukha Svanasana, Dandasana, Supta Padangusthasana and Anantasana. All these poses help us tone our legs. Then, it’s time to focus on the spine.

To understand Sirsasana, we should first delve on what happens to the spine in Utthita Padangusthasana and Shalabhasana. In all these poses the dorsal spine should be concave . The dorsal spine has a natural lordosis so how do we concave it ? The instructions given to the beginners is to push the dorsal spine in . But as we progress in practise, this instruction might hinder us from getting the right Sirsasana. Now, we should focus on the width of the spinal muscles and the chest muscles and let the dorsal spine be in its natural state . As we go up in Sirsasana, focus on spreading the Spinal and chest muscles.

Also the lungs fall towards the clavicle in Sirsasana. So efforts should be made to extend the lower abdomen by extending the legs up towards the ceiling and spreading the legs slightly apart.

In Sirsasana as we focus on balance, our spinal muscles shrink . If we continue such practise without awareness it will damage the spine . It takes years of practise to understand the correct location of the skull that should come in contact with the floor in Sirsasana. The first mistake we make is cramping the cervical spine to go up at any cost with will and volition. Cervical spine is naturally not straight and we cramp it up further when we are stressed or when we use a new pillow and a wrong Sirsasana just adds to the misery. This leads to future cervical disorders.

                                                                                                                                                                  – By Rajeshree