11 great Handstand Tips; for your handstand journey

The last 2 years, I have dedicated a lot of my personal yoga practice towards learning to do handstands. Just the other day, when I proudly was telling a friend in our Chiang Mai Yoga studio that I could do a free-standing handstand for 31 seconds (I thought that sounded more interesting than 30 seconds), he did not say anything, so I added, “Yes, and I have been training for 2 years.” I probably should not have added that because he started to laugh and said, “You have been training for 2 years and you can do a handstand for just 30 seconds?” I started laughing too because 30 seconds sounds like a very short time, but when you are on your hands, 30 seconds feels like an eternity.

In this blog post, I want to share some insights and tips that can be very helpful for anybody who is thinking about learning a handstand or is already dedicated to the practice, and also share some useful links.

When I started my handstand practice, I was not that young anymore (47 years old). When I looked at somebody doing a handstand, there was a mix of envy but also of thinking, “Well, there is a useless skill.” But I was mostly intrigued by how yoga practitioners effortlessly stood on their hands. I like physical challenges, and I was also curious to see if it would be possible at my age to learn this skill. Now I am 49; my handstand is far from perfect, but so far it has been an amazing journey. My body has changed (stronger and more in tune with my physical self), I am more focused, and I am more self-confident. Most importantly, I am living proof that even later in life, you can learn skills that might seem completely impossible.

I have changed from a handstand skeptic into a handstand addict. I am so enthusiastic about handstands that I started to give handstand workshops every Saturday at Blue Garden Yoga Chiang Mai; click here for more information. The tips I am sharing below can really help you on your way to mastering a handstand.

Tips for Your Handstand Practice

1. Be patient: In the Netherlands (where I am from), we say Rome was not built in a day. The same goes for handstands. You will not learn a handstand in a day, a couple of days, or even a couple of weeks. Learning a yoga handstand can take a long time. For some students it might go slower, for others faster. To anybody I have talked with who learned handstands in their adult life, all said the same: be patient, be dedicated, and be persistent.
2. Learn the principles behind a good handstand: A handstand is so much more than jumping up and trying to stand on your hands. To learn a good, solid handstand, make sure you familiarize yourself with the core principles, like how to position your hands, creating wrist strength and wrist flexibility, the hollow body principle, core stability, open shoulders, pushing the ground away (shoulder protraction), and proper body alignment. These principles will really help you in the long run. One of the programs that helped me understand these principles was *Fly Strong* by Dylan Werner. Unfortunately, it is not free, but here you can see a little example of this program.
3. Do preparation exercises: Learning how to do a handstand is not just trying to stand on your hands. You need to train your body with a variation of conditioning exercises to strengthen your core and shoulders, and create strength and flexibility in your wrists. Focus on planks, a lot of crow poses, tripod headstands, and wall presses. For a very thorough overview of preparation exercises, click here. I also used ideas from the *School of Calisthenics*; click here for their paid e-book.
4. Always warm up your wrists: At the beginning of every single session, spend a good couple of minutes stretching and warming up your wrists. This is essential to prevent injuries. Click here for a great video filled with ideas on how to warm up the wrists properly.
5. Find or create a program and set time aside to practice: In my own practice, I first followed a program called *Core Strength Evolution* by Dylan Werner (click here for a video preview). It is not focused so much on actual handstands, but contains a lot of exercises that perfectly prepare the body for them. This helped make my physical foundation much stronger. After a while, I started to develop my own routines. As I have a full teaching schedule of Yoga and Thai Massage (10 hours daily), I used to do short, intensive practices for half an hour every day. If you are serious about learning a handstand, try to set aside half an hour a day, 5 days a week.
6. Listen to your body: Take the true yoga attitude of mindfulness and awareness into your handstand practice. Handstand training can be very intense, and you need to build up your tolerance gradually. You might not be able to train actual handstands every day. When you feel your wrists are sore, don’t do any hand balances that day—focus on core strength instead. Make sure that you rest at least one day a week. If you start working deeply with the principles of alignment, it brings a meditative awareness into your practice where you notice that small changes (like hand positioning or core integration) can make a tremendous difference.
7. Progress is never a straight line: When you practice, you will progress, but it is never a straight line. Sometimes it can feel like you are progressing fast; other times it feels like you are stuck hanging in mid-air and not moving forward at all. A lot of the time, progress happens suddenly, like a breakthrough. All of a sudden, your body starts to understand what it means to tighten your core and how to balance actively with your hands. If you feel stuck for a long time, try different exercises. When I felt stuck, I bought parallettes and added them into my practice; here you can find some great workouts using them.
8. Do exercises to balance out opposite muscles: A handstand is a pushing action—pushing away from the ground—and most preparation exercises focus on that exact mechanic. Over time, this can create an imbalance in your body. Spend a portion of your routine balancing out the opposite muscles by doing pull-ups or simply hanging from a bar.
9. You are never too old to start: When I started, I was 47, and now I am almost 49 and can do a handstand pretty well. I know people who started in their fifties and even their sixties. So, do not let your age hold you back!
10. Do not compare yourself to handstand masters: There are so many cool videos of amazing handstand masters around, with some balancing effortlessly on one arm or performing incredible acrobatics. If you are just starting your journey, do not compare yourself to them. A lot of these practitioners started at a very young age and were gymnasts, cheerleaders, or acrobats, and the sheer volume of work they have put in over decades is tremendous. Also, do not forget that everybody is blessed with different capabilities and body types. Basically, we are all on our own unique journey.
11. Enjoy your practice and the handstand journey: This is the final tip, and the most important one. If you are only focused on the outcome (being able to hold a handstand), you will not find joy in your practice, and you will likely get frustrated and give up early. There is a famous saying by Buddhist Master Chögyam Trungpa: “The path is the goal.” At the beginning of my handstand practice, I was also far too focused on wanting the perfect hold. But after a while, I was able to feel the profound shift within my body and mind. My body grew stronger and more robust; at the age of 48, I was doing things I wasn’t able to do when I was half my age! My confidence started to grow, I learned to apply patience and persistence, and my mind opened up to different approaches. When I focused on those changes instead, I stopped worrying about the final outcome, and now I enjoy my practice wholeheartedly every single day.