(Demonstration by Jola)

What happens on a spiritual level when you invert:
Headstand helps us integrate the teachings of the Vedas by looking at life from a different angle.
Inversions affect the flow of energy in the nadis. Turning the body upside down is a great way to let kundalini and gravity work together.  Prana flows through the Ida nadi (moon: tha or chandra) and Pingala nadi (sun: ha or surya).  When Ida and Pingala are balanced and susumna is opened, the awakened kundalini Shakti can travel freely up the susumna from the base chakra right through the crown chakra -  the source of intuitive knowledge - to create a blissful union with the divine (union of Shakti - worldly body - and Siva - Transcendental light). 

Stimulating the crown of the head by standing on it helps us achieve a balance between the physical, masculine, active energy of the sun (ha) and the mental, feminine, passive energy of the moon (tha). 
Certain Tantric schools believe that the nectar of immortality, or Amrita Bindu, is contained within the cranial vault at the 7th chakra, the thousand-petalled lotus.  Like a sand timer, the valued life-sustaining nectar meting out our days is said to drop down through the centre of the body to be consumed in the fire of the torso.  By doing an inversion, Amrita is kept thus prolonging life and preserving one’s prana.  The closest we can link this is to the hormones produced by the pineal and pituitary.

What happens on a mental level when you invert:
Headstand increases mental acuity, concentration and brings clarity.  It brings stillness to the mind and the body.  Most problems seen from upside down tend to lose their edge; inversions enable us to detach ourselves from them and sometimes to resolve them.

Headstand is a very introspective posture.  You have to be in your body or else you fall; it is an in-the-moment posture.  It is a posture that brings you home, that makes you connect with your core centre, it is an empowering posture, a posture that makes you feel that you are ready to take on the world.  Headstand gives you a fantastic feeling of oneness, of togetherness.

The practice of headstand is an act of faith in one’s own abilities, it is a leap into the unknown.  It enables us to conquer our fear of falling and can even make us feel euphoric.  How can we stand on our head and not fall?

The fear of hurting one’s brain is often present when we start headstand.  We are all very protective of our heads and its grey matter and yet here’s a posture where we are asked to stand on it!  This defies all rationality.  How can anyone expect something as delicate as one’s  head to support the weight of one’s body?  Just looking at the spine and seeing how the neck vertebrae taper at the top is enough to instil a few doubts...  Will it withstand the weight?

We are all so used to standing on our two feet that we are not aware of the tiny adjustments they are constantly having to make in order to keep us upright.  You just have to stand in Tadasana with your eyes closed to become aware of the weight shifting continuously from one side of the feet to the other, from the front to the back.  The same will happen when you stand on your head.  Your body will constantly have to make some tiny adjustments to prevent you from falling.  This is where the strong and supple musculature you have developed will come into play.  When we are inverted the tiniest body movements will appear greatly intensified but we soon get used to them.

Sirsasana is a stimulating posture.  It develops the masculine qualities of will power, sharpness of the brain and clarity of thought (whilst shoulderstand develops the feminine qualities of patience and emotional stability). 
Practice shoulder stand straight afterwards as a counterpose to calm the nervous system and to release the back and the shoulders.

Cautions:
High or very low blood pressure, detached retina, glaucoma, hernias, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, obesity, recent or chronic injury to neck, head or spine, cervical spondylitis, severe scoliosis or exaggerated lordosis, inner ear problems, dental infections, vertigo, thrombosis, arteriosclerosis and kidney problems.

It is recommended to abstain from inverting if you are menstruating as going upside down disturbs the movement of the natural energy going downwards; abstain from inverting too if you are pregnant.

Remember that if a posture does not feel right it is probably because it is not right.  To do headstand properly both your mind and your body must be focused, willing and able to do it.

How to do Headstand
Headstand is not an advanced pose.  It is taught as one of the 12 basic postures in the Sivananda yoga system.
How do you know that you are ready to do a headstand? 
You need to develop the required musculature by mastering the basic postures.  You need to develop focus, alignment, a good sense of balance and togetherness, know how to distribute your weight evenly and know how to breathe properly especially when faced with a new posture. 
Your body must be physically and mentally ready to take on the challenge of headstand.  The mind must also be ready to face the confinement of being locked upside down with your weight supported by your delicate shoulders.  You need to keep an open mind, add a sense of playfulness and respect your limits. 

When you turn your whole world upside down by inverting you are also asking the most mobile and delicate part of the spine to become the least mobile part and conversely, you are asking the least mobile part of your body to become the most mobile one.  When we stand on our head, we are expecting the back, the hips and the legs to make the minute adjustments necessary to stay in the posture.  Now if the body is not strong and flexible enough to do this and maintain the integrity of the spine in the pose, the neck and the head are at risks.  The neck too needs to have developed a good balance between its anterior and its posterior muscles so that both sides work evenly.

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