(Demonstration by Jola)

It is not wise to attempt your first headstand on your own and preferable to approach it with the help of an experienced teacher.  Remember that headstand can be mastered in stages, and that even though we live in age of fierce competition and great achievement the limits of one’s own body should never be overestimated. 

Your neck must be in perfect alignment with the spine and you must make sure that your weight is evenly distributed between your head and the whole length of your forearms.  Actually even though it is called headstand there is little weight on the head, the weight is mostly on the forearms.
Modifications:  you can fold your mat or use a blanket if you need more padding under your head.  You can use a belt to strap the upper arms together.  Iyengar suggests the use of a wall or a corner (at the meeting point of two walls) when first learning the pose.  Make sure that if you use a wall you position yourself only 2”-3” away to avoid a big swayback when you lift the legs.  Other schools of yoga believe that you should start headstand in the middle of the room with a competent teacher to guide you.

Preparatory poses:
-  child’s pose enables you to mentally relax before doing the headstand
-  dolphin strengthens the upper body

Step-by-step instructions for headstand (Demonstration by mandy ) :

- kneel on your mat.  Get hold of your elbows with opposite hands and place them on the floor under your shoulders.  Interlock your fingers right to the roots and bring the wrists to the floor making a triangular shape.  Make sure all the fingers are tucked in.
- place the crown of the head and not the forehead on the floor and cup it with your interlaced fingers; do not let the elbows splay out. 
-  lift the shoulders away from the ears and towards the pelvis,  broaden your back and start to engage your stomach muscles.
-  lift the hips up as high as you can as for down dog.  Walk the feet in towards the head and bring the hips under the shoulders as far in as possible keeping the knees straight for as long as possible, almost to the point of toppling over which is difficult if the hips are stiff.
-  go high on your toes, small hop to bring knees to chest; thighs should be against your abdomen.
-  lift the knees up towards the ceiling stretching the front of the thighs.
-  stretch your legs up, reaching up through the balls of the feet and rotate the thigh bones inward slightly.
-  let the heart move forward but don’t hang heavy in the chest and don’t arch the back.
-  don’t let the floating ribs come forward, keep extending through the tailbone.
-  once in headstand find your dristi (still point to focus on) and do not attempt to move your head;  come down if it does not feel right.
-  listen to the sound of your breathing.  Your breathing should be slow, quiet and regular.  An irregular, straining breath will be reflected in the quality of your mind.  Enter into a deep meditative state. Meditation or dhyana is the 7th limb of yoga according to Patanjali; it is the primary state of the crown chakra which you are stimulating by doing headstand.  Yoga is meditation in motion with one-pointed attention on the breath;  meditation enables us to access the deeper realms of our brain.  The deeper the meditation the slower and the stronger the brain waves become.