Shirshasana (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

: शीर्षासन,

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...

: śīrṣāsana) Salamba Shirshasana, or Yoga Headstand is an inverted

asana An asana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and later extended in hatha yoga ...

in modern

yoga as exercise Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of postures, often connected by flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by breathing exercises, and frequently ending with relaxation lying down or meditation. Yoga in this form has ...

; it was described as both an asana and a

mudra A mudra (; sa, मुद्रा, , "seal", "mark", or "gesture"; ,) is a symbolic or ritual gesture or pose in Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. As wel ...

in classical

hatha yoga Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga which uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel the vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some haṭha ...

, under different names. It has been called the king of all asanas. Its many variations can be combined into Mandalasana, in which the legs are progressively swept from one variation to the next in a full circle around the body.

Etymology and origins

The name Salamba Shirshasana comes from the Sanskrit words सालम्ब ''Sālamba'' meaning "supported", शीर्ष, ''Śīrṣa'' meaning "head", and आसन, ''Āsana'' meaning "posture" or "seat". The name ''Śīrṣāsana'' is relatively recent; the pose itself is much older, but had other names and purposes. Like other inversions, it was practised as

Viparita Karani Viparita Karani ( sa, विपरीतकरणी; ) or legs up the wall pose is both an asana and a mudra in hatha yoga. In modern yoga as exercise, it is commonly a fully supported pose using a wall and sometimes a pile of blankets, wher ...

, described as a

in the 15th century ''

Hatha Yoga Pradipika The ''Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā'' ( or Light on Hatha Yoga) is a classic fifteenth-century Sanskrit manual on haṭha yoga, written by Svātmārāma, who connects the teaching's lineage to Matsyendranath of the Nathas. It is among the most in ...

'' and other classical texts on haṭha yoga. Viparita Karani, "the Inverter", holds the head down and the feet up for hours at a time, so as to cause gravity to retain the

prana In yoga, Indian medicine and Indian martial arts, prana ( sa2, प्राण, ; the Sanskrit word for breath, "life force", or "vital principle") permeates reality on all levels including inanimate objects. In Hindu literature, prāṇa is so ...

. The practice is claimed by the ''

Dattatreya Yoga Shastra The ''Dattātreyayogaśāstra'', (Sanskrit: दत्तात्रेययोगशास्त्र) a Vaisnava text probably composed in the 13th century CE, is the earliest text which provides a systematized form of Haṭha yoga under that n ...

'' to destroy all diseases. to increase the digestive fire, and to banish signs of ageing. The pose is described and illustrated in

halftone Halftone is the reprographic technique that simulates continuous-tone imagery through the use of dots, varying either in size or in spacing, thus generating a gradient-like effect.Campbell, Alastair. The Designer's Lexicon. ©2000 Chronicle, ...

as Viparita Karani in the 1905 '' Yogasopana purvacatusca''.

Hemacandra Hemachandra was a 12th century () Indian Jain saint, scholar, poet, mathematician, philosopher, yogi, grammarian, law theorist, historian, lexicographer, rhetorician, logician, and prosodist. Noted as a prodigy by his contemporaries, he gai ...

's 11th century ''Yogaśāstra'' names it ''Duryodhanāsana'' ("

Duryodhana Duryodhana ( sa, दुर्योधन, ) also known as Suyodhana, is the primary antagonist in the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata.'' He was the eldest of the Kauravas, the hundred sons of the blind king Dhritarashtra and his queen Gandhari. Bei ...

's pose") or ''Kapālīkarana'' ("head technique"), while the 18th century ''

Joga Pradīpikā The ''Joga Pradīpikā'' (जोगप्रदीपिका, "A Small Light on Yoga") is a hatha yoga text by Ramanandi Jayatarama written in 1737 in a mixture of Hindi, Braj Bhasa, Khari Boli and forms close to Sanskrit. It presents 6 cleans ...

'' calls it ''Kapālī āsana'', head posture; it is number 17 of the set of 84

asanas An asana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and later extended in hatha yoga ...

described and illustrated there. However, the 19th century ''

Sritattvanidhi The ''Sritattvanidhi'' (, "The Illustrious Treasure of Realities") is a treatise written in the 19th century in Karnataka on the iconography and iconometry of divine figures in South India. One of its sections includes instructions for, and ill ...

'' uses the name ''Śīrṣāsana'' as well as ''Kapālāsana'', while the ''

Malla Purana Malla-yuddha (Sanskrit: मल्लयुद्ध, ) is the traditional form of combat-wrestling originating in India. It is closely related to Southeast Asian wrestling styles such as naban and is one of the two ancestors of kushti. Indian wr ...

'', a 13th-century manual for wrestlers, names but does not describe 18 asanas including ''Śīrṣāsana''. File:Kapala Asana (headstand) from Jogapradipika 1830.jpg, Headstand (labelled ''Kapālī Āsana'') in ''

'', 1830 File:Headstand as Viparita Karani in Yogasopana.jpg, The mudra

using a headstand in ''

Yogasopana Purvacatuska The ''Yogasopana Purvacatuska'' ( Marathi: योगसोपान पूर्वचतुष्क (in Devanagari script)) or ''Stairway to Yoga'' is a 1905 book in Marathi on hatha yoga by Yogi Narayana Ghamande. It describes and illustrates ...

'', 1905

Description

In the Supported

Headstand The headstand, or sometimes head stand, is a pose that is an inversion posture of standing head down. The technique is used in different settings such as yoga, breakdancing, acrobatics and beginner gymnastics. Health risks If the headstand is not ...

(Salamba Shirshasana), the body is completely inverted, and held upright supported by the forearms and the crown of the head. In his ''

Light on Yoga ''Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika'' (Sanskrit: योग दीपिका, "Yoga Dīpikā") is a 1966 book on the Iyengar Yoga style of modern yoga as exercise by B. K. S. Iyengar, first published in English. It describes more than 200 yoga posture ...

'',

B. K. S. Iyengar Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (14 December 1918 – 20 August 2014) was an Indian teacher of yoga and author. He is founder of the style of yoga as exercise, known as " Iyengar Yoga", and was considered one of the foremost yoga guru ...

uses a forearm support, with the fingers interlocked around the head, for the basic posture Shirshasana I and its variations; he demonstrates a Western-style tripod headstand, the palms of the hands on the ground with raised elbows, for Shirshasana II and III; and other supports for further variants. Iyengar names and illustrates ten variants in all, as well as several preparatory and transitional poses. The yoga headstand is nicknamed "king" of all the asanas.Among the sources making this claim are: * * * * A variety of other asanas can be used to build the required upper body strength and balance. Shirshasana, alongside

Sarvangasana Sarvangasana ( sa, सर्वाङ्गासन, translit=sarvāṅgāsana), Shoulder stand, or more fully Salamba Sarvangasana (Supported Shoulder stand), is an inverted asana in modern yoga as exercise; similar poses were used in medieval ...

and Padmasana, is one of the asanas most often reported as the cause of an injury.

Variations

Shirshasana permits many variations, including: Mandalasana, Circle pose, is not a single variation but a sequence of movements in Shirshasana in which the legs move in a full circle around the body from one of these headstand variations to the next.

Notes

References

External links

Step by Step Instruction
{{Hatha yoga Inverted asanas Articles containing video clips Medieval Hatha Yoga asanas ru:Перевёрнутые асаны#Ширшасана