Still can’t do toe stand after 3 years

Hi there folks

You know that if you are having difficulty in Toe stand there are alternative ways to work on your hip opening:

I have mentioned in other threads the great benefit of hip-opening yin yoga poses. In particular you could ask for some help, or research (online or in some lovely yin yoga books) pigeon pose and another favorite of mine, square. Square is intense but incredibly effective.

The ‘secret’ to yin poses is to stay in them for extended periods of time. Perhaps your teachers can give you a couple of hip-openers to ‘enjoy’ particularly AFTER CLASS when you are already completely warmed through.

What I really like with these poses is that you witness your body opening – you really feel it in the hips. They are self-regulating poses where you can only go where you can go, no further. And as your body opens your leg positions adjust to accommodate even better stretching. The stretches are safe because you are warm (after class) and the prolonged time in them works magic.

Julie, there is an interim pose that you can do in Toe which is a beautiful stretch through the hips. Bring your hands to the floor ready for Toe, but keep the standing leg straight and locked. Stay there inverted with hands on the floor, hips toward the ceiling. Make sure you keep your hips even and square and keep working your knee back in the same way you do when you are in Tree pose.

Let me know how this works for you.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Jared

Are you talking about forward bends in general, the one into Toe Stand or other particular ones?

Curious!
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Julie

I was wondering if you had any joy discovering the yin yoga poses yet?

As for your latest post if it were me, I would probably do some hip openers after each class whenever possible. It also sounds as if you would really benefit from continuing Tree pose for second set for a while. However if you are intent on attempting the interim pose then I would probably do it only one in every 2-3 classes. With only one hand on the floor it may not be quite stable or symmetrical enough for your body. You be the judge. Keep your focus on lifting up your hips to square and drawing your knee backward.

When in Tree, really try to pull your foot up with your hand, by bending your elbow backward. You need to relax your shoulder down and back away from the ear and isolate the pull to the biceps. As you pull up, work your knee down and back. This creates a wonderful traction: the pull on the foot as the knee moves down, you can feel the hips and pelvis open as you tuck the tailbone under and squeeze your bottom (ie don’t arch the spine). In this way you will make more progress more quickly to ready yourself for Toe.

Kind regards
Gabrielle 🙂

Hello Amanda

You may have a point there. It may help someone at first to work out which muscles need to strengthen to set their foot in position.

Now Amanda it is time to step up to the mark! 😉 If you have been doing Standing Bow near full splits for years then I challenge you to drop the hand towel. I know it is possible because I was once there too. The studio I started in had quite a number of students and even teachers who used hand towels. One day I was told to drop it. Which I did. For the first few weeks I felt cramping and pain in my fingers. It was hard to hold on. I also felt pain in my shins. It was all short lived. Now there is strength plus ease in the grip and my pose is as good as ever.

Give it a go! :cheese:

Oh, we actually had a similar discussion in another thread. Here is the link:
Is it OK to use a hand towel to help with the grips?

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

:cheese: Beautiful. Can’t wait to hear how you go.

Enjoy the process.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

My problem begins once I get down on the floor.

I can’t seem to get into the final prayer position, I’m not sure if it has to do with my hips being tight, my core strength not being able to support the balance, etc.

Any suggestions?

Kristin

What about if your hands don’t reach the side of your body (perhaps because I am too tight in the hips as well) but is there a way to help the “sinking down” process?

Once I reach the ground, my feet don’t slip but I can’t just rest there without my hands being forward.

Hi Willie

I think the best thing to do is to relax that foot. Creating tension in that foot radiates through the leg and it’s hard to let go and find balance.

Some bodies just cannot get what some consider to be ideal position. That doesn’t matter as much as ideal energy consumption and knowing which muscles to use and which to let go of.

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Willie

I believe there is a problem with the argument that your teachers are giving you, IF when you are upright you cannot naturally reach your arms to the floor and simultaneously keep your back vertical – and BALANCE. Since you are applying the technique for those who cannot reach the ground with hands then I figure you have taken that into account! Right? :cheese: I believe you are on the right track.

Your body geometry won’t allow you to balance first with hands on the ground if you are upright. If you were to get balance first then you would only have one arm on the floor and you’d be leaning over to the side. Not the best way to move into no-armed balance, particularly because you are in an asymmetrical position.

In the rounded forward (not hunched!) position your body will be symmetrical which is a far better starting point for your outcome of sitting upright.

Here’s my guess: I think you are trying to move to hands-free position too quickly. You did actually use the term “trying to jump to prayer position”. You see, if I were leaning forward with hands on the floor, then coming up slowly with eyes fixed somewhere in space as I straighten up, as hands come together, I would simply go back to my starting point, forward, with hands on the ground again. Falling backwards seems to indicate that it’s all happening too fast and there’s some over-compensating going on!

So, your mission, if you are to accept it, is to disregard everything else, just notice that your eyes start at a fixed point, let them find that distance and defocus if they do, then slowly move your body and arms upward towards final position. Just disengage your hands or fingertips from the floor, at the same rate as your body moves upward. The hands will only come together at the last moment!m Maybe think of it as rounding rather than hunching forward!

Do tell me if that’s what you’ve been doing. I am still intuiting that the movement may just need slowing right down.

Remember you ARE balanced when you have your hands on the floor. Then with that balance already created, you are moving ever-IN-balance, upward. The tiny adjustments that you make, allow your body to do that, your hands to do that, without conscious thought.

And… tell me how you go!

Namaste
Gabrielle 🙂

Hi Julie, I just wanted to reiterate what Gabrielle said about working on opening your hips. I honestly believe that without fully open hips it’s impossible to do toe stand. I believe once the muscles that open your hips have been opened and strengthened, then toe strand will happen naturally. You also might want to try a 60-day challenge to make that happen much faster. Nameste, Titi

• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by Titi.