Shoulder Stand (Salamba Sarvangasana)

Pronunciation and meaning

Salamba Sarvangasana: sah-LUM-buh sar-vahn-GAHS-uh-nuh. Salamba stresses the second syllable, and Sarvangasana stresses GAHS.

Salamba means supported, sarva means all, anga means limb and asana means posture. The name is often given as the all-limbs posture: lying on the back, you lift the legs and hips over the shoulders, supported by the hands and upper arms.

How to do Shoulder Stand

1. Learn this pose with a teacher. Fold two or three blankets into a firm stack and lie with your shoulders on the stack and your head on the floor, so the neck is free.
2. Bend your knees with the feet flat and the arms by your sides. On an exhale, roll the knees toward the chest and lift the hips.
3. Bend your elbows and place your hands on your back, fingers toward the ceiling, with the elbows about shoulder-width apart on the blankets.
4. Lift the legs up one at a time, straight or bent, keeping the weight on the shoulders and upper arms, not the neck. Keep the head still and the gaze up.
5. Stay for five to ten slow breaths to start. Come down sooner if the neck, face or breath feels strained.
6. To come out, bend the knees toward the forehead, release the hands, and roll down slowly one part of the spine at a time.

Make it easier

• Practise with the feet on a wall: lie with the hips near the wall, walk the feet up, and lift the hips only partway.
• Take Legs Up the Wall instead, which gives a calm, restful inversion with no weight on the neck.
• Keep the knees bent above the face in a half shoulder stand, with the hips lower.

Pregnancy and after birth

Pregnancy. Avoid. Inversions with weight on the neck are not advised in pregnancy for most people. A supported side-lying rest or Legs Up the Wall with bolsters is kinder. Check with your OB or midwife.

After birth. Avoid at first. Wait until your doctor or midwife has cleared you and your core feels steady, and avoid inversions while bleeding after the birth. Return slowly with a teacher and a wall.

For more on practising through pregnancy, see Joahnna Lee Yoga.

Common mistakes

• Practising without blankets, so the neck flattens into the floor and takes the weight.
• Turning the head while up, which twists the neck under load.
• Letting the elbows splay wide so the body sinks onto the neck.

Shoulder Stand is one of the classic inversions of Hatha yoga, often taught near the end of a class and usually followed by Plow and then a counterpose such as Fish. It is advanced because the weight sits so close to the neck.

Set up matters more than how long you stay. Learn it with a teacher, use the blankets every time, and count the wall version as a full practice.

Is there a gentler version of shoulder stand?

Yes. Legs Up the Wall, the restful inversion, keeps the hips on the floor and the neck free, and many people find it calming at the end of a day. A half version with the feet on a wall, or Bridge Pose with a block under the sacrum, also gives the feeling of lifting the hips without the load.

What comes after shoulder stand?

Fish Pose, or Matsyasana, is the traditional counterpose, lifting the chest and lengthening the front of the neck. A few minutes from the neck stretches routine and a quiet rest in Savasana are a calm way to finish.