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So when I did yoga teacher training at the Yoga Institute of Houston, I learned the mother of all yoga poses and ALL the health benefits it offers. I learned lots of other cool stuff too but let's talk about Shoulder Stand today.
It was fascinating to learn.
If you've been to a traditional yoga class or one of my yoga classes you've probably done shoulder stand, but did you know all the benefits it offers? What about the counter pose for it and how long to hold each? If you don't know this here you go...
Health benefits of Shoulder Stand: calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression, stimulates the thyroid and abdominal organs, stretches the shoulders and neck, tones the legs and buttocks, improves digestion, reduces fatigue, helps alleviate insomnia, and is therapeutic for asthma and sinusitis.
Whoa!! Did you know all that??
Why does it do all that? Well, you're almost completely upside down which promotes extra blood flow to areas that don't normally get that much.
Ideally you would work up to holding this pose for 5min. Start small and just work up to that.
So after you've held the pose you've got lots of blood pooled up in your head and neck, so we need a counter pose to offset that.
Fish pose releases the blood that was pooled in your chest and upper body.
You want to hold fish pose for about 1/6 the amount of time you hold Shoulder Stand. So if you hold shoulder stand for 1 min, hold fish pose for 10sec. Easier math than you thought. You're welcome. 😁
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