Forearm Stand Tips

When people first start doing forearm stands (pincha mayurasana) they tend to want to fight about how their arms should be placed. They're supposed to be parallel to each other, but the hands want to slide towards each other OR the elbows want to slide away from each other... OR the practitioner simply wants to set up with hands together elbows apart from the beginning. They claim it's more comfortable or easier this way. One person even told me that asking him to put his arms parallel to each other was ridiculous.

What does this mean and why is it important?
Hands or elbows sliding can mean you're not rooting down properly. Elbows sliding out specifically says you're not pulling them in towards the midline enough. Practice just holding your arms and clawing your fingers in dolphin (aka pincha prep) for a while before you start kicking up.

All of these things usually point to tight shoulders. It requires pretty open shoulders/chest to comfortably place your bent arms parallel to each other and raise them overhead. If you find this totally uncomfortable then focus more on shoulder openers before attempting your forearms stands. Maybe even set aside your plans for forearm stands for a while and regularly practice shoulder opening poses if it's really uncomfortable.

 Practice with a block as seen in this post to help learn proper set-up.

This all matters because - kicking up and having your foundation sliding into this triangle shape is just practice for a rotator cuff injury. These hurt a lot, may require surgery, and will ruin all your plans for a long while during the recovery process. They're also one of the most common injuries in yoga, so be patient and safe to avoid being injured from the beginning.

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Baby Steps to Forearm Stands