Hi folks:
Question on this. When I do Viparita Karani with hands supporting the hips, I can stay only 60-90 seconds because the hands reach the failure(like when you do weights). I know I can stay in the pose for more if hands didn’t fail …
Any suggestions. How does other people stay in this position for 3-5 minutes ?
I was thinking of use the wall but you cannot exactly keep that neck to hip 45 degrees and hip to toe 90 degrees position
Thanks!
You can take the weight off your hands by shifting your feet away from them. Optimally, you want the weight to be balanced between your elbows and shoulders, so neither is taking the brunt of the weight, so you should be able to do this in a way that allows the arms to support the pose for a few minutes.
If not, strengthen your arms and wrists…
Didn’t follow you fully…
one correction. I meant to say my fore arm and elbow reaches the failure
So you’re saying that your forearm and elbow get too tired to hold yourself up as long as you’d like?
Inner : it is the first one.
DoYoga : Yes. My elbows/triceps reach failure when I do like the first link that inner provided.
That is a pose for intermediate - advanced students.
Layman, do u keep your elbows close enough together or they stick out wider then your shoulders?
Also can try the wall with the thick blanket under your butt
BTW Viparita Karani means Inverted Lake:)
BTW Viparita Karani means Inverted Lake:)[/QUOTE]
Your abdomen normally feels like a like a lake of tranquillity in this pose .
CityMonk: Since I am supporting my hips it is less than shoulder width. Cannot imagine a butt wider than my shoulder 
Karani means lake…good to know. Thanks!
This posture is most often used for inner more subtle energy practices, which really need the physical body to be reasonably still, calm and reasonably relaxed.
So as Inner Athlete said this is a posture for intermediate to advanced.
However, even as a beginner i guess you could practice the physical part of this asana, and in time practicing ‘each day’ (that is one of the keys), your body will get used to the discomfort in your wrists and forearms and elbows, and will gradually let go those tormenting 
feelings/ideas/mind-games that the mind will conjure up for beginners.
Please do not mis-read some of my humour here… always respect your body if it is giving you genuine pain or strain messages and come out of the posture.
And Inner Athlete’s second variation can also be practiced… and modified so that the wall supports some of your weight, while your arms are in position of variation one… and will gradually strengthen through daily practice.
I remember when i began this practice i could only hold it a maximum of about 1 minute with similar bodily messages that you have reported. But after practicing it 1 minute each day, after 1 month, i could extend reasonably comfortably to 1.5 minutes. And so on.
I doubt if i have even now come to the stage where it could be described an an inner lake… and i still experience discomfort after a reasonably short time in the posture But it is a wonderful asana when used with inner practices.
I guess the message i am giving is … daily practice… and use the wall if you need a helping hand for a month or two.
Best Wishes,
Dave
Burren I was talking re" lake of tranquility " when legs up wall , I havent looked for it in free standing but will check out next time , seem to remember its more wrists of fire !
“This posture is most often used for inner more subtle energy practices”
can u explain please ?
Subtle inner practices are taught to an aspirant when they are ready to become involved with working with internal energy, and have to do with preserving the ‘drops of nectar’, removing blockages or stagnation of energy in the chakras, improving the flow of energy, and ultimately producing conditions to allow the flow of energy through sushumna.
Most of this is meaningless to those who are not ready for the teachings, and i don’t consider myself qualified to pass on instructions on this. And i definitely do not consider these instructions to be suitable or relevant to those who are simply practicing yoga as a fitness or mainly physical practice.
However, if you are serious about learning these practices, the most transformation course i have ever undertaken was the Kriya yoga 1 month course in Sweden with Swami Janakananda, and you can read more, or sign up for the course through the website below.
http://www.yogameditation.com/about_us/about_us/swami_janakananda
This is not to be confused with either ‘the Kriyas’, or with certain schools which claim to teach Kriya yoga through correspondence courses.
6 years after i completed this course, i attended another course in a different yoga centre also instructing on Kriya yoga, and although the teacher was very realized, the actual practice i found impossible to ‘get into’ without the surrounding structure of complete silence, very bland food, a lot of karma yoga, and through these conditions the ‘noise that goes through our minds’ was prevented in erupting to external behavior which may distract others from these subtle inner practices. The second place i did the course took what they called the compassionate approach, and allowed people to talk some of the day, and the disturbance of energy this produced prevented me from the pratyahara required for these practices.
One really needs an ashram environment, and there was something like 23 days of silence on the Sweden one month course, in order to go deeper inwards.
Apologies that i am not going to go into details, and i know most of this probably sounds like ‘gobble dee gook’ to those not already working with inner energies, but it is not appropriate that i would do that.
Best Wishes,
Dave
“And i definitely do not consider these instructions to be suitable or relevant to those who are simply practicing yoga as a fitness or mainly physical practice.”
yeah…later part applies to me…even then it is okay to practise this right ?
If the posture is not causing you pain or strain, (it’s ok to feel some discomfort which should ease after daily practice), and you don’t push yourself too hard, i believe this should be fine for you.
But i can’t see YOU. I don’t know anything about your condition on any level… so
having said that it is ok for you, i also believe that all yoga practitioners, whether you are practicing mainly on a physical level or other levels, should have a yoga instructor who can ‘look’ at their postures from the outside, to make sure one is not straining one’s neck, or back… or exerting undue force, straining, fighting with oneself… eventually breathing correctly, having the best ‘focus’ both energetically and mentally…
It’s amazing how easy it is to practice something ‘from a book’ and do it for many many years… and then practice in front of a teacher who will point out that your spin e is not in the correct alignment, and that all those years you had been practicing without a teacher present, that you were not practicing the posture correctly.
If possible, always check with your own teacher… especially if you have conditions such as high blood pressure and not taking medication, eye problems, ulcers… the list goes on…
Best Wishes,
Dave
[QUOTE=InnerAthlete;55071]What is your level of practice please and do you mean THIS version or THIS version?
gordon[/QUOTE]
I do both of these although I just recently started with the first one (as an alternative to regular shoulderstand). I see now that the simple solution to my problems might just be to get enough blankets under my elbows. I’ve been doing it straight on the mat and there’s some pain in my elbows and they take the weight on that relatively hard surface.
came across the post on more time…
are you guys discussing Viparita Karani or Sarvangasana ?
because i think in VK we keep the but on the floor…and in Shoulderstand some people use hands to compensate weak core…
[QUOTE=CityMonk;55234]Layman, do u keep your elbows close enough together or they stick out wider then your shoulders?
Also can try the wall with the thick blanket under your butt
BTW Viparita Karani means Inverted Lake:)[/QUOTE]
I meant that elbows DO NOT stick wider then shoulders…sorry
and this is the case if we are talking about shoulderstand…not VK
Try resting your sacrum on a block instead of your hands…can also have heels resting on a wall for a very relaxing version of VK…very cooling and calming great for end of practice if doing in evening.
