Headstand Workshop: Building Shirshasana Step by Step

The first thing Chris Chavez asks you to do in this workshop is not to stand on your head. He asks you to get down on your forearms, lock your fingers, and wait. The video, a 2018 workshop titled "Headstand," treats Shirshasana as the pose it is: an inversion that rewards patience. The teacher's method is a chain of small, checkable stages that begins with dolphin pose, moves to a forearm base with the crown of the head on the floor, uses a wall as honest feedback, and only then asks for a free balance. Each stage has a rule attached. Build the base before you lift. Let the wall tell you the truth about your shoulders. Move on only when you feel stable and strong where you are. This article walks through that progression and the reasoning behind it, for readers who have not seen the video and for those who want a plan to practice from.

Why does a headstand begin with dolphin pose?

Because the headstand is mostly an arm problem, and the arms have to be trained before they are asked to carry the body. Chavez opens with dolphin pose as a way to build strength and stamina, the foundation the rest of the pose depends on. The setup is precise. You bring the forearms to the mat, elbows directly beneath the shoulders, and interlace the fingers. Tuck your toes under and lift the hips, so the weight moves into the arms.

The critical instruction is about the shoulders. As the hips lift, there is a natural tendency for the shoulders to drift forward, past the elbows. Chavez's cue is to keep them exactly where they are, stacked over the elbows. Then the feet walk forward only as far as the shoulders can stay over the elbows, hold for a few breaths, walk back, and sit on the heels. The video recommends repeating this for a few cycles. Over time, the arms and chest get strong enough to support the work that comes next.

There is a quiet logic here that a musician will recognize. You do not learn a difficult passage by playing it at full tempo on the first day. You learn the mechanics in a slower, simpler form, and the speed comes later as a consequence of control. Dolphin pose is the slow version of the inversion.

How do you set up the forearm base for a headstand?

This is where the pose changes shape. Once the dolphin work is steady, you return to the forearms and interlace the fingers again. Chavez gives a specific detail: one finger sits on the bottom of the clasp, and you tuck it in so the heel of the hand lies flush against the floor. That flat contact is what makes the base stable.

He also points out a choice that most beginners do not know they are making. The palms can be pressed heel to heel, which gives you more power and strength, or opened slightly apart, which gives you more freedom and fluidity. Chavez's answer is pragmatic: it depends on what you need. Whatever makes the body feel stable and strong is the right answer for that day. A structure that feels secure beats a textbook one that feels shaky.

Then comes the crown of the head. You place the very top of the head on the floor, just in front of the hands, and make firm contact so that the back of the head is included in the support. The instruction is to extend out through the top of the head so that all sides lengthen. Chavez stresses that this is not a balance yet. It is a tripod, forearms and crown, and the rest of the pose is built on it.

What does the forearm stage teach that a wall cannot?

With the base set, the feet walk toward the body and the hips rise. The key words in the video are "energetic lift." Chavez asks you to keep the arms continuously working so that the lift travels all the way up toward the hips. The most common failure at this point is collapse: the shoulders or upper back fold toward the spine, and the weight slumps into the chest. Chavez's remedy is to keep the shoulders over the elbows and let the arms hold the structure.

For readers who are ready for a test, the video offers an optional variation: from this stage, lift one leg, then the other, while keeping the legs held steady. It is presented as a way to check your strength at home, not as a requirement. The pattern repeats throughout the workshop. Each stage is a place to hold, not only a place to pass through.

Why use a wall to learn the headstand?

The wall in this video does something a teacher's eye cannot always do from across the room. It gives you a reference point that does not lie. Chavez moves the same forearm base to the wall. As the feet walk forward, the goal is to arrive near the wall without the upper body leaning into it. If the shoulders or upper back touch the wall, the teacher's diagnosis is blunt: it means you are not using your strength enough. The wall is not a crutch to be pushed against. It is a measure of how well the body is holding itself.

When the collapse is there, Chavez tells you to pull off the wall. The next step is a lift of one leg, with the knee bent and the foot brought up close to the wall, then tapping the wall with that foot and coming back. The wall, in this stage, is a place for the foot to touch and return, not a support to lean on. He describes the posture he wants to see: the body is not falling into the wall, there is balance, the power is held, the student feels stable, strong, and secure. That is the place to stay for a while before going further.

From there, the legs straighten, one at a time, with both feet still resting against the wall. Chavez asks you to find balance here first, pressing the legs together so the contact with the wall is firm. Then one foot lifts away from the wall, and the balance is found again before the other leg follows. If you lose the connection, the instruction is simple: the legs return to the wall. The wall is always there to bring you back.

When is it time to move to the next stage?

This may be the most useful principle in the video, and it is stated almost in passing. Chavez says that when you progress from one stage to the next, you always want to be stable and feeling strong where you are. If you feel wobbly or unstable, the stage you are in is the place to work for a while. That reverses the common impulse to rush toward the full pose. Progress is not measured by how far you have walked your feet. It is measured by how solid you feel at the level you are on.

The sequence then compresses. Chavez runs the same stages again, a little faster: forearms, interlaced fingers, crown to the floor, a lift to the wall, legs straight, the one-foot-at-a-time release from the wall. The full form follows, with the wall kept as a reference point rather than a support. He describes a light hop to bring both feet up, a moment of finding a connection point, and then the feet lifting away one at a time. The legs work, the arms work, and the balance is held through the body rather than gripped in the neck.

"Inversions cultivate strength, balance and resilience of perspective which will serve you at any level of your practice," the workshop description reads. (Chris Chavez, video description, 2018)

How do you come out of a headstand safely?

The exit is part of the pose. Chavez does not treat the descent as an afterthought. From the full balance, you lower one leg, then the other, so the movement is controlled rather than dropped. The knees come down to the floor, and the video's final instruction returns to the base: once the legs are down, sit back on the heels. The control on the way down is the same control that got you up.

After the work in the upper body, Chavez finishes with a shoulder opener, because the arms are doing a lot and the upper shoulders and neck can tighten. The sequence is gentle: sit, take one arm behind you, reach toward the shoulder blades, and tilt the head to the opposite side. You do not need to force it. The aim is to bring a sense of opening back to muscles that have been working hard.

What safety cues does the teacher keep returning to?

Three cues run through the whole video. The first is the shoulder check: if the upper back collapses toward the spine or into the wall, the strength is not there yet. The second is the stability test: move forward only when you feel secure in your current stage. The third is the non-strain principle: the work is to bring the body to a place of support, not to push into discomfort. Chavez is explicit that you should not strain. Use the wall as a reference, not as a challenge, and let each stage earn the next.

Where to go from here

If you want to practice this progression, follow the video's own order and give each stage the time it needs. Start with dolphin pose for several cycles until the arms and chest feel steady. Build the forearm base with the crown of the head on the floor and the hips lifting only as far as the shoulders stay over the elbows. Move to the wall, and treat any shoulder collapse as information rather than failure. Practice the single-leg lift and the one-foot-away balance before you attempt the full form. Finish each session with the shoulder opener and a seated pause. The headstand is not a single moment of arrival. It is a set of stages, each one stable enough to stand on before you ask the next one of you.