Inversions (upside down asanas), are essential part of the Iyenagr Yoga asana practice.  We recognise their efficacy for both physiological health, as well as beneficial effects on the higher qualities of the mind. Inversions are an integral part of many therapeutic practices – for hormonal balance, addressing stress and anxiety, improving sleep, immunity, improving digestion, women’s health etc.  But it is recognised that these are a difficult category of asanas.  It requires not just strength, but also skill in balancing and alignment, to execute inversions to harness their beneficial effects, and to prevent injury to neck, shoulders etc. All students who are in good health can be safely taught to do the classical inversions like sirsasana (headstand), and sarvangasana (shoulderstand) after adequate preparation.  However, there are always situations where the unsupported inversions are not appropriate – e.g when one is weak, recovering from illness, due to climatic reasons, recovering from an strenuous activity.  And there are students who are not able to do independent inversions due to health conditions or age.  For everyone, supported invasions are a great gift for their therapeutic value.  Supports (props) may also be used to provide inputs to actively improve the quality of inversions. Or they maybe used to provide greater ease and quietness in inversions, thus making possible long holds. Long holds are especially important in therapeutic practice to enable the effects of the asana can permeate to deeper levels.

Note:
– Women during menstruation are advised not to practice upside down asanas
– these recordings have been divided into 2 parts only for the sake of convenience – to keep the recordings to a manageable length, for practitioners who might not be used to a long practice.  However, once familiar with the sequence, the asanas in part 1 and in part 2 may be done in continuation.