Beginner’s Guide to Scorpion Pose

We’ve all had that moment in a yoga class where we hear that unfamiliar Sanskrit word vrschikasana and look over to see the person to our left or right with feet resting on shoulders and a rubber band spine making its way into a circle. Simultaneously, we are mystified and motivated. We want to assume the scorpion! Here are three tools to help you find your scorpion.
- Strength
Shoulder strength is essential.Begin to create strong scapula muscles with dolphin pushups. Start in your dolphin pose and on an inhale, bring shoulders over wrists coming into a dolphin plank. On your exhale, press up and back to dolphin pose. Try these in sets of 10 to start and over time, move to sets of 20 and 30.
- Flexibility
Camel pose is a great way to open the heart and lumbar spine, two motions that are key to enabling a scorpion pose.Try holding your camel pose for 5-10 breaths. Falling back into a camel pose is an awesome step to exploring some pre-inversion trust as well.
- Trust
Fear is our largest barrier in our yoga practice and in the broader scope of our lives as well. Your desire to learn vrschikasana already demonstrates a piece of your fearlessness. Trust is key to any inversion practice. To build confidence, work first with headstand variations. Make your head and arms your new feet and then move to giving your forearms a try!
5 Hidden Benefits of Downward-Facing Dog

If you’ve attended a yoga class, you’ve probably done downward-facing dog pose. Downward-facing dog is a foundational pose found in various vinyasa yoga flows, and for many of us, we initially feel the stretch in the arms, the back, and the legs. That’s the obvious, but there are so many other benefits to exploring downward-facing dog. Downward-facing dog is a very challenging pose, as the muscles are working to hold the pose against gravity.
5 Hidden Benefits of Downward Facing Dog:
Strengthens Abdominal Muscles
Envision turning downward-facing dog right side up into boat pose. Just as you would with boat pose, engaging the belly in downward-facing dog strengthens and abdominal muscles that support the spine.
Improves Circulation
Many tend to forget that downward-facing dog is an inversion! As the hips lift and the head drops below the heart, the pull of gravity is reversed and fresh blood flows, aiding in circulation.
Improves Digestion
Although downward-facing dog is not a full bend or fold, the pose does allow for slight abdominal compression by drawing the navel into the spine. The pose compresses the organs like the kidneys, liver and the spleen, aiding in digestion.
Tones the hands and feet
Downward-facing dog is weight-bearing pose that prepares hands and feet for standing and arm balancing poses.
Decreases Anxiety
Stretching the cervical spine and the neck allows the head and your mind to relax.
So the next time you’re in downward-facing dog, enjoy the obvious and not-so-obvious benefits of the pose!