Name: Playbook - Claire Thomas - Pillar 4: Drills
Uploaded: 2025-03-10T20:24:28.848Z
Duration: 20 min
Description: Pillar 4: Drills

Tough drills! My wrists are sore! I’ll keep practicing!

Lori

Deepali

Michelle

Marion

I’m a yoga instructor and these are awesome drills. Thank you both!

Kari

You're super good at the Crow's Nest position

Regina

This was so fun and way more challenging than I would have expected! I’m excited to be on this journey and can’t wait to see where it takes me!!

Kiersten

Autumn

Michele Holsinger

Seriously great! Crow is humbling but so excited for this journey!!!! Thanks Claire 🧡

Mariah

Difficult staying in crow but I did get there!

Brigitte

Shiva squat to switch kick was so much fun!

Amanda

Pillar 4: Drills

This is the fun part! Einstein said, “play is the highest form of research”. In yoga & fitness, it is necessary to have discipline, however it is as equally as important to enjoy the journey. If it’s not fun, what’s the point?!

These drills are intended to be practiced over & over again. With dedication, these drills will become a part of your everyday routine. Handstand is a journey, & it’s a practice. You will begin to invert in this pillar. Use these drills consistently to build upon your handstand goals.

Make sure your wrists are nice & warmed up. Side plank is a beginning pose to handstand. If you cannot perform a side plank, holding yourself up in a handstand will be very challenging. Side plank allows the joints and skeletal system to understand weight bearing. From plank pose, transfer the weight to the outer edge of the right or left foot as the opposite arm reaches to the sky. Everything is in one straight line - shoulders over elbows over wrists. Top hip aligned over bottom hip. Top arm in one straight line over bottom arm. You can begin to reach top arm forward, palm down. You can step opposite foot in front of bottom, stabilizing foot, or stack the feet (one edge of foot on top of the other). Flex the toes. For more advanced variations, you can begin to play with the top leg, lifting it, placing it in tree, or flipping dog (step off off the mat behind the body, lift hips and arch back; drive weight from the hand through the pelvis.

Side Plank Drill

Begin in downward facing dog. Shorten your stance by one to two footprints, so your feet draw closer to your hands. This forces your hips to be more stacked over your shoulders. Focus gaze between the hands. Grasp the mat/earth. On an exhale, squeeze inner thighs and kick feet towards butt, without arching the back (keep core engaged and thread sides of rib cage together). Land softly on balls of feet (little to no sound). Repeat. You can practice landing the feet right behind the hands. Imagine that there is a wall behind your back, so you won’t fall over to the other side (start with small kicks and gradually increase with control). Eventually the knees will pull into the chest tightly, as you are standing on your hands. From here, engage the inner legs and point the toes. If you are inverted with control, you can slowly begin to raise your legs together to the sky!

Shakti Kicks Drill

Possibly the easiest way to invert, Shiva squat drills give you ultimate control. Shorten your down dog stance by stepping the feet up a footprint or two, so the hips begin to raise over the shoulders. Lift one leg, bend the bottom knee, and bend the top knee behind the bottom knee. Top foot is pointed, bottom foot is on the ball. Engage pelvic floor. Kick with control from bottom ball of foot on an exhale. Land on the bottom ball of the foot. Begin to switch the legs in the air while you’re low to ground, landing on each ball of the foot. As you kick up each time, you can explore kicking a little bit harder to eventually get the hips over the shoulders.

Shiva Squat to Switch Kick Drill

Pillar 4: Drills

Natalie

Laura

Journey to Handstand Intro

Rita Andryushchenko

Pillar 1: Mindset & Meditation

Pillar 2: Philosophy & Anatomy

This was SO much fun! I LOVE the Shiva squat!

Great activation tips. Paused and completed the other side warm up!

Pillar 3: Warm Up & Activation

Stephanie Powell

Pillar 5: Inversion & Safety

So good!!! I could do more than I thought and oh my gosh those ocean waves and birds💕

Pillar 4: Drills

Community

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