Ardha Sarvanghasana and Sarvanghasana.

Half Shoulder stand and full shoulder stand.

Inverted postures are powerful postures and you need to work with awareness and observe as you gradually build the postures.

Never go in to inverted postures and putting weight on the shoulders, neck, back of the head if you have ever had an injury in the neck area. If you suffer from High Blood Pressure, then although this posture is beneficial, you need to go in to the posture with awareness. You must keep your chin close to the collarbones, and not let it be thrown back. Check with your GP to make sure.

ALWAYS exercise caution and progress in to next posture, once you have mastered the basic posture. In this case the basic posture is half-shoulder stand and you will progress in to full shoulder stand when you feel you are ready.

1) Lie down on a mat, facing up. Palms turned up and allowing your elbows to come closer to the rib-cage.

2) You will use your palms to support your lower back as soon as you are in the half-shoulder stand. Your legs at 45 degrees and the back supported. This is a wonderful posture to start the process of using gravity to help stretch all internal organs, from underneath. All the connective tissues under the organs get a chance to stretch.

Your chin must be tucked in towards the chest, especially if you have high blood pressure.

Hold this posture between 10 and 20 breaths and either prepare to go further or simply plant the palms on the mat and slowly roll the spine down and lie back down in to the starting posture.

3) The next level is the full shoulder stand. From the half shoulder stand, push the spine upwards and shuffling the elbows a little closer to each other. Then lift both the legs up and feel the transfer of the body weight on to the tops of the shoulder blades and back of the shoulders.

Hold this posture between 10 and 20 breaths and then prepare to come back down. First go in to half shoulder stand and then put your palms on the mat and slowly bring the spine down and lie back down in to the starting posture, and relax.