We tackled this pose in our class this week and I need to document the things we learned after class in a teacher discussion. Here are some differences in body anatomy and why one pose works and others don’t.
Shelly: long legs, the “ruler-shaped” body, asymmetrical spine and previous injury to tailbone. Shelly loves doing the balancing plough because her legs are long enough to help her balance easier. It feels very free on her neck and comfortable in every way. However, she does not like rolling in and out of this because that does not feel good on her spine. She does not particularly enjoy the regular shoulder stand because it takes so much effort to keep her long legs up.
Leslie: medium length legs, a pear-shaped body. Leslie has never liked any version of shoulder stand or plough. She has smaller, less muscular shoulders and more weight in the belly, hips and buttocks. This makes it hard and unsafe to bring the legs up to balance on the shoulders and neck. Rolling in and out of a balancing plough is ok as long as there is enough padding on the floor. The one safe version is from Sam Dworkis – Extension Yoga, using the legs and feet on the wall.
Options for a counterpose to Shoulderstand are HERE.