Hands Down

Guide your students to bear weight on their hands with mindfulness so they avoid injury and gain upper-body strength.

By Julie Gudmestad

Newcomers to yoga are often surprised by how much attention teachers pay to their feet during class. After all, our feet are our connection to the Earth, and the foundation from which our standing poses grow. But what about hands? They, too, form a foundation for poses like Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Facing Dog), Adho Mukha Vrksasana (Handstand), and the other arm balances. Just like the feet, the way your students use their hands will affect their balance and set the stage for the pose to grow from its roots in the Earth.

With a little knowledge about the structure of the hands and wrists, teachers could also inform students about how to correctly use their hands. Not only will the pose's foundation be more stable, but the whole pose will be better aligned. And probably most important, they'll reduce their chances of acquiring the nagging hand and wrist problems that are increasingly prevalent with more weight bearing on the hands and arms.

Hands vs. Feet

Hands and feet share similar bones and muscles, and the hands, like the feet, even have arches. There are differences, of course, that reflect the specialized functions of each. The structures of the foot, for example, are considerably stronger and thicker in order to bear weight, and the hand has nothing like the big, strong calcaneus (heel bone) that's designed to absorb the impact of the heel striking the ground when walking. In addition, the phalanges (finger and toe bones) are short in the toes but long in the fingers, allowing humans to perform finely-coordinated activities like playing the piano and drawing.

Most of us can't readily write or paint a picture with our feet, but we know that with special training, humans can learn. Similarly, bearing weight on the hands doesn't come naturally, and can cause painful problems in the hands and wrists, especially when students suddenly start spending a lot of time on their hands. That explains why complaints about wrist pain are common after a student who's relatively new to yoga starts practicing many cycles of Sun Salutations every day. As in any new activity, advise your students to start bearing weight on the hands and arms gradually, beginning with a few minutes every other day. That 48-hour interval allows the body to repair and build stronger structures, including muscles, ligaments, and tendons.

Teach Awareness

The way you use and position your hands while bearing weight on them makes a difference, too. Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward-Facing Dog Pose) is a good pose in which to work on hand awareness with your students. Begin by asking them to simply notice which part, or parts, of the hand and fingers are bearing most of the weight. Unless they've already worked attentively with their hand action, chances are good that they're bearing more weight on the heels of your hands than the metacarpal heads (base of the fingers where they join the palms). This tendency to lean into the heels of the hands will add more compression, and eventually discomfort, in the wrists.

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