OM Yoga Magazine – April 2019

om body

M

any of you may be

wondering what it means

to be a professional

handbalancer. Or even

what is a handbalancer? A

handbalancer is a circus artist who performs

incredible feats on their hands, sometimes

performing for long periods, contorting

the body into many diferent positions.

Handbalancers aim to stand on one hand

and move gracefully as if standing on

one foot.

A lot of people come to me to learn how

to do a handstand and begin saying that

their core isn’t strong enough. But it’s not

all about your core. You need to be able

to engage and control your core but doing

sit ups won’t help achieve the necessary

balance. If you’re standing on your feet,

how much are you using your core to help

you balance? Not a lot. Maybe you need to

strengthen the muscles in your feet, your

Just when you thought you’d nailed a handstand,

along comes professional handbalancer Sammy Dinneen.

Here, he shares some tips for mastering a handstand as a circus artist*

glutes, or just practice, to get used to how

the foot needs to move to balance. This is

the same in a handstand, but we balance

with our hands.

Magic hands

The hand is crucial as it gathers

proprioceptive feedback from the loor. When

I do a handstand you will see my wrist, ingers

and forearms working to make extremely fast

corrections for tiny adjustments.

Your ingers (like your toes) can grip the

loor if you are falling; you can use your

wrist (like your ankle), and if your wrist and

ingers can’t help you use your shoulder (like

you would your hips if standing). Stand on

one foot and close your eyes; feel how your

toes, ankles and hips help you balance. Feel

how you engage your core just enough to

help but don’t contract it as hard as you can

or you become a solid inanimate object.

In circus, it’s important to strengthen the

ingers, wrists and forearms. A good place to

start is on your hands and knees; make sure

your shoulders are on top of your hands

and your pelvis is tucked under. From here,

keeping your shoulders in the same place,

push your knuckles and ingers through so

you are on top of your ingertips. This is very

similar to a ballerina working on their calf

raises and lifting to point. This will begin to

strengthen those muscles and joints that are

required for balance.

Intrinsic muscles

The intrinsic muscles in your hands are

responsible for providing stability and

support for your handstand. These muscles

respond to load, force and stimulation. If

there isn’t any force or load, then they stop

working. They need constant use, which is

why it’s better to train handstands little and

often rather than once a week.

Each ingertip has more than 3,000

* For advanced practitioners only