BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Yoga Yoga Postures Poll

Scorpion has been one of the hardest poses for me, even though doing a hand stand I find is easy for me as I have been a gymnast for over 18 years. My arm strength, focus and natural ability to stay balanced upside down has been what makes scorpion a little bit easier but I still find the forearm starting point to be very difficult and I like to focus on poses I find challenging. Also pigeon or double pigeon is very hard for me as I hold a lot of emotional pain in my hips and find even in warrior II I must watch my hips and make sure they are square.

I can do bridge but not comfortably...I have never enjoyed bridge and even at times when I've worked on it, I don't like the straining I feel in my back, I guess I have weak back muscles or something, but either way, I listen to my body and it doesn't seem to like bridge at the moment. Anyone have any suggestions on how to build up back flexibility to get into bridge more comfortably? I do the beginner version with just hips raised and hand clasped underneath me...

Yeah the dancer one is fun!

About Scorpion - I am really impressed here that some folks can do that. It looks so very cool, like a real scorpion. I will have to work on my strength for that one.

I assume one needs to be able to do crow and headstand first?

Here is a great utube video about how to do scorpion:

BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

Yes, that's the one. The naming varies depending on where the outstretched arm is held. Queen Dancer has the arm parallel to the ground facing down, while King Dancer actually has the hand facing up and cupped as if holding something, with the elbow very slightly bent. If you look at that picture it should follow more in a curve from the leg being held through the body to the outstretched arm.

Hi Jill,

After doing yoga for more than ten years I too am impressed with the physical ability required of scorpion which is a deep balancing backbend so in addition to having arm strength, you need a lot of flexibility in your back and hip flexors. Also, this requires core strength so before attempting you need to know how to get out of it (lots of core strength).

So in addition to handstand, you will want to be able to do full bridge/wheel easily too.

I worked with a very flexible woman a couple of summers ago who was encouraged to do scorpion while attending class in NYC. She did it, but unfortunately didn't have the core strength to get out and injured herself very badly, so just be careful:-)

About Scorpion - I am not ready to try it yet. I will keep messing with elbow stand and move away from the wall at some point.

I am doing fine with full bridge and wheel. I probably have enough flexibility for Scorp, but not enough strength.

Any tips for getting my crow to work better?