How To Master Pincha At Home Part 1: Top Shoulder Drills
Ready to master Pincha, at home? Here are 5 essential shoulder conditioning drills that will improve your posture and help build the strength and stability needed for a confident Pincha practice.
So you’ve been dreaming of learning how to stand on your forearms in Pincha pose, but you’re unsure of where to start.
You’re afraid and give up thinking it’s impossible to master Pincha with a home yoga practice.
Well, it is possible! And I’m here to help you!
Let’s start with the very first step and that’s conditioning your shoulders!
Read on to find my top 5 drills to strengthen your shoulders and improve your posture! Get ready to dive further into the world of yoga inversions, and finally master Pincha at home.
In this article:
Why practice Pincha and how shoulder strengthening drills help you?
Pincha Mayurasana, Forearm stand or Feathered Peacock pose is an advanced balancing inversion that asks a lot from your body, that’s a fact.
So it’s completely understandable that you might be amazed by how it looks and dream about doing it, but subconsciously believe that there’s no way for you to actually be able to do it.
Believe me, I’ve been there.
But I am your proof that consistency, mindfulness and always listening to your body can take you wherever you want to go. Even if you practice alone at home, just like me!
To be able to successfully do Pincha, you need both shoulder flexibility and strength.
Today I’m focusing on strength and showing you 5 moves to condition and strengthen your shoulders.
By including these 5 drills in your daily home yoga practice you’re going to get from weak and tight shoulders to happy and mobile shoulder joints that will serve you far beyond the mat.
Forget tense hunched shoulders from prolonged sitting, and welcome a beautiful strong posture ready to balance upside-down and conquer the Forearm stand!
5 Home Yoga Drills for Pincha
Dill 1: Forearm Plank Scapular Push-Ups
Any type of scapular push ups are great for the shoulders as they strengthen the serratus anterior and rhomboids, which are key for shoulder stability. Doing it in a forearm plank position simply mimics the Pincha alignment hence prepping you better for the goal posture.
Now my form here is far from perfect! And I’m not trying to hide that.
But I am showing you the general idea of the movement. You should keep the hips and core engaged maintaining a straight line in your back as you try to pull the scapulas closer to each other, then push them as far away from each other as possible. The movement can be super subtle as long as you can feel that you’re not using any other muscles to lift the chest.
Dill 2: Forearm Plank Chest Dips
This drill helps deepen the connection between your shoulders and chest while reinforcing shoulder endurance.
Again, keep your whole body engaged, especially the core to not let the hips dip down. Try to move the body in one straight line balancing on the balls of the feet and allowing the heels to move over the toes then back. If this is too challenging – try a simpler variation with the knees grounded, similar to how you would modify a regular push-up.
Drill 3: Forearm Plank to Dolphin Pose Walks
This drill works both on your shoulder strength and flexibility. As you walk your feet closer, bringing the hips higher up you’re adding more weight on the shoulders i.e. working on their strength. Simultaneously you need to properly rotate the shoulder to allow the torso to lift up – improving shoulder flexibility and increasing the demand on the deltoids, traps, and rotator cuffs. With this movement, you’re mimicking the transition when lifting into Pincha. This helps you become more comfortable with the alignment and shoulder engagement required.
Keep the shoulders engaged, pushing the ground away all throughout the movement. Try to be light on your feet bringing more weight on the shoulders. Also, note how I align the shoulders to be over the elbows at all times – this is called stacking and it helps the joints work together to help you lift up (once you’re ready for that step).
Access These Drills on The Go! Download the FREE eBook
Drill 4: Downward Dog to Dolphin Pose Push-Ups
This drill works your deltoids, traps, and especially the triceps, and is particularly beneficial for developing the pressing strength needed to hold your body weight in an inversion asana.
Prioritize control here and transition from Downward dog to Dolphin pose slowly and with control. As you lower down, think of wrapping the elbows in so they ground under the shoulders – stacking remember? 🙂
If your hamstrings are particularly tight keep the knees bent to maintain the length of the spine.
Drill 5: Dolphin Pose Nose Taps
Another great drill to build up on top of the plank chest dips, this time keeping even more weight on the shoulders and slowly bringing the body closer to the actual look of the asana you’re prepping for. This one is also great at refining the proprioception needed to keep your balance when inverted.
Do your best to maintain a long spine, engaged core, and shoulders actively pushing the ground away through the forearms and palms at all times. You definitely don’t need to dip too far and actually tap your nose to the mat! 🙂
A few last words...
There are plenty of other drills you might know and already do in your home yoga practice. But I found that these particular 5 shoulder strengthening drills helped me most when it comes specifically to mastering Pincha at home.
You may try just one or all of them. If you do let me know if they work for you as well as they did for me.
Access these drills on the go and download the FREE eBook here.
If you want to learn more about Pincha, then stay tuned for the next part of this series – coming up is “Get your Pincha at Home Part 2: Hand Position”.
Yours,
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