YogaKutir

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We teach traditional Hatha Yoga, a holistic science for health and wellbeing. Yoga Teacher Training.

Rory Viggers & Dory Walker
Yoga Teacher Trainers, Mind Mechanics, Meditation, Headstand & Inversion specialists, Global Retreat leaders, 25 years, Dona Holleman students. Feel awesome in body and mind through ancient practices for contemporary life. Our Yoga is inspired by our study of classical teachings of Hatha yoga in disciplines that include Iyengar, Sivananda, Satyananda, Krishnamacharya and Dona Holleman's Centered Yoga system. We offer weekly yoga classes, courses and workshops in Clifton - Bristol, the South West & London. UK and International Yoga Retreats. Holistic Treatments. Yoga Therapy. Private Tuition. Yoga in the workplace.

21/03/2026

Sutra 1.5
vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭākliṣṭāḥ

The Yoga Sutras say the movements of the mind fall into five types.

Some create suffering
Some don’t

Which sounds simple… until you watch it happening in real life.

Your partner walks into the room and their tone is short.

Immediately the mind says:
“They’re annoyed with me.”

Your body tightens
You become defensive
The evening shifts….

Later you find out they had a difficult day at work.

Nothing was actually wrong between you.

Same moment
Different interpretation
Completely different experience of reality.

This is what the sutras are pointing to.

The mind is constantly producing interpretations, interpretations based on past impressions and some of them create unnecessary suffering.

Most people assume their thoughts are accurate reflections of reality.

Yoga invites a different question:

Is this thought creating clarity…
or creating suffering? And where does it come from ?

That single enquiry can change how you experience your relationship, your business, and your life.

Because often the problem isn’t what happened.

It’s the story the mind placed on top of it.

Do you see this playing out in your life right now?

20/03/2026

If Headstand still feels heavy, this might be why

A lot of people think straight legs make the pose lighter

Not always

Bent legs can make the lift feel easier at first because the centre of gravity shifts and there is less leverage to deal with

But here’s the real issue:

Whether the legs are bent or straight, if the feet are not doing their job, you disconnect the legs and switch off a vital part of the support chain

This is especially obvious with “straight” legs that aren’t really active

I see this all the time

The legs look straight
But there is no life in them
The feet are off
So the legs are off

And when that happens, they become heavy

Then one of two things usually happens:

You feel the weight of the legs
Or you overuse muscles elsewhere to compensate

Very often the pelvis then shifts too far back to get the lift, especially in flexible bodies

And what gets missed is the upward lift

Because the feet are a key part of that

When you make the legs as long as possible and the feet play their role, the whole system changes

More engagement
More organisation
More lift

And over time, more lightness and control

One of the ways I help students find this is with a blanket

[SAVE THIS]

Place it lightly against the feet before they lift
As the legs rise, reach into it
If you lose it, reach again
On the way down, exactly the same

This does two things:

It keeps the legs truly active
And it stops the pelvis drifting too far back

So instead of solving the lift by shifting back, the body has to create lift upward

That switches on missing muscles, organises the pelvis, and teaches the body to lift instead of leverage

More stability
More lightness
Less muscling through the arms

This is not about people who physically cannot straighten the legs
That is a different conversation

This is for the people who can straighten them, but still haven’t switched the full support chain on

And if you are working with bent legs, the role of the feet is equally as vital

Next week I’m teaching a free 3-day inversion & arm balance training where I’ll be covering Headstand foundations like this in more depth

Reply HEAD for an invite

19/03/2026

The Modern versiom of Bakasana is taught as an arm balance.

Traditional Bakasana has a different focus.

That difference changes everything.

Modern version:
Knees grip into the backs of the arms
Pelvis high
Head low
Legs together
Weight loads into the arms

Friction + angle help keep it together
The abdomen can get away with doing very little

Which is often why:
Legs feel heavy
Arms struggle to straighten
Balance is short lived
You feel you might faceplant

It’s an arm-dominant practice
And it’s the most commonly taught version

Traditional Bakasana is a different bird.

This is what Iyengar, who learned from Krishnamacharya, taught Dona Holleman in the 1960s, and what Dona taught me.

Shins move toward the armpits, not the knees
Legs externally rotated
Pelvis + shoulders level
Spine curves upward (key)

The arms still need energy.
But what reduces the effort comes from the abdomen.

Because the traditional Bakasana family are abdominal practices.
That’s their place in the asana family tree.

When the abdomen becomes the engine:
Lift feels lighter
Rebound can travel through the body
The asana feels more coherent

Yes, this version asks for more:
Energy
Abdominal power
Precision
Inner lift

And that’s exactly why it builds something transferable.

The primary mechanic is one of the strongest abdominal exercises you can develop.
And you can train it without even balancing on your hands.

Quick practical cue (what this reel shows):
To get the legs higher, roll the arms externally under the legs so you land more on the triceps.
That creates a tighter, more compact bind.

Think Malasana or Baddha Konasana on your hands.

When hands, arms, feet, spine + abdomen have cohesion, lift happens and the legs get light.

Next week I’m running a free 3-day inversion and arm balance training.

It’s a blend of theory, principles + practical insight that can make an instant difference in practice.

To experience the lift in Crow, reply CROW for a free invite

18/03/2026

The biggest Headstand lessons I ever learned was this:

If you’re putting all the weight in your arms, you’ve already made the pose 10x harder

Because you’ve cut off a key line of support that makes the pose light & sustainable

For over a decade I was told the same thing

“Build Headstand in your arms. Keep the weight off your head”

So when I felt heavy, tired & unstable, I assumed it was me

Not the method.

When everyone around you teaches the same thing, it doesn’t even occur to you there could be another way

That changed 15 years ago

Putting all the weight in your arms is one of the main reasons so many people struggle

Not a lack of strength or ability

A missing foundation

And today, the “arms take all the weight” model is still widely taught, even by great teachers

When people say “Headstand is dangerous for the neck”, what often gets missed is this

You can switch on a support system where the neck is not avoided, but organised, elongated (this is key) & supported because it is part of the whole chain

Avoiding it completely does not make it safer
It often leaves the whole system underdeveloped

When you rely on arm power alone, the true support chain stays dormant

So if
your arms burn quickly
floating the legs feels impossible or heavy
balance feels wobbly
staying up feels effortful

It’s not your strength

It’s your mechanics

Learning this changed everything for me

If the most common method wasn’t the most effective here, what else was missing?
What else had simply been passed on without being questioned?

That led me into years of study with the brilliance of Dona Holleman, years of rebuilding, myth-busting & reworking almost every asana

And from there, supporting hundreds of students & teachers who felt stuck in their practice

So if you’re still relying solely on arm strength, don’t blame yourself

It’s the method you were given

There is a far more effective, whole-body, mechanics-driven approach

Next week I’m running a free 3-day inversion and arm balance training

It’s a blend of theory, principles + practical insight that will make an instant difference in practice

Reply HEAD for a free invite

Last time I checked, most people practising yoga today aren’t living in a cave in the HimalayasThey’re not renouncing th...
17/03/2026

Last time I checked, most people practising yoga today aren’t living in a cave in the Himalayas

They’re not renouncing the world

They’re often parents.
Running businesses.
In relationships.

Paying mortgages.
Replying to emails.
Trying to stay connected to a partner who triggers them.
Trying to raise children without passing on their own unconsciousness.

Yet a foundational text that many of the yoga tradition rests on (the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali), doesn’t open with lifestyle advice.

It opens with this:

Yogaś citta vṛtti nirodhaḥ.
Yoga is the settling of the fluctuations of the mind.

Not the improvement of your partner, not a perfect morning routine, or an instagrammable backbend

The settling of perception.

If you are in a relationship, the quality of that relationship is inseparable from the quality of your perception.

If you are a parent, the nervous system your child is mirroring is shaped by whether you are identified with every thought and emotion or aware of them.

If you run a business, your leadership is either driven by unexamined fear, comparison and scarcity…
or by clarity.

The Sutras are not asking you to withdraw from life.

They are asking:

Are you seeing clearly?
Or are you identified with your interpretations?

Sutra 1.3 says that when the fluctuations settle, the Seer rests in its true nature.

Sutra 1.4 says that when you don’t, you become the fluctuation….

So in your marriage, do you become the resentment?
In your parenting, do you become the anxiety?
In your business, do you become the insecurity?

Or can you see it, distinguish it without becoming it?

This is not cave yoga.
It is
Kitchen table yoga
Bedtime-story yoga

If perception is distorted, everything built on top will be

If perception is clear, you don’t need to control
You don’t need to defend
You don’t need to prove

That is the practice

Not escaping life

Mastering the instrument through which you experience it

Drop a 👁️ if this lands for you

13/03/2026

Modern Bakasana is taught as an arm balance

Traditional Bakasana has a different engine

And that changes everything

Modern version:
Legs together, knees high into the arms
Pelvis high
Shoulders down
More body weight stacked over the centre line

Friction + angle help hold it together
So the abdomen doesn’t actually need to do much

Which is why people often feel:
burning arms
heavy legs
short balances
one small shift = faceplant

This is now the most commonly taught version

Traditional Bakasana is a different bird

This is what Iyengar learned from Krishnamacharya, what Dona Holleman learned from Iyengar, and what Dona taught me

The key difference is in the legs, spine + abdomen

Legs externally rotated
Shins move toward the armpits
Pelvis + shoulders level
Spine curves upward (key)

The lift does not come from the arms

It comes from the abdomen

Because the Bakasana family are abdominal practices
That’s their place in the asana family tree

When the abdomen becomes the engine:
lift gets lighter
the body stops resting on the arms
the whole system comes online

Yes, this version asks for more:
energy
abdominal power
precision
inner lift

That’s exactly why it’s so useful
The mechanics transfer

The primary action is one of the strongest abdominal exercises you can develop
And there is a way to experience it without even balancing on your hands

Quick practical cue (what this reel shows):
If you want the legs higher, roll the arms externally under the legs (and take a block under the feet for height) so you land more on the triceps
It creates a tighter, more compact bind

Think Malasana on your hands.

When hands, arms, feet, spine + abdomen have cohesion, lift happens & the legs get light

This is the version we teach inside Inversion Foundations
And from here, all other arm balances

If you want Crow/Crane + the whole arm balance family to feel light instead of heavy, reply CROW for an invite

12/03/2026

If you’re still putting all the weight in your arms in Headstand, you’re making it 10x harder

Because in doing that, you disconnect a key support chain that makes the pose light, stable & sustainable

25 years ago when I first learned Headstand, this is what I was told

“Build Headstand in your arms. Keep the weight off your head”

It felt heavy
My arms got tired quickly
I assumed it was me

It never occurred to me it could be the method
Because everywhere I looked, it was the same

Then 15 years ago, that changed

I realised putting all the weight in the arms is one of the main reasons people struggle

Not a lack of strength
Not a lack of ability

A support system that never got built

And today, this is still one of the most commonly taught approaches, even by great teachers. Because they were taught it too

A big reason people defend the “all the weight in the arms” model is neck safety

But what often gets missed is this

You can build a support system where the neck is not avoided, but supported & integrated

Avoiding it completely does not make it safer
It can leave the whole system underdeveloped

When you rely on arm power alone, the true support chain stays offline

So if:
your arms fade quickly
floating the legs feels impossible or heavy
balance feels wobbly
staying for long feels effortful

It’s not your strength
It’s your mechanics

Discovering the real foundations changed everything for me
And it made me question the whole process

If the most commonly taught method wasn’t the most effective here, where else were the gaps?

That led me to rebuilding,& to supporting hundreds of teachers & students from all asana systems to rebuild Headstand through a new lens

One that works with the body & makes sense
One where the body can finally organise around Normal Force, & for that the head plays a vital role

So if you’re still relying solely on arm strength, don’t blame yourself

It isn’t a you problem
It’s the method you were given

There is a far more effective, whole-body, mechanics-driven approach

It’s exactly what I teach in depth & step by step inside Inversion Foundations

If you’re done building Headstand through arm strength alone, reply HEAD

11/03/2026

Arm balances are usually taught as strength poses.

But many of the classical versions are actually forward bends on the arms.

That shift changes everything.

Most modern approaches focus on arm strength.

Get stronger arms
Push harder into the floor
Hold yourself up

Yes, the arms need energy.

But when the pose is arm-dominant, key mechanics stay switched off.

Which is why people feel:

heavy legs
burning arms
short balances
faceplants

Many traditional arm balances share the same mechanics as forward bends.

Bakasana ↔ Malasana
Bhujapidasana ↔ Baddha Konasana
Tittibhasana ↔ Kurmasana

When you see that relationship, something changes.

Forward bends allow the body to fold.

That means you can become more compact and organised.

The abdominals engage.
The legs feel lighter.
Lift becomes more effective.
The whole pose feels more stable.

Suddenly it stops feeling like you are holding yourself up with arm strength while everything is loose.

Instead it feels knitted together.

This is why classical arm balances can feel very different from modern interpretations.

They are not just strength poses or tricks

They are forward bend mechanics and abdominal-centred postures expressed through the arms.

And this is also why many comprehensive yoga systems teach postures in a certain order.

One posture prepares the next.

Forward bends prepare the body for many arm balances.

Understanding that sequence opens doors.

Inside Inversion Foundations we teach these relationships step by step across the whole arm balance family.

Not just the poses themselves, but the mechanics that connect them.

If you want Crow and the rest of the arm balance family to feel lighter and more accessible, reply CROW for an invite.

11/03/2026

The Yoga Sutras say that when we are not aware of the movements of the mind…
we become them….

You don’t just experience anger.
You become the angry person.

You don’t just feel insecurity.
You run your business from it.

You don’t just notice jealousy.
You start interpreting everything through it.

A partner comes home late.

Instead of simply noticing the event, the mind produces a story.

“They don’t care about me.”
“They’re pulling away.”
“Something is wrong.”

And before you know it, you’re not responding to what actually happened.

You’re responding to the thought about it.

This is what the sutras are pointing to.

Most people believe they are living their life.

But much of the time they are simply inhabiting whatever mental pattern is loudest in the moment.

A fear.
A memory.
An old identity.

Yoga is not about becoming calm.

It’s about recognising when you have merged with a mental story and are calling it reality.

Because the moment you see the thought…

you are no longer trapped inside it.

Which thought might you be living your life through right now?

Life through the Sutras
Sutra 1.4
vṛtti sārūpyam itaratra

10/03/2026

Imagine holding a heavy pole between your hands without letting it touch the floor.

Your arms would have to work incredibly hard.

Now imagine letting the pole connect to the floor.

Suddenly the floor supports the weight.
Your arms barely need to work.

That’s the difference between muscular force and Normal Force.

And this is exactly what happens in Headstand.

Most people are taught:

“Put all the weight in your arms.”
“Keep the weight off the head.”
“Keep the head passive.”

That cue turns Headstand into the first example.

You are holding the pole in the air.

Your arms carry the load.
So the pose feels heavy.
Effortful.
Short-lived.

But when the head becomes an active contact point with the ground, something different happens.

The body roots down.
The earth gives support back.

That support is the Normal Force.

Now the body can organise around that support.
Postural strength develops through the spine instead of the arms trying to do everything.

That’s what allows Headstand to become:

lighter
more stable
possible to stay longer

I was the same until I was shown the real mechanics 15 years ago.

Before that, I had already spent 10 years practising the most commonly taught method.

And 25 years later, it is still the default instruction.

Out of the hundreds of teachers and students I’ve supported, most were taught exactly this way.

Dolphin reps will make your arms stronger.

But they won’t build the real support chain Headstand requires.

Most people struggling with Headstand don’t have a strength problem.

They have a method problem.

Inside Inversion Foundations we rebuild the pose around the body’s real support system, step by step.

If you’d like to explore this approach, reply HEAD and I’ll send you the invite.

09/03/2026

Most Headstand tutorials teach you to set your arms like this.

Hold opposite elbows.
Then clasp the hands.

It sounds logical.

But it actually fuels one of the reasons many people struggle in Headstand.

Here are 3 problems with that setup.

1️⃣ Your shoulders can’t be level

Headstand is a symmetrical pose.

But when you hold opposite elbows, one shoulder will always sit slightly further back than the other.

The pose then starts with an unnecessary twist.

2️⃣ It puts the arms in the wrong rotation

A key part of Headstand foundations is the external rotation of the upper arms.

Holding opposite elbows starts the arms in the exact opposite direction you actually need.

Which means the support chain you need is harder to switch on (and often remains off)

3️⃣ It makes elbow slipping more likely

A stable base begins on the outside of the elbow bones.

Holding the elbows places you on the inside.

So if your elbows tend to slide wide, this setup makes it even more likely.

None of this is necessary.

There are far more effective ways to set the arms that align with the mechanics of the pose that will give you a far more effective base.

But because this cue has been taught for decades, most people never question it.

Then it gets combined with other common instructions like:

“Put little or no weight on the head.”
“Build strength with dolphin reps.”
“Hold the head with the hands.”

And the whole design becomes arm-dominant.

After 25 years in this space, I’ve seen the same pattern again and again.

Most people who struggle with Headstand don’t have a strength problem.

They have a method problem.

When the method changes, everything changes.

Legs lift with less effort.
Balance becomes stable.
Fear disappears.

Inside Inversion Foundations we rebuild Headstand from the foundations up.

No elbow measuring.
No dolphin rep model.

Just methods and principles that actually align with the mechanics of the body.

If you’d like an invite, reply HEAD.

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About us

We are passionate about the full spectrum of yoga. We live, teach and embrace the richness of a yogic lifestyle. We endeavour through our teaching to share our own experience of yoga as a transformative practise on and off the yoga mat. Our classes are inspired by our study of classical teachings of Hatha yoga in disciplines that include Iyengar, Sivananda, Satyananda, Krishnamacharya, Scaravelli and Dona Holleman's enlightened asana work. We teach group classes and private lessons, host courses, workshops, retreats, and organise Teacher Training programmes.