Focus on These 4 Areas to Master Handstand

Feel like you’re ready to tackle handstands? Getting into a handstand requires balance, body awareness, technique, and a ton of strength. Although they can be intimidating, anyone can do a handstand with practice, discipline, and the right preparatory exercises. Here are 4 areas to focus on to prepare your body for this intense inversion.

1. Alignment
Your body should be just as straight when you’re standing on your hands as it is when you’re standing on your feet. So, if you can’t stand up in Mountain Pose (Tadasana) with the proper alignment, you have little chance of being able to stand strong and steady on your hands. For handstand, as in Tadasana, proper alignment means keeping your spine as straight as possible, with your ankles, hips, shoulders, and ears stacked on top of one another. This alignment will help you balance and protect your lower back.
Moves to practice:

To get a feeling of handstand alignment, first explore it right side up in Upward Salute Pose (Udhva Hastasana). When you do this posture, check that your ears, shoulders, hips, and ankles are all in one line and that the tops of your shoulders are down and away from your ears. Practice drawing your lower, front ribs in towards the spine to protect the lower back, and keep your collarbones wide.
2. Wrists
If your wrists are weak and inflexible, your handstands will be weak and limited. Your wrists are your base for this posture, and they need to be strong and mobile.
Moves to practice:

Come into an all fours position with your hips over your knees, arms straight, your shoulders stacked over your wrists, and your fingers spread wide and facing forward.

Exercise 1: Slowly shift your weight forward, bringing your shoulders past your knees, and hold for 3-5 seconds. Rest your wrists for a moment, and then repeat 5 times.
Exercise 2: Rotate your fingers so they’re pointing backwards toward your wrists and shift your weight back, without letting the heels of your hands lift off the ground. Do this for 3-5 seconds, 5 times.
Exercise 3: Keeping your fingers so that they’re facing your knees, turn your hands so that your palms are facing up. Again, shift your weight back, and hold for 3-5 seconds, 5 times.
3. Core
Core strength is what allows you to lift into and STAY in handstand, and all inversions for that matter. A strong core gives you the stability and balance you need to do the pose.  
Moves to practice:

The Plank (beginners): Plank is the classic core strengthening exercise. You should be able to easily stay in a plank for 1 minute before attempting a handstand.
The Plank Pike (advanced): Start in plank, with a towel, roller, or ball under your feet. Keeping your arms and shoulders in the same position, use your core strength to slide your feet toward your hands (as you’re doing this your hips will naturally lift up). Keeping your core engaged, glide back into a plank position. Try to do 3 of these slowly, eventually working up to 10.
4. Shoulders
Handstands are not only about balance—major upper body strength is required to hold your body upside down.
Moves to practice:

The old-fashioned push-up is a great exercise since it targets your arms, shoulders, upper back, and even your core. Holding 4 Limbed Staff Pose (Chaturanga Dandasana) is also a good shoulder strengthener. Doing push-ups will give you the dynamic strength to push up into handstand, while practicing Chaturanga will give you the static strength to hold it.