The 3-Step Blueprint to Mastering Yoga Arm Balances {Without Wrecking Your Shoulders or Your Confidence}
Let’s be honest. If arm balances make you feel like something’s wrong with your body, or like you're missing some secret strength gene, you’re not the problem.
You’re just working with incomplete information.
Because most yoga classes teach arm balances like you should already know how to do them. There’s little time spent breaking down the mechanics, offering prep work to build toward the shape, or giving any real structure for how to learn it.
Often, the full explanation sounds like: “Lift your hips. Balance on your arms. Breathe.”
Sure.
🥹 Meanwhile, your shoulders are screaming.
🥹 Your wrists are done.
🥹 And your brain is quietly checking out halfway through Crow Pose.
If that’s familiar, you’re not broken. You’re under-supported.
The good news? This isn’t about pushing harder. It’s about approaching arm balances like a system, not a spectacle.
Here’s what actually works:
Fix your shoulder stability
Train your core to lift, not just hold
Create real, functional hip mobility
Let’s break it down.
1. If Your Chaturanga is Weak, Your Arm Balances Will Be, Too
No one wants to hear this, buuuuut it’s true: You can’t build solid arm balances on a collapsed Chaturanga!
It’s the foundational pattern for almost every pose where your arms hold your weight.
If your elbows flare, your shoulders dive below your elbows, or your core collapses, then anything more advanced {like Crow or Side Crow} is going to feel unstable, risky, or just off.
Here’s what a clean Chaturanga looks like:
Elbows at 90° - not past
Shoulders level - not dipping toward the floor
Arms hug in - no chicken wings
Core engaged - fully
Spine neutral - no sagging
It’s not fancy. It’s functional. And it NEEDS to be trained outside of flow first.
^^^ Otherwise, you’re just reinforcing sloppy reps under fatigue.
Build Control with These Three Basics:
Forearm Plank Holds: Stabilizes the shoulders. Fires the deep core. No wrist strain. Start here.
Locust Pose (Arms Back): Strengthens the muscles that support your shoulder blades and spine, crucial for Chaturanga control.
Mini Push-Ups on Knees: Focus on slow lowering. Keep the elbows in. This is where you develop awareness and control.
“You’re not “modifying.” You’re training for better form and long-term strength.”
Want to finally stop guessing and feel strong in Chaturanga?
Learn HOW to finally nail the pose that holds your entire practice together. Master Chaturanga in a way that improves everything else, arm balances included.
⚡ Targeted drills ⚡ Alignment tips⚡Lifetime access to revisit as your practice grows
2. Your Core Isn’t Just for Aesthetics. It’s the Engine
Here’s a myth to delete immediately: Arm balances aren’t about your arms. They’re about your core.
If your core can’t lift and contain you, your arms will compensate, and eventually, give out.
You don’t need abs. You need integration.
^^^ You need to connect ribs to pelvis, stabilize your spine, and generate lift from the inside.
And NO. Crunches won’t help you here.
3 Core Drills That Teach You to Lift, Not Just Brace:
Half Boat Pose: Chest up. Pelvis tucked. No yanking on your neck. Add arms overhead once the shape is solid.
Sphinx Roll-Ups: Start face down. Press into your forearms. Use your deep abdominals to pull your ribs away from the floor, slowly.
Crow Pose on Your Back: Lie down. Bring knees wide, feet together. Reach through your legs. Lift the sacrum. Engage the pelvic floor.
^^^ It’s Crow, without the fear of face-planting. And it tells you exactly what’s missing if the upright version feels impossible.
This is how you stop collapsing and start lifting.
No magic. No momentum. Just strategy.
CHATURANGA DANDASANA: BUILD STAGE
⚡Chaturanga isn’t just another pose. It’s the base layer of your strength practice.
Inside the BUILD Stage course, you’ll finally learn how to train it properly, step by step, with drills that make sense and structure that actually works.
3. Your Hips Are Probably In the Way {Even If You Don’t Realize It}
Most people think they need stronger arms to balance. Often, it’s not that.
It’s their hips not moving the way the pose demands.
To do arm balances well (especially things like Crow or Flying Pigeon), your hips don’t just need to stretch, they need to fold in and stay strong while doing it.
It’s not about how far your leg can go outward. It’s about whether your body can:
Pull your thighs in close
Keep your hips compact (aka: compressed)
Maintain that position without collapsing or compensating
This is the kind of mobility most “hip openers” don’t train.
These Are the Drills You’re Actually Missing
Upright Pigeon at 45°: Keep your spine long. Press the floor away with your hands. Pull the front hip crease back. Stay active, not melted.
One Forearm + Twist in Pigeon: Drop one forearm. Reach the opposite arm out and hold your front knee. Press both into the floor. Twist. Feel your outer hip wake up fast.
Double Forearm Pigeon Crawl
Forearms down. One hand holds your front foot. Other arm reaches forward. Push both. Spiral the chest. It’s weird. It works.
⚠️And about your knees: Flexing your foot is not a get-out-of-injury-free card.
What actually protects the knee?
→ Start in 90/90.
→ Ground your front shin.
→ Extend the back leg last.
Before You Go, Try One Thing.
Pick one drill from this blog. Just one. Try it for 3 minutes.
See what it teaches you. What it shows you about where you’re working harder than you need to, or where you’ve been skipping steps that actually matter.
Then check in tomorrow.
Because your strength isn’t missing. It’s just waiting for better instruction.
Want the shortcut?
This isn’t about nailing Crow for Instagram. It’s about fixing the one pose that holds your whole practice together: Chaturanga.
When that clicks?
→ Arm balances feel lighter
→ Flows feel stronger
→ You stop avoiding the poses that don’t feel safe (or doable)
BUILD Stage teaches you how to do exactly that, step by step.
^^^ Low-ticket. High-impact. No more winging it.
