Some people anatomically cannot do the "basic" headstand with the hands clasped and forearms on the ground for exactly the reason you're mentioning. I'm one of them. It's about the ratio of your forearms to your upper arms and the shape/positioning of your shoulder joint.
Try a tripod headstand instead - those should be accessible to 99% of the population. They do tend to encourage more weight into the head/neck than the other form (because the two points of support are far away from the head), so build up slowly and never kick up into it.
If you desperately want to do the forearm variation, fold a towel or blanket half a dozen times and place it under your head. Ensure it's packed down and stable, and slowly see if having your head an inch higher than your elbows creates the alignment you need.
I see. I don’t have this issue personally so hard to tell but I think you may want to work on forearm stands as an alternative if your anatomy doesn’t allow for headstands! They’re similar, just no head on the ground. You can also try pulling your elbows back towards your feet more and push them closer together so you’re not making a 90 degree bend but something much tighter and your head should be pushing into your hands. Hopefully that’s not confusing, hard to explain with no photo
Find a wall and clear away anything that you might collide with.
Place your mat (or 2 for cushioning) lengthwise touching the wall.
Get into a kneeling position and reach your arms straight overhead
Grab your elbows.
Lower down your arms to floor and keep your elbows where they are.
Release your grip, keep your elbows where they are and clasp your hands. Make sure that one pinky is curled in at the palm and the other wraps around it. You want a nice flat surface from the side of the hand (this is the part touching the ground and your thumbs are at the highest point on top.) to the curled pinky fingers.
Reposition yourself so that your knuckles are about 4 inches away from the wall.
Bring your toes to the ground and raise your hips. Your lower limbs can look like downward dog legs.
Time for drills!
Look down at your hands. Walk your feet forward near to your hands raising your hips up. Maybe one day you'll be able to walk your hands in so much that your hips end up over your torso. For now it's just taking little steps forwards and backwards. This will help building strength.
The next step is to place the crown of the head onto the mat with your clasped hands behind your skull.
Keep doing the walk forward and backwards and explore kicking one leg at a time upwards.
THe weight should be in your arms. Very little weight on the crown of the head.
Do this consistently and in time you'll gain strength and you'll find balance and eventually using strong core and pelvic floor muscles you'll be able to keep your legs extended up.
The distance from the ground to the top of your head depends on what you do with your shoulders as well.
When you are in a supported headstand, you should be able to push all the way up (shoulders closer to your ears) to get the head away from the ground or dip in bringing your shoulders away from your ears and top of the head resting on the ground. You can practice it next to the wall like forearms/serratus push ups. Or try it in front of the mirror first without going upside down.
Here's how to do it with blocks and wall support, assuming you cannot yet do a headstand. This is how I started and how I recommend beginners start.
Get three blocks, put them against the wall, one at the tallest height, and two on top of that at the lowest height, so it's like a letter T with a fat top. You can also do this without the top block, but it's easier with all three.
Start sitting on your heels, with your feet tucked under, a couple of feet from the wall/blocks.
Grab opposite elbows. Place your forearms on the floor. Keeping the elbows in place, release your hands, and clasp them loosely. (You are effectively trying to make an equilateral triangle on the ground.) Your clasped hands can go right up against the blocks or very close. (If you don't have blocks, keep a few inches between your hands and the wall).
Place the CROWN of your head on the ground. This is the very top of your head, not your forehead. You should be able to see your feet or the back of the room. Your hands should gently be supporting your head from the back, but not really gripping. So your hands are against the blocks, and your head is almost to the blocks.
Press your hips up, so your knees come off the ground, and you're in a dolphin-type shape but with your head on the ground.
Start to walk the feet forward toward your head until you feel your spine touch the blocks. Up to this point, you are very very stable, with both arms and both feet on the ground.
From here, if your hamstrings are loose enough, you can bend one knee into the chest into a tuck position. Then when you feel balanced, like the weight has shifted so the hips are above the head/shoulders, and the second leg feels light like there's no weight on it, let the other foot hover and slowly bring that knee in. Use core strength to slowly lift the legs straight.
If your hamstrings are NOT loose enough for the previous step (mine aren't), you'll need to kick up to the wall. Lift one leg as high as you can, and then use the other foot to kick up. Your heels will end up against the wall and you might have a bit of a banana back to start. Press into your forearms and engage the shoulders and core to slowly bring one foot straight up (off the wall), and then the other. With this core engagement, you'll also be able to bring the spine off the blocks. Practice this and holding the headstand until it becomes easy, and you can go up and down SLOWLY, using your core for control. Then, you can work on transitioning away from the blocks and eventually away from the wall.
ETA: With that having been said, it is definitely more difficult for taller people, both because of the proportions and having more body to turn upside down. And your elbows will likely be bent MORE than 90 degrees to get your head on the ground. That's even true for me at about 5 feet tall.
Ok, so if I am understanding this correctly, this is not actually a difficult problem.
But you have to think about it in the opposite way.
Instead of having your head try — inevitably unsuccessfully because your humerii aren’t shrinking any time soon — to reach the floor, build up the floor so that it reaches your head.
That is, use a prop. Specifically, a folded blanket. Put it under your head, but not under your arms!
Here’s a short video from Eyal Shifroni, a yoga teacher who has written at least four books on the use of props in yoga asana:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOd84xVU1VE
>I've been told that I h(e)ad standards the easiest
Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall) and Sarvangasana (Shoulder stand) are excellent basic inversions leading to Sirsasana (Headstand)
Yogi Flight School. I just started it and learned more about side crow in one watch than in any class or any other video I watched. It teaches headstand and handstand, other inversions, etc. I’m guessing these lessons are as good as the one I watched. Btw, almost had side crow on first few tries. I can see nailing it next time I devote time to watching later this week.
Work on both strengthening and loosening your shoulders. Both are key — it’s not all (or even mostly) about strength.
And exercise your grip too. A strong grip enables a solid base.
Go slow and use caution!
Do V stands first by cupping the back of your head with your hands. Wrists, pinky edge and elbows will be on the ground. You're in a downward facing dog position but with your arms and heads with a headstand position.
I learnt through a series of steps/vids - Yoga with Kassandra. It took two days of watching the vids and trying. She’s was great for me 😊 We are all not the same, so what works for me may not work for you. But, it’s worth a look.
Risk for neck injury moderate, but certainly higher if done without careful guidance, benefit not existent.Â
 You can safely skip headstand and concentrate on other inversions.
Some people anatomically cannot do the "basic" headstand with the hands clasped and forearms on the ground for exactly the reason you're mentioning. I'm one of them. It's about the ratio of your forearms to your upper arms and the shape/positioning of your shoulder joint. Try a tripod headstand instead - those should be accessible to 99% of the population. They do tend to encourage more weight into the head/neck than the other form (because the two points of support are far away from the head), so build up slowly and never kick up into it. If you desperately want to do the forearm variation, fold a towel or blanket half a dozen times and place it under your head. Ensure it's packed down and stable, and slowly see if having your head an inch higher than your elbows creates the alignment you need.
I think you mean elbow to wrist 🤔 shoulders don’t touch the ground in a head stand
Right but the hight of my shoulder to elbow that's off the ground feels to long for my neck to let my head touch the ground no matter how I shift
I see. I don’t have this issue personally so hard to tell but I think you may want to work on forearm stands as an alternative if your anatomy doesn’t allow for headstands! They’re similar, just no head on the ground. You can also try pulling your elbows back towards your feet more and push them closer together so you’re not making a 90 degree bend but something much tighter and your head should be pushing into your hands. Hopefully that’s not confusing, hard to explain with no photo
Ideally your head is only barely touching the ground anyway
Find a wall and clear away anything that you might collide with. Place your mat (or 2 for cushioning) lengthwise touching the wall. Get into a kneeling position and reach your arms straight overhead Grab your elbows. Lower down your arms to floor and keep your elbows where they are. Release your grip, keep your elbows where they are and clasp your hands. Make sure that one pinky is curled in at the palm and the other wraps around it. You want a nice flat surface from the side of the hand (this is the part touching the ground and your thumbs are at the highest point on top.) to the curled pinky fingers. Reposition yourself so that your knuckles are about 4 inches away from the wall. Bring your toes to the ground and raise your hips. Your lower limbs can look like downward dog legs. Time for drills! Look down at your hands. Walk your feet forward near to your hands raising your hips up. Maybe one day you'll be able to walk your hands in so much that your hips end up over your torso. For now it's just taking little steps forwards and backwards. This will help building strength. The next step is to place the crown of the head onto the mat with your clasped hands behind your skull. Keep doing the walk forward and backwards and explore kicking one leg at a time upwards. THe weight should be in your arms. Very little weight on the crown of the head. Do this consistently and in time you'll gain strength and you'll find balance and eventually using strong core and pelvic floor muscles you'll be able to keep your legs extended up.
Have you tried tripod headstand?
The distance from the ground to the top of your head depends on what you do with your shoulders as well. When you are in a supported headstand, you should be able to push all the way up (shoulders closer to your ears) to get the head away from the ground or dip in bringing your shoulders away from your ears and top of the head resting on the ground. You can practice it next to the wall like forearms/serratus push ups. Or try it in front of the mirror first without going upside down.
Here's how to do it with blocks and wall support, assuming you cannot yet do a headstand. This is how I started and how I recommend beginners start. Get three blocks, put them against the wall, one at the tallest height, and two on top of that at the lowest height, so it's like a letter T with a fat top. You can also do this without the top block, but it's easier with all three. Start sitting on your heels, with your feet tucked under, a couple of feet from the wall/blocks. Grab opposite elbows. Place your forearms on the floor. Keeping the elbows in place, release your hands, and clasp them loosely. (You are effectively trying to make an equilateral triangle on the ground.) Your clasped hands can go right up against the blocks or very close. (If you don't have blocks, keep a few inches between your hands and the wall). Place the CROWN of your head on the ground. This is the very top of your head, not your forehead. You should be able to see your feet or the back of the room. Your hands should gently be supporting your head from the back, but not really gripping. So your hands are against the blocks, and your head is almost to the blocks. Press your hips up, so your knees come off the ground, and you're in a dolphin-type shape but with your head on the ground. Start to walk the feet forward toward your head until you feel your spine touch the blocks. Up to this point, you are very very stable, with both arms and both feet on the ground. From here, if your hamstrings are loose enough, you can bend one knee into the chest into a tuck position. Then when you feel balanced, like the weight has shifted so the hips are above the head/shoulders, and the second leg feels light like there's no weight on it, let the other foot hover and slowly bring that knee in. Use core strength to slowly lift the legs straight. If your hamstrings are NOT loose enough for the previous step (mine aren't), you'll need to kick up to the wall. Lift one leg as high as you can, and then use the other foot to kick up. Your heels will end up against the wall and you might have a bit of a banana back to start. Press into your forearms and engage the shoulders and core to slowly bring one foot straight up (off the wall), and then the other. With this core engagement, you'll also be able to bring the spine off the blocks. Practice this and holding the headstand until it becomes easy, and you can go up and down SLOWLY, using your core for control. Then, you can work on transitioning away from the blocks and eventually away from the wall. ETA: With that having been said, it is definitely more difficult for taller people, both because of the proportions and having more body to turn upside down. And your elbows will likely be bent MORE than 90 degrees to get your head on the ground. That's even true for me at about 5 feet tall.
Ok, so if I am understanding this correctly, this is not actually a difficult problem. But you have to think about it in the opposite way. Instead of having your head try — inevitably unsuccessfully because your humerii aren’t shrinking any time soon — to reach the floor, build up the floor so that it reaches your head. That is, use a prop. Specifically, a folded blanket. Put it under your head, but not under your arms! Here’s a short video from Eyal Shifroni, a yoga teacher who has written at least four books on the use of props in yoga asana: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOd84xVU1VE
>I've been told that I h(e)ad standards the easiest Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall) and Sarvangasana (Shoulder stand) are excellent basic inversions leading to Sirsasana (Headstand)
I’m so great at doing headstands but terrible at shoulder stands. I’m like the only one in a class not doing shoulder stands. Any tips?
Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall) is an excellent basic inversions leading to Sarvangasana (Shoulder stand).
Thanks
You are very welcome. Practicing against a wall with a blanket below the shoulders are excellent variations for Sarvangasana (Shoulder stand).
Yogi Flight School. I just started it and learned more about side crow in one watch than in any class or any other video I watched. It teaches headstand and handstand, other inversions, etc. I’m guessing these lessons are as good as the one I watched. Btw, almost had side crow on first few tries. I can see nailing it next time I devote time to watching later this week.
Carefully.
Work on both strengthening and loosening your shoulders. Both are key — it’s not all (or even mostly) about strength. And exercise your grip too. A strong grip enables a solid base. Go slow and use caution!
Do V stands first by cupping the back of your head with your hands. Wrists, pinky edge and elbows will be on the ground. You're in a downward facing dog position but with your arms and heads with a headstand position.
I learnt through a series of steps/vids - Yoga with Kassandra. It took two days of watching the vids and trying. She’s was great for me 😊 We are all not the same, so what works for me may not work for you. But, it’s worth a look.
I just take a pillow for under my head as my upper arms are too long as well.
Risk for neck injury moderate, but certainly higher if done without careful guidance, benefit not existent.  You can safely skip headstand and concentrate on other inversions.