Have you ever met someone that can do something super impressive (like handstands) and asked for advice on how to start and you get "it's easy, just do it!" Sometimes people forget the beginner phase and can't relate. It's like an "old" mother telling a young pregnant woman that childbirth is painless. I don't want to think that she's a liar, she just forgot-which, for the sake of the species, might be necessary.
Let me begin by saying that I'm no expert in handstands. My practice is always in a state of evolution. Much like childbirth, there were some distinctly "painful" phases that lasted a lot longer than I imagined they would. By "painful" I mean developmental phases when my skills were shy of my strength.
It takes a certain type of strength to hold a handstand, pushing away the floor, a tightening of the core, engagement of the legs all the way through the toes. Don't forget the focus and the subtle movement of the fingers and palms. All this work is awesome but it pales in comparison to the transition into the pose. That's were the magic happens!
So, my first move was to practice the transition to the pose. How are you getting up there? Are you jumping? pressing? crowing? Jumping is obviously the easiest way, especially if the flexibility of your forward fold needs some folding.
If the jump is the easiest entry, then practicing the "float" from downward facing dog to standing forward fold will develop to control needed to jump into handstand. From a shortened down dog, exhale deeply and contract the core, look through the hands and jump lightly forward. Once this feels solid, think about taking the hips higher, maybe practice some shakti/donkey kicks. Jumping on the exhale, with core engagement is still key! See if you can catch some air and find balance in a handstand with the knees in a tuck, or try the shakti/donkey kicks with the knees out and big toes touching. Give it a try.
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