In short: in tripod headstand the palms are flat on the floor and the crown of the head rests in front of them, so the two hands and the head form a triangle. The elbows bend to about 90 degrees over the wrists, as in chaturanga, and the body rises straight up above the head. It is an advanced inversion with a different base, and different risks, from the forearm headstand.
Tripod headstand has its own page because the set-up, the preparation and the load are different: the hands and wrists carry weight, and the head is easier to overload if the shoulders sink. It is also the starting point for many advanced arm balances.
The name
The Iyengar Yoga (UK) syllabus lists Sālamba Śīrṣāsana II at plate 192 of B.K.S. Iyengar’s Light on Yoga, after the forearm version (Sālamba Śīrṣāsana I). Yoga Journal uses the same name and calls it tripod headstand: the hands and head form the tripod. In the Ashtanga third series it is not held as a pose of its own but is the entry for several arm balances; AshtangaYoga.info describes placing the crown in front of the hands so that the three points of contact form an equilateral triangle, with head, shoulders, pelvis and feet stacked vertically above it.
Making the pose work
Set up the triangle carefully. The hands are shoulder-width apart and far enough from the head that the forearms are vertical and the upper arms roughly parallel to the floor, the same “chaturanga arms” Kathryn Budig describes in Yoga Journal. The crown of the head goes down; Budig’s trick for finding the crown is to balance a block on your head and notice where it sits evenly. Elbows hug in, and the shoulders keep lifting away from the floor so the head and neck carry as little as possible.
Build it in stages. Practise plank and lowering to 90-degree elbows, then the dolphin-like stage with the hands down and the head on the floor, walking the feet in. Next, rest one knee and then the other on the backs of the upper arms in a small crow-like perch, pressing the arms into the knees. From there, lift the hips over the shoulders, draw the knees off the arms into the chest and slowly extend the legs up, inner thighs hugging together. Come down the same way, to the perch or to child’s pose.
Precautions in plain words
The precautions for headstand apply: do not practise with high or low blood pressure, glaucoma, a detached retina or recent eye surgery, or neck injury or pain, and do not start learning inversions in pregnancy. Tripod headstand also loads the wrists and elbows, so skip it with wrist, elbow or shoulder problems. Never jump or kick up, and come down at once if the head and neck feel compressed. Learn it with a teacher. This page is general information, not individual advice.
Preparation and what comes next
Prepare with plank, chaturanga, dolphin, crow and the forearm supported headstand. From tripod headstand, Ashtanga’s third series enters eight-angle pose, Sage Koundinya’s poses, Galavasana, one-legged crane and upward rooster, and Yoga Journal notes a whole family of transitions that grow from it, including lowering into chaturanga.
A simple way to practise it. Build tripod headstand gradually: a week or more of the dolphin-like stage and the knee perch before lifting the legs, then short holds with the legs up, close to a wall. Practise coming down slowly to the perch, which builds the control the pose needs, and keep total time upside down modest at first. Many people find it useful to practise tripod headstand after the forearm headstand is comfortable for a minute or more.
You will meet tripod headstand in Iyengar, Ashtanga and advanced vinyasa and power yoga classes.
