Lolasana (Pendant Pose): How To Build Core Strength To Lift Up

Short answer: Lolasana (pendant pose) is an arm balance where you kneel with crossed ankles, place your hands beside your knees, and lift your whole body off the floor between your arms. To lift up, you need strong wrists, arms and abdominal muscles, a broad upper back and flexible hips, plus a lift from the pelvic floor rather than brute force. Build up with downward dog, plank, eagle arms, garland pose and leg raises, and use blocks, belts or chairs to learn the action. Take care with wrist or shoulder injuries.

• What it is: one of the first arm balances taught in Iyengar yoga.
• What it needs: wrist and arm strength, core strength, a broad upper back, open hips.
• How to learn it: preparatory poses, props, patience, and a teacher.

Yoga poses to build core strength to lift up in Lolasana, and shift your mindset

By Christine (Chris) Lalor, senior Iyengar yoga teacher, Flametree Yoga Studio.

Lolasana, with help from a belt and blocks

Lolasana (pendant pose) is a pose that stops many people in their tracks. It is not an easy pose. And yet it is one of the first arm balancing poses that is taught. It is a preliminary arm balance that leads towards more advanced arm balances.

If every time you practise Lolasana your feet stay stubbornly glued to the floor, or you get exhausted, irritated and despondent trying to lift up, then perhaps it is time to start to think differently about Lolasana.

By the time you are introduced to Lolasana in class, I believe you are already half way towards success. Your yoga practice has started to train your mind. It has shown you how to stay with strong sensations in a pose.

Remember the first time you practised downward facing dog. If you were anything like me, you felt your arms were going to collapse under your body weight and your hamstrings were going to snap. Through practising a pose over and over again, we change the way we see the pose, and the way we see ourselves.

It is not just a matter of being physically stronger

Your yoga practice has also helped you become mentally stronger.

We are emotional animals. We are quick to attach strong likes and dislikes to poses. We are quick to practise more of the poses we feel we are good at, and quick to shy away from things that make us fearful. Yoga gives you the courage to go to places with your body that you have never been, or haven’t been since you were a kid. It took me years to kick up into handstand. I was so afraid of falling and hitting my head.

Often, what seems like failure should be viewed as success.

Chaturanga Dandasana, plank with bent arms

I watch students try a pose like Chaturanga Dandasana for the first time. It is a pose that needs core strength, and it will help you on your journey towards Lolasana. For some, there is despondency when the arms give way and they collapse to the floor.

But over time I watch that same student try a prop that I have suggested. I also watch how the practice teaches them to become curious and calmer as they work out the pose.

Success with Lolasana

Pendant pose will come when you learn to shift your mindset. Yes, you have to practise poses that build core strength, but you may also have to change the way you think about Lolasana.

I suggest you start by breaking down the different parts that make up Lolasana. Build your confidence, so that the next time your feet stay stuck to the floor, you know you are still “preparing” for lift-off!

Poses to prepare for Lolasana

1. Downward facing dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana): Lolasana needs strong wrists and arms, and dog pose strengthens the wrists, hands and arms.
2. Plank, and Chaturanga Dandasana: straight arm plank, then plank with bent arms. Use a belt above the elbows if needed. Handstand, later, builds the same strength.
3. Eagle arms (Garudasana arms): Lolasana needs a broad upper back, and eagle arms teach you to spread it.
4. Garland pose (Malasana): for the back, and to tone the abdominal muscles in the folded shape of Lolasana.
5. Leg raises (Urdhva Prasarita Padasana) and supine twists: for strong, toned abdominal muscles. See 6 yoga poses for abs.
6. Standing poses and forward bends: Lolasana needs flexible hips and toned inner and outer thighs.

Garland pose (Malasana), together with plank and plank with bent arms

Don’t rely on brute strength!

Find your pelvic floor! I have come to understand that when you can engage the pelvic floor, it makes all the difference in arm balances. Learn to get quiet and connect your breath as you lift the pelvic floor up. Then you begin to feel a lightness, and an inner strength that comes from just above the pubic bone.

Use props. Seek out props that help you lift your body up: blocks, belts and chairs (see the photos). But remember, when you press down onto the blocks or the chair, it is not just “grunt” upper body strength that lifts your feet off the floor. You need to engage your pelvic floor. Use your breath, and shift your weight forward. Be patient, curious and playful. Show compassion towards yourself.

Lolasana with two chairs

Lolasana with two belts and two blocks

The order in which to do the poses

You can prepare for Lolasana with a dynamic sequence of weight bearing poses that open the hips and tone the inner thighs and abdomen, like sun salutations.

I think it is best not to put Lolasana near the end of a practice, when you are winding down and may be tired. Put it after standing poses, seated poses, forward bends and headstand.

Then give yourself time for poses that switch on the parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest and digest” side) and let you wind down after arm balances, like shoulderstand, plough pose, long forward bends and Savasana.

Take steps to deal with fear

When I first started to practise arm balances, I had a spare mattress set up to break my fall. It gave me the courage to keep trying.

The joy I felt when I finally lifted my feet off the floor was immense. Persistence is an essential part of a practice, as is keeping your energy and enthusiasm. It is also important to know when to take a break. Overdoing it brings physical, mental and emotional fatigue. I suggest you practise these poses enough to shift mental and emotional blocks, but stop before despair sets in! There is always another day.

Do an all-round practice

In my experience, it is important to balance core strengthening with poses that release the core muscles. Working only on a tight, hard core can pull the posture out of balance and make the chest and breathing feel tight. Include active or supported backbends to keep the chest open.

Practise standing poses that open the hips. Standing poses tone the inner thigh muscles, which help stabilise your hips in arm balances. Standing and seated twists help tone the internal obliques.

Take time to widen your back muscles (latissimus dorsi). Practise standing and seated forward bends to stretch the spine, lengthen the hamstrings and open the pelvic area. Many seated poses help strengthen the pelvic floor. Standing poses like Trikonasana (triangle pose) and revolved seated poses tone the deep lower back muscles (quadratus lumborum) that help lift the hips, important in poses like Vasisthasana (side plank).

When you are tired, and, in the Iyengar tradition, for women during a period, leave these poses alone and practise poses that quieten, cool and restore the nervous system instead. On those days, supported standing poses, seated poses and forward bends help maintain core strength without overheating your system.

Learn Lolasana and other arm balances with Flametree

Arm balances like Lolasana are taught step by step in Flametree’s non-beginner classes, at Woolner in Darwin and live online. See the non-beginner timetable. If you are new to yoga, start with the preparatory poses in a Beginner 1 class, and Flametree’s Gentle Yoga and yoga for back pain options.

Start with Flametree

• New to Flametree? Your first class is free. In Darwin, just come along to the studio. Online, click the class time you want and we email you the link to join (get your link to join here). See the beginner timetable.
• Keep going at half price. The beginner deal is 10 classes at half price plus 2 more free, $59.50 in total, in the studio, online or both. No discount code, and a 14-day money-back guarantee. For newcomers and anyone away three months or more.
• Already practising yoga? The non-beginner half price 10 pass with 2 free is $104.50, no code needed. See the non-beginner timetable.

Lolasana: common questions

What is Lolasana?

Lolasana, or pendant pose, is an arm balance in which you kneel, cross your ankles, place your hands beside your knees, and lift your whole body off the floor, so it swings between your arms like a pendant. It is one of the first arm balances taught in Iyengar yoga.

Why is Lolasana so hard?

It needs strong wrists and arms, strong abdominal muscles, a broad upper back and flexible hips all at once, and you have to lift your own body weight from a folded position. Many people also find the fear of tipping forward holds them back.

How do you lift up in Lolasana?

Put blocks under your hands to give yourself more room, press down firmly, draw the abdomen and pelvic floor in and up, round the upper back, and shift your weight slightly forward as you breathe out. At first the feet may only lift a centimetre; that is still progress.

What poses prepare you for Lolasana?

Downward facing dog and plank for the arms and wrists, eagle arms (Garudasana) for a broad upper back, garland pose (Malasana) and leg raises for the abdomen, and standing poses and forward bends for the hips and inner thighs.

Can props help with Lolasana?

Yes. Blocks under the hands give the legs more room to swing through, a belt above the elbows stops the arms splaying, and two chairs can take much of your weight while you learn the action. Chris Lalor shows these variations in the photos on this page.

What are the benefits of Lolasana?

It builds strength in the wrists, arms, shoulders and abdomen, and teaches you to lift from the core rather than by brute force. In the yoga tradition, arm balances also build courage and a lighter, more confident mind.

Who should not practise Lolasana?

Avoid it with wrist, elbow or shoulder injuries, and ask your teacher first if you have high blood pressure or are pregnant. In the Iyengar tradition, strong arm balances are also left aside when you are very tired or during a period, in favour of quieter poses.

Where can I learn arm balances like Lolasana in Darwin or online?

Flametree teaches arm balances step by step in its non-beginner classes, at Woolner in Darwin and live online. Beginners start with the preparatory poses in Beginner 1 classes. If you are new, your first class is free. See the non-beginner timetable.