Scorpion and Press – My Two-Pose Blueprint for Full-Body Longevity
- Brainz Magazine
- Jun 18
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 19
Kasturbai Azcona is a traveling photographer and movement facilitator raising her young kids in the farmlands of Guadalajara, Mexico. She specializes in mobility training and the nervous system, intuitive and creative sequencing, arm balancing, inversions, contortion & more!
In 2021, I stopped chasing variety in my practice and chose consistency instead. I began rotating between forward fold days and backbend days, treating them like strength splits. One focused on compression and hip flexion, the other on hip opening and spinal extension.
Over time, two peak postures emerged as anchors in my routine: Press Handstand and Scorpion in Pincha Mayurasana. One asked for strength in the backside body, the other in the front. Both require lengthening and contraction at the same time, awareness of the nervous system, and overhead range of motion in the arms and shoulders. These are skills most modern bodies are quietly starving for, especially in a world where we’re constantly hunched over and disconnected from our posture. Training the spine with intention helps reawaken that awareness and rebuild alignment from the inside out.
Without weights or machines, just my mat, my body, and a few props, these two postures gave me a complete and sustainable way to train. What started as a self-challenge became a long-term rhythm. They’ve taught me as much about patience and consistency as they have about physical intelligence.
Hip flexion, folds, and the art of pressing
Pressing into a handstand is one of the most demanding and revealing movements in my practice. It requires an uncommon blend of mobility, strength, coordination, and above all, consistency and technique.
To begin with, press handstands demand a high degree of shoulder mobility, which many people lack due to postural habits and limited overhead use in daily life. But beyond the shoulders, hip flexion strength becomes the engine. Without strong and active hip flexors, you’re just muscling through the movement. When you learn how to activate the front body (the quads, hip flexors, transverse abdominals, and obliques), you start to understand that pressing is about control, not force.
It’s also about technique. The lean, the stack, the line. Learning to shift more weight into the hands, to stack hips over shoulders over wrists, and to fold the body into itself requires more than just muscle. It’s a practiced intelligence. One where the front side contracts and the backside lengthens. Where you build the capacity to balance in stillness and transition through space.
This kind of training doesn’t require weights. Just a mat, a couple of blocks, and the right drills. Forward folds like paschimottanasana, uttanasana, and press drills into handstand all build the range and control needed for true inversion strength. Even pressing into supported headstand or tripod variations can be powerful entry points.
Over time, the fundamentals become familiar, the drills feel intuitive, and the body starts to respond with more precision, grace, and fluidity. The movements begin to feel natural. The mind-body connection becomes sharper. When we go upside down, our proprioceptive awareness is often undeveloped. It takes time and repetition to build the coordination needed to feel the movement of the legs while balancing on the hands. Pressing is a skill that develops with practice, and it teaches you how to sense your body in new ways. This is the art of pressing. It is learned, earned, and deeply embodied.
Hip opening, extension, and the backbend path
Backbends require a different kind of attention. For me, it’s often the first part of my practice that starts to slip when life gets busy. I don’t lose my handstands or forward folds as quickly, but my backbend practice asks for more presence and consistency. It’s not about flexibility. It’s about strength in the backside of the body and a deep understanding of the spine and nervous system.
Spinal extension, especially in postures like Scorpion, demands patience and precision. It asks you to listen to your breath, your mind, and the signals your body sends. You cannot force your way into a deep backbend. It has to be earned through breath, repetition, and nervous system regulation. The spine is not one unified structure. It is made up of different segments, each with its own function. The cervical, thoracic, and lumbar regions all behave differently, and learning to create space and awareness in each one is key.
Backbend training also relies on both passive and active mobility. I often use proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation techniques to help build strength and awareness in my hips, shoulders, and spine. These areas hold a lot emotionally and physically, and they open best with consistent, intentional effort over time. Longevity in this kind of practice comes from staying, not forcing. Sometimes depth matters. Other times, it is the duration, the breath, and the calm that create change.
Wheel pose is one of the most challenging backbends in yoga, and it offers all the insight you need if you are willing to stay with it. But for me, the pose I return to again and again is Scorpion in forearm stand. It is a fusion of balance and heart opening that requires both spinal mobility and inversion strength. My Scorpion has changed dramatically over the years. I’m hypermobile, so I have had to shift away from chasing passive depth and focus more on developing strength, especially in the upper thoracic spine.
Backbends will humble you, transform you, and teach you how to meet your body where it is. When trained with care, they awaken the heart, the spine, and the nervous system in ways no other category of pose can.
Creating balance: Frontside and backside intelligence
Rotating between press days and backbend days has created more than just physical balance in my body. It has shaped the way I move, breathe, and show up in my life. These two practices work together. Pressing the train's strength and control through the front body. Backbending builds mobility and nervous system regulation through the back body. Both require presence, and both help regulate energy in different ways.
Backbend training often includes twisting and lateral movement, creating space not just in the spine but in the way we process sensation. They bring awareness to the breath and help us listen more closely to what our bodies need. Pressing asks for control and compression. Backbending asks for surrender and expansion. Together, they create a sustainable rhythm that supports longevity without burnout.
This balance is not about achieving the deepest pose. It is about creating a practice that nourishes both strength and softness, clarity and effort. When we move with intention, with a goal that is grounded in self-awareness, the practice becomes deeply satisfying. It becomes sustainable.
The mat is enough
People often ask what else I do to stay strong. Do I lift weights? Do I cross-train? The truth is, I don’t. For me, the mat is enough. I know that’s not true for everybody or every person, but it has been true for me.
This practice is always within reach. Sometimes I don’t even need a mat. I move while standing in line, lying in bed, or sitting on the floor. Yoga is that accessible. It meets me wherever I am.
Most days, all I use is my mat, a few blocks, maybe a blanket for support. This minimalist approach has taught me that showing up doesn’t have to be complicated. It’s about listening, honoring the moment, and receiving the knowledge my body is ready to offer.
This is a devotion. A rhythm. A practice that asks only for presence, but gives back so much more.
Find your own blueprint
Before I began practicing this way almost five years ago, my practice looked completely different. I was moving, but not in a structured or intentional way. Committing to this rhythm, rotating between backbends and forward folds, between Scorpion and Press, changed everything. It was the shift that took my practice from intermediate to advanced, not because of how it looked but because of how deeply I began to understand my own body.
I know this approach works because I live it. I practice what I preach and I teach what I practice. These two postures became anchors in my journey and they continue to guide me through every season of movement. But that does not mean they will be the right path for everyone.
Your blueprint might look completely different. And that is the beauty of it.
Maybe your body needs twists and side bends. Maybe it thrives in strength-based holds or in soft, supported rest. The point is not to copy anyone else. The point is to listen, to observe, to ask what your body needs to feel balanced, supported, and alive.
This practice is about self-awareness. About showing up with curiosity and consistency. Find the poses that meet you where you are and carry you where you want to go. Then return to them again and again. That is where the transformation lives.
Read more from Kasturbai L Azcona
Kasturbai L Azcona, Movement Instructor & Photographer
Kasturbai is a certified yoga teacher and fitness instructor for English and Spanish speakers around the world. She teaches with intention for hypermobile yogis and advocates for strength within flexibility. She is also a traveling photographer who documents retreats and events of all kinds!
