Long Hair: How Do You Keep It Out of Practice?

This is Ashtanga Yoga Tech Support. Real questions from the community, answered.

The Question

Long hair — what is your method of hair restraint for practice?

Our Response

Mechanically, the constraint is this: you spend real time inverted — Sirsasana, Sarvangasana, the whole finishing sequence — and you do a lot of forward folding, so anything that piles weight at the back of your skull or pulls when your crown is on the floor will sabotage you. A high bun is the classic mistake; it becomes a pressure point in headstand and can torque your neck. So aim low and flat. A low bun, a low braid, or two braids sit out of the way and don’t load the crown when you’re upside down. Skip metal clips, hard claws, and anything with a seam that’ll dig in — soft fabric ties or spiral coils only. Whatever you choose, set it so it survives a full jump-back-to-jump-through cycle without migrating into your eyes; if you’re fixing it mid-practice you’ve broken your breath and your drishti, which is the whole game in the Tristhana method. Test it once at home through a finishing sequence before you trust it in a led class. Boring, secure, low. That’s the brief.

More on Ashtanga Tech: Introduction to Tristhana Method