A cousin of Vrscikasana, scorpion pose, Ibex helps students open hips and explore their reliance on a sense of direction. The pose is in the family of meta-inversions. These are poses that invert the body, providing the traditional benefits of handstands and headstands, while also inverting the human body.
In Scorpion, the practitioner in handstand or forearm balance tries to bring their feet to their head in a backbend, while in Ibex, practitioners try to replace their shoulders with their hips. This allows students to arc their feet to the back of the head more freely by eliminating the need for a backbend at all.
Traditionally practiced at 6am on saffron-died animal pelts bunched up onto narrow cliff-face ledges. Instagram points: Infinite.