The best way to start halos is of coarse out of a windmill, being that halos are basically windmills without your back. It's a little more difficult to learn halos without the windmill, because you won't have any momentum. These instructions are for counter-clockwise.
1) Do a single windmill and catch yourself on your hands like you normally would do to set up for the next mill, with your left hand tucked into your left hip and your right hand to the side, and rest the left side of your head on the floor.
2)Push your body up with both hands so that you are in sort of a diagonal headstand, and at the same time push with your right hand like you would for a handglide. This manuever is called a headslide or an Icey Ice. Your legs should be automatically wound up to whip your body around, without you actually thinking about it.
Tip: it's a good thing to practice a headglide, without the spin, out of a single winmill before going on to halos. Just windmill, catch, push sideways(but not up), and attempt to spin on one hand while the side of your head glides on the floor. You should probably wear a beanie or some kind of soft hat.
3) At the same time as #2, unwind your legs by throwing your right leg up first, then immediately throw your left leg up and around your right leg in a circular motion. #s 2and 3 will be done all at once, very quickly. Remember this is basically a windmill motion on your head, so think of it that way while your doing it. Make sure you keep your legs apart, as during the move they will try to come together, causing your body to drill.
4) You are going to let go of the floor with your hands when you start theheadglide, one hand at a time. First the right hand lets go, but not untilafter you've initiated the glide and begun to turn over on your head, thenthe left, but the left hand should stay on the ground until you have spunaround to the point where the left hand is forced to leave the ground. Thisshould be automatic also. You then need to whip your shoulders around in aheadspin-type motion after letting go and while your legs are swingingaround as mentioned in #3, then you need to catch the floor first with yourright hand before you complete the full 360 degree spin, then with the lefthand, and your left hip should come to rest right back on your left elbow.From here you should be able to set up for another spin, by winding up yourlegs all over again.
Keep in mind that you must have a strong neck for halos, and your windmillsshould be pretty advanced. It's also good to warm up and stretch out yourshoulders before practicing halos, because the rotator cuff is verysensitive and can be injured very easily from being twisted in directionsthat it's not supposed to go. The wrists, fingers, elbows, neck, andcranium are also at risk from doing this move. Headspins are NOT arequirement for halos, as is somewhat commonly believed, but being able toheadspin doesn't hurt, because the more moves you have down pat, the morecoordinated your body will be, and power moves are ALL about total body awareness. Or as my old sensei would say Zanshin. |
