I am unable to lift my thighs as mentioned in step2. Please suggest some tips; may be my lower half of my body is still stiff. I just started practicing yoga in the past 15 days. Thank You and Regards.
Sridhar

I have a prolapsed disc and the above exercise has made my muscles strong .After 3 years i have started playing tennis again and i am 55, so i dont agree with the statement that people with back pain may not do this exercise, yes you can start with a moderate pause ,say 5 seconds and than increase it . The aim is to increse the strength of your back muscles and keep ur tummy trim .

Notice the model's neck in the photo - there is some compression in the vertebra in the back of the neck in the pose. Next time you try the pose , lift the crown of your head toward the ceiling to create a more neutral alignment in the next. See if that alleviates the headache. May just be too much compression for you.

Guys this rose i like most, it relaxes back muscles. One thing i want to say is, all the poses we do must be practiced before we get a problem, not after getting the problem. The people with back pain and sciatica should not do the pose. When you practice doing this pose regularly, there is no chance of getting the above stated problems.

I also get a headache EVERY time I do this pose. I get a headache with fish pose too but not with other backbends like camel or cobra/up dog. Any ideas? My teachers say that I'm not shrugging my shoulders up or craning my neck. ???