Krishnamacharya's 32 sirsasana ( headstand ) Variations ?

"One day Krishanamacharya was conducting a “rare” demonstration-class where he mentioned that there are thirty-two variations of headstands.  The class was silent.  A.G.Mohan doubted him but did not say anything, however, the muscles in his face betrayed him and showed his feelings. Krishnamacharya looks at him and says:

“What? It looks like you don’t believe me.  Fold that mat and place it here“. He then demonstrated the 32 variations of headstand.  He was 85 years-old."

Krishnamacharya His Life and Teachings by A.G.Mohan.


As well as the headstand variations that Krishnamacharya taught his long time student Srivatsa Ramaswami I have a large number of photos from the later edition of Yogasanagaliu of Krishnamacharya demonstrating headstand variations aged 84, I also have screenshots of Krishnamachary's headstand variation in the 1938 documentary footage. I thought it would be interesting to see if I could come up with 32 variations, these may not have been the ones Krishnamacharya demonstrated to AG Mohan, referred to in the quote above but perhaps not so far off.

Going by the 1938 Mysore documentary many if not most of these variations seem to have been floating around back in the 1930s when Pattabhi jois was a student of Krishnamacharya's at the Mysore palace.

BKS Iyengar. Leg behind head sirsasana variation