The Power of a Handstand….

A handstand is a pretty simple thing, it’s something that we all did as kids and never even gave it a second thought. As adults that is a different story. The thought of doing a handstand is both terrifying and demoralizing , to know that we should be completely capable of doing a stunt that a child can perform easily. At least that is how it was for me. I consider myself to be in fairly good shape overall, not to thin, fairly strong, and certainly not overweight. Yet I was astounded to see how weak i was when I first tried to do a handstand, it was enlightening and sobering to me, after all of the time that i thought I was doing so well, and now this simple trick had stumped me..Something as easy as simply putting my body weight over my hands and not falling into a heap of bruised body parts was more than I could seem to wrap  my head around.

I have seen tiny women, large men, scrawny teenagers, overweight adults and every size and age in between do handstands and here I was, an utter failure. It was maddening. Here I was, what I thought was a strong , in shape man, and I simply couldn’t do it. I felt defeated, but now also determined. I watched videos, read articles, study different yogis, even bought a course by Dylan Werner on how to get vertical.. If you don’t know him,. check him out, he’s amazing. So there I was, full of determination and also a healthy amount of fear and on my way to trying to learn how to hold a static handstand. I was ready, and…….. then I was amazed at how freaking hard this was going to be!

I worked every single day with pure determination and dedication, to no avail, it just wasn’t happening. I did feel a little stronger, but also I was realizing how much I lacked flexibility and real small muscle strength. All of the tiny little muscles in the wrist and fingers and arms were screaming at me every day! I still kept going. It was all consuming to me. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t do this one simple thing. I have always been able to do just about anything that i set my mind to physically, and this dumb thing was beating me. I was certain I would break through soon though, or I hoped at least.

So many other poses had come so easily for me, with no real training at all, they just happened and they were so easy. This was different. This was taunting me, daring me to accept my fate and just give up. Not my style. I was angry, at myself and at this stupid pose. There was no way I was going to let this thing beat me. I would just power through it and defeat it, no problem at all, or so I thought. I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t beat this thing with just determination, it was beating me. So I did what anyone in my position would do, I kept trying. Every day, little by little, tiny moments of defeat and then almost catching the balance and then defeat again, maddening and brutal, but necessary.. Then one day, it finally happened, I caught my balance. It was only for a few seconds, but it happened. It felt so amazing to just be there, suspended and right between falling and balanced. It was glorious.

It keeps getting a little better with each practice and in time I know that I will get it with more fluency. What I’ve realized though is that it isn’t the handstand that is really the goal, it’s the practice. It’s the time on the mat and the dedication that really matters. No matter what you are trying to achieve in life, anything, just remember that it’s the time on the mat, not the actual act that makes you stronger. Enjoy the practice and the balance will eventually happen…