I remember the first time I saw someone I know performing this pose. I had just ended a class at The Little Gym where we taught children developmental gymnastics when in the corner of our huge red padded mat, one parent took advantage of the lull in between classes and decided to go upside down and balance on her head. I believed my jaw dropped. I was very impressed but never thought I would someday be able to achieve the same.
I started practising yoga in group classes and I professed to be a very good student in following instructions to get the most out of each session especially since I did not have the luxury of individualised directions. The headstand was one pose I knew, then, that would be out of my reach because it was an either-you-know-and-you-do-or-you-dont-and-you-skip pose during such group sessions. I only remember one time that an instructor went into details explaining and demonstrating the method step-by-step. Something she said stuck with me all these years, "Do not jump, walk your feet in and when you lift up, it should feel very light."
The pose continued to elude me for years. Until I joined a home studio where class size was limited to 8 people. There I received much more attention and perhaps also due to the fact that I was the youngest and most flexible student, the instructor often got me to demonstrate poses. My confidence soared and my postures improved across the board! When I watched the oldest (70 years old!) student effortlessly get into his headstand, I realised I felt neither envy nor resignation. I believed I would be able to do it.
As a gymnastics instructor, I can do a handstand with ease but as we are not required to hold the pose, I am completely comfortable being upside down but did not know how to stay upside down! I am also a Physics teacher who explains the concept of centre of gravity with diagrams and formula so the logical part of me had the idea that there is only ONE perfect point my entire body needs to be for me to stay upside down. I was so wrong.
The day I finally achieved a headstand by myself, everything just came together. I was ready, both physically and mentally. I was being guided by an attentive and caring instructor. I had shared how an old injury on my little finger was causing pain when my fingers were interlocked beneath my head and she suggested extending the little fingers instead. Although I was very close to the wall, I resolved to not make use of it.
Just as what the first instructor explained, I did not jump, I kept walking my feet towards my face until past a tipping point, my legs very lightly, gently, gracefully raised above my head and torso. There was not a single point in space that my body froze in position to stay upside down, but there was this entire range of field in which my extended legs and feet could tilt left, right, front, back without me losing my balance. I stayed in pose long enough for me to remind myself to breathe and actually consciously took five breaths before bringing my legs down.
Needless to say, I felt euphoric. I probably looked exactly like what I saw in the parent after she calmly came down from the pose that time so many years ago. And just like her, I practise it wherever I can and whenever appropriate, even on water.
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