INVISIBLE WALL
Oct. 26th, 2011 04:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rydra_wong posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
sun_salutationHANDSTAND. I CAN HAZ.
A few minutes ago, I kicked up into handstand about 20cm away from the wall, and instead of landing my feet on the wall, somehow I stopped at vertical. And stayed there. Only for a second or two, but long enough to be amazed.
Oddly, it seems easier to go straight into it than to kick up into a handstand against the wall and then get off the wall.
There's also something shifting in my understanding of the alignment; practicing the other day, I had a sudden sense of it as standing on my hands, just like standing on my feet in tadasana, rather than as a balance or inversion. If that makes any sense at all, which I'm not sure it does. But that's what it felt like today when I held it.
A few minutes ago, I kicked up into handstand about 20cm away from the wall, and instead of landing my feet on the wall, somehow I stopped at vertical. And stayed there. Only for a second or two, but long enough to be amazed.
Oddly, it seems easier to go straight into it than to kick up into a handstand against the wall and then get off the wall.
There's also something shifting in my understanding of the alignment; practicing the other day, I had a sudden sense of it as standing on my hands, just like standing on my feet in tadasana, rather than as a balance or inversion. If that makes any sense at all, which I'm not sure it does. But that's what it felt like today when I held it.
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Date: 2011-10-26 05:04 pm (UTC)Okay, given that progression, I'm at downward dog. Heh.
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Date: 2011-10-26 05:35 pm (UTC)If that's a struggle, you could move the chair further away from the wall so your arms are closer to a down-dog angle (though you need to ensure that the chair's braced so the backwards force doesn't tip it). Then edge it closer to the wall over time.
Stealing from this article, I'd suggest working on plank and half down dog as well, to strengthen your shoulders and get the feel of bearing weight through them without collapsing in your back.
All IMHO, YMMV, etc..
But for what it's worth, three or four years ago I'd have laughed at anyone who told me I would one day be able to do a handstand. It was firmly on my mental list of things that are Not For Me, Not Ever. And it's been a really long, slow progression, propelled at various points by extreme boredom and a severe desire not to be in my own head.
But progress has occurred. Much to my surprise.
And ultimately, getting into the pose is kind of a party trick; it's really cool, but the important stuff is what you acquire on the way there, in terms of shoulder alignment and stability and balance.
(Which is also easy for me to say when I'm basking in smugness at my newfound achievements. Still true, though.)