Headstand

I’ve been practicing yoga for over 16 years and the headstand has been a pose which has always made me a little frightened. I have had this fear of my neck snapping if I don’t get my hands in the exact right place to cradle my head.

This past year or so I have been working really hard on mastering the pose and overcoming the fear. This has led to a lot of attempts and some successes against the wall.  Learning really valuable lessons along the way. The 1st being when a teacher said don’t feel you need to grip your fingers together in the basket shape you make with your hands for your head. Just like in life, one doesn’t need to grip, you make it and then relax the fingers! Trust.

This past week an incredible thing happened. In my class last Sunday, after not having had too much sleep post late night party the night before, I had thought I wouldn’t even attempt the headstand as I wasn’t well rested. But the whole class was centered around the pose and the idea/principle of not ‘trying too hard’ to get into the pose. Trying too hard was what I had been doing for years, kicking up my second leg to join my first instead of essential floating my 2nd leg up. Suddenly, totally unexpectedly, without trying at all my 2nd leg floated up to join my 1st. It was so amazing I almost fell out of the headstand, I was so shocked. I thought about the fact that once you have done the work  (years of core and strength work) let go. The foundation, all that I needed to do the pose was all there in me, what had been preventing me was my own self and my own fear. I didn’t trust that I could get there without a huge amount of effort and work when in fact the opposite was true. Trying too hard had prevented my success when all I really needed to do is trust the foundation and strength is there and get out of my own fearful head space…then the rest becomes easy.

The significance of this breakthrough right now as I prepare to take the show to the next level has not been lost on me. This week when the fear has risen in me of how do we take the show further, whats the next step, I have reminded myself to simply trust that the work has been done and the next bit will be easy and light. Here goes darling, let the floating to success begin!

 

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