Looking at the World Upside Down

I recently started a headstand practice ... which I had avoided for a long time just because of laziness and fear, and the kind of woozy, bloodrush to the head feeling that it gave me. After encouragement from my yoga teacher, though, I have decided to add it to my practice a few days a week, and it is getting better.

I have been having kind of a rough patch lately in general, feeling kind of out of it, and in a funk. While I was upside down tonight, I had a few thoughts about how being in a headstand is like life.

New perspective

The most obvious insight that headstand provides is, literally, a new perspective. Your view is completely upside down, and everything looks different. It reminds me that sometimes I need to view other situations in my life in a new or different way, to look at the same things I see everyday "upside down" for a fresh point of view.

Looks can be deceiving

From the look and name of this pose, you appear to be standing on your head. In actuality, however, the vast majority of your weight should be supported through your shoulders and arms. In life, I should remember not to take everything at face value, but to probe deeper and find out what is really going on. Sometimes I jump to conclusions without finding out the truth ... here, I realize that my initial impressions might be completely off base.

Finding balance

In the photo accompanying this post, the model appears to be upright, strong and stable. In headstand, your strength and stability comes from hundreds of tiny adjustments that your body is constantly making to keep yourself in balance. For a someone relatively new to headstand, like myself, these adjustments make me look wobbly - but even though I am a bit wobbly, I am able to remain upright in the headstand for at least a minute. A more advanced practitioner has refined these adjustments so that they may not be visible to an outsider, but they are happening continually within the core. Similarly, I need to learn to constantly adjust myself to my life situations to maintain balance and peace.

Today's workout:

30 min. hill run (3.66 mi)

20 min. resistance training

30 min. hill elliptical (4.15 mi)

50 min. yoga