Doing a handstand as an adult is not, in fact, impossible or just for yogis on Instagram.
Being willing to fall down is an important part of yoga. It means you really went for something, You decided to be daring, courageous and step outside of your comfort zone. Yoga is as much mental as it is physical, and there’s a constant element of play.
I was always petrified to kick up into handstand as a child , a teenager and well into my adult life. I would consider all of the potential bad things that could happen ranging from breaking my neck, my wrist, hurting myself in any number of ways. In yoga classes I felt self conscious of making a fool of myself if I constantly tried and failed. I never considered the possibility that I could press up into the pose and actually stay there.
However eventually something happens that helped me to shift my perspective and give myself permission to fall,
tremble and shake. I was in my forties when I managed my first ever handstand and from then on my entire practice seemed to shift with it.
Falling out of a pose in yoga, is not failing. It’s learning. Once I had embodied this I have been happy to turn my world on its head in all sorts of other ways without being gripped by fear.
Go on be courageous kick your legs into the air!
Elisa Williams teaches yoga in West London and occasionally on holidays overseas. See www.elisawilliamsyoga.comwww.elisawilliamsyoga.com