Have you ever thought something as impossible and did it anyway!
Turning upside down for me was less about strength or flexibility and more about courage. Courage to convince my mind despite my questionable strength.
My journey of a Headstand started at least 5 years ago when in the spur of the moment I decided I have to learn it and tried by watching — ‘Headstand for beginners’ video. I sprained my neck that day and it made me slip off the notion that my body can ever manage it. I must have tried on few other occasions too with lots of cushions.
Fast forward to four years, I and my colleague were taking an after-lunch walk in the office campus(which happened to be a mall), and the topic at hand was our experience with Yoga. I stated that I did a fifteen-minute yoga workout on most days and the conversation continued where in I shared with her about my dream to conquest a headstand someday.
She quietly responded that a headstand is not very complex and that she could show me if we found a wall. So, we went in search of an empty wall in a mall(oops, a tongue twister) and finally found it on a different floor, a green space left open for smokers.
She proceeded to do her warm-up, clasped her fingers, and tucked her head in the crevices of her palms. Then she softly placed the back of her hands on the floor, the shape of her body forming a triangle and walked her feet closer to her head. And just like that, she lifted one leg after the other and leaned onto the wall turning herself upside down.
She made it look as effortless as drawing a doodle in a classroom.
I was not just impressed, I was elated at the prospect of my colleague in jeans do something that has always been an unyielding task for me.
Back to 2021 lockdowns and with time in hand I decided this time to again have a go at one of my endless dreams.
Lesson 1: Believing in self
As long as the task at hand is beyond my wildest dreams, achieving it becomes even more difficult. Like eating bread without softening it in soup first.
So, the first thing I did was to convince my mind that it was therefore possible if I kept at it without quitting and without overtly expecting anything major from the endeavour.
Lesson 2: Finding Company
Having someone to join my journey.
One morning, I informed my husband yet again that I was planning to learn to do a headstand. He, having heard me declare it umpteen times already, was understandably fed up and replied, “Let’s get this done, how hard could it be?!”
So we read about the technique and started practicing one day after the other.
I agree that having company helps you stay focused and all that, but for me, it helped strangely in a different way.
To Compete.
To my displeasure, my 30-something husband turned out to be quite a natural. He managed to plop his legs to the wall and then got them to suspend in midair in just three days.
Lesson 2: F̶i̶n̶d̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶C̶o̶m̶p̶a̶n̶y̶ Finding Motivation
It was time I upped my game or lose to my husband, which is never an option.
Lesson 3: Discipline to Persevere and Push through
Have a go at it daily. It is important to not cover all the steps in one day. Practice and get control of your body bit by bit.
The first week I only learned to correctly place my head between my palms and on the mat in such a way that there was no unwanted pressure on the scalp. Later I mastered pulling my lower body up in a swing so my feet could find the wall behind me. Once on the wall, my feet could walk vertically and I was already doing a headstand with the support of the wall.
That wasn’t enough. I wanted to push my limits further and balance my legs without any support.
Lesson 4: Not be afraid to fall down
I’m not exaggerating when I say, that I only managed to focus on my act once I snapped out of my fear of falling.
As ironic as it may sound, one can conquer the fear of falling by actually falling multiple times. Most times the fear of falling is greater than the actual pain one has to endure after the fall.
Once you realize this, the thought of fear stands no chance in your mind.
However, what helped a great deal was to have my husband field around to catch me when I toppled and the times he couldn’t — well, he was blamed, but that also made me resilient to practice on days when he was not around.
Lesson 4: Being Proud
I don’t believe in discounting my efforts to say — It was nothing.
I understand that for some people, like my husband the journey was a short one, but it was different for me both in terms of timeline and the effort.
And the weight I put in the thought of trying a headstand some day has been finally put to rest.
