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I’ve been working on handstands for several years. It’s the asana that has thus far required more of my physical and mental effort than all the others combined.
Sometimes I’m really dedicated and do them every day, other times they remain at the bottom of my to-do list for weeks on end. When I practice consistently, my handstands improve. The tricky part is holding onto motivation when most of my progress is invisible.
I kick up 10 times, I fall out 8. I kick up 10 more times, I fall out 9.
Much like life, my hang time isn’t linear. One day it’s a little easier and the next day it’s a little tougher. I make slow progress, but sure enough, if I were to graph my hangtime on a line, I’d see my progress trending upwards. There’s a balance point in handstands. When your body is perfectly stacked and you’re engaged in all the right ways, suddenly everything becomes lighter. It’s a heck of a feeling.
That physical balance point is something that yoga practitioners play with a lot in asana practice. By lifting one limb, or more, a lot of the shapes we make in a yoga class require mental focus to combat the instability of the posture.
Yoga can help create balance in your life by unifying your body and your mind. When you are more connected to the wisdom of your body, you may be better placed to make decisions that feel aligned with the type of life you want to live.
Yoga can help create balance in your life by unifying your body and your mind. When you are more connected to the wisdom of your body, you may be better placed to make decisions that feel aligned with the type of life you want to live.
On the mat, practicing yoga asana can help relieve tension and increase flexibility and strength. By performing specific postures and refining them over time, yoga can enhance your connection to your physical body. In a yoga class, cues will also be offered to draw your awareness to your breath, in order to bring greater awareness to an automatic function that often goes unnoticed.
The teachings of yoga also extend off the mat, in the form of spiritual readings, philosophy, self-study, and contemplative practices, all of which can help facilitate a better sense of work-life balance.
The first time I read that reframe, I let out a loud exhale. The quest for balance is a noble search, but the idea that it’s a goalpost we must work hard to arrive at never really landed with me. At many points in my life, I’ve felt like I was in that elusive equilibrium between working and living, flowing and forging onwards. Those periods of my life were often preceded by a period of overdoing it and hustling hard enough to warrant a break to bring myself back into balance. Nowadays I like to look at balance as a state of being that can change at any moment. Rather than thinking of it as something to cling to, I prefer to look at it as an idea to consider and constantly adjust to become in greater alignment with.
My yoga practice reminds me that I have more time than I think I have. When I feel short on time, it’s often because I’m ruminating on the recent past or the near future. Constantly looking to the future can create a feeling of drowning. My practice reminds me to stay in the present moment. It reminds me to take one step at a time, rather than attempting to scale the entire staircase in one giant leap. I often feel like the time I spend on my mat comes back to me tenfold, by lowering my rumination and helping me see more clearly in the present moment.
That said, when I find myself feeling more present, I’m also able to better discern if I do in fact have too much on my plate and make shifts accordingly.
I think a lot of feeling off balance and unhappiness in general comes from stagnation; the feeling of being “stuck.” When I practice yoga I am reminded that things are always in flux. I have the ability to adapt and revise my life as many times as required. Just because something felt good at the time I committed to it, doesn’t mean it will stay that way. Every time we step on the mat, the shapes feel different in our body if we move with enough mindfulness to notice. By viewing your life through the same curious lens, you can find the freedom that comes with knowing you can always make change and move back into balance.
By Victoria Maybee; All Rights Reserved @2023
By Victoria Maybee; All Rights Reserved @2023
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