Comments on: the pursuit of handstands

By: jason p

jason p — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:11:45 +0000

thanks for this….i wanna take the rocket teacher training..and thought i will only be able to do it once i have mastered handstand.

then i thought back to my RYT200 and i could not do all of the poses taught in every class. Being true to my inner self and allowing to be exactly where i am in life is so much more important.

I would rather be a peaceful balanced person rather than a gymnast.

thank you again

By: kay

kay — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 04:04:02 +0000

Yoga is much more than gymnastics and sometimes we forget this. If everyone waited until they could do a handstand before they became a yoga teacher I think there would be some very good teachers missing. So what if the person in the front of the room can rock a handstand?

Jasmine, try to keep in mind that Ashtanga practioners are kind of the jocks of the yoga world and their approach to things is just a tad over the top. In dealing with your boyfriend you just have to keep bringing it back to what you are trying to get out of yoga which it seems you do. For you it is the spiritual as well as physical. Maybe for him it is all about inversions so let him go to it!

By: Jasmin lee

Jasmin lee — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 05:40:24 +0000

Thank you so much for this, had a tear in my eyes. I can bend like a pretzel yet, headstands and handstands are my nemesis! I got really upset recently when my boyfriend, Ashtanga practitioner for 3 years, said to me “What’s the point of doing yoga if you can’t do the inversions” Well that upset me, he should now better, thank you for this wonderful article, I am going to ask him to read it and perhaps he can focus on intention rather than determination. Yoga for me is about mind just as much body. Thanks again, you made my day, I almost stopped going to yoga and now my intention is even stronger, to pracice in spirit and then body. Namaste

By: annesha

annesha — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:32:32 +0000

thanks

By: annesha

annesha — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 16:30:44 +0000

thanks:-).i am going for 250 hr teacher training course .i can do asanas except arm and handstand. i am so worried for that ,but after reading your writing i m encouraged to go there. today do it now do it now………..

By: Heidi

Heidi — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 21:01:45 +0000

Thank you so much. I am currently studying in a 500 hour program and felt so inadequate today after everyone else in the class could accomplish a handstand but me. After reading all of your comments I now remember why I am “practicing” yoga. I may or may not do a handstand one day, but today, right now, I am happy with what I am able to do. Thank you.

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:26:27 +0000

Thank you so much for sharing!! I went to a yoga studio last summer (my regular classes had been cancelled for the summer holiday) and wound up feeling totally inadequate because the teacher only praised (and would only help) students in the class who could already do some of the more difficult inversions (handstand, headstand, crow, etc). The rest of us just got to hang out and wait for the rest of the students to finish–no help for us. The instructor was really young and it was a new studio (which subsequently closed shortly thereafter). I realized after that experience that what I look for in a good yoga instructor is an open, encouraging and nonjudgmental approach to his/her students–not whether or not they can personally master handstand.

By: Tedi

Tedi — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:32:40 +0000

Love this post Alana… great insight!!

By: andrea

andrea — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:30:08 +0000

thanks for the great article. as a teacher trainee (who can’t do unsupported handstand!) & was teaching some students to do handstands the other day, i think students really respond to us admitting our own limitations & our willingness to keep on trying

By: Lauren

Lauren — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 01:54:50 +0000

Yes! This is me!! I am exactly the same, and I thought I was alone! Like I said to my mum, there has to be someone you can’t do handstands to make the people in the class who can do it to feel good! And I am assuming this position! Haha thank you

By: stuart

stuart — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:37:30 +0000

jayna murray could do the best handstand. she was/is my inspiration for being able to do one myself one day!

By: Courtney

Courtney — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:57:32 +0000

Beautiful post! Arm balances in general are my nemesis, so it’s inspiring to see all the photos of attempts at handstand.

“Focus on the journey, not the destination.”

By: Lafacadio

Lafacadio — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 03:38:43 +0000

I did my first handstand without thinking at a class at 2nd Avenue Jivamukti in the early 1990s when the teacher Joni asked everyone to. It took three years before I could do it again “with thinking”.

By: Sally McRae

Sally McRae — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 03:25:15 +0000

Thank you Alana, so nicely done, a metaphor for life. Get, up, get dressed, show up – today is the day, do it now, do it now, do it now.

By: Missy

Missy — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 01:37:40 +0000

You’re a fantastic writer. Thanks so much.
“You are a yogi now.”
Love it:)