If you want to learn how to balance in
Practise with me, 30 minutes towards handstand
- Have a room you aren’t frightened to fall over in. Clear space around you until you are relatively confident you won’t suffer paralysis or break any priceless works of art.
- Hop up without worry about balancing. We are not here for your
instagram shot, we are here to learn to fall over, so commit to it. - When you feel balance failing, lift one hand. I know, I know, this is not what you want to do. But believe me, this is what you need to do.
- Allow yourself to fall to the side. You do not want to
splat on your back. And as much as someone suggests you can fall into a perfect wheel pose, for those of us learning, it’s probably not going to happen. If you fall to the side you will have a relatively gentle cartwheel to the side and your body will figure out how to land before you hit the ground. - Take a break and try again before it seems like something horrible and scary has happened. You survived and it wasn’t awful. Now you can stop worrying about it and start learning to balance.
Other top tips:
- Don’t
practise in the center of the room with your arms tied together with a strap. Although this teaching trick has value when you are more supported at the wall, here it prevents you from having a safe fall. - Don’t rush. When we rush we start forgetting about breathing, wrist positioning, and basic sanity. Slow down!
