Yoga in Progress // Handstand

A handstand was something I always did as a child and I was pretty damn good at them in the playground! You have to love the element of no fear which you have as a child. However at the age of 15 after breaking my arm in a freak horse riding accident I was left with two large scars, two metal plates and a whole load of nuts and bolts in my arm. I figured I would never be able to do handstands again... so I didn't. 

Fast forward 11 years and there I am in the sunshine in Malta doing yoga on a paddleboard when our instructor shows us how to do a headstand on the board. Surrounded by water I had no fear of hurting myself so I gave it a go, promptly falling quite quickly into the water! Being upside down for even just that one second made me think that maybe inversions were something that I could do after all. My had accident left me with an arm which ached when the weather changed and a lack of strength, yoga was slowly but surely changing that. I was building strength, my arm no longer hurt and I could now flatten my hand down on the mat in a way I couldn't have done two months earlier. 

Yoga shifted my mindset from ~ 'I can't do that because of my arm' to 'Well why not'? 

So armed with my yoga mat, strap and the wall of my living room I started to gain the strength and courage to go upside down. It doesn't happen overnight but with some determination you can do anything! Know your own limits and if you fall just get right back up. Face the fear. 

And don't forget to breathe!