Arm Balancing
Rightside Down
Come with me in a thought experiment;
You’re there in class; halfway through. You’re warmed up and sweaty, still going strong. Then the teacher says, “and now we’ll work some arm balancing.”
What goes through your mind?
For me, that moment used to feel like the dropping of an anvil. My motivation hit the floor, and moments later, my body would too.
We all strive to bring open minds and hearts to the mat. But practices like arm balance, inspiring though they are – who hasn’t felt the awe of seeing a gymnast balancing an upside down body in a a beautifully straight line? – they can feel out of reach.
Arm balance postures are pretty far outside our set of culturally common movements.
Most of us haven’t done much weight-bearing in our hands since we stopped crawling, and unlike leg strengh or spine health, the day-to-day benefits of arm balancing aren’t obvious.
They’re not obvious – but they are numerous! The change in perspective is illuminating. We have everything we need to bear weight in our hands and arms, anatomy and cognitive ability evolved for thousands of years. Rather than list the ways it has changed my life, I encourage you to embrace the upside-down life in your practice, and experience the benefits first-hand.
A little education can help! After hitting the arm-balance wall (or should I say, floor!) in my yoga practice, I took a beginners arm balancing workshop, where the teacher broke down these gravity defying postures into simple, practicable parts, and taught me to use the wall and other props to practice going upside down.
Not to be grandiose, but that workshop changed my life. I’m still no gymnast, and I fall a lot! But after a few years of going upside down, my relationships with gravity, with my hands and shoulders, and with seemingly impossible things have all grown.
Now, along with a hard beating heart or a good sweat, I crave the upside life; my hands get hungry for the floor. ๐คธ