Upside-Down, Again

When I was two years old, my mother taught me how to hang upside down on a rope ladder we had on our patio in Bombay. This might sound crazy to you, but she had clearly identified my need to invert and saw how much pleasure it brought me. When I was seven I started taking gymnastics, and within three years I was on the competitive YMCA team. I competed all over The States, hurtling myself over the horse in Georgia, swinging around on the bars in San Diego, walking over the beam (on my hands of course) in my home town Montclair, and flipping and flopping across the sprung floor in PA. I loved my gymnastics career, but later realized the competitive thing didn't ultimately make me feel fulfilled. I naturally drifted into the dance world, which eventually led me to discover yoga. I took my first class as a senior in high school, initially from a desire to stay flexible, but my practice was never consistent. In the past year-and- a -half since graduating college, I have fallen in love with yoga in a whole new way. I used to find it too hard to slow and pace my breath, and uncomfortable to sit still. Now I look forward to holding the poses, focusing on my breath, and especially, I look forward to inverting. In the years since I stopped doing gymnastics, I've spent far less time upside-down, and until recently I didn't even realize how much I missed it. When Lily,my favorite teacher at Dharma Yoga explained the myriad benefits of the headstand, I started to understand why I feel so empowered when I spend more time upside-down. The yoga headstand is my new favorite feel-good, anti-stress remedy, and it's really not that hard...go ahead, give it a whirl!