In my recent blog “Amazing Yoga Moments,” I announced that I had triumphed over one of the many “ego poses” (thank you, Meg (@yogasavestheday), for that term) that had eluded my yoga practice. As I got into tripod pose for the first time, I blissed out with a major sense of accomplishment. As usual, instead of just relishing in the glory of my new achievement, I immediately set myself a goal to get even further into the pose. Yes, I threw down the gauntlet and publicly announced that I would dive further into Ego Pose Land and accomplish a tripod handstand before the month of September. For that, you can call me a big, fat yoga dork if you’d like!
To make sure this experience wasn’t really a fluke, I kept trying the tripod pose at home. Amazingly, I was able to repeat the pose without the supervision of my yoga instructor. Each time I tried it, I also attempted to pull my legs up into a headstand. These futile attempts clued me in that this was not going to be a solo effort. I needed a little help from my friends.
Drumroll…
Last week I got the help I needed from my instructor and got those legs up in the air into my very first tripod headstand! Everyone in class was super supportive, and I even got a little applause when I came out of the headstand. I have to admit, it was really hard getting into the pose, and I would not have been able to do it without assistance. I never realized how much strength you need in your core to pull up your body like that, and I’m going to need to get my gut in shape if I ever want to do a headstand on my own.
So, I got by with a little help from my yoga instructor. I got a yoga high with a little help from my friends. I got closer to accomplishing my goal of achieving tripod headstand. Sending a shout out and thanks to Deirdre at Lifesource Yoga!
If you’re one of those yoga aficionados that can do all the crazy poses, like headstands and bird of paradise, this blog post will either bore you or amuse you, but if you are a yoga nerd like me and still working on the basics, hopefully this blog will encourage you to keep plugging away at your yoga practice.
I have a couple of yoga instructors who always ask at the beginning of class if there is a pose we would like to work on. I really appreciate this gesture, but, inevitably, the pose that always comes up is the headstand. I’m afraid to try a headstand because I don’t think my core and upper body are strong enough yet and, to be quite honest, I have a really hard head and resting all of my body weight on it really is not appealing to me. That and hearing the thud when class members fall out of a headstand is a little unsettling.
So, I always dread the part of class when we work on the designated pose because it forces me to go out of my comfort zone. I’ll try a few basic steps of the pose but always go to something more safe, like childs pose or goddess pose, to hang out and look busy until the rest of the class is done experimenting. I always figured one day I would get up the nerve to really try it out.
Well, that day came yesterday.
My yoga instructor must have known I needed a nudge, and she gave it to me. We were practicing tripod pose, and I got myself into the basic position just to see what it would feel like when she came over and pointed out the proper way for me to place my head. I had been doing it wrong all this time, and once she got my hands and head in the right position, it felt totally natural to pick my legs up and rest them on my arms.
I got into tripod pose (pre-headstand) with the help of my yoga instructor, Deirdre Sargent, and it felt amazing! I let out a little Woohoo! because this was a big deal for me. I was one step closer to a headstand. Hell, I think I probably could have raised up my legs with a little assistance, but I wasn’t going to push it; one yoga victory for the day was enough to put a smile on my face. I even got a few high fives from other class members. I’ll keep practicing the base tripod pose; my goal is to get those legs up in the air before the month is out for tripod headstand!
Thanks, Deirdre, for giving me the push I needed and doing it in such an encouraging way! I really appreciate everything you have taught me about yoga and myself.
