What if?

Well I'm going to have to pick a new posture to learn because I did a headstand today!!! Woo hoo, I can't believe it!

I was practicing before class this morning and Jo was teaching again. I was showing her how I could lift one leg at a time, but couldn't lift them both at the same time yet. She said just to keep practicing and one day it would just click. She left the room and sat for a moment to think - what if today was the day? what if I just did it right now?

I immediately tried again and was able to lift both legs up at the same time.  I still had my knees bent but they were above my hips. I got so excited that I didn't even try to straighten my legs, I just came out of the pose right away because I was in complete shock that I did it!

At this point I decided to move over next to the wall and try again so that I could use the wall to help figure out where vertical was. I got both legs all the way up straight! I did it two more times that way and then once away from the wall!!! This was all before class still, so I ran out front to tell Jo about it!

Then it was time for class - it was Hatha today. I was really excited to do Hatha because I had done 5 days of Vinyasa in a row. In Hatha you do the same set of poses in the same order every class. You do one pose at a time and hold it for 30-60 seconds. In Vinyasa, you flow from one pose to the next each time you inhale or exhale. Every class is different as there is no set order.  One of my favorite things about Urban Yoga Spa is that they teach both styles so I have some variety from day to day.

During the first part of class it was really hard to focus because I was so excited about the headstand. I shifted my focus and started thinking "what if" again. What if I held this pose longer? What if I straightened my legs more? What if I balanced more steadily? That really helped me push myself and stay focused.

When we got to straddle forward fold, I thought "what if I went into headstand?" I hadn't tried it during class yet, and I was afraid that I would fall on the person next to me. I also had not tried headstand from straddle forward fold, I had only tried it from crow. But who cares? What if I just tried? So I did - and I did it! Without knocking over into anyone next to me I might add :)

After class I ran and got my phone and had Jo take a few pictures for me. They are kind of grainy because I don't have flash and it's a little dark in the room, but here they are:

Crow

Head down

















Headstand!!!