namasteph yoga blog

I have a friend who has recently become a fan of Anusara and she’s gotten crazy over arm balancing poses. Unfortunately, this has also made her into somewhat of an arm balance evangelist. When I told her I fell down in crow pose (bakasana), she started lecturing me on how it was all about a certain alignment of the muscles blah blah blah and if I just made this certain kind of adjustment, I’d just “get it.”

And I should just be able to pop into handstand as well, because it’s really all about the alignment, not about strength or body type of anything else. This is what she’s getting from her Anusara teachers.

Well, sorry. I don’t buy that it’s just about alignment. When I fell in crow pose, I was aligned just fine. It’s just that, my wrists gave out. Rather suddenly. And then I toppled over and barely avoided spraining not only a wrist but a foot.

So I have to say I’m skeptical of someone who is about 6 inches shorter than I am at least (I’m almost 5′8″ tall) telling me that I should just be able to pop into handstand like she does. First off, she’s of Mexican descent, with a stocky Mayan frame and shoulders that are broader than mine. (She regularly gives me clothes that don’t fit her on the top that fit me just fine. Not because she’s overweight, but because of her shoulders.)

I have skinny shoulders and wide hips; she has skinny hips and wide shoulders. Additionally, I have very tiny wrists (especially for my height) - they are 5.5″ in diameter.

Given all of that, it would seem that her petite, sturdy body was built for turning upside down into handstand, where her strong wide shoulders can support her narrow hips and short legs. Whereas I have the opposite weight distribution: When I turn upside down, I have to support my wide hips and considerably longer legs with a narrower band of shoulders…and with tiny wrists to boot.

This is not to say that I could not possibly do handstand safely if I practiced carefully over a long period of time. But I’m honestly not interested in it. I can do headstand just fine and I get all the benefits of inversion from that pose as well as shoulderstand.

Of course, it doesn’t end at handstand. That’s just the beginning. From there you get scorpion and all sorts of fun, exciting stuff. Well, I’ll pass for now. I’m trying not to injure myself here.

I think that’s one thing that bugs me about the latest yoga trends in Los Angeles. So much of it is about trying to do advanced poses that work well for people of a certain age, fitness level, body type, and background. I really just enjoy doing poses that improve my overall health and well-being. I could spend a lifetime just getting triangle pose right. Doing gymnastics really isn’t necessary for my yoga practice. I realize that others will need the extra challenge but not all of us do.