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| I've been trying to learn handstand against the wall. Normally when someone assists me into the pose (by bringing the legs up from down-dog), I don't have any fear issues and am able to hold the pose without any problems.
The problem is getting there on my own. The instructor gave me an exercise to practice at home.
It involves getting into a "quasi-lunge", and then practicing to kick up with the back foot higher and higher.
When I tried the exercise in class, he said I'm close to kicking up all the way.
But when I tried this exercise for the first time on my own, I was overwhelmed by fear. I got a few baby kicks off the ground but could not bring myself to go higher. My mind resisted. In the gym where I practice the floor is concrete and the walls are all mirrors. I was probably afraid of making some mistake that sends me crashing head first into the floor, or causing my head to hit the wall in front of me.
Any suggestions for getting over this fear? |
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| Look at your hands and just go 1, 2, 3 up. DO NOT THINK ABOUT IT!!! |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| Find a space without concrete floors and mirrors! That would totally freak me out. If you can actually use the mirrors, you can turn your back to them and place your hands on the floor a leg length away from the wall. Then walk your feet up the wall until you are in a down dog position but upside down. Then you can practice lifting one leg at a time. But you really need to feel ok about crashing into the wall at first and those mirrors will seriously hamper that. Also - think of hitting the ceiling with the up leg, not the wall. Makes a huge difference for some people. Good luck! |
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| I've struggled with fear issues regarding handstand for a long time, and in fact, still forget that I don't need to be afraid anymore! Recognizing that you have fear is the first step to overcoming it. Acknowledge the feeling, but try not to dwell in it. Try putting a bolster (vertically) on the wall in front of your head. Keep looking slightly forward past your fingers toward the bottom of the bolster. As you move forward with your head on the kick-up, your head will probably make contact with the bolster, but not a great deal, and once you're up in the pose, your head won't be on it anymore. Actually having your head touching the bolster will give you a little security, having an additional surface to make contact with other than just your hands. You should be as far away from the wall as you usually are, so don't move your hands further away to compensate for the thickness of the bolster. Good luck! |
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| I admit it...I cannot do a handstand. Might be why I avoid anusara, sadly.
When I was five or six, I could do beautiful handstands, probably because I wasn't aware of the fear I "should" have.
So, I do believe my issue is mental/emotional--that I need to overcome the fear. However, I guess I'm asking the experienced teachers out there: have you ever known of an otherwise fit, able-bodied person who cannot do a handstand? I mean, could there be an anatomical reason, like my arms being too long or short in proportion to some other part of me? Is my core not strong enough? Or am I just dealing with the fear? |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Danielle - I find that people with longer torsos, especially women who may carry a lot of their weight on the hips and thighs, have a tougher time getting into handstand. But that does not by any means make it impossible  Mostly it is mind over matter. |
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| Tourist...thanks for the info. I've often wondered if there was something anatomically challenging for me about handstand. I think fear is part of it, but I don't have the fear in headstand or other arm balances, which makes me wonder if my body's just making it harder! I have friends who can pop up into handstand with no problem, but are really challenged by poses I find easier.
I do have a long torso and proportionally shorter legs, but don't tend to carry weight in my hips and thighs...actually I'm slightly more apple than pear-shaped, if I have to be compared to a fruit  But, as I head toward age 30, that might be rapidly changing!
Anyway, thanks for your insight. |
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| I too have difficulty with handstands, and for that matter, any inversions in which you kick up. A couple of years ago, my shoulders were so weak I would actually collapse, but now I just have this annoying habit of my upper body moving forward past my shoulders when I kick up, and I end up smacking my head against the wall! Ouch! I don't have it quite figured out yet as far as getting all the way up there, but in the meantime, here is a trick that works for me, using two walls as props "a la Miriam Austin." At home, I have a long hallway that is not too narrow. Facing one wall, I get into a very short downward dog and walk my feet up the wall behind me. Then it's just a short distance when I bounce my feet off of the back wall to come up all the way. Feels wonderful to be able to experience an inversion in my body that I otherwise would not be able to experience! Also, two things that have made a huge difference for me is 1. kicking up on the exhale and 2. putting a penny or small object between and slightly forward of my hands to focus my vision on. I recently "graduated" to the walls at my office (I have a day job) - they are about two feet further apart than at home, making the kicking distance a little longer. I hope to gradually be able to kick up from the floor one day. By the way, this works great with pinca mayurasana as well, but the walls need to be further apart than for a handstand. Hope this helps!
Edited by Sramani 2007-12-06 1:47 AM
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| I find headstand and forearm stand less challenging than handstand for some reason. I think this is because in handstand your body feels very extended. My hands sometimes ask my feet, "You think you're going to get all the way up there?!!?" I am still working on my handstands. If I can offer any advice... as a beginner myself... I think another suggestion to add to the many others have proposed is to just have fun trying to kick your legs up. It can be really energizing, even if you don't get all the way up or you can only balance for a moment. Perhaps you should work on this at home (or in class) without someone helping you put your legs up, but just standing beside you so you feel less fearful. I think that being helped up into an inversion can actually be detrimental because although you get the sensation of being upside down, you don't experience the transfer of balance, which is one of the trickiest parts. |
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| hey man dont worry, just keep practicing, once you fall down tehn you get experience that how you can protect your body . it may be by rolling and other....
good luck |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 399
Location: Oregon | I'm fairly new to handstand as well. I'd also say practicing against a mirror? Eww. I'd have trouble wanting to kick to get up--I'd be worried about breaking them, even though the kick isn't that hard. Realizing that last part... that the kick isn't that hard, really made it easier for me to use a wall to practice against. It's doesn't take much, it's finding the right momentum and learning to trust myself that I wasn't going to smash the wall.
I've recently done some other classes and we've worked with the wall, I don't know the names of the postures. But working with the wall might make you more comfortable with it and get a spatial sense of trust? (I'm just pulling this out of my *ss, I've only just got comfortable kicking up into handstand against a wall, and I'm trying to recall what might be making it easier.) |
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fear issues in handstand
