Ask Strala: My body isn’t working, please help!

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Question

I’ve been trying to get into handstands for years. I keep on jumping up, and keep on falling right back down. I just can’t stay up! What’s wrong with me?

 

Answer

You might believe that when something isn’t happening in your yoga, your body is failing you. You might believe that when something isn’t happening in your life, you’re failing your self.

That’s one way to look at things. Here’s another. It might be that your body is miraculously, wonderfully, capably doing exactly what you need right now.

 

Your body is the perfect expression of your life right now.

 

The other day I was watching a friend repeatedly kick up into handstand, and fall right back down with a good thud. She’d line everything up perfectly, launch, and fall. She really was working hard, and she’s been putting a good amount of effort into this for some time now.

It would be easy for my friend to think that her body is failing her. She’s putting in the work, so why aren’t things working out? Well, there might be another angle here.

Standing on your hands isn’t done capably by launching your feet from floor to ceiling. It’s done by getting really comfortable and controlled right in your middle. That’s not the only way, it’s just the most capable: always moving easily from your center.

 

Creating your life isn’t done capably by launching the pieces up in the air and seeing where they fall. It’s done by getting really comfortable right in your center. There isn’t impatience or frustration here. There’s just you, feeling into every part of you, discovering how powerful all those parts are when they work together.

 

If my friend did succeed in launching her feet up high enough, without this control in her center, her feet would just keep on going! She might crash into a backbend, putting lots of unwelcome strain on her back. Worse, she might crash through that window right in front of her.

So really, her body in this moment is working wonderfully! It’s keeping her safe. It’s not time to come into a handstand. It’s time to get grounded and work from the inside out.

 

We always have this choice. We can try to push our bodies repeatedly into our goals. But, this might just be practicing impatience and frustration. We can also work easily and in harmony with our bodies, trusting that together we make a great team.

 

There’s nothing wrong with you. There’s everything right with you.

-Mike

 

About Strala Yoga Training

Strala combines the movement and healing wisdom of tai chi with the form vocabularies of yoga, tai chi, qigong, and Traditional Chinese and Japanese Medicine, to help people release stress, move easily through challenge, and live radiantly inspiring lives.

It begins with a mindset, that says our best way to get where we’re going is to feel good along the way. It also works miracles for whole health, helping us to find ease in our bodies and minds, and create the right conditions both for healing and optimal performance.

In our Strala Yoga Training Courses, you learn to shape your destiny on every level that counts, from your psychology, chemistry and neurology, to your chromosomes and even gene expression. The unique set of skills you develop – for connecting with yourself and others, unblocking your energy, healing what needs healing and accomplishing challenge with ease – uncovers your ability to create the life you want, and be an inspiring leader to the people around you.

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