In class, the other day, the teacher presented us with the option of doing a 5 minute headstand for our inversion practice. 5 minute headstand! Sounds like heaven! I love me some inversions, headstands in particular, and I had never done one for so many consecutive minutes before. Bring it ON, I thought. I am all about this...
1. I rise (gracefully) into headstand. I think, this is going to be a piece of cake.
2. I start to feel just the tiniest bit fatigued. I think, hmm. I've never been in a headstand this long before.
3. My arms, neck and legs begin to get shaky. I can feel how much I'm sort of "slacking off" in the pose--paying less and less attention to proper form. My god, I think, this is taking forever.
4. I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't do this.
5. The teacher announces it has been 3 minutes.
6. I give myself a talking to. Okay, I say to myself, you can do this. You are going to have to recommit at this moment, or hurt yourself. I scan my body and re-press my forearms into the ground, re-melt my heart, re-engage my core, re-press my thighs and legs together and re-stretch all 10 of my little toesies into the air.
7. I feel better, but still I have to breath through my rebellious mind which is lecturing me currently on why we ought to just come out of this never-ending headstand.
8. I breathe, knowing that it will soon be over.
9. It is...and, arms shaking, I come back to the ground.
10. I sit in child's pose, and think about what commitment is.
