On the Road. The road to inversions, that is.

The first time I did a handstand, with the help of the yoga teacher, of course, I looked around the room at everyone in my class who had lined themselves up along the wall, kicking their feet into the air, and bent into downward dog to join them. The feeling I had, that of naked fear, was unexpected. What was so scary about doing a handstand? The wall is fixed, stable, unmoving. Everyone else did it without harming themselves. So what was it, then?

Most articles I've read online claim that it's fear of hurting the neck. Maybe some people worry about that, but it isn't an overt concern of mine. I'm afraid that I don't have the strength to support myself in hand or headstand, that I'll injure myself (neck included), and -- this is the main one -- inversions are so different from any experiences we have in our lives, they are bound to challenge ourselves, physically at the very least.

So I'm going to build up my strength with other poses, and work on other inversions to start.

*They can't crush the idealist in me!