Finally Kicking Up into Handstand at 60!

by Patti Martin

Patti Martin and Susan Allen by Jeff Craig

My yoga career and my introduction to Handstand began in 2006. I was attending a mixed-level weekly Iyengar yoga class (that means that beginners and more advanced students practice together). Within the first three months the teacher taught Handstand. I watched him do it, and then made an honest effort to repeat the actions and swing my legs up to the wall. Instead, I got one foot about one foot off the floor, gave a little hop, and landed with a small thud back to the floor. Hmmm…. He came over and offered to help me up. He grabbed a leg and began to lift it, and I cried out, “No, put me down. I am afraid.” He asked what I was afraid of. I said, “Falling on my head.” He said, “Why would you fall on your head?” I said, “My arms are not strong enough. My arms will buckle and I will fall on my head.” He said, “Okay, then we will belt your arms together over the elbows so that your arms cannot bend.” Damn! I could not argue with that. I still was afraid, but I decided to give it a try. With his help, up I went to the wall. It felt quite good! It was exhilarating being upside down bearing my body weight on my arms. He asked if he could walk away and I said yes. Other students were kicking up and coming back down repeatedly, but I knew that since I couldn’t kick up, I better stay there. My first stay was really quite long because I was also afraid to come down. When I did come down I sounded like a ton of bricks dropping to the floor.

Over the next five years I continued to go to classes that sometimes included handstands, and I would very seriously study the directions that a variety of teachers gave. I would say to myself, “Maybe I’ll get up today.” But I never did get up; in fact, I wasn’t even close. Many times teachers would leave me trying repeatedly to kick up until they saw that I was getting exhausted, and then they would come over and hoist me up. Just like my first time I would stay up a long time so that I would not have to kick up again. And I continued to sound like a ton of bricks hitting the floor as I came down.

During this five-year period I also developed “Handstand induced urinary urgency syndrome.” As soon as the teacher announced that we were to do Handstand, I would feel a great urgency to leave the practice room and use the restroom. With any luck the pose would be over by the time I got back, or, if not, at least I would have less time to futilely trying to kick up.

Then a couple of years later one of my teachers taught me to walk up the wall of a narrow hallway so that my feet were well over my head, and then swing my legs to the wall I was facing. I practiced this way for several years. I would enter Handstand this way, and then walk down the wall, move to another open wall, and try to kick-up. But there seemed to be no transferable skills. I was no closer to kicking up on my own.

It was also shown to me that you could lean a bolster against the wall and use the bolster for support of your head and back to kick up. I tried this for a couple of years with no success—I never got up this way.

Then about four years ago a teacher of mine taught us how to begin the process of coming off the wall in Handstand and balancing independently. She had us kick-up (in my case she hoisted me up) and then she instructed us to put our heads to the wall as we brought our legs away. I could do that, and I really loved having my head to the wall. It even helped me come down more lightly. But she made it clear, “Never, kick-up with your head to the wall!” I heard her, but the potential was so tantalizing. 

So I went home to the privacy of my own space, stuck my head and shoulders to the wall and kicked up independently. I was so happy! I promised myself I would do it everyday so I would not lose the skill, and I pretty much did so. However, I could not do it publicly in an Iyengar yoga class, because it was WRONG! I had to hide and be in the Handstand closet. This was the beginning of my sneaky period. I would time my entry until the teacher was as far away as possible, ideally with head turned away, place my head and shoulders to the wall, and use my head as the fulcrum to swing my legs up. I think my main teacher knew I was doing this, but was probably relieved that she did not have to hoist me to the wall. A few times I was caught at this, and was made to return to practice kicking up with my head away from the wall, and I was really hardly any closer than I had been at the beginning.

There were weeks and months where I would work every day on kicking up without my head to the wall, and if I was making progress, it was invisible to me because until your foot hits the wall, it is hard to tell how close or far away you are. My record one rainy winter morning was that I kicked up ineffectually for 45 minutes without success, which by the way made me very cranky all day.

As I struggled on I saw hundreds of other people kicking up for the first time and making it to the wall. Why them and why not me? They were not younger, or thinner, or more fit. They had not practiced more. They just did it. While I was apprenticing as a yoga teacher working under my mentor, one of my jobs was to help people up into Handstand. It was my job to hoist them to the wall. I must say I am very good at it because I know just the help that people need.! I am sure the students all thought I could do it, but I couldn’t.

Then last year my dear friend Susan Allen, who has also struggled with Handstand, taught me the technique that I use in this video.

Suddenly Handstand was accessible and fun for me. My 2016 New Year’s resolution was no more cheat-y Handstands—no more using my head as a pivot point. Instead, Susan showed me how to use a stack of Shoulderstand foams wrapped in mats to give enough height for my feet that my hips were held high enough that I could kick up and reach the wall. (About two years before I stood on a low end table and kicked up to the wall; not only did I not make it to the wall but I also nearly broke my leg as I fell down out of control and slammed my foot down into the end table breaking the table and almost my leg!)

I started with four foams as shown in the video on January 1st and slowly from January through June of 2016 I worked my way down from four foams to three, to two, to one. But then I stalled, and still could not kick off the floor to the wall. And you should know, that it was not a steady descent down the foams. I had good days and bad days I regressed for weeks and then progressed again. But in any case, a few months ago I was stalled at one foam. 

So it was still true that in class I needed to be helped up because I would no longer put my head to the wall. However, now I was “close” and also I was landing with control thanks to my foam works.

Then one day I was out taking a walk and I saw that someone had left a refrigerator shipping box on the sidewalk, and inside the box, was a large flat rectangular piece of foam about 1/3 the height of the Shoulderstand foams. What a treasure! I brought it home, wrapped it in a mat, and kicked up. Yes, it was the missing link! I was at the 1/3 foam for about seven weeks, and then one morning at about 6:30 a.m. I tried kicking up from the floor, and I DID IT! I DID IT! I KICKED UP OFF THE FLOOR LIKE A REGULAR YOGINI! HURRAH! Even though it was 6:30 a.m. I texted Susan right away and she texted me back ASAP. We celebrated! Thanks to the Susan Allen foam technique I had after 10 years kicked up into Handstand.

So to celebrate my 60th birthday, with Susan’s permission I am posting this video to share Susan’s technique. There is one Handstand for each decade I have been privileged to experience. For those of you who are reading this who aspire to Handstand, I offer you this method, but more importantly I want to testify that with steady, devoted, focused practice it is amazing what you can accomplish, especially if you have a dear friend like Susan Allen in your corner. I also recommend studying under a certified Iyengar yoga teacher before attempting this.

I want to thank my husband who has listened to my Handstand travails for ten long years, almost on a daily basis. Also, I want to thank my teachers who patiently taught me the mechanics of the pose, over and over and over. And hoisted me up to the wall year after year without complaint. I love you all for supporting me on this journey.

What is next? Well, lucky for me there are infinite ways to improve my Handstand. And also I need to learn to lead with the other leg. I started again using four foams because though I can now regularly kick up from the floor using my right leg, my left leg has “not gotten the memo.” And after that? Well, there is balancing in the middle of the room. I might have to save that for my 70th birthday!

Patti Martin is a Certified Iyengar Yoga Teacher who teaches in workplaces, studios, and public classes 
in San Francisco and the Peninsula. She is a warm, encouraging, and upbeat teacher who inspires confidence in her students to explore their potential. Patti is inclusive and respects differences in students; she patiently nurtures the physical and mental evolution that comes with the practice of yoga. Through Patti’s own practice she has explored where restrictions occur in her body that create pain and imbalance, and has learned how to develop the awareness, strength, and flexibility to open these areas to greater ease and comfort. She shares this knowledge with her students.

Patti regularly studies with top Iyengar teachers in the Bay Area, and frequently attends Iyengar workshops with senior Iyengar teachers visiting the Bay Area from around the world. Patti formerly served on the board of directors for the Iyengar Yoga Association of Northern California and is currently serving on the board of directors for the Iyengar Yoga National Association of the United States. See http://www.pattimartinyoga.com.

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Take Your Time: Results from Yoga Practice

by Nina

Unfurling Squash Blossom by Melina Meza

Because my post yesterday False Claims Harm Yoga discussed how misleading and/or false claims about yoga can cause serious harm, I decided to rerun an old article of mine about how results from yoga practice take time. In addition to making false claims about the power of certain yoga poses and practices, some of the articles we see out there imply that results are quick and easy (for example, the article about six poses to "heal" diabetes claimed that a month of practice might be all that was necessary). A couple of years ago I addressed this very issue after I read a New York Times article about how exercise can help us sleep better. My original post follows. —Nina

It's a running joke in our family that when Brad gets impatient with me—because I often do various household tasks a bit slower than he does—he says to me, "Take your time!" He swears that Bill Murray said this repeatedly in the movie "Caddy Shack," but when we watched it again recently, no one actually ever uttered that line. Regardless, I always reply, "You take your time." 

But many worthwhile things really do take time. For example, if you want to cook a really good meal instead of eating fast food, you need to shop for fresh ingredients and prepare everything from scratch. And if you want to turn a new acquaintance into a close friend, you need to spend a lot of time together, getting to know and trust each other. The same is true for seeing results from yoga practice. Obviously, one Downward-Facing Dog pose doesn't instantly make your arms stronger, though with regular practice, it definitely will increase your strength. And it also seems obvious that if you want to reduce your stress levels, you'll need to practice stress management regularly over a period of time.

So it was very interesting for me to hear about a recent study at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, that looked at the effect of exercise on insomnia. One of the findings as reported by Gretchen Reynolds in the New York Times post How Exercise Can Help Us Sleep Better was:

"After the first two months of their exercise program, the exercising volunteers (all of them women) were sleeping no better than at the start of the study. Only after four months of the program had their insomnia improved."

Yes, it took four whole months of regular exercising to bring improvements. That's quite a bit of time, don't you think? The women in this study were not practicing yoga for exercise, but it's likely that using yoga as a form of exercise to help with insomnia (something I definitely recommend) might take a similar amount of time. And it also makes sense to me that if you are practicing yoga for insomnia (see Yoga for Insomnia, Part 1) by using stress management techniques, you should also give that some time (though some people report that doing breath practices in the middle of the night produces immediate results). So be patient.

In general, the time you invest in your yoga practice—whether you are practicing for your physical, emotional, or spiritual wellbeing—is what brings the payoffs. After all, yoga sutra 1.14 tells us that equanimity is attained only through steady, dedicated, attentive practice:

Long, uninterrupted, alert practice is the firm foundation for restraining the fluctuations of the mind. —trans. by B.K.S. Iyengar 

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Practice

by Baxter

Leslie Greinstein, Age 62, Practicing Mayurasana with a Prop

When my friends inform me that they have started to “practice” yoga, I am always pleased to know it. But the part of me that knows the true benefit of practicing regularly—what we here at YFHA refer to as “home practice”—always has to ask them how often they are doing yoga. Almost invariably, they are taking one, sometimes two, asana classes each week at a yoga studio. This is a great start, and I want to encourage those of you out there at this stage of practice to keep it going. At the same time, we know from the oldest of yoga philosophy texts that the fruits of yoga come partly from consistent, daily practice. 

The Sanskrit term for practice is abhyasa, which means, its simplest definition, “diligent, focused practice.” In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, about 2000 years old and one the most relied upon texts on the philosophical and practical basis of yoga, several passages are devoted to describing abhyasa and its relationship to other key concepts on yoga, such as vairagya, or detachment. The ancient yogis saw the negative effect an undisciplined mind can have on our overall happiness and contentment. Their solution was to train the mind and quiet the overly active thought processes that create so much suffering.

The Yoga Sutras tells us that regular practice (abhyasa), done with the right attitude (detachment, or vairagya), is what will quiet our minds:

1.12 Practice and detachment are the means to still the movements of consciousness.
1.13 Practice is the steadfast effort to still these fluctuations.
1.14 Long, uninterrupted, alert practice is the firm foundation for restraining the fluctuations —translation by B.K.S. Iyengar

Nicolai Bachman, one of my favorite contemporary translators of the Yoga Sutras, has a slightly different take:

1.12 The stilling of the mental fluctuations (i.e. quieting of the mind) is due to diligent practice and unattached awareness (vairagya).
1.13 Abhyasa is the effort put forth to maintain a point of focus.
1.14 Abhyasa becomes firmly established when pursued with eagerness, sincerity, and continuity for a long time.

So, the Yoga Sutras tell us what the goal of yoga is, as well as what the practical tools are to achieve the goal of a mind established in equanimity. I can’t help but recall the old joke about the concert-goer who stops a cabbie in New York City to ask, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” and the cabbie responds, “Practice, practice, practice.” Patanjali adds in certain important qualities of practice that increase our chances of success, whether our goals are purely physical, such as improved balance, are mental/emotional, such as resolving anxiety, or are loftier spiritual goals. Those are stated above as "eagerness, sincerity, and continuity" by Nicolai, and "long, continuous practice, with a quality of alertness" by Iyengar.

Abhyasa applied to asana practice could be simply directing our mind and attention to the breath, a particular body part, or even where the gaze is directed. Applied to meditation practice, it is the effort exerted to maintain a point of focus. The act of applying effort to maintain a point of focus could also extend to things not normally thought of as “yoga,” such as playing a musical instrument or even riding a bike.

When we consciously choose to “practice” in this way, we are also choosing to establish new habits that become stronger with time and consistency. We do this to overcome our old, unhelpful habits, or undesirable samskaras, and replace them with more desirable samskaras that move us closer to our goals (see Changing the Brain's Stressful Habits).

And although Patanjali describes other tools to help us achieve our goals, such as pranayama and cultivating the yamas and niyamas, abhyasa can be applied to all of them as the base practice to amplify all others. So let’s get cracking!

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The Kindness Practice

by Jill Satterfield

Ripening Fruit by Melina Meza

Here's what I have come to know as a fairly universal contemporary problem: many of us are a bit too tough on ourselves. We criticize our looks, our thoughts and emotions, our progress on the spiritual path, our practice quantity and quality. And the fact is that this is not helpful. But if we add tenderness and kindness to our outlook, vocabulary, thoughts and emotions, we can loosen the unhealthy grip of the overactive critic and relax into our lives and being a little bit more.

Just to inspire and remind you: One of the goals of practice, besides alleviating suffering, is to be in the present moment. When you bring yourself into your body, you are in the present. When you absorb the natural beauty of the sky, you are in the present. When you hug someone you love, you can be in the present. There is plenty of beauty in the present—anchor yourself in that.

1.33 By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness. —translation from The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Sri Swami Satchidananda

Jack Kornfield says, “Buddhist texts describe compassion as the quivering of the heart in the face of pain, as the capacity to see our struggles with ‘kindly eyes.’” These kindly eyes allow for some faltering, some forgetting, some mistakes, and gently remind us to start again.

Gripping onto thoughts, feelings or anywhere in the body just causes discomfort and resistance. What we resist will persist. If we can soften around displeasure, discomfort, and the occasional raw mistake, we can flow a bit more into the movement of life. Movement implies softness; nothing moves very far in constricted areas or very easily through tight places. 

Of course there's a distinction between too tight and too loose, which was famously brought to light by the Buddha in the story of the sitar player. The musician asked him, “Should I maintain tight controls on my mind during meditation or should I let it flow?” The Buddha asked, “How do you tune your instrument?” The sitar play said, “If I tune the strings too tightly, they break. If they are too loose, no sound comes out.” “Just so,” replied the Buddha, “you should hold your mind in meditation.” If we are too loose with ourselves, we won't practice or even attempt to be mindful—that would require too much effort. On the other hand, if we are too tight with ourselves, we create tension and guilt, and will probably eventually give up on practicing.

If we see only love and light, it’s the same issue, so we need to be aware of spiritual bypassing and denial for sure. But, especially as we mature, in years and in practice, acceptance and the choice to not increase suffering but actively decrease suffering is preferable. As Buddhist teacher Sylvia Boorstein wonderfully puts it "Life is painful. Suffering is optional."

Remember that a practice has room for creativity. Play around from time to time and see what the results are. Rigidity in form is not always the answer; some of us need a little freedom to experiment to find out which technique works for us, depending on our current situation, mood, state of health, age, and so on. So a creative practice might include walking in the woods or by the beach, or reading some poetry to inspire the next session of meditation or asana. Practicing restoratives for an hour has become one of my favorite ways to meditate in my body. 

Tenderness. Kindness. Creativity. Spiritual friends and teachers, the ingredients of a great life being lived as it is offered, not too loose or tight, but being with what is—kindly.

Jill Satterfield is the founder of Vajra Yoga + Meditation, a synthesis of yoga and Buddhism that combines meditation, yoga and contemplative practices. Named “one of the 4 leading yoga and Buddhist teachers in the country” by Shambhala Sun Magazine, Jill has instigated mindful and creative educational programs for over 28 years.

She is also the founder and Director of the School for Compassionate Action: Meditation, Yoga and Educational Support for Communities in Need, a not-for-profit that trains teachers, psychologists and health care providers to integrate mind and body practices into their professions. SCA also provides classes to people in chronic pain, with illness, those suffering from PTSD, and at-risk youth. Jill teaches workshops internationally, is a faculty member of Spirit Rock Meditation Center’s Mindfulness for Yoga Training and the Somatic Training in Marin, California, and is a guest teacher for many other training programs. To find out more about Jill, visit her website vajrayoga.com.

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Judith Lasater on Yoga and Aging

After the Fire by Brad Gibson

As Shari and I were discussing our series on menopause and perimenopause, Shari had the idea of contacting her former teacher, well-known yoga writer Judith Lasater, to see if she had some advice for us. To our delight, Judith agreed to do a brief interview with us for the blog. After some back and forth, we decided to ask her a single question. We love her answer, and hope that you will find it inspiring. —Nina and Shari

Q: You've been practicing yoga since you were a young woman. As you went through peri-menopause and menopause, how did you change your personal practice to address your symptoms and adapt to your changing body?

Judith: When I began my yoga practice in 1970, I had the idea that I would pretty much be following the same practice routine forever that I had established from the beginning.

Nothing has been further from the truth. At the beginning I adapted my life to fit my practice. I started going to bed earlier so that I could awaken to practice in a quiet morning environment. I changed my diet, what I read, who I hung out with, and soon, my job, as I decided to begin teaching yoga.

But over the years, the opposite has happened. Gradually my practice has evolved to fit my life. There were adaptations with pregnancy, motherhood, and, of course, with peri-menopause and menopause.

Hopefully with aging one becomes more naturally introspective and less influenced by the external world. As I entered peri-menopause, I noticed a definite shift of my interest. It was as if a “natural” pratyahara was taking place.

I wanted to meditate longer, practice pranayama longer, and my asana practice changed as well. Soon fifty percent of my practice consisted of supported backbends and supported inversions, especially Viparita Karani (Legs Up the Wall pose), Supported Sarvangasana (Shoulderstand) on the chair and Supported Halasana (Plow pose) on the Halasana bench.

I found I needed this intense internal focus time in my life to integrate not only the physical changes that I was experiencing, but also the life changes of parenting teenagers and young adults. Additionally I was becoming the major emotional and familial support for an aging mother.

When I chatted with other women yoga teachers my age, we found we were all moving in the same direction with our practice. We began to eschew so much action in the practice and instead were increasingly nourished by cultivating the receptive consciousness of quiet poses for at least half of our practice of asana.

The most important thing I learned about this process is a lesson I still learn repeatedly. I would distill this lesson into a “mantra” of these three words: Trust yourself first. This will guide you well as you transition through life’s stages.

Note from Nina: For photographs of Judith's favorite poses and more information on them, see Judith Lasater's Favorite Poses.

Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., PT, has taught yoga since 1971. She is a founder of Yoga Journal magazine, President Emeritus of the California Yoga Teachers Association, and was selected by Natural Health Magazine in 2010 as the only yoga teacher out of five people honored for their contribution to promoting natural health in the US during the previous 40 years. She has written eight books on yoga including the most recent: What We Say Matters and YogaBody. See judithlasater.com for more information about Judith, her teaching schedule and her books.

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What is an Advanced Yoga Practice?

by Nina

Year-Old Snow and New Snow by Philip Amdal

A number of years ago, I encouraged a close friend of mine, M, to join me in taking Rodney Yee’s advanced class. Even though she had a muscular, athletic, and stiff body that made doing super bendy poses difficult, if not impossible, I knew that she understood how to take care of herself in class, that she would adapt the poses for her particular body type and keep herself safe, so I wasn’t worried about the class being too hard for her. She was interested, however, she expressed some concerns about not being “advanced” enough for the class. I decided to discuss the matter with our teacher himself, feeling fairly sure of what he was going to say. But what he told me when I asked him if she was “advanced” not only took me by surprise but has stuck with me all these years, transforming my thinking about the asana practice in general. What he said was this:

“Of course she’s advanced enough. M does yoga more mindfully than any student I’ve ever seen.”

And here I’d been thinking that being advanced meant being capable of doing difficult poses, like 10 minute headstands or extreme backbends, at some level or another! But doing yoga “mindfully”—now, here was goal we could pursue for our lifetimes and no matter our level of physical capacity was, we would always have the the ability to go deeper and deeper into the practice.

I’m thinking about this today because I’m helping a new friend of mine adapt her practice to allow her to heal from an ongoing injury. It’s taken her a long time to even be ready to temporarily give up certain poses and ways of practicing, because she felt such regrets about excluding poses from her practice that she used to be able to do with such great enjoyment. 

But as Baxter mentioned in his post on Wristful Wrists: How to Keep Your Wrists Safe, sometimes rest is the best way to heal from an injury. So being willing to adopt mindfulness as a goal in the practice rather than achievement is a necessary element in being able to heal from an injury.

People who are aging may find themselves in a similar position, not necessarily due to injury but simply due to the physical changes that come along with aging. To be honest, I used to have what I sometimes call a “semi-fancy” yoga practice. But in the last few years, I developed arthritis in my right hip that makes it impossible to do seated poses that involve a lot of external rotation. Lotus and half lotus are now impossible for me, and seated forward bends and twists that require certain leg positions are painful and difficult. And I now need props in many of the standing poses now. Still there is no question I consider my practice more advanced these days than it was in the years when I regularly took the East Bay’s most “advanced” yoga class.

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