I Conquer the King

Today, I did something for the very first time that I've been told kids do easily and without trepidation--although I was not one of those kids. I did something today for the very first time that I've struggled to do, sworn off, sworn to achieve, been indifferent to and made excuses about for the past six, seven years.

I finally did sirsana, the king of asanas, all by myself today.

Okay, sure, I had a wall for support, but I didn't need Madame Guillotine or a Swiss ball to help be invert. I got my hips stacked over my head and shoulders and then got my legs up all by myself. Without excuses.

Yeah, excuses. I've had a load of them to explain my tempestuous relationship with this pose. Lack of experience (hey, I wasn't one of those kids who readily stood on her head, as so many of my teachers suggested all kids did). Injury (certain muscles in my back would certainly not cooperate to help me sustain the pose even when assisted into it). Fear.

As you can guess, Gentle Reader, that last one's a biggie. I wasn't afraid so much of going upside down. That doesn't bother me. I don't get disoriented as some folks do in inversions, and I don't freak out at the loss of control the pose can represent--even though I am certainly a control freak when I'm standing on my own two feet. No, I was afraid of getting injured while getting into or out of (more like falling out of due to a muscle crapping out on me) the pose. An injury would mean downtime, and I hate downtime. Because I was afraid of the prospect of an injury, I avoided it.

But then I started working on it almost daily at the gym with the help of a Swiss ball. I got my back muscles comfortable with supporting me when I had my hips stacked over my head and shoulders (with my legs supported by the ball). Then I got my back comfortable with supporting me with one leg up and one leg on the ball. From that point, getting both legs up was no problem.

Of course, inverting sans Swiss ball was the big, final goal. Gentle Reader, would you be shocked to know I was perfectly fine with never working to achieve that goal? I was content with the progress I made, but I was curious if I could invert on my own power. And quite by accident today, it happened. The damn ball I was using kept rolling away once I was inverted. Sick of chasing after it, I just tried to go upside down on my own--and f'in did it.

Hooray for me!

What's next for me? Dunno. Probably not niralamba sirsana:

But Mr. Iyengar looks pretty cool doing it!