Tricky

Yesterday I went to my first yoga class in quite some time. The teacher asked me to demonstrate something, without telling me what that something was. I was game. I like the teacher a lot, partly because she is not afraid of my feet. And my feet are scary-looking.

Anyhoo, she had me lean over and put my hands on the floor shoulder-width apart. I walked my feet back a bit, until my torso was lined up with my shoulders. Then she had me look forward and raise one leg in the air.

She then held my ankle rather lightly and had me kick up with my other leg. Interesting. We tried it a second time and on this round I was able to push my hips forward slightly. The teacher kept telling me to squeeze my legs tighter and all of a sudden everyone else in the room made wowish sounds. Because I was balancing in a handstand in the middle of the room, all by myself.

It was amazing.

Turning my body upside-down tends to awaken the chicken of fear that lives in my brain. A chicken of fear is useful and important. But occasionally overprotective. Yesterday, the teacher's constant repetition to me to squeeze my legs was loud enough to drown out my fear-chicken's bawk-bawking.

Of course as soon as I realized what was going on, the spell was broken, and I fell over. Gracefully, thank goodness.