Upside Down

Salamba Sarvangasana I or Supported All Limbs pose is an extremely beneficial and powerful pose when practiced properly. It is considered the Queen or mother of all asanas. The benefits include improved circulation, improved balance and poise, increased vitality and an enhanced immune system.

Being upside down is pretty...discombobulating. If that's even a word.

As a child I remember lying down on the sofa with my head hanging off the edge, and my legs up against the backrest. Being upside down didn't seem to bother me then. I also remember hanging off the jungle gym in school, hanging from my knees with my head towards the ground. I would swing myself up and around that bar, in the vain hopes that I would one day be a gymnast. No such luck.

So, I don't quite know when I developed the fear of being upside down. But my weekly yoga classes have been forcing me to confront this fear with the practice of inversions, specifically shoulderstand and headstand.

Shoulderstand is a pose that I find easy to get into it, especially with the support of the props, as prescribed in the Iyengar method. However, staying in the pose is another thing entirely. I feel ok at the start, and then all of a sudden, I will start to feel slightly claustrophobic, and for whatever reason, the pose makes my legs ache, from keeping the thighs rolled in, and the toes lifting towards the ceiling, and the hips forward. I just haven't clicked with the pose yet. But I do my best. And try to keep my breath soft and slow, and not to let my eyes move too much, so that I can find the relaxation in the pose, the space in the asana.

Some days are easier than others, when a five-minute shoulderstand seems to go by in the blink of an eye. Other days, it feels like forever, and my mind is jumping around thinking, "Is it over? Is it over?" But I guess that's normal.

Often, when I prepare for sarvangasana, I feel the way I do right before I back-rolling into the water for scuba-diving. I feel a little apprehension, a little twinge of fear. I think it's an appropriate analogy: being underwater is also discombobulating.

I hope to make friends with this pose soon.