Upward facing dog position? Yes please ...

Upward facing dog position? Yes please ...
　

Last week I finally achieved one of my lifetime ambitions. I did a hand (ok, head) stand and gracefully allowed my legs to fall past the 180 degree mark and land in a beautiful arc which I held with the discipline of a natural gymnast. Well, pretty much. (I don
’t like to big myself up or anything … )

I had long since given up on ever reaching this goal, settling instead for the usual - getting a degree (check), buying a house (hmm), finding the perfect man (less said about that the better), writing a novel (check), locating the perfect pair of winter boots (still in progress) and watching every episode of ‘Friends’ 300 times (well on my way to achieving that one). Yet despite everything I’ve always felt that something was missing.

At school I’d practice my, ahem, flips, religiously alongside my more athletic counterpart who could spend hours whipping herself backwards and forwards in a hypnotic trance. But I could never get beyond the back-flop, inevitably resulting in an extremely painful winding followed by a watery ‘I’m fine’ kind of smile, masking my fear that this time I really had given myself permanent paralysis. Hence the eventual evaporation of my enthusiasm.

Until, that is, I found yoga. I saw attending classes as something of a rite of passage into proper young professional lifestyle, but my fear of irreversible contortion delayed commencement for as long as possible. Then one lazy Sunday, after a horrific lunch at Auntie Bev’s involving a grand misunderstanding (on my part) and praises for the upward facing dog and legs up the wall positions (her part), I decided it was time to get initiated.

And that was how, six months later, I found myself in the inverted position (another element of Auntie Bev’s conversation now making itself clearer), with my head full of blood, my veins full of adrenaline and my legs commencing their fall. But don’t go thinking it was simple; I did experience all those crests and troughs that come with the journey to the top, from the futile air kicks and unexpected forward rolls to the emergency trips to casualty (ok so it wasn’t that extreme). But it was all worth it in the end.

To avoid complacency I’ve already set myself a new target. By Christmas I am going to be able to stand in a statuesque one legged pose for at least thirty seconds. And I thought my twenties were supposed to be easy!