Why can't I headstand?

That was a question I used to ask myself while in my yoga class many years ago. I was strong, I could do lots of arm balances that weren't upside down, I felt like I should be able to headstand.

I remember watching someone in class throw herself upside down towards headstand and tumble over and wonder how she had the confidence to do that.

Haha her method clearly wasn't working, as she wasn't successfully holding a headstand, but she was getting herself upside down and that felt like more than I could do. I didn't feel brave enough to be upside down in any way.

I also had no idea how.

What was I meant to do with my body to make this pose happen?

How will I stop myself from falling on my back?

I could see that you put your arms down around your head, walk your feet in and then you were meant to feel solid enough to take your feet off the ground?

How?!

It seemed unimaginable.

And I didn't understand why I couldn't just do it.

I assumed that a day would come when I had done yoga for long enough, when I had put in enough hours to become an 'advanced practitioner', that I would just know how to headstand. That one day I would almost magically feel comfortable being upside down, know how to float my legs up to headstand, and feel confident doing it.

But the thing is, my yoga class wasn't teaching me or preparing me for how to headstand.

And it was very easy to continue going to yoga for months and years and never make any progress towards headstand. And that is exactly what happened.

I did yoga for years before I ever tried headstand.

I ended up working on my headstand for months before I ever had the confidence to do it in the middle of the room.

And it was only once I had that solid headstand in the middle of the room that I even started to consider working on forearm stand. And again, I had NO idea how that was going to happen or what I needed to do

It was a long struggle.

But there was a far quicker, easier and smarter way to achieve these goals... it just wasn't around then.

What am I talking about? Well, I am going to toot my own horn, and say that if I had taken my Beginners Inversion Course many years ago, I could have dramatically sped up my journey to balancing upside down. 

Which is what I do for people now AND ensure that they don't give up before they achieve these poses!

Here's what I mean.

Before Sinead came to practice with me, she did CrossFit. One part of CrossFit is kicking up to the wall to a handstand, but no matter what she did, Sinead couldn't hop up and land on the wall. She had tried for months, she watched YouTube videos, she asked people for help, and everyone just said to kick harder, but nothing was working. She had convinced herself that handstand and being upside down just wasn't something she was going to be able to do.

But then she decided to join my Beginners Inversion Course.

In just 6 weeks, she went from never having been upside down, unable to even headstand, to having a solid headstand, stable enough to move her legs between different shapes while in headstand, unlocked hopping up to the wall in forearm stand (which is a big challenge for lots of us!) AND started to balance in forearm stand!

In just 6 weeks! But that's possible when you're following a course that has been designed to teach you everything you need to know, and do, to make this happen. Sinead was lacking the strength and skills required for inversions, which is why that hop up to the wall in handstand wasn't happening. When she built this foundational strength and skills through the Beginners Inversion Course, she was well on her way to succeeding with her goal of hopping up to the wall in handstand. She continued on to do my Intermediate Inversion Course, where she took her forearm stand skills to the next level, unlocked that hop up to the wall in handstand that she thought she'd never be able to do, AND she started balancing in handstand!

It is SO common that yogis think that inversions or challenging arm balances aren't for them, or are just something that they'll never be able to do because they do yoga for years and can't seem to crack these poses.

But these poses WON'T happen from just going to yoga.

You're not bad at inversions. You just haven't been practicing them in the right way.

If you can't headstand, or can headstand but don't have a solid forearm stand, my Beginners Inversion Course is for you! It's coming up online, live and recorded, this September 2024. (And it won't run again until some time in 2025). I can promise, it's going to be a game changer for your inversion practice.

If you're interested in getting more details about the course, email me at eimearkellyyoga@gmail.com and just say "Add me to the Beginners Inversion Course interest list". By being on the list, you're also going to get access to a £50 discount on the course (if you decided to sign up) and some amazing freebies that I don't offer anywhere else!

Let's get you balancing upside down!