Today’s episode is about the frustrating question: “why can’t I hold a handstand?”
As simple as handbalancing is (keeping your center of mass above your surface of support – that’s literally what it’s all about), the process of learning to get that under control can sometimes be devastating. Especially if you’re practicing by yourself and you’re not quite sure if you’re doing something wrong.
While oftentimes there are cues that can help you and cause fast improvements, most of the time it’s just about putting in more time and keep on trying and trying and trying and trying… This can make you feel like you’re putting in all of your effort and nothing good is coming out of it.
But when you look closer at what your body is actually going through while learning to freakin’ stand on your hands (who came up with that crazy idea?!), it might help you see the bigger picture of the learning process and provide you a different kind of understanding, so you can be nice to yourself.
Neuroplasticity
When you learn to handstand, your body has to develop a network of new neural pathways in order to learn this new way of upsidedown balance. This not only takes time, but it means that when you attempt to balance, you are trying to create something that isn’t there yet. But as you keep trying, your brain sends signals that lead the body to create these new networks through neuroplasticity. These new neural connections ultimately provide awareness and control in this former unknown position. This gives you access to the muscles of your body that make you stay in balance. And thus a handstand is created…
This is the more in depth complicated way to say it. If you put it bluntly, you can say it just means that you need more time and practice. What it tells us though, is that eventhough you might feel like you’re failing most of the time in your practice, as long as the effort and the time is there for your body to build these connections, you are doing good work. So just keep practicing! Do your drills (check this tutorial to create balance away from the wall), do the best you can and you will start to feel balance :).
The world is your playground, so just go ahead and do whatever you love!
-Soundschi