A handstand asks a lot from your mind and body. The learning process will work your whole body, so it’s important to first prepare your wrists and shoulders for the strain that is placed on these joints.

When you were a baby and learning to walk, first you had to crawl, stand, and fall before you could walk around steadily and safely. It’s the same with learning handstands.

Learning the skills required to do a handstand will help you progress from learning about hand placement, where your hips need to be relative to the rest of your body, how to kick up your legs to handstand against a wall, and then progressing to safely balancing on your hands.

At Aligned for Life we’ll work with you to help you strengthen your wrists, shoulders, arms, back and core, as well as building your balance. We’ll also give you exercises that mimic a handstand using our studio equipment, for example the Wunda Chair, High Barrel and Cadillac.

These exercises are all steps along the journey to doing a handstand safely, and they ‘re also fun to learn!

In addition to being a physical challenge, doing a handstand is also a mental challenge that will test your resolve along the way. Some days, no matter how hard you work at it, it just won’t happen. This is where your mental strength and determination comes into play, by shaking off the attempts that don’t work, and learning how to adjust hand placement, how hard to kick up, or when to give it a rest and try again later. 

Learning to do handstands will frustrate, surprise, and elate you all at the same time. The benefits of practicing them regularly will help build strong shoulders, arms, back and core and will also help with your balance.

Plus the journey to get there is so much fun!