the party’s over

so, i was leading this fabulous handstand workshop. everyone was having a great time. it was like the best party you’ve ever been to, minus the sex, drugs, and alcohol.

rock stars everywhere, legs flying hither and nigh. fun! fun! smile! smile! fun! yay!

and then, out of nowhere, the whole world came crashing down.

the group was handstanding (or at least trying to handstand) in the middle of the room when this guy who always falls to the left suddenly fell to the right. by which i mean, right onto the woman next to him.

at first she wasn’t sure how to react–like a kid who takes a hard fall off the swings and doesn’t know whether to cry or not. so there was this moment of quiet. stillness.

and then came the tears.

and the whole workshop came to a screeching halt. everyone stopped to watch. silence…but for some sniffles.

of course, i went straight to the woman to console her and make sure she was okay. but i felt way worse for the guy who kicked her. pretty sure he didn’t do it on purpose, but the look on his face was of such mortification, i know he felt like 25 fingers were suddenly pointing at him–and maybe not all “pointer” fingers…

truth is this: he didn’t hurt her. she was fine. she just didn’t know it at first.

trying to stand on your hands–and, what’s more, trying to stand on your hands for three hours–can be an emotionally trying experience. so much gets pent up inside…anxiety, fear, excitement, thrill. all of it just bubbling at the surface just waiting, waiting for an opportunity to explode.

well, she got her opportunity and, as it turns out, felt much better after she let out her cry. it was like a fresh start. like “okay, now that i got that out of the way, let’s do this thing!”.

overall, i think the rest of the group probably would have benefited a lot from a little cry. from now on, i think i’ll go around kicking everyone in the head during handstand workshops, just to break the tension.
http://www.YOGAthletica.com