Post 5- Headstands and spinal twists

In yoga on Thursday Esther, the yoga instructed of the class that day, had us practice different kinds of handstands. I always thought that handstands were not particularly good for you because they strained your wrists and sent all the blood to your head very quickly, but according to my yoga teachers handstands are very good for the body. Handstands are supposed to strengthen your shoulders, back, arms, and abdominal muscles, as well as mixing up blood flow. I don’t know if I buy that fact that mixing up the blood flow direction in your body is a good idea but they tell me it is. We did two different kinds of handstands. One where you walk your legs up the wall until they make a ninety-degree angle with your torso, then if you have enough balance and strength you kick one leg off the wall so you are doing the splits. The second pose is the handstand on the wall, where you do a traditional handstand with your legs resting on the wall; we held that pose for about a minute (longest minute of my life). I also learned that “inversions” are very good for the body. One typical “inversion” is “legs up the wall,” in which you lay with your legs up the wall and your back on the floor. Keeping your legs and stomach above your heart is supposed to be excellent for circulation. We also did about eight different kinds of “spinal twists,” which are supposed to be very good for digestion and body movement. The kind of yoga that is done at the Creative Healing Center (my project) is very spiritual and less about working out and more about fixing the alignment and energy of the body. Yoga, with Esther in particular, is by far my favorite part of my project.