Handstand!

This morning, for the first time in 15 months, I was finally able to get into handstand. Hurrah! I badly injured my left shoulder when Sasha was just a puppy, around Halloween of 2010. She yanked really hard when I wasn't really paying attention. I was with Luke at a Halloween parade and was distracted by him, the costumes and the lanterns we were carrying. I never got it checked out but figured I've got enough yoga experience to work with it on my own. This is a ridiculous photo to post -- but this is basically how I rehabilitated my shoulder -- lying over bolsters and being patient with both the stretching and strengthening.

And I've also been taking yoga classes with Barbara since late summer and she spends a lot of time with these kinds of passive poses. So I credit her all-star teaching as well. Mark was there to witness it this morning as I hesitantly kicked up. I was not able to get up on one side, but the other side was OK. Not completely comfortable, with some sensation in the outer rotator, but no pain. That felt like a huge milestone.

Slow and steady -- the body knows how to heal itself. Just daily practice, nothing special. I thought I'd never do that pose again. So much for limited thinking!