Jo (quote from Del) says the headstand is about balance

Jo, world-famous Filipino Buddhist monk (quote from Del, internationally known vegetarian restaurateur) says the headstand is not about strength but about balance… (credits as stated before) Since i have neither (no strength! no balance!) , and many of my viewers do not practise ashtanga yoga, i’ll just tell you a story (well, it’s based on a story): when you are executing the headstand for the first time make sure you know that you are protecting your neck. Look at the pose first. Make sure you know how wise those who designed this pose are – in this pose, you neck is parallel to your biceps; your biceps are of course connected to your shoulders, they’re all steady on the floor; and fortunately for all of us, the biceps and shoulders combined are longer than the neck. Therefore: in this pose, your neck is fully “encased” by your biceps and shoulders combined, your biceps and shoulders are a lot stronger than your neck – make those carry your weight, not your neck. Therefore, in your first attempt, make sure you are fully aware, even if you cannot see your entire body, even if you cannot see your biceps, your shoulders, and your neck (you’re not allowed to move your neck, head, face; and if you move your eyeballs your head might follow, so keep steady), even if you cannot see the “relevant” body parts, be aware of them (don’t think of other stuff), and make sure that when you try to rise from the toes walking towards your head, you’ve sufficiently flexed your biceps (not too hard or too tense though), when your biceps are soft or not properly aligned or not parallel to your neck, your neck will carry your body weight – NOT GOOD. (so…do not execute without first learning from a certified ashtanga yoga teacher). (my yoga teacher said not to analyze too much but i need to do this in the blog so that my viewers will not attempt to do this on their own: warning: imitating the poses in the videos and photos here without the assistance of a certified ashtanga yoga teacher may lead to injuries…)

And then when you know all these…the headstand is about balance in all its sense [see frame 3, frame 4, frame 5 of series of photos: THE DOMINANT HEMISPHERE (of my body, and brain because your brain governs how your body moves, but i am not aware of it when it’s occurring here) SEPARATES FROM THE OTHER SIDE… AND GOES AHEAD! but when it goes ahead, it seeks the wall…it may be the active side but it looks for the wall. you should see the outtake of this (video. next post next week) , when it was falling, the dominant side was doing a cycling motion.

to be fair to the lazy side, it looks like it’s the side that’s conforming to the correct form; in reality, however, just between the two of us, don’t tell anyone, after frame 2, or starting from frame 3, the lazy side is not working anymore, it’s the dominant side that keeps and raises the body up [puro porma lang yung lazy side (the lazy side just becomes a display after frame 2)]. the advantage of videoing is you can educate, hopefully, those who’d care to see it and watch…and entertain, to lengthen attention span. Show rather than tale, este, er, tail, este, er, tell. In featurewriting i say, “make your readers able to touch or experience what you touched,” rather than preaching.

Which would you rather be… The lazy side that looks good…? Or the dominant side that does the work….? (you should hear my theory … because the left hemisphere of the brain which governs the right side of the body is more developed than the other side for many people (most people are right-handed because, according to anthropologists, your heart is located nearer your left and our species used the right side to protect the left) –when you are able to develop your underdeveloped hemisphere, in this case, the underdeveloped right hemisphere of the brain which governs the left side of your body, you become more visual, more creative, more perceptive… not that i’d like you to be ambidexterous… sometimes, being balanced is enough.) And so….the headstand, and ashtanga yoga, is about balance. [di ba yun ang sinabi ni Jo (isn’t that what Jo said)]. Pinahaba ko lang! (i just lengthened with explanation!) the lucky color of the day according to the morning show segment is lilac or pink-violet. Happy weekend!