1 minute headstand
-My (42nd) Birthday challenge -
Well. It’s done!
After 11 months of daily exploration and practice (In between handstand sets) things came together last week when I managed to pull it off. ONE MINUTE Headstand Challenge is complete!
This was very different than my previous challenges (the 40 press challenge, and the 10 minute hold which I completed a year ago). While in the previous challenges I had to PUSH and give it all (“eye of the tiger" to the max…), this time it was much more technical and mental, and required far more preparation, practice, and self study.
The funny thing about this video is that my camera stopped filming at around 58 seconds into the headstand!!! I heard the camera beep and couldn’t believe it happened… but luckily I just stayed there for a few more seconds and made it happen. But that means that you guys need to trust me, as technically I don’t have proof...
But the bottom line is that I can now balance on my head, and it’s more than just luck… I went through a very interesting process of learning, research, experimentation, joint preparation (neck), facing some fears, and breaking it down to different preparatory drills, some of which I gathered from others, and other drills that I simply "discovered” and adopted along the way.
I would like to thank again Yuval OZ for his guidance and the amazing doughnut he made for me, and Henri Bruère-Dawson whose instructions, tips and feedback were invaluable in this year of headstand exploration. Of course there Is Claude Victoria who sparked my interest in this art more than 10 years ago and continues to set the high standards on both my handstand practice and now also in my headstand practice.
I started this birthday challenge thing right before my 40th birthday in what I thought at the time was some sort “Acrobat’s midlife crisis”… Maybe it is something of that sort, but it’s sure fun (in a weird way) and has proved as a great way to continue pushing my career and skills forward…
See you next year with my next (un decided) challenge…
Cheers,
Yuval