First press to handstand (Arturo update)

So after two years of trying to work out how to do it, and the occasional week obsessing over it and doing little else, I finally nailed the Press to handstand. I'd felt it coming in the last couple of weeks and the last piece slotted into place this week. Thank you Susananda for the tip. Still a bit of faffing about setting up and it's not nice straight legs all the way up but I'll take this for no

Arturo is in China and can't seem to watch the videos so I'll try and describe what's going on just so he can visualise it you understand.

So Arturo,

The video is taken in my shala/frount room as usual. This time I don't have the mat running diagonally but coming out from the wall (a gap of about a foot between the wall and the mat). So there's a good side on shot. Black manduka, brown yogitoes and I'm in the blue Adidas pants with the white stripe and the white headband/tenugui.

I begin Sury Namaskara as per usual. Inhale arms up, Exhale bend forward hands down beside my feet. Quite a deep forward bend and you can see from the little shakes of my backside that I'm already trying to get my hips up high.

Inhale look up, I bring my hands forward slightly in the video, there's some hesitation, still haven't decided where best to have my hands, beside my feet or a little in frount? I decide on a little in frount, dragging my finger lightly along the towel.

Now I begin to place them and get myself in position. There's some shifting about as I ground the hands and try to get my hips up as high as possible and as far forward.

Then I come up onto tiptoe. This is I think what made all the difference and It's something I picked up from Susan last week. So bloody obvious and I think I used to do it, but stopped. It's why I needed that little hop and/or hoppette to get me started. On tiptoes you can get your hips just that little higher and further forward.

A Little bit more faffing about as I get myself set up

Then I start to lean a little further forward and press down through the hands (very imnportant to press down through the hands, woops). My eyes are looking down, just in frount of my hands, my shoulders over my fingertips. I move forward even more as I being to lift, shoulders are now in frount of the fingertips as is my gaze. This is new too, and has been coming over the last few weeks, trusting myself a little more not to overbalance and fall forwards, perhaps I've become a little stronger from Full vinyasa and the extra twenty odd Sury's per practice.

My feet lift gracefully off the mat, not the lightest hint of a hop.

But that's the only bit of grace. I can't bring the legs up straight yet, my knees bend as I bring them towards my backside and then take them up into handstand.

And that's pretty much it of the important bit. I'm a little off balance and have to touch off the wall a couple of times.

I come down bending my arms dipping my head towards the mat and drop to my toes then carry on through Sury namaskara as usual. The float up is quite nice and also key. I've been trying to float up hold the legs parallel to the mat and then very very slowly lower them to the mat, lots of bandha control and abs strength going on there I guess, which has probably helped the coming up.

Then I do the whole thing again pretty much the same. The lift isn't as good as I forget to go all the way up on to tiptoes but it's a better handstand, no tapping off the wall.

And there you are, hope you can visualise it.

So tiptoes have helped, bringing my shoulders further over my fingertips, even in frount of them has helped.

Lots of float ups and holding them and no doubt all the extra sury's of Full vinyasa have helped too. Oh and no doubt all the extra bandha and pranayama work as well.