Last night at yoga I did a dumb thing. I wanted to challenge myself more in my handstand so I tried it with my back pointing into the room rather than towards the wall, as I normally do. When I do a handstand with my back towards the wall, I can really only fall in one direction, and that’s the direction my feet would come down anyway. With my back facing into the room there’s a whole new possibility; going too far and ending up in a backbend, which is exactly what happened. And though I can do a backbend (called a “wheel” in our style of yoga) easily starting on my back on the floor, coming into a backbend from a handstand is an entirely different thing in terms of where the stress is.

In this case the stress was felt fully by my left elbow, which hyperextended a little bit, I’m afraid. Ow. I Alleved and Icy-Hotted last night, and have done so again this morning (which means I smell like a great big Wintergreen Lifesaver), but I’m still bending that arm gingerly. Silly girl.

Oh well, now I know. Handstands should always be done with back towards wall. Fewer degrees of freedom is a Good Thing where I’m concerned.