Not even in my petal-dew youth did I attempt the hand stand! Yet here I was many pounds later and several years into middle age, being faced with the opportunity to overcome my fear of suspension, of trusting the pose, of easing myself into one fluid motion of hanging over my head looking down at both hands.

I noticed that the fear I felt in trusting my arms and upper body and legs to hold me up (and not collapse) felt the same way in other areas of my life such as when I was attempting to make a leap to the next step in my career or to risk intimacy at a deeper level.

However, this time, the fear was amplified by the realization that I could physically hurt myself if everything didn't go as planned.

Even with''spotter'' ready and waiting to help me lift my legs up above my head, I am still only able to get into the downward dog and practice floating my legs up one at a time, but never holding them into position. And this is okay. I could choose to simply not ever do a hand stand, but for me—because the fear is so familiar to other situations in my life, I know that this pose is teaching me how to listen to myself at a deeper level.