“When passion meets inspiration, an obsession is born.” — Anonymous
In case you haven’t guessed already, I’m a teensy bit obsessed with handstands. I talk about them a lot and I do at least one handstand every day. Most days, I do around 10 in some form — at the wall, away from the wall, timed hold at the wall, some in the morning and a few more in the evening. You get the idea. So when I travel, finding a way to feed the obsession is paramount.
First thing I do when I arrive at my hotel room — scope out places for handstand. Not checking for bed bugs, or removing the supposedly germ-ridden comforters on the bed. Not me. I’m looking for wall space with no desks, chairs, lamps, dressers or other obstructions laying in wait to sabotage my kick ups or my fall downs (as is often the case).
At home doing handstands, I have a routine. I start in one of the spare bedrooms upstairs doing some abs, a one-minute timed handstand at the wall, followed by balancing with my chest toward the wall first, and then slowly reaching my feet toward the sky. Then I move to a different bedroom and do at least four handstands on my mat with no wall. But when I’m traveling, I don’t have my spare bedrooms for practicing, or the luxury of excess space for kicking up and falling, meaning improvisation is in order.
This past weekend, at the Hilton Garden in Greenwood, Ind., the hallway was my best option. It was nice and wide, and gave me plenty of space for my kick ups and my fall downs. Luckily, no cleaning carts were in our area and I was able to practice without an audience. (Still not feeling like I want to do handstands in front of a bunch of people, and I’ve found that after 9:00 am, there aren’t many people roaming the hallways.)
Yes, I could skip handstands while I’m traveling, but why would I? I love doing them and they’ve become a part of my life. I like knowing that I truly get better every time I try them, and still to this day I feel joy when I find myself holding one for even a millisecond. Yeah it may be a little strange — a grown woman doing handstands in hotel hallways — but I admit it, I’m obsessed, and I’m OK with it.
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