Hanging upside down or doing handstands isn’t just for winged nocturnal creatures or suited to those brave single-digit years you long left behind.
Actually, purposely doing inversions – regularly and at any age – can have a range of mind-body benefits, say Pilates and yoga experts.
Upending ourselves, heart and/or heels over head might be contrary to our usual physical locomotive nature, but in a sense, it encourages us to move away from the habitual and build (or re-build) strength and confidence,.
This can be achieved by simply by altering one’s perspective, literally.
Whether you’re just elevating your legs against a wall, or you finally go for your first unsupported headstand in yoga class, inversions are a great way to both calm and reinvigorate.
It also gives the upper body a chance to balance itself out with the lower half, which is more often supporting us.
The Hundred Pilates Studio instructor Walid Tebarki – who loves to take clients onto the Pilates Cadillac, among other Pilates machinery, for a dose of Inversion Therapy – says it is great fun.
“Once clients get over all the fear, anxiety, rejection/doubt, excitement and butterflies, it’s crazy to see their face and the attitude of the body," said Tebarki.
“Once they’ve gone through these emotional steps, and finally done it, they suddenly become somebody else, like children again. Suddenly, they realise that they can do anything.
“So certainly it’s fun, builds balance and confidence, but also the attempt itself of doing it builds focus – I can see them concentrating so hard.”
You can see how going through such a rollercoaster of emotions in the wake of an impending challenge can be likened to life itself and the things we are faced with on the day-to-day.
Inversions truly are character building.
Tebarki adds: “I teach a lot of things, but there’s seriously something special about inversions – handstands, headstands, whatever – people sometimes say ‘Thank you’ after they’ve done it. To me, it’s like ‘hello, it’s just an inversion’, but I guess it changes their life.”
Benefits of inversions
Contraindications