Josh Kramer On His Journey To Handstand Workshop
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Over the past year, I have been flying around the world, from New Zealand and Australia to Africa and across Asia teaching my yoga workshop series, Journey to Handstand. I've seen Sri Lanka from a makeshift bamboo boat and explored tropical islands off the coast of Timor-Leste. I've experienced Manila's unsettling red light district and traveled across Bali by motorbike. I've even used coconut trees in place of walls while teaching my handstand workshop on island beaches—all of it in service of sharing my passion for handstands and, in a broader sense, sharing my experience of yoga, wellness and travel.
What learning to handstand and traveling share: unfamiliarity
If there is one thing I've learned about travel, it's that it forces you to venture outside of your comfort zone and embrace unfamiliarity in all regards. Sounds a lot like yoga, doesn't it? I have always made a conscious effort to incorporate my experiences of travel into my practice, as well as my classes and workshops. That is why I have called it Journey to Handstand. Just like travel, yoga is an individual and personalized journey. Our paths are undefined, and there is no fixed destination.
Beyond the upside down
Whether I am teaching in a studio on a remote island in Bali or a metropolitan fitness center in Singapore, I have come to experience handstands as so much more than simply balancing on your hands. They offer a journey that is different for each individual, physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. That journey feels a lot like travel—it provides an opportunity for introspection and self study, and to learn more about who you are.
Through my experiences, I've observed one thing—every single moment is an opportunity to soak up the beautiful chaos that is life, both on and off the mat, at home and as far-flung as you can imagine.
It isn't the end result of a handstand that is enlightening. It's the journey that changes your life.
