How to do a handstand with minimal effort

What to loose and what to keep? That question is important when you are clearing out the house but also when you practice handstands. When you start to practice handstands it seems like you need to use EVERY muscle in your body only to stay up for a few seconds. As you get better you…

The creative process

This post is not about handstands 🙂 It is about the process of making a performance and about the creative process that accompanies it. – To give you a bit of context: I am making a new performance! It is going to be an outdoor show, I am aiming at 30 minutes length and the…

Learning new movement

I want to start this with a quote from one of my favourite books: “The choreographer’s handbook” by Jonathan Burrows. A book about the creative process, the body and perception. It is made for choreographers but I find the insights can be transferred to many areas of life. He says: “Learning motor skills is emotionally…

The inner dialogue of learning

Next time you practice handstands I invite you to pay attention to your thoughts. You may find that your mind is much busier than expected. When I practice I can often observe a dialogue with myself that comments and encourages, evaluates and compares what I do. Sometimes the dialogue refers to the previous moment, sometimes…

Are we there yet? – Practice and time

When you practice handstands it can sometimes appear as if the progress is very slow. It feels like even though you are putting in the time, you are not really getting anywhere. I encounter this frustration in many of my students and sometimes in myself. In this post I wanted to share some of my…

The mindset for efficient handstand training

For a while now I wanted to write about the difference between habitual repetition and intensive practice. Understanding the difference between the two can mean that we get more out of our daily training. It took me a while to know the difference myself. When I read Daniel Coyle’s book “The talent code” I realized…

Intensive handstand training

Every type of physical activity has its own charm. One of the charms of handstand training is the intensely strenuous, grinding work. Handstand training creates a pumping heat in your body, your muscles burn, you feel the pressure in your joints, and there can be that ill feeling of your body tearing at its seams…

Developing your own practice

Within everything I teach there is a core principle: Get to know yourself. Know what is good and necessary for you, for your particular body type at this point in your life. Learn how to listen to the repercussions any movement has within your body. Be aware, curious and critical and actively shape your future training.