In the morning I shake off the night with a varying yoga routine on our patio, listening to the cicadas and sea waves rolling up on to the piers below. Each session has a different tone and theme contingent upon how I feel.
However, there is one pose in particular that I have brought out of hibernation and it has quickly become a regular. I have gotten back into the habit of practicing handstands.
Handstands can be easy to leave off the morning menu, but I have been making a concerted effort to kick my legs up the wall, engage my arms and melt my heart into a handstand. But, before I marry my hands to the floor, I enter the sacred contract with myself to check my ego at the edge of the mat and be present and accept where I am in that moment. Some times my handstands feel easier than on other days, but I am always guaranteed to experience the post-handstand high, which is worth every sweat drop.
If you still aren't convinced that reversing gravity should be on your carte de jour maybe these benefits will persuade you: give your vital organs a much-needed rest, improve circulation, respiration, along with elimination, increase concentration, mental clarity and provides the bone-strengthening benefits of weight-bearing exercise to the wrists, fingers, elbows, arms, and shoulders, which may help to prevent osteoporosis.
Click here to read an excellent article on beginning a handstand practice.
After my sun-filled yoga session I tend to refuel with a whopping plate or two or three of watermelon. As a matter of fact, these days I can't seem to get enough.
Yesterday, we consumed an 8kg mammoth in a couple sittings and the day before a 7kg melon. Luckily, watermelons in Croatia are well priced, no doubt because they are locally grown.
To be honest, I can't recall eating nicer watermelon anywhere else on the planet. Croatian melons are superior in quality - to me anyway. And of course it helps that they haven't been shlepped around the globe to make it to my mouth.
Most people think melons are just a bit of water in a pretty pink and green package, however they are a summertime superfood and have the most nutrition per calorie of common foods.
Here are some watermelon perks that should encourage you to get the juicy fruit running down your chin and elbows (of course you don't have to be as extreme in your consumption as I have been!): excellent source of vitamin C, B, especially B1 (thiamine) and B6 (pyridoxine), high content of lycopene, potassium and magnesium etc
Click here to read more about the health giving mammoth we call a watermelon.
Basically, what I am suggesting is that If you want to start off the day feeling like a powerhouse then include at least one handstand in your morning yoga routine then follow it by a watermelon breakfast. It really is a win-win combination.
*As always please be mindful of your body when trying new poses. If in doubt seek the advice of a qualified yoga teacher.
