I forgot to add that I did it - I've been practicing handstand on my own without the wall and now I'm getting up. I mean, I fall over immediately, but there's that moment of holding which means that now it's just repetition. The cool thing is, once I decided that I wasn't practicing to learn handstand but practicing to learn to fall in handstand, I started getting up. Yay for me.
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Here are some quotes (paraphrases, as it were) that have been on my mind lately:
What you give away you get to keep. (I have no idea who said this and don't feel like googling. Apologies.)
A wise teacher teaches through approach, not avoidance. He does not emphasize what you must avoid to escape from harm, but what you need to learn to have joy. It is surely better to use only three words: "Do only that!" This simple statement is pefectly clear, easily understood and very easily remembered. -- Course in Miracles, on teaching