The Shala Daily

Bonus: Functional Ashtanga Range Conditioning for Handstand

One of the genuine pleasures of this job is getting to refer people out. I mean that. I’m always happy to work one on one — that’s the whole point of what we do here — but when someone shows up bound and determined to pick up a specific skill, there’s a whole world of brilliant people and places ready to meet them. These aren’t random Google results. These are spaces, teachers, and communities that I’ve personally used or that have been heavily referred to me — and usually both. Passing someone along to exactly the right resource isn’t a failure of teaching. It’s the whole game.

One of the things I love about this practice — and by “this practice” I mean whatever weirdo movement rabbit hole you’ve gone down that brought you here — is how seriously you have to mean it. You can’t fake your way into a handstand. You can’t hustle past a front lever. The body keeps honest records.

The good news? Real help is out there. And it’s more accessible than you might think.

A lot of people don’t know this, but many Olympic-level coaches are available for private instruction, both in person and online. If you live in a major metropolitan area, you’re probably in luck. If not, consider booking a long weekend somewhere to get a session or three in. And of course, online coaching — whether in individual sessions, prerecorded group classes, or live group work — is a genuinely brilliant way to learn. The internet flattened a lot of gatekeeping, and the skilled movers of the world mostly seem to want to share what they know.

Here in DC, we have Physicality doing excellent work. Physicality DC is a community of athletes and coaches formed around a shared passion for bodyweight fitness, sustainable health, and continuous self-improvement, running their studio on the H Street Corridor and offering group classes and personal training. They use bodyweight movements drawn from gymnastics, calisthenics, and strength training — a method used by only a handful of gyms in the world. They started as a Gymnastic Strength Training focused gym and have evolved beautifully. GST and other skill-based protocols are a fantastic complement to yoga practice — the progressions are intelligent, the demands are humbling, and the payoff is real.

Online, two names I’d send anyone to immediately are Micah Walters and Fit Queen Irene. Micah is an online movement coach specializing in flexibility, acrobatics, and handstands, with two decades of coaching experience across gymnastics, dance, yoga, and fitness. His approach emphasizes “alignment first, then amplitude” — prioritizing corrective exercises to achieve a baseline before pushing for deeper flexibility or skill development. That philosophy, by the way, should sound very familiar to anyone who’s spent time on the mat. Fit Queen Irene — Irene Pappas — teaches online and in-person yoga, contortion, and handstand classes. Both offer a range of live and on-demand formats, so there’s no excuse.

If you’re in or near New York and want community circus training, two spots stand out. CirqueHaus is located just north of Hudson Yards in Midtown Manhattan and is designed to offer comprehensive access to open training for members and instructors — something that had never before been available to the NYC circus and movement community. And then there’s Warrior Bridge, which has been quietly extraordinary for a decade now. Founded in 2015 in downtown Manhattan’s Seaport neighborhood, Warrior Bridge is known for its specialized classes in acrobatics, inversions, handstands, and flexibility, and began sharing instruction online in 2020 with live virtual classes and high-quality video. It’s a multi-disciplinary studio training mind, body, and spirit through yoga, martial arts, meditation, and acrobatics, sitting in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge at 250 Front Street.

I should also mention — handstands are worth falling in love with. Deeply. They are also worth being patient about. There is no quick fix.

When I was in college, my friend Jim Bathurst had a blog called Beast Skills. Jim started it in 2004, leveraging his expertise in gymnastics, strength, and bodyweight exercises. He grew up playing team sports before gravitating toward gymnastics, eventually joining Gymkana at the University of Maryland — an exhibition gymnastics team that performed for local schools. He found that there wasn’t much accessible information out there for people who wanted to learn acrobatic skills as adults, so he built the resource he wished existed. Jim has since become an award-winning personal trainer based in Washington DC, internationally requested for his expertise and regularly traveling the country to give gymnastics seminars. He’s a buddy of mine these days. He’s still sharing. The world is pretty amazing that way.

The thread connecting all of these people and places is the same one running through Ashtanga: intelligent progression, honest assessment, and genuine care for the student in front of them. Whether you’re working toward a press handstand or just trying to kick up against the wall without crumpling, find someone who has done the work and is willing to show you the way. They exist. They are reachable.

Go find them.