Where Did the Magic Go?

Don’t try to hold your balance, reach up into it.

In a forearm stand, like in life, we’re often trying to rise up and out of the need to control. We push ourselves upward, above the whirlpool of mental noise, fears, and stories that keep us stuck in small, conventional living. We think: If I just get it right… if I just hold on tighter… I’ll find balance.

But real balance (and the magic that comes with it) doesn’t come from gripping. It comes from reaching up and risking a little.

We’re taught to believe that if we micromanage every detail, everything will fall into place. Since childhood, we’ve trained our minds to solve, fix, and force—valuing logic, analysis, and output above intuition, creativity, and flow. And somewhere along the way, we forgot that life doesn’t respond to control. It responds to presence. We think that if we can keep our lives from spinning out of control, then finally we’ll achieve that peace and contentment we so long for. However, we miss the simple fact that letting go of control is the only way to keep our lives within control.

I love this quote from Zen in the Art of Archery:

“The right art,” cried the Master, “is purposeless, aimless! The more obstinately you try to learn how to shoot the arrow for the sake of hitting the goal, the less you will succeed in the one and the further the other will recede. What stands in your way is that you have a much too willful will. You think that what you do not do yourself does not happen.”
— Zen in the Art of Archery

In forearm stand, this truth becomes clear. You can’t force your way into balance by clenching your fists, locking your jaw, or overthinking your alignment. You build a steady base, yes. You prepare. You focus. But then—you rise. You let go of perfection and reach up through the unknown, through fear, through the wobble. You trust.

Just like in life, if you only focus on controlling the foundation—if you're obsessing over whether things are perfect down below—you’ll never rise.

Real freedom, bliss, and magic happens when you take the risk to lift off and feel your way into balance. And that kind of balance can’t happen when the mind is in overdrive.

Our modern minds are constantly spinning, what the yogis call the citta vrittis—the whirlings of the mind. We’ve handed so much power to our thoughts that now they run the show, keeping us agitated, anxious, and disconnected from the joy of simply being.

But here’s the thing: you are not your thoughts.You are the awareness underneath them.

And just like in forearm stand, the solution isn’t to force the mind into silence—it’s to focus it. To give it something steady to rest on, like the breath. To rise and fall. That’s how we shift from chaos to calm. From clenching to rising.

When we turn upside down—on the mat or in life—we see from a new perspective. We remember we’re not here just to survive our routines, to repeat the same patterns day in and day out. We are here to rise, to expand, to experience the subtle, mysterious, creative corners of ourselves that are only revealed when we stop forcing and controlling.

Tap into the energy field where the feminine soul reveals itself—in all its beauty, fierce power, and magnetism. “Flowing is the state of being fluid, or hanging loose and being flexible. The rhythm of the feminine connects us to the flow of our individual energy, our base current. When we dance long and hard enough to cast off the world’s spell, our inner rhythm takes over and we begin to sense who we truly are and how great our potential is.” - Gabrielle Roth

Whether through dancing, a forearm stand, deep steady breaths, or a quiet moment of stillness—balance begins when we stop gripping for it.

So today, set your gaze. Build your foundation. Then let go. Reach up. Rise. And let yourself flow.

Yours Truly,

Fernanda