Shadowing Practice: It’s Not Too Late | April Nading | TEDxUSI - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

⏸ Paused

Speed:

288 sentences

If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.

Well, this is exciting.

I love it when so many people come out to learn how to do handstands.

Just kidding.

You're not all going to do handstands,

but I am going to talk about them.

Namely, how learning to do a handstand in my 50s changed my life

and made me realize that if you challenge yourself and refuse to give up,

it's not too late to go after your big dreams or goals and to make things happen for yourself.

I'm April Nading, but my alter ego is the handstanding grandma.

I'm a 63-year-old grandmother with four grandchildren, and I do handstands.

Now, you may be thinking,

she probably did handstands as a kid,

and then re-learned them in her 50s.

Is it really that big a deal that she's doing handstands now?

But here's the thing.

Not only had I never done a handstand in my younger life,

I never even participated in any physical activities.

That's because I grew up in a non-sports house.

In our non-sports house, my parents didn't play or watch sports,

and neither did I.

I can even remember my parents making fun of people who like sports,

shaking their heads in disappointment when they heard someone mention baseball or basketball or football.

Not only did we not like sports, we were just inactive.

No pitch and catch in the backyard,

no family bowling nights, no miniature golf outings.

So needless to say, I did not excel in gym class.

As a matter of fact,

I hated gym class, and I was usually one of the last people picked for the team.

But I didn't really care because I didn't want to play in the first place.

I scoffed at physical activities, just like my parents.

I thought it was a big waste of time and I did not want to be a part of it.

Now that inactive trend and bad attitude about sports and physical activity continued through high school,

college, and in early adulthood.

I even managed to marry someone who shared the same disinterest in sports as I did.

Again, no sports in our house.

But that all changed after my divorce at the age of 39.

I started dating a guy who practiced hot yoga,

and he was insistent that I practice with him.

Hot yoga?

Do you know about hot yoga?

Prior to that, I had never heard of hot yoga,

and what I found out did not make me want to do it.

Did you know they heat the room to 110 degrees?

And then, as if that isn't hot enough and drippy enough for you,

they have humidifiers blasting to make it even hotter and drippier.

I had no interest in doing this.

I'm a prissy girl.

Do you know what humidity does to my hair?

But still, I caved, and I went to hot yoga,

and I hated it.

I can remember lying on the floor,

thinking, please, God, blow some cold air on me.

And then I even started wondering,

Maybe the instructor doesn't realize how hot it is.

Should I raise my hand and let her know?

They know.

Every time I went, I swore it would be my last time. But you know what?

I noticed a difference in my body after just a few weeks.

For the first time in my life,

I had muscle tone, at an age that some would consider to be later in life.

My children even noticed my newfound strength and said,

Mom, you have big muscles.

And then people started describing me as athletic.

Me, the girl who never played sports,

was being described as athletic.

And not only did I notice a difference in my appearance,

this hot yoga and being in shape was also changing my perspective.

I realized that if I practiced and made an effort,

I actually got better at the poses.

And just by practicing two or three times a week,

I had more stamina in my everyday life.

I didn't get out of breath going up and down the stairs.

My arm didn't hurt from carrying my coat when I walked through the mall.

Sex was better.

And that's not all.

I even started eating better.

It didn't really make sense to go through all that sweat

and punishment and then ruin it with a Big mac and a milkshake,

and I started paying attention to what I was putting in my body.

I even started drinking water.

Did I mention that in my non-sports,

non-active house, we never drank water?

Although I don't really think anybody in the 1960s and 70s intentionally drank water.

We were pretty much weaned on sweet tea and soft drinks,

and that's what we drank morning, noon, and night.

Yoga made such a positive difference in my life, I kept practicing.

I liked that I I'd looked and felt stronger and could put my body in positions I'd never heard of.

I became an instructor and an advocate for physical fitness.

Again, me, the girl who hated gym class,

was now a middle-aged woman in the best shape of her life.

Now that's not supposed to happen, is it?

Middle age is when we're supposed to go downhill physically, or is it?

Or is that something we just tell ourselves in order to give ourselves permission to be out of shape?

Another thing I noticed was that being strong

and in shape also made me feel more confident and like I could try new things.

And not just in the yoga room in the gym,

it carried over into my everyday life.

By the way, the yoga guy and I broke up.

100

I kept doing yoga, but he did not.

101

And then in 2012, my 50th birthday rolled around.

102

I love birthdays.

103

I especially love milestone birthdays.

104

And I decided for my 50th,

105

I needed to do something really meaningful.

106

So I came up with a list of 50 things to do my 50th year.

107

Now, some of those things were really important,

108

like spending more time with my mother,

109

flossing my teeth, learning more yoga Sanskrit.

110

But as I scrambled to fill that list,

111

50 things is a lot,

112

I just started throwing in random items.

113

And one of them was learn to do a handstand.

114

Now, I'm still not sure why I put that on there.

115

Like I said, I'd never done one as a kid,

116

and as an adult, it just wasn't something that I really cared about.

117

I'd even been to some yoga workshops where the instructor would say,

118

OK, let's go to the wall and work on handstands,

119

and I'd get kind of mad about it.

120

I didn't care about learning a handstand.

121

I realize now, though, that what made me angry was the fact

122

that I was so far removed from doing a handstand that I didn't even want to try to do it.

123

I was pretty good at convincing myself that it didn't matter if I tried.

124

I mean, if I didn't try, I didn't fail.

125

And then I didn't feel foolish trying to do something that I knew I couldn't do in the first place.

126

Isn't it crazy how our brains work?

127

Sometimes our own minds work against us.

128

Doesn't it seem like they should always be working for us,

129

saying rah-rah things like, you can do it,

130

or how will you do it if you We never try.

131

Instead, our minds say, this is too hard,

132

you're too old, it's too late to try that.

133

And then we manage to convince ourselves

134

that there's really no point in trying difficult things that we somehow decide don't really matter in the first place.

135

But I decided I would work on handstands.

136

I mean, I had written it down and sort of put it out there to the universe.

137

It seemed like I should at least try to do it.

138

First thing I had to get past,

139

though, was the F word.

140

F-E-A-R, fear.

141

It's the four-letter word that digs its claws in and holds us captive.

142

Everybody's been afraid of something.

143

Sometimes fear keeps us from doing stupid things.

144

But oftentimes, we let fear,

145

mostly fear of failure, hold us back and stop us from trying new things and moving forward.

146

Now, some of my fears were legitimate.

147

Fear of looking foolish, fear of falling.

148

I mean, I might be in good shape,

149

but I am not quite as cavalier about falling and hurting myself as I was as a kid.

150

So at first, my fear-filled attempts at handstanding consisted of me putting my hands on the floor,

151

willing myself to kick up,

152

and then nothing, nothing happened because I was afraid.

153

Now, I could have thrown in the towel and said,

154

who cares if I handstand?

155

I wasn't being graded.

156

I wasn't going to make more money or get a promotion.

157

And truthfully, I wasn't going to do all the other things on my 50 list.

158

I mean, I had put Go Camping on there,

159

and that was so not going to happen.

160

So wouldn't that have been a great way to talk myself out of doing something that was difficult and scared me?

161

But I didn't talk myself out of it.

162

I went to workshops on how to do handstands.

163

I watched videos and I read articles.

164

And eventually, I was able to kick up to the wall without a spotter.

165

Yes.

166

But I was really bad at it.

167

My attempts at kicking up weren't just awkward.

168

They were clumsy and they were noisy.

169

Kabam!

170

Kabam!

171

So loud that my kids would come running in the room to make sure I hadn't hurt myself

172

or put a hole in the wall.

173

Now I have to say this was a little discouraging

174

and sometimes I'd back away from handstands and pretend like they didn't matter.

175

But it did matter.

176

I really wanted to do this.

177

Sure, it was challenging.

178

Sure, I was a middle-aged grandmother trying to learn how to do a handstand.

179

Sure, there was a chance that I might hurt myself.

180

But there was also the distinct possibility that I might eventually get it.

181

So I kept practicing, and I actually started making some progress.

182

Still wasn't kicking up in the middle of the room.

183

But my kabams became thuds,

184

and like a drug, my small improvements gave me a high that left me wanting more.

185

And then came the setbacks.

186

You didn't think this was a smooth sailing,

187

nothing bad happened story, did you?

188

In 2015, I had rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder.

189

Now, this wasn't due to handstands.

190

This was just stupid arthritis that caused bone spurs and caused a tear.

191

But that put everything physical on the back burner.

192

No more hot yoga, no more handstands,

193

just at-home exercises and physical therapy for several months.

194

Now, I could have skipped the surgery and used a rotator cuff tear as a reason to not do handstands anymore.

195

I mean, aren't we all subconsciously looking for that legitimate reason to explain why we're no longer doing something difficult

196

or why we can no longer try?

197

The old April, or should I say the younger April,

198

would have done that.

199

But new April used hot yoga and handstands as a reason to have the surgery and then to work hard on recovery.

200

I was determined to get back to hot yoga and handstands,

201

and I was probably the most diligent patient they've ever had.

202

Now, I must point out here that being in good shape does not make you impervious to illness or injury,

203

but it does help with your recovery.

204

In fact, my physical therapist said that my fitness level put my recovery way ahead of most patients.

205

But that wasn't the only setback.

206

In 2018, I had rotator cuff surgery on the other shoulder.

207

Just bone spurs this time and not a tear,

208

so the recovery wasn't as long.

209

But still, no handstands or hot yoga for several weeks.

210

Then in 2019, just as I was getting brave enough to start kicking up in the middle of the room

211

and holding it for a millisecond,

212

I fell, hit the dresser,

213

busted open the bottom of my foot,

214

and had to get stitches just below my big toe.

215

Ow!

216

Now, I had some people who thought that would be the end of my handstanding attempts,

217

but it wasn't.

218

I was this close to getting it,

219

and I refused to You give up. And then came 2020.

220

I think we all know what happened in 2020.

221

And while there was a lot of bad stuff going on,

222

I actually had some positives.

223

I started working from home,

224

and that gave me more time to work on handstands.

225

I actually started getting a few seconds of hold time in the middle of the room.

226

I also started planking, streaming them on social media,

227

and worked up to a five-minute hold.

228

I still plank just about every day.

229

Oh, and one other teensy little thing happened in 2020.

230

I had my left hip replaced.

231

Yeah, this hip is an artificial part.

232

Now, I'm not going to lie to you.

233

Finding out I needed a new hip at the age of 57 was a huge blow for me.

234

I was only 57.

235

I was in good shape.

236

This shouldn't happen to me.

237

So I got a new hip.

238

Yes, it was another setback.

239

And wouldn't that have been yet another good reason to stop doing handstands?

240

New hip.

241

Sorry, couldn't do handstands anymore.

242

but a setback is temporary.

243

As a matter of fact,

244

the definition of a setback is a delay in progress, not an end.

245

So even though my recovery would be several weeks,

246

it still wouldn't be too late for me to work on handstands.

247

First thing I asked my doctor when I went for my post-op appointment was,

248

when can I plank and do handstands again?

249

He said I was the first patient who's ever asked him that.

250

Now, I didn't have to go back to doing handstands and planks,

251

but what was the point of getting my new hip if I wasn't going to use it to do things I enjoyed?

252

I also should mention here that in 2024,

253

I had my other hip replaced.

254

Apparently, what happens on one side usually happens on the other.

255

Now, it was shortly after my first hip replacement recovery that I began to feel more confident in my handstand abilities.

256

Oh, it still took me numerous times to kick up,

257

and I still fell out a lot,

258

but now without humiliation and injury.

259

And I realized that all the drills and practices and injuries and setbacks over a seven-year time period were worth it.

260

Did you hear what I just said?

261

It took me seven years to learn how to do a handstand away from the wall.

262

Seven years.

263

Does that sound crazy?

264

Would I have done it if someone had told me from the beginning,

265

it might take me seven years to learn how to do it.

266

I'm not sure, but I'm so glad I did.

267

And I'm actually happy that it wasn't easy.

268

Now, let me explain why.

269

If it had been easy,

270

I would have missed out on that wonderful journey.

271

If it had been easy,

272

I wouldn't have experienced that wonderful feeling of accomplishment from my success.

273

If it had been easy,

274

I wouldn't have these great stories to share with others.

275

Now, my intention is not to convince you to do a handstand,

276

although I am always happy to talk about them if you're interested.

277

I want you to find your handstand,

278

your goal, your thing you've been wanting to do

279

but think it might be too hard to do or too late to try.

280

The thing you've been putting off because you're afraid of trying or failing.

281

The thing that will make you excited to get out of bed in the morning.

282

That's truly how I feel about handstands.

283

It may be hard, it may take a few years, but so what?

284

The personal satisfaction you'll gain from your accomplishment will stay with you for the rest of your life.

285

Find your handstand.

286

Life's too short, but it's not too late.

287

Reviewer.

288

Thank you.

TRENDING

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

☕ Buy us a coffee

ShadowingEnglish remains 100% free thanks to your support. Server and AI costs are high — your coffee keeps us going! 🙏

Donate via PayPal

ShadowingEnglish.com – English Shadowing Practice

Speak English fluently using the Shadowing technique. Listen to native YouTube videos, repeat sentence by sentence, and build real pronunciation and fluency — used by IELTS learners worldwide.

Shadowing Practice: It’s Not Too Late | April Nading | TEDxUSI - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

Popular

Why practice speaking with this video?

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Common Pronunciation Traps

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing Practice: It’s Not Too Late | April Nading | TEDxUSI - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

Download App

Why practice speaking with this video?

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Common Pronunciation Traps

What is the Shadowing Technique?