thoughts on back bends and inversions

I used to be in the yoga way, practicing rather seriously for almost ten years before an injury sidelined me. A true yogi would have practiced through the injury and it is likely doing so might have hastened my recovery. But not being able to do standing poses as I was not able to do any weight bearing exercise, or bending my legs due to my knee injury, left me out of the main flow of any yoga class. So I discovered Pilates and now three years later have gained significant core strength and fitness from these exercises. The true test of this strength comes as I now return to more and more yoga practice all the time. I was relatively competent at inversions--handstands, shoulder stand and head stand. Though I was still relying on the belt and the wall. I had even managed to get vertical in pincha mayurasana, the feathered peacock pose (http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/1711_1.cfm) where you balance on your forearms, feet over head. Since my injury felled me in the fall of 2004, I have neglected backbends and inversions. I have discovered that now, with the core strength I've gained from Pilates, I can do shoulder stands with ease, just curling my tail bone right up and over. Finally I can do halasana, the plow pose, touch my toes over my head when I do the shoulder stand. So I thought I would give it a try and voila, kicked right up into handstand. I strapped the belt around my arms, just above my elbows, shoulder width apart, did downward dog facing the wall, fingers 6 inches away, and kicked up. voila. I have been doing handstands now, again for a few weeks, each time getting up easier, though I have yet to shed the belt. Today, for the first time in years I thought I would try the peacock pose. It was easy! Easier in fact than handstand! Then I rolled over into shoulder stand and found the floor with my feet-- halasana, the first time ever. No scrunched up throat, I felt sufficient lift and space in my thorax to make it comfortable. Wow! I am energized and excited by this. As I free myself from the belt, and move from the wall, I will enjoy the dual benefits of backbends-- energizing me, and inversions-- bringing clarity and enhanced circulation. I am so psyched. Then, to top it off, I weighed in post work out and much to my delight the scale tilted sub 210 (just barely). Zowee. no doubt about it, losing weight really helps with the asana practice. I am inclined sign up for a yoga class, once again. Of course I still can't really bend my legs...