Photo Update
Remember my blurry phone photo of me doing a sit up on the Lyra about a month ago?
Well this one was two weeks ago:
It's a big step up from just doing sit ups while hanging by my knees. I'd fallen off the hoop already and I cannot tell you how much this hurt to do, but I did it. I didn't fall and I got my legs back on the hoop to dismount smoothly.
This may be my favorite picture of me ever.
Flash forward to tonight. No lessons since the one you see above and in a new space.
Think back to that pic of me hanging by my knees. From there you swing your body up and grab onto the hoop then use both your hands and your legs to pull your body up the rest of the way and sit down in the hoop. Looks easy, sounds easy, but in two months I'd never been able to get myself up. I was ecstatic. My lovely teacher and classmates (who are all dear and lovely friends) cried and cheered.
And we learned a new trick tonight since I could now sit in the hoop. I got this one on the first try and it felt amazing and so very pretty.
These lessons have been such an amazing journey for me. Tonight i felt like I'd broken through a wall and had made leaps and bounds in the span of an hour. I would not have had the courage to do this without Trina and Kat there cheering me on and inspiring me with their own amazing abilities. The both of them have never looked more beautiful than when they get on that hoop.
But most importantly I could not have done this if it wasn't for my incredible friend Nancy. She's the one that believed I could do this even when I did not. She has been more than a teacher through this She has been a cheerleader and a guide. She gets almost more excited than I do when I learn a new trick or break through something I had struggled with. If only everyone who stepped into the role of teacher could have that much passion. Seeing how much my achievements affect her fills me with my own sense of pride beyond what I feel for just doing this new thing. It is inspiring to know that I am doing this in a special environment. To be able to come together as a group of women who can be as invested in each other's success as we are with our own in a rare and beautiful thing. It's something special that has made me feel like I'm not just learning to fly. I'm learning to soar.