Rope Burn: An Adventure in Humility

[lilmissnever]

Oh, my few remaining readers, remember those halcyon days when I returned from the Dominican Republic feeling stronger, smarter, and more flexible, capable of achieving all things in relation to the aerial circus arts? That was nice, wasn't it? I'd grown comfortable with the idea that, while I will never be as good as my teachers, who can and do

Comments

[tyggerjai]

Who was the instructor? His name wasn't Julian, was it?

[lilmissnever]

His name is Alex. I think that he must perform under another name, because I cannot find any video of his act. This is a terrible pity, because he is very good. The teenage girls were even better, in some ways. They did not hesitate to pack their acts with every single difficult trick they knew, performed one right after the other. I was deeply impressed.

[frandroid]

I once went to an aikido seminar given by a big time sensei, like 8th dan or something, I think he lived in Japan and this was in Toronto. During the lunch break I started practicing my breakfalls, which I couldn't land properly (and still can't, but I don't practice aikido anymore... I would be a nice thing to master though), in full view of everyone, ego be damned. My sensei eventually came to me to give me some tips, which is when I realized that amusingly enough, I was probably embarrassing her. Hah.

[lilmissnever]

I think I'd allowed myself to grow a little complacent in my regular classes. I am working out with a group of (mostly) women who are all at about the same level as I am. We all have about the same levels of strength and flexibility. We all know the same moves and the same sequences. It's very easy for all of us to just go around in circles, going over things we already know instead of pushing each other to be better.

Working with people who are very clearly above my skill level didn't turn me into a skilled professional, but I think it's gone a long way towards getting me out of my rut--even if it is a bit bruising to the ego.

Learning to fall is surprisingly difficult. In rope class, we had an exercise that involved swinging (beating) until your body is parallel to the floor and then letting go, falling directly onto your back on a crash mat. The first couple of times I tried it, I could not let go. Every instinct I had screamed you idiot, do not let go of the rope! I'd spent so many years working not to fall that it was very

[ladykalessia]

Last Tuesday our normal yoga teacher was out unexpectedly, and was replaced by the most insane yogini I've ever seen. The woman was like 4'10" and absolutely nothing but sinew and muscle, and she apparently teaches "yoga for athletes" and nobody told her we needed "yoga for people with computer/desk jobs". Halfway through I was camped out in pidgin for another ten minutes, trying to stop crying and get my glute to uncramp. And yet rather than be rude (like an idiot) I just (like an idiot) stayed in the class and (like an idiot) did the poses I could stand. I felt like crap the next day. But yoga this week seemed... easier?

[lilmissnever]

Pidgin pose is actually difficult for me. Everyone else gets into pidgin and relaxes for about five minutes. I get into pidgin and wait and wait and wait for my glutes to stretch out. I keep stretching pidgin because I think that a better pidgin will also give me a better straddle, but it's an uphill battle. These are not things at which I naturally excel.

What kind of yoga do you do? I find that yoga people generally have a strong preference for certain types of yoga over others.

[ladykalessia]

I did pidgin intensively as part of PT when it turned out I'd microtorn my piraformis, and had a bunch of other muscles fucking themselves up to protect it. I totally feel your pain. :\

Given that crazy-yogini seemed to think she was putting us through Vinyassa yoga to match the normal class, I sorta wonder what Jordan has us doing. I think it could be described as "modified vinyassa". Every session she polls the class for suggestions of stuff to work on, and it's often shoulders, hips, back - all the stuff that gets screwed up sitting typing all day. We tend to go fluidly through poses, but it's NOTHING like whipcord lady's class. I have zero experience outside of this (work-sponsored) class, so I can't comment on styles except to say that I think those guys who do two hour Bikram sessions are nuts.

[lilmissnever]

I am generally very flexible, so the couple of places where my flexibility is uncooperative are deeply vexing to me. Straddle splits, butterfly, pidgin, and certain kinds of shoulder stretches are my kryptonite. I generally take my yoga classes at the rock climbing gym, where the teachers teach various levels of Vinyasa Flow. I don't have much experience with other types of yoga. I'd like to find a place that offers a greater variety of classes, but I think that if I really want to become more flexible, I will have to take a serious stretching class in which the teacher sits on you.

[thewronghands]

I've had experiences like that. I try not to compare myself too much to others, but there are times that it is hard. Glad you're making such progress; that sounds awesome even if not comfortable.

[lilmissnever]

No one takes up aerial circus arts without being at least a little bit of a masochist. I think that the last two posts are an accurate reflection of the way I feel about my hobby at this time: I am better at this than most, but I still have a long way to go and there is a level of mastery I will never achieve. I'm at a point where it is very easy to get complacent and making any real progress requires a serious shakeup in my routine. I'm glad that I've managed to make that happen over the last couple of months, but I wish it didn't hurt quite so much.

tl;dr Grrr. Ouch.