you spin me right round...

This year has been the year of trying new things, if that wasn't obvious.  I don't know that it's actually more so than any other year, but I'm certainly highlighting them more by occasionally, even though infrequently, writing them down. (Or, in cases like this, starting a post and not returning to it for two months...)

A few years ago, I decided to branch out a little from trapeze, and spent an hour playing on the aerial hoop (aka lyra). I came bruised and grinning, with scrapes down my spine. I thought I should do more, but I never made it happen.

Until this summer. This summer, I had the opportunity to take the hoop a little more seriously, and I jumped at it.

Hoop's challenging for me in different ways than trapeze. The rigidity of the hoop lets me work at the edges of my flexibility, though it also requires me push my back arch more than I'm accustomed to.   But it's disorienting.

And you spin! It's rigged from a single point, so there's no front or back. You use your body to generate momentum for spins, you use the spin to generate momentum and flow for your tricks.

It's disorienting. Dizzying.  Perspective-shifting.

Apparently, I needed that in my life.  Each week, the lead-up to hoop class is equal parts excitement, anticipation and mild dread... and the end of class is a mixture of satisfaction, relief and joy. Can't complain.



(Next up, mountain time! assuming I ever start to catch up on posting...)