learning to fly

   Winter is here, and it's unusually cold for the bay area.  So, we've all been showing up to the Center wrapped in sweaters, hats, and other furry layers. But, turns out you can work up a nice sweat with a few climbs or some handbalance.  It's so peaceful to turn my creaky cold body into a warm working machine.
  Now that the classes are full of regulars, it's fascinating to see practice carving arcs.
The progression is so visual, and clearly non-linear.  Getting an idea to settle (or unsettle) in a body is a strange process. On that note, with a sneaky trick from Jaron, I managed to mostly straddle up into a handstand an balance. Wheeee!!!!

 A good daily thought for yoga, aerial and life....

 Ashtanga yoga founder, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois:

“Do your practice and all is coming.”                                                                                                      

                                                       








flight.

 Wrapping.

Handbalance class,  working on the bench.

Hand balance class.  More on the bench.                                                                                                                                

meathook.

Tried a meathook for the first time. It looks deceptively easy but turned out to be one of the deepest ab workouts I've ever experienced; muscles I didn't even know were there are sore. 
We also went after my endurance goal; on top of the usual workout ..7 full climbs.
No grace in shaking and sweating all the way down, but a certain satisfying deep tug at the muscles down to the bone.

meathook

play

 15 seconds of fame: Hardcore CrossFit rockstar Max Lewin & crew came to play.  They had no problem at all climbing and getting right into the swing of things, trapeze and all. 

 Playing at Kinetic Arts in an attempt to get into headstand with no hands.  A bit arched, but a fun experiment.

Chinese pole

  The center is putting up Chinese poles, we got a chance to experiment after class this week and it was a blast.  Can't wait for the class to be officially up and running!!
   Otherwise, started learning a one leg hang of sorts... beautiful but also feels like my ankle is going to be sliced off by the rope, even halfway off the ground.
Tricks aside, climbing is really starting to click physically. It's still hard work, but my body understands it to the point that I'm not gripping, or struggling. 
The next step is definitely endurance.
3 month goal: 10 climbs per class (at 4-5 right now).

Climbing the pole:

Monkey mouth, seeing exactly how much core strength is in there!

Getting a hang of the.. er.. hang on the ground first. Yep, it hurts.

 

So. Dizzy.

So, after searching through inspiring aerial videos online my sister came up with a few involving spanish web.  Next time we showed up for class, Jaron had all the trappings for Spanish Web.  In the video we watched the woman was magically whirling, so it was funny to hop up and find out someone actually hangs out under the rope and spins it. huh. Cue Jaron laying on the mat and twirling the rope as laugh hysterically.

Actually getting up on the rope and was no problem (though apparently I'm in too much of a pike in the photo, but it was the only photo so there ya go.) but avoiding dizzy, not a chance. Bobble head and googly eyes are inevitable, at least at this point.

We're also finally both figuring the first drop on tissue without direct physicla assistance (video link).      The long pause is mostly talking to make sure we wrapped everything the right way, waiting, and finally dropping.  The music is just for fun, but if it weren't there you would hear a lot of coaching, me saying..  eeep!.. then everyone in the space cheering and echoing through.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aannBrCI32Y

Overall an interesting by-product of this whole training has been that the begginers mindset has a way of making way into everything else in life.         If you've read The Art of Possibility you might say... How fascinating! .. and it is.  

Body on rope.

  A funny moment yesterday when both my sister and I were up trying to twist into a wrap of sorts.    The ropes rotated and when we saw each other across the mat we both laughed and said ..  that looks so neat... do I  look like that?  Truly though, I still have very little idea what my body is doing between the rope and the upside down so photos end up being a fun check point.
   It's been bit like this exercise: arms straight out, backs of hands together, cross wrists so that now palms touch, interlace fingers, twist hands in all the way toward chest, elbows rest at your ribs, hands near your heart... now try to move individual fingers on certain hands, no touching fingers, just think it, then do it... hard isn't it?  Although my body understands the motions (whether criss-cross fingers or twisted rope),  I'm not familiar with this context so it simultaneously makes sense yet feels completely strange.  Fun to turn it all inside out to see what my body really knows.
    Overall an interesting life pondering though, are you actually good at XYZ or are you great at XYZ but only if ABCDEFGHI......  The athletes,  leaders and people that I deeply admire may have come into thier expertise via a certain environment, system of leadership, or set of ideas, but ultimately they are not dependent on those tools, they just are.

Spinning... and seeing eachother

Look Mom!!!  ( yep, I actually sent this to my mom...)

Class 3.

Just finished my third full length aerial class at Kinetic Arts Center today. 
Although I was initially attracted to the tissue, I've been almost entirely on the rope. While it isn't as "pretty" and it hurts more, it has a certain matter of fact elegance, and simplicity.
    My first class was climbing/splits and second class was climbing, a wrap, splits
(as shown below: 1, My sister and co-owner/Artistic Director Jaron Hollander, and then me.)
After going through the first 2 classes,  I made 2 goals and an agreement;

• I train at least 16 days out of this month
• I train to get splits and a handstand by next September.
• I train to my full capacity, 100%, every time.   

Fast forward to today, third class was definitely per our agreement; 100%, no whining, just climbing until my hands couldn't hold on anymore.  Although my body is strong from all the yoga, this is a whole other world. I love that my muscles feel unfamiliar, the tops of my feet are skinned,  and my body forgets grace.

 

 

The beginning.

    A bit about me before we go off on this adventure. I am a yogi and athlete, and I own a business which provides integrated visual services/branding. But, on yoga... started yoga many years ago while touring as an installation designer and photographer for a modern dance company. All the dancers went to yoga one morning and took me along.  The most thrilling part of class was that I knew absolutely nothing. 

     Fast forward to now, I still practice yoga and one of my favorite little bits is that it's a practice, not a super amazing advanced final performance of perfection.  It seems that as adults we expect ourselves to be experts at everything right away,  even if it means closing off possibilities.  So adults get good at playing expert, but I love how the body won't let you fake it; if you can't lift the weight, climb the rock, balance on the bench then you can't.  Physical activity is my meditation in being present, an exact moment in sweat, muscle, breath, and skin.. no faking allowed.

So, it's time to begin again. Dream at Play is a surrender to knowing nothing, being a beginner, turning it upside down and laughing all the way home. 
The first 60 days start at Kinetic Arts Center; aerial rope and hand balancing. here we go.