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This morning I went and took a flying trapeze lesson. I have never done this before and I went by myself.
I'd been thinking about it for over a year since![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
uschickens mentioned it. Never got around to it last summer and now it's fall and going to get cold and so I thought no time like the present. I haven't done anything outside of my comfort zone, haven't had a little adventure in a while (outside of Ravenchase) why not push myself a little.
Wow was this outside of my comfort zone.
It was the most perfect day, low 70s, blue sky with just a little breeze. The trapeze school is in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. It's outside, just a rig and a little shack that looks out over the water. Gorgeous.
The rig is both lower and higher than I'm anticipating. The bottom of the net is just above my head maybe six feet off the ground. The platform is much taller than this. There are nine people in the class. Three of us are new. I'm the only new person over the age of 10, the two little blond girls are sisters. Their parents watch from the sidelines. We briefly practice on the low bar. It's been a really long time, a couple of decades since I flipped upsidedown and hooked my knees over a bar. The sensation is disorienting. I remember that I am a low stimulation person, that I don't like adrenaline.
I start to loose my shit climbing up the ladder. My legs are shaking. I get to the platform. They unhook my ladder harness and hook the bar harness to the uncomfortably tight belt around my waist.
I am freaking out. All of my senses are on high alert. I tell the guy I can't do it. I take some deep breaths. I reach for the bar with one hand with my toes over the edge and my hips pressed outward. He promises he won't let me go until I'm ready.
Then I chicken out. I need a minute. Or two. I'm holding up the line but I really can't do it. The main guy comes up on the platform to help me out. He has that lovely, calm, rocksolid air about him that's often attractive in men and mothers. It is somewhat calming. I have to stop thinking so much. We take more deep breaths.
And then I jump off the platform. And everything is so much better. Bad adrenaline to good adrenline. Loss of control to total control. Oh look I'm strong enough to hold onto the bar while flying through the air. (And oooh, the flying metaphor isn't just descriptive of the motion, and isn't hyperbole.) I forget to tip my head back and don't get my knees up. But at least I know how it is to leave the platform. This feels like major progress. I drop onto the net (softer than I thought!) and learn how to flip myself off it.
The people on the ground are very supportive. There are 5 other women in the class and 1 man, mixed levels. Everyone is super-friendly. They remind me a little of the curlers only slightly quirkier, more into yoga than beer.
The second time I'm more comfortable climbing the ladder. Standing on the platform is still fucking terrifying. I try to stop thinking and just do what they tell me though. I'm ready, I jump, on command I get my knees up over the bar. I let go of my hands and arch my back and swing forward. It really is easier in the air at the height of the swing like they said. On cue I put my hands back up and let my legs drop. I try to swing my legs and do a backflip dismount but I've lost my momentum.
I get to go a few more times. My timing isn't as good as the second run. I think I'm just going to let myself fall off the platform, but you have to jump, you have to commit (like in life, right). They won't just let go of you. I'm slightly less scared. Or more able to think through the fear each time. I never get the fucking backflip. I get close but my timing on the kneehang doesn't qualify me for catches. I'm simultaneously in agreement, disappointed, and relieved. They said I was at about an 8/10. I'll take 80%.
Okay some lists:
Things accomplished:
-made the decision I wanted to do this, booked a session, and then went
-climbed up to the platform
-jumped off the platform
-didn't die
-went back up and did it again multiple times
-got the knee hang
-let go of the bar with my hands
Things I didn't quite get to:
-knee hang timing to qualify for a catch
-the damn somersault dismount
Injuries:
-the palms of my hands are scraped up (my last swing I lost part of my grip with my right hand and tried to readjust and it mucked things up)
-my shoulders are a little sore but they were stiff last night so that could be from dance class
-the back of one of my knees is a little tender, might have a slight bruise
-etait's the next morning and I am a little sore. I can feel it in my shoulders, upper back, bicepts, and abs
-I also got a little sunburned (sunburnt?)
-washing my hair with abrasions on my hands was less than fun this morning.
I want to say it's fun, but it's really not. Going to the movies is fun. Watching other people on the trapeze when you're on the ground is fun.
This is intense.
I don't have a good way to explain it. Maybe when you got your first kiss, or more properly the first moment when it dawned on you that you were actually getting kissed (and that it was a good thing). The only recent feeling I have to compare it to is last summer when we tipped over in the kayack and suddenly I'm in very cold water being swept along a rocky river much too quickly.
The feeling where your body, all your instincts are going OMGWTFOMGWTFOMGWTF!!!!!ALERTALERTALERT!!!!OVERLOAD
But your brain on some level still functions. And you think (but not too much) through that and you move your body correctly and trust yourself. It's kind of powerful. And kinda fun.
I'm assuming the intensity dials down as you continue to do it. But I think the thrill never quite goes away. You're still triggering that very old part of your psyche that says don't jump off the high place.
They have a suck-in-the-new-people deal. If you pay for (not book) your second class at your first class then you get your third class free.
So I have two more classes. The season ends in mid-November.
They're not booked yet, anyone want to come?
It's really cool. Scary but cool. And it keeps getting more awesome and more fun and less scary although they say the fear never completely goes away. FYI
Like I need another expensive, slightly obscure hobby that challenges strange muscle groups.
I'd been thinking about it for over a year since
uschickens mentioned it. Never got around to it last summer and now it's fall and going to get cold and so I thought no time like the present. I haven't done anything outside of my comfort zone, haven't had a little adventure in a while (outside of Ravenchase) why not push myself a little. Wow was this outside of my comfort zone.
It was the most perfect day, low 70s, blue sky with just a little breeze. The trapeze school is in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. It's outside, just a rig and a little shack that looks out over the water. Gorgeous.
The rig is both lower and higher than I'm anticipating. The bottom of the net is just above my head maybe six feet off the ground. The platform is much taller than this. There are nine people in the class. Three of us are new. I'm the only new person over the age of 10, the two little blond girls are sisters. Their parents watch from the sidelines. We briefly practice on the low bar. It's been a really long time, a couple of decades since I flipped upsidedown and hooked my knees over a bar. The sensation is disorienting. I remember that I am a low stimulation person, that I don't like adrenaline.
I start to loose my shit climbing up the ladder. My legs are shaking. I get to the platform. They unhook my ladder harness and hook the bar harness to the uncomfortably tight belt around my waist.
I am freaking out. All of my senses are on high alert. I tell the guy I can't do it. I take some deep breaths. I reach for the bar with one hand with my toes over the edge and my hips pressed outward. He promises he won't let me go until I'm ready.
Then I chicken out. I need a minute. Or two. I'm holding up the line but I really can't do it. The main guy comes up on the platform to help me out. He has that lovely, calm, rocksolid air about him that's often attractive in men and mothers. It is somewhat calming. I have to stop thinking so much. We take more deep breaths.
And then I jump off the platform. And everything is so much better. Bad adrenaline to good adrenline. Loss of control to total control. Oh look I'm strong enough to hold onto the bar while flying through the air. (And oooh, the flying metaphor isn't just descriptive of the motion, and isn't hyperbole.) I forget to tip my head back and don't get my knees up. But at least I know how it is to leave the platform. This feels like major progress. I drop onto the net (softer than I thought!) and learn how to flip myself off it.
The people on the ground are very supportive. There are 5 other women in the class and 1 man, mixed levels. Everyone is super-friendly. They remind me a little of the curlers only slightly quirkier, more into yoga than beer.
The second time I'm more comfortable climbing the ladder. Standing on the platform is still fucking terrifying. I try to stop thinking and just do what they tell me though. I'm ready, I jump, on command I get my knees up over the bar. I let go of my hands and arch my back and swing forward. It really is easier in the air at the height of the swing like they said. On cue I put my hands back up and let my legs drop. I try to swing my legs and do a backflip dismount but I've lost my momentum.
I get to go a few more times. My timing isn't as good as the second run. I think I'm just going to let myself fall off the platform, but you have to jump, you have to commit (like in life, right). They won't just let go of you. I'm slightly less scared. Or more able to think through the fear each time. I never get the fucking backflip. I get close but my timing on the kneehang doesn't qualify me for catches. I'm simultaneously in agreement, disappointed, and relieved. They said I was at about an 8/10. I'll take 80%.
Okay some lists:
Things accomplished:
-made the decision I wanted to do this, booked a session, and then went
-climbed up to the platform
-jumped off the platform
-
-went back up and did it again multiple times
-got the knee hang
-let go of the bar with my hands
Things I didn't quite get to:
-knee hang timing to qualify for a catch
-the damn somersault dismount
Injuries:
-the palms of my hands are scraped up (my last swing I lost part of my grip with my right hand and tried to readjust and it mucked things up)
-my shoulders are a little sore but they were stiff last night so that could be from dance class
-the back of one of my knees is a little tender, might have a slight bruise
-etait's the next morning and I am a little sore. I can feel it in my shoulders, upper back, bicepts, and abs
-I also got a little sunburned (sunburnt?)
-washing my hair with abrasions on my hands was less than fun this morning.
I want to say it's fun, but it's really not. Going to the movies is fun. Watching other people on the trapeze when you're on the ground is fun.
This is intense.
I don't have a good way to explain it. Maybe when you got your first kiss, or more properly the first moment when it dawned on you that you were actually getting kissed (and that it was a good thing). The only recent feeling I have to compare it to is last summer when we tipped over in the kayack and suddenly I'm in very cold water being swept along a rocky river much too quickly.
The feeling where your body, all your instincts are going OMGWTFOMGWTFOMGWTF!!!!!ALERTALERTALERT!!!!OVERLOAD
But your brain on some level still functions. And you think (but not too much) through that and you move your body correctly and trust yourself. It's kind of powerful. And kinda fun.
I'm assuming the intensity dials down as you continue to do it. But I think the thrill never quite goes away. You're still triggering that very old part of your psyche that says don't jump off the high place.
They have a suck-in-the-new-people deal. If you pay for (not book) your second class at your first class then you get your third class free.
So I have two more classes. The season ends in mid-November.
They're not booked yet, anyone want to come?
It's really cool. Scary but cool. And it keeps getting more awesome and more fun and less scary although they say the fear never completely goes away. FYI
Like I need another expensive, slightly obscure hobby that challenges strange muscle groups.
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From:
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I don't know. Do you think I should? (You're actually kind of losing me with "expensive", so maybe not.
From:
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If you're at all stubborn you'll force yourself to do it the first time and then it will be awesome!
It's expensive but not crazy expensive. I was thinking if I started going on a regular basis it would add up pretty quickly. It's $55 for a 2-hour session (cheaper on weekdays but you have a normal job). http://baltimore.trapezeschool.com/index.php
Let me know when you want to go!
From:
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Did you get the earrings yet? They should have arrived yesterday or today.
The trapeze school is in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. It's outside, just a rig and a little shack that looks out over the water. Gorgeous.
This reminds me of a crazy story I read in Reader's Digest a few years ago. There's a trapeze school in NYC that is right by the river. An instructor was teaching a class when he saw someone struggling in the water. He jumped off the bridge, got the drowning person, brought them to shore, and administered CPR. The crazy part: the lifesaving instructor was a high school classmate of mine!
From:
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From:
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From:
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