No fear. Just do it. And other slogans.

You have to stop thinking and just do it.
That's been a very useful phrase to me this week. Both in class and rehearsal--sometimes you just need to get out of your head. Any fear, just let it go. No hesitations. No excuses. I can't say that I follow this advice 100% of the time, but I'm working on it. I become a little more free all the time.

In circus class this week, we worked for half the class on more advanced tumbling (handsprings!) and half the class on a circuit of all the aerial apparatuses. I have some acrobatic ability, including what I thought was a front handspring, so I generally have no reason to freak out before doing a trick. I'm not scared! Usually. Once our teacher took out the foam ramp and the crash pad...I actually got nervous! Part of me wonders if I was dramatically commiserating with some of my other classmates, but I must have even fooled myself with the act.

We were to run to the ramp, hurdle (or "skip" for some of you) into a handstand, and then push off our hands to fall flat on our backs onto the crash pad. When my turn came, I had a little false start...then just went for it. Not perfect, but not bad. Turns out--I have always been doing handsprings incorrectly. For over half of my life! At any rate, I quickly applied corrections and am on my way to a really nice handspring.

During the aerial circuit, we were to do a routine on a silk knot that included the option for a drop. Basically, you get all tied up in a very complicated way and fall. It's a trick for people with more than, oh, the 30 minutes of experience that I have. So here I am, trying all the new positions that our teacher threw as us, and have some pretty good luck with a cool "look Mom, no hands! And I'm sideways!" move, and I expected to just unravel and hop on down to the plush sprung floor. I follow all of my teachers directions as he walks me through where to put my legs and arms. Then I realize, I'm all set up--legs in a straddle, completely and tightly wrapped on all sides by strong silk--with no way out but to fall. Teacher says "Okay, drop!" Yeah, right! But, I followed my rules from cliff-jumping. Don't think about it, just GO. Okay, my teacher said it too. And I did! And it was awesome! Nothing hurt at all, it was a pretty perfect first drop.

I can't wait to try it again.