Ramblings in the Air

By Amy Baranski

When I get nervous I don't talk much, I talk too much, and I get gas. All three of these things happened on the way to and during the warm up of our first aerial class at Emerald City Trapeze on Saturday. I was totally terrified. It turns out that being off the ground isn't all that scary, especially when you're only one foot off the ground, or at most three feet. You can practice the climbing methods, and some tricks in that distance. This is what makes the beginner classes accessible to everyone. Because you may not be strong enough to climb up ten or 15 feet into the air, but most likely you can step at least 12 inches.

The class started with approximately 30 minutes of warm up stretches that included cat-cows, bending to either side, hamstring stretches and shoulder stretches. Then we went downstairs where there were two silks hanging from the rafters. There were about eight of us in the class, so four students to each silk. You get to take turns, and that helps because you exert a lot of energy during each attempt.

One element that makes the class nerve racking is that you are with people you don't know, who have different physical capability--you know like better--than you. So it's hard to watch a student climb really high on the silk, seemingly effortlessly, and you struggle to take your second step.

But I did find it fun. I really liked it. We have one other class, a flying Trapeze class this month. I want to do more. It's challenging because the classes are expensive and I am traveling this weekend and next weekend and then there's the Thanksgiving holiday.

Melissa and I signed up for a Southside Booty Camp class (Free) that's near our apartment. We'll attend that on Tuesday. At least we can focus our time on strength building classes.

One of my challenges with this blog is the time commitment each month takes and the feeling like I'm not committing enough time or exerting enough effort to really learning something. With a job, family commitments, a social life (all things I adore) it's been hard to really focus. I need more discipline. Maybe I should check out a self help aisle or something...oh dear.