A few weeks ago, a group of us from work got really interested in flying trapeze, thanks to Sarah – whose been there, done that and really recommend it. Now, I am some what scared of heights. The clammy hands start to do their thing, the legs start to weaken a little the higher I go and the mind goes “Why am I doing this to myself???? Why?” and all the while chanting “don’t look down, don’t look down…no, don’t look up either!” Having shared all this, I don’t think that I’m scared to the extent that I would chicken out. I keep wanting to challenge myself before I get too old and the old ticker carks it. So bring on the roller coasters and the flying things :p Which brings us to the flying trapeze. Having not done this before, I think we did pretty well. (except Lucie, who was more petrified of heights than me) The objective is to swing on the trapeze UP-SIDE-DOWN and in sync with the other professional trapeze person so that when u and her (or him) meet in the middle of the swing, you’d be able to let go of your bar and grab onto her arms and trapeze away with her. A la Cirque Du Soleil! We did a bit of warming up physically and mentally (me especially). And then, on with the practice run on a shorter swinging bar. The bar for the practicing was a stationary bar. So with no momentum, it’s actually quite hard to bring both the legs up to hook on to the bar and hang up-side-down.
Equipped with just that and verbal instructions as to how to do it, we were thrown into the deep end. I was freaking out!...how do I know that my mind won’t go blank when I get up there? I can tell you now, that it did…I had to ask the lady at the top “so, what am I meant to do?” just seconds before I was meant to swing off. Of coz I was harnessed, there’s nets at the bottom to catch us and its all safe (it has been done many times before). But I just looked at the flimsy piece of rope tied to me and think “fark, is that all?” So standing firmly on a 10” by 50” plank, the chick asked me to creep my feet closer to the edge “so that your toes are hanging off it” all the while I’m hanging on to a skinny pole on the side. She is standing behind me with one hand holding on to the swinging bar, and the other hand on my safety belt. She now wanted me to lean forward (whilst she, a tiny female who probably weighs the same as me, hangs on to me via my belt!) to reach and grab with both hands on to the bar which was like a meter in front! This was the part I hated most. Having to have to trust her enough to lean forward. No matter how many times I did it (with success) I always had to think twice before letting go of the pole. So then with my hands on the bar, when she saw that I was ready she’d say go and every time I would tell her “wait…I’m not ready”. I’d re-adjust my hand positions and if this time I wasn’t ready again, she’d push me off.
Having done it for and hour and a half, I still couldn’t over come the fear of letting go and swinging off. But it is amazing that once I was swinging I knew what to do. Yes, my mind was blank, but I knew at which time I had to bring my legs up and which time I had to let my hands go etc. What a thrilling experience. As with any activities, u haven’t done it properly or not done it with enough effort if u haven’t got bruises or cuts to show! And we got bruises galore!
