2015 Goals Part 2 - Health & Fitness

Looking back on 2014, I feel pretty proud of everything I've accomplished. There were many great highlights that I will always look upon fondly but as the new year rolls in, but I'm ready for a fresh start. Since running off to the mountains on a yoga retreat is not possible for me at the moment, I will start with small, easy, health and fitness changes here at home.

Health - Food & Drink

All the holiday indulgences have left my body feeling pretty crummy. I feel so sluggish and out of shape compared to just a few short weeks ago. I ask a lot of my body physically with trapeze and yoga, so I need to get back on track eating fresh, healthy foods. I have a pretty big sweet tooth and every year around this time it gets out of control. (You should see the giant container of brownies we have in the fridge, the piles of candy in the cupboard and the multiple pints of ice cream in the freezer.) Not to mention, over the past few months I've been so busy (and so lazy about cooking) that most of my meals are those of convenience and of little preparation. I'm sick of seeing to-go containers in my refrigerator and I need to make a change. I really want to fall in love with cooking or at least begin to enjoy it somehow. I need to further develop a plan for this and could use some inspiration, so I'd love any feedback in terms or suggestions on where to find easy, healthy, meat-free meals.

I'm usually pretty good about drinking plenty of water. I'm not really sure what happened but recently I've found myself getting pretty dehydrated at the rig. It's been to the point where I feel physically ill. Maybe with the cooler weather I'm feeling less overheated so I'm drinking less water but going forward, I will be more mindful with my water in-take. I would also like to cut down on the amount of coffee I drink daily, replacing at least one cup with a cup of green (ginger) tea.

Fitness - Flexibility & Strength

I would not call myself a naturally flexible person. Being relatively active my whole life has helped me maintain a certain amount of flexibility, however, most of where I am today is probably a result of yoga and regularly stretching and strengthening. I know I've increased my range of motion with a consistent yoga practice, however I do struggle with accepting my body's current flexibility because it does limit me in yoga and circus arts. I would like to continue increasing my flexibility in a safe and healthy way. I would love for this to be the year that I finally get my splits flat and my handstand balanced. These two particular goals coincide with my circus arts goals, however, during this journey I am committed to honoring my body in it's current state and being patient through this slow process.

My shoulders and back are pretty tight, I'm unable to stack my shoulders directly above my elbows and wrists, which makes it extremely difficult for me to hold a handstand. I understand the mechanics of the posture and have spent many hours working on it, however, I'm still no closer to staying inverted than I was a year ago. As a petite person and someone who loves circus-style flying, I really want to get into hand-to-hand and partner acro. I've gotten pretty frustrated with myself and my limited flexibility. If I can be completely honest, I stopped practicing my handstands altogether because of the plateau I was experiencing. I feel a similar frustration with my splits. My hamstrings have been fussy, so I've actually regressed quite a bit in regard to my front splits. The left side was almost flat a few months ago and now I'm struggling to get even remotely close due to the tightness.

A friend recently posted an incredibly inspiring video on instagram of his progress with gymnastics. Five months ago he could barely do a cartwheel and now he's throwing front flips with a half twist out. He's worked so hard and has come so far, it's incredibly inspiring. And it's a reminder that I need to be more patient with myself and my body.

The design of my anatomy may never allow me to really open up my back and shoulders and I am slowly trying to accept that, however, I will continue working to increase my range of motion and rather than give up when I get frustrated, I will use that energy to push through and motivate myself to keep going. I recently saw this quote and it hit home: "If I quit now, I will soon be back to where I started. And when I started, I was desperately wishing to be where I am now." -unknown

Source unknown

I love that yoga simultaneously heats up the body, stretches and strengthens; it's efficient and feels so healthy for the muscles. My body responds so well to yoga, I'm planning to include more yoga-style warm ups prior to any aerial or circus arts I practice in the new year. In addition to upping my yoga game, I'm also going to explore free weights. I've been meaning to try out some of these shoulder exercises Lizzy posted. I had the awesome pleasure of watching some really great trapeze flyers practice the other day and it was so inspiring! They were so strong and so powerful, if I ever want to reach the next level of flying I really need to increase my strength. The same is necessary for my handstand and splits. I'm still working out the full details of my fitness plan, however, due to a promise to my fellow flying babe Jen, it will include 3 1-minute handstands (or in my case 6 :30 second handstands against the wall.) I'm really excited to document my progress and share it with you. Two years ago when I first saw TSNY, the trapeze school on the Santa Monica Pier, I never would have imagined that flying trapeze would become my hobby and my passion. And one year ago, I was unsure I really wanted to become a yoga instructor. So much can happen in a year or two, I'm really excited to see what this next chapter in my life brings. The photo at the top of the page was from the rig on 12/26/14, I can't wait to see where I'm at by 12/26/15!

Now it's time to go ring in the new year...Cheers to a transformative and extra-awesome 2015!!

Circus Trains

Traveling by train is one of my favorite ways to get around. Living in the states, that particular form of transportation is rarely a cost-effective and efficient way to travel from one place to another. Even though I've traveled on many trains abroad, when I think about the rail here in the US, it reminds me of a period in time long before iphones and hybrid cars.

It's no secret I am a fan of old timey circus, especially aerial, equestrian and trapeze costumes from the 1940's and 50's. I mean, look how cute these costumes are!

Hemadas troupe | July 21, 1950 | Ringling Barnum Circus

photo via Circus Historical Society

 

Thanks to Circus Historical Society and Buckles Blog, I have the opportunity to peer into the past and daydream of running away with a circus. At the risk of sounding like a total geek, some of my favorite photos of yesteryear are those of the trains. I blame the movie Water for Elephants for romanticizing train life or maybe it's the #trainlife hashtag on instagram, not really sure...

RBBB Clowns | photo: Dar-Zack Studio Labs via Historic Circus Photos Denver | 1979

RBBB Train Yard | photo: Stanley Kubrick | 1948

 RBBB Cook House Wagons (not necessarily trains but still a cool peak behind the big top) 

photo: Collection Milner Library | 1954

I recently had a discussion with a friend about the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey (RBBB)  train. She lives next to the train tracks and sees the RBBB train come through town every year around this time. I was happy to hear that she gets as excited as I do about it. Last year, I was stopped by the train on E Colonial and while I'm usually impatient (read: annoyed) with that sort of thing, I was totally delighted to have the opportunity to see the circus train pull into town. I know it's kind of strange to say and highly unlikely to ever happen, but one day I hope to ride the RBBB train on one of their runs between cities. It's one of the only things I actually have on my bucket list of life. I'm more of a nomad in spirit rather than in practice, but the idea of criss-crossing the country on a train sounds like a great adventure and I'd jump at the opportunity if I was given the chance. (Side note: I have been bugging my husband about buying an RV and traveling the country for years now and will continue to bug him about it until he breaks haha.)

I came across this video recently, and no idea why, but I think it's super cute to see this mile long train riding into Penn Station:

Maybe one day I'll be one of those people waving out the window as we cruise on by!

Disclaimer: I've been a vegetarian for 14 years so, yes I'm aware of the history of circus and animals and no, I'm not interested in discussing it or any commentary regarding that matter.

2015 Flying Trapeze (Goals) Wishlist

Well guys, 2015 is rapidly approaching and while I'm not really one to make new years resolutions, I am someone who makes lists and who really enjoys planning ahead. My fly gals from across the states and across the pond have inspired me to put together my flying trapeze goals for 2015. Truth be told, as someone who does not like admitting defeat, it does make me nervous to post my goals for everyone to see (what happens if I just can't get that damn layout out of lines and on my own timing?!) But being a part of such an amazing, supportive community, I know that we will cheer each other on when we're getting frustrated and push each other to keep trying when we feel like giving up. We'll virtual hug and high five and celebrate our victories together and inspire each other to keep flying high and reaching for the (shooting) stars.

Disclaimer: all new skills/tricks will be under the guidance and advisement of my coaches. Anything on this list may change as we check-in with my flying throughout the year. I will continue working my skills and tricks just as I always have, really focusing on the mechanics and building a strong foundation. I will work tirelessly until I'm told I'm ready to move on to something else. That being said, this is my wishlist for 2015.

Goal #1 - Swinging and Returning

As I mentioned in my 2014 goals, I will continue working on my swing and returns in 2015 (and beyond).

To recap the return, I will continue working on: the timing in-hands, staying tight at the turn without twisting at the waist and remounting the board gracefully.

To recap the swing, I will continue working on: timing of the kicks, forcing out faster and sweeping longer, straight legs that are zipped up from toes to torso, feet that are pointed all the way through the toes. I will SQUEEZE EVERYTHING TIGHT.

Goal #2 - Layout Done and Done

The layout is a foundational skill, so I really need for it to become second nature. As I mentioned before, this trick and I are currently not friends, but I hope that we will become new besties for 2015. It's been a while since I've thrown a layout so without putting too much pressure on myself, I really would like to have this skill locked in 100% during the first half of the year. I want to have it out of lines and also have the trick on my own timing before the end of spring.

Goal #3 - Cutaway/Cutaway Half Done and Done

I'll continue working on the cutaway in tandem with the layout. Right now the focus is working on the cutaway and I really want to catch it by the end of 2014. (progress is slow but positive thinking you guys!) I've been having what we'll call a bit of a mental block with the release on this trick, but I feel like we made some real progress this past weekend and I'm excited to get back to the rig to work on it more this weekend. I'll continue working the cutaway until my coach, Efe, lets me know that I'm ready to add in the half twist and turn the cutaway into a cutaway half. Efe, if you're reading this, I hope to make you proud and turn that "yesss...yes....nooo...NO!!!" to straight up "YES!!!" from here on out. Even though things are a bit hairy at the moment, I'm really excited to work on this particular trick, because I would like the cutaway half to become one of my go-to tricks. (You guys should see how hot the tops of my feet look right now covered in bumps and bruises from the bar...I guess my foot modeling career is now as dead as my hand modeling career.) I would like to catch my cutaway half by the summer. And if everything goes smoothly, I would like to have it OOL and on my own timing by the end of the year. I know this may be a bit of a stretch, however, I hope to include some intensive training during the course of 2015.

Here's a really awesome example of a cutaway half (I am majorly swooning over his flying, check out his height over the platform and how beautiful and effortless he makes it look):

Goal #4 - Layout Full Twist
Let me just start by saying, this trick is not within my reach at the moment (or even close to being within my reach), but since this is my wishlist and I hope to eventually be able to do a layout full, here it is on the list. If you're unfamiliar with this particular trick it's just as it sounds, a layout with a full twist. Check out this really cool slow motion video of a full to catch by Gorilla Circus. (Seriously guys, go watch that video) I think I've watched that video about about 50 times by now, I'm just mesmerized by it. I couldn't figure out how to embed the video so here's a screen grab I took from it:

I know that once I get the layout dialed-in I will love throwing that trick. I really hope I enjoy twisting as well because I would love for the full to be another one of my go-to tricks. It would be nice to say that I would like to catch this skill in 2015, but I will just be happy if I start working it to the net in lines. Anything beyond that will be a sweet added bonus.

I've never been much of a trick collector. I would rather have a few really solid tricks, rather than a bunch of partially-mastered ones. So even though I only have the few items above on my list for 2015, it's still a pretty tough list of demands.

So there you have it, my 2015 wishlist. Now, let's go crush some goals!

Yoga Flow Christmas Tree Pose

I've recently had the pleasure of sharing yoga with a group of friends, both experienced yogis and new. It's been a really cool to share what I've learned over the past 10+ years practicing and past year learning to teach with people closest to me. This year I've missed out on quite a few nights out, birthday celebrations and bowling alley sessions to dedicate my time to becoming a yoga instructor. It wasn't easy, but I'm so happy that I now get to make up time with my friends by spending it together on our mats.

It's been almost a year since I decided to just go for it and apply to the Full Circle Yoga Teacher Training. At that time I was unsure if teaching was something I really wanted to do. (I'm shy and I'm an introvert). I knew I wanted a deeper understanding of yoga, so if anything I hoped I'd at least take away the physical and mental benefits of a yoga immersion. I also wanted to be able to share yoga with my husband, something he was unaware of at the time. haha! He now happily practices with me a few times a week, which is really special and awesome. (Something he might vehemently deny, if asked haha).

So as I sit here right now, listening to the playlist I put together for tomorrow's class, I'm so sure that teaching yoga is something I need to do to some capacity. I really hope to be able to carve out more time for teaching yoga in the future. I really wish I had more than 24 hours in a day so I could do it all! haha!

Side bar: I named tomorrow's playlist "Yoga Flow Christmas Tree Pose" due to a little holiday inspiration I included in there. Also, can you guess which pose will be part of our practice?

If anyone reading this is curious about my experience with the program or has any questions about my experience with yoga teacher training in general, feel free to leave me a comment or email me at hop.float.fly[at]gmail.com.

One nice perk of FCY Yoga Teacher Training: we started out every Sunday of YTT with a rise & shine practice in the park:

Photo Credit: Full Circle Yoga

2014 Flying Trapeze Goals

Today is my birthday and my original plan of flying in the morning has been foiled by the rain so since I can't actually do trapeze, I might as well just talk about it. (and then go treat myself to a mani/pedi)

Before I dive into my 2015 flying trapeze goals, I might as well review my 2014 goals (or somewhat lack there of).

I never really laid out my flying goals for 2014. It was difficult to really pin point what I wanted to accomplish because in reality I just wanted to do it all. I started off this year in a plateau, I was working on back end tricks but my swing was atrocious and it felt like I was just going through the motions but never really improving. I suppose my subconscious goal was really just to breakthrough the plateau and become a more advanced flyer. 

Looking back, this year was for improving my technique and ultimately locking down my return to the board. I drilled my half turn and turn around swing for so many months just to properly understand the mechanics of the return from hands. The half turn may not have been a very flashy trick to have worked on FOR MONTHS but it was certainly an important one and critical to my skills development. 

Goal #1 - RETURNS TO THE BOARD

Being someone who prefers flying without lines, I never really worked on the return in lines. So the first time I actually returned to the board, it was unassisted by the lines puller and was a result of the many hours dedicated to learning proper technique and at hands of my amazing catcher.

I had my first round trip to the board on July 7th when I was out in California, flying in the mountains. And just in case you're wondering, it was just as picturesque as it sounds:

It was the final day of my vacation and we squeezed in some morning flying before breakfast (if you know these guys, you'd be surprised they were awake, let alone flying by 8am). It was a really special moment and the pinnacle of months of blood, sweat and tears (literally and figuratively). As I took the trip across, I was surrounded by the three people who had coached, supported and pushed me along on the journey to catch and return back to the board: Rob was catching, Efe dropped my bar and scooped me along with Alex (trapeze Alex, not hubby Alex). I managed to catch and return a few more times that day. I don't have video, but here is photo from another catch that week.

So now that I am retuning (fairly) consistently, one of my goals for the remainder of the year is to really polish up my return. I would love to have the goal of no missed bars, but I know that is just unrealistic. I will be focusing on the three following items: nail down the timing in-hands so I pop and turn high and on time, staying tight at the turn without twisting at the waist and remounting the board with ease and grace. I love being in-hands, it's one of my favorite parts of flying trapeze, I will rarely turn down the opportunity to catch. So I'm looking forward to making improvements on how I work in-hands so catching can be as smooth and seamless to both myself and my catcher. Catching and returning to the board out of lines is really when things start getting next level in my opinion. I may never be a flyer in a show, but I would love to look as beautiful and as flawless as a professional flyer.

In general I need to continue focusing on staying tight and cleaning up my flying, which brings me to my next goal, the swing.

Goal #2 - The Swing

They say the swing is the hardest thing you'll learn in trapeze. While I'm sure triples and double twisting layouts are indeed VERY difficult, the swing is tied to just about every trick and we're always on the hunt to make it stronger, higher and more powerful. My swing is ever-evolving, as I fix one thing I then have to work to fix something else that needs readjusting as a result. I hear the swing is a lifelong journey and so be it. 

I recently had a breakthrough on my force out, which is improving the front end of my swing and gaining me height but now I need to adjust what is happening on the back end. I still need to work on timing, forcing out faster and sweeping longer.

I really want my swing to be long, powerful and beautiful by the end of the year. Even if it's not perfect (not that there is such a thing), I am committed to having straight legs that are zipped up from toes to torso, feet that are pointed all the way through the toes. I need to SQUEEZE EVERYTHING TIGHT.

The two above goals will be on-going until I get to a point where muscle memory can take over and the above items just happen naturally.

Goal #3 - Tricks: Cutaway and Layout

This year I worked on my nemesis, the layout, and caught it, but that trick is still very inconsistent. I want to learn to love throwing layouts, but all they do is cause me endless amounts of frustration at the moment. Right now, even if it has to remain in safety lines, I just want to be able to throw it smoothly without traveling by the end of the year.

Since the layout has been a thorn in my side, I had decided to give that trick some rest for a bit and start working on a cutaway. My goal is to ultimately work up to a cutaway half. (hello 2015 goal!) I may never be able to throw a double cutaway half (two back flips with a half twist) like my trapeze idol, Terry Cavaretta, but if I can make the cutaway half "my trick", I'll be pretty damn happy. We are starting me on working the cutaway so I can understand the mechanics and gain a strong foundation before adding in the half twist. My goal is to catch my cutaway by the end of the year. So far progress is slow, but I feel pretty confident I'll get there within the next few weeks. I just received motivation on this goal via a birthday gift in the form of a cutaway stick handmade by my catcher best friend Boston Rob.

Thank you Roberto, we will catch my cutaway when I visit you after the new year. I also want to play around with a reverse gazelle and anything else fun we an think of to do. Anyone have any suggestions for other novelty tricks please leave me a comment below. :)

So there you have it, my 2014 goals...

Hop, Float and Flying in 2014

Well, as the year comes to an end (and another birthday quickly approaches), I thought why not start off this shiny new blog with a little year-in recap of Hop Float Fly fitness-related adventures. As I say every year, where the heck did it go? It's almost December and the past 11 months have flown by once again. 2014. 

After months of deliberation, I finally decided to move forward with training to become a certified yoga instructor. I was accepted into the Full Circle Yoga teacher training program with 28 other eager yogis. After our first weekend together, I knew I had made the right decision and I knew I was embarking on a life-changing journey. We spent one weekend a month together from January - September and though the long days were both physically and mentally exhausting, I always found myself leaving on Sunday feeling so happy and energized. The experience was something I have difficulty even putting into words, but I've grown so much as a person as a result of this experience and if I could go back in time, I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I posted this on Facebook in August:
We just wrapped up yoga teacher training weekend #8 of 9 at Full Circle Yoga. I will never forget this beautiful, intense and special weekend. I had the opportunity to lead my fellow yoga TT's through a 60-minute class. I was so nervous and excited to finally share what I've learned with the sweet yogis whom I've been sharing this magical journey with for the past 8 months. So much love, laughter and support amongst this amazing group of people, I cannot wait until next training weekend. We've all come so far in such a short period of time. It's an incredible reminder that nothing is impossible if we dive deep into the fabric of our own being and really believe in ourselves.





YTT graduation | photo cred: Full Circle Yoga

I've been teaching a bit on the side recently and I'm excited to continue exploring yoga and teaching yoga in the coming months.

2014 was a big for me on the flying trapeze as well. In the fall of 2013 I started working at Trapeze Federation, working board and trying to learn as much as I could about anything trapeze-related. This hobby I had picked up the year before had slowly started becoming a burning obsession. March 25th was my flyer-versary (flyer anniversary) and I ran up to the rig immediately after work to celebrate my first year of flying up in the air.

I spent the majority of the spring at the rig working on half turns, turn around swings and backend tricks. I worked my half turn tirelessly until Rob, my coach and catcher, deemed it ready for catches. We took that trick straight to catch out of lines. I had taken it down to the net so many times OOL and picked up a pretty decent face off to the net, so we were pretty confident everything would go smoothly. Even though the first two catches were misses (and I scored some nice net burn on my elbow), we ended up finally making the connection and May 10th was the day I finally caught my half turn.

Net burn shared between trapeze catcher and flyer best friends

Since then, I have gone on a few flying trapeze adventures, which have brought me to a pretty pink rig out in California (Cotton Candy Club), flying in the Cali mountains with my trapeze family from Florida, a few trips north to Jacksonville to fly with Trapeze High Florida and an unforgettable fly session with the legendary Tony Steele.

Now that Trapeze Federation is back and operating in Orlando for the new season, I'm really excited to continue expanding on everything I've learned this year. I can't even describe how incredible it feels to be back flying regularly again. During the week it's been a bit more difficult to train because of my full-time job, but I'm managing to get in at least one night practice a week, in addition to at least one weekend day. This year I also starting training on trampoline, silks and hoop more regularly. I'm hoping to continue working on those three apparatuses, in addition to flying. Tramp has been really interesting from a cross-training perspective. It's teaching me a great deal about body awareness and staying tight. A few weeks ago on the trampoline I learned how to do a suicide (probably could use a nicer name), which is basically a swan dive that stalls out into front flip. Today I had the opportunity to take it to the fly bar. After working the skill repeatedly, purposely falling towards my face from just about 5' above the trampoline bed, I felt pretty confident dropping down from the bar and executed the dismount without any hesitation on the first try. It still needs some polishing up, but I'm excited to now have another flashy way to leave the bar that isn't another backend trick.

This week coming up should be pretty great. I'm celebrating the anniversary of my birth with a couple flying practices and also with leading a yoga class at the end of the week. There will also be family dinners, friend hang sessions, puppy cuddles and husband beard-snuggles as well. And I will continue the tradition of buying a Christmas tree on my birthday too!

This year has been pretty busy and exhausting and challenging but it's setting itself up for a pretty exciting 2015. I knew this year was going to be hard, but it ended up being even more rewarding than I could have ever imagined. I'm looking forward to making the most out of the final few weeks of the year, both on my mat and in the air, as well as on the ground (and everywhere else) with the people I love. =)