2015 Flying Trapeze Recap Looking Towards 2016

As another year comes to a close, it's another opportunity to review the previous 12 months and plan for the upcoming 12. I ended my flying year yesterday with such a fun and relaxing day in the air. I'm so fortunate for every opportunity to fly and my heart bursts with joy every time I get to share it with people I love. 

This was quite an interesting year for me in many ways, but this post will focus on my flying trapeze progress in particular. I only had four months of weekly flying this year. The rest of the year consisted of 1-2 fly sessions a month. But that being said, the intensive nature of my summer in California really helped me progress quickly in a few areas. 

I began the year with four main flying trapeze goals: swinging/returning (this is really two goals in one), layout, cutaway, layout full. Well, I have yet to begin working on the full, but I did start working uprise/forward over, which was unexpected. So with 2016 just around the corner, let's check-in with my 2015 flying trapeze progress.

Goal #1 - Swinging and Returning 

Swinging is a lifelong journey as they say, but I did gain some real traction with my swing by the end of the summer. I was pleased with the height I was building and the strength I felt after 10 weeks of serious flying.

Running Springs, CA

Now, after a few months off, I'm feeling somewhat sluggish and have regressed a bit, but in general I have a better idea of what I need to do (getting my body to cooperate every time, well that's another story). After chatting with a friend after our most recent fly session together, I realized that I need to think about really squeezing my butt tight (think about trying not to drop that $100 bill haha). Other areas that still remain a focus/challenge are getting my hips up on my force out and forward in my seven (squeeze butt!) as well as lifting the bar up with me in my seven. There's plenty of room for improvement but overall, I'm pleased with my progress this year on my swing. 

Returning...well that's another story. As a matter of fact, there has been quite a regression on this over the course of the year. The times when I did return, I was returning quite high, so that was an interesting adjustment. haha But in general, I found myself off-time in-hands, killing our swing by rushing and then doing something weird on the press pulling me towards the catcher. I had some interesting returns to the bar, including hanging by an armpit and one hand where most of my fingers were underneath the bar. So needless to say, this one is still a work in-progress. I did start working an angel return and it went better than the first time I worked on it, so that was encouraging. We just worked on it the one time, so there's not much to report, but I'm looking forward to working more on it in the future.

Utah Flying Trapeze - SLC, UT

Goal #2 - Layout

For the Seinfeld fans out there, the layout is my Newman, we're frenemies at best. Some days are better than others, but mainly this trick has been the bane of my (flying trapeze) existence. I had the goal this year to get it out of lines. And it technically is OOL, but it needs so much attention, that I put it back in lines all the time so I can work on it without added pressure. I've come a long way with the form of my body, but I'm struggling with closing at the shoulders. I've received some good coaching about ways to work through that, but I'm still navigating through what makes the most sense to me. I'm also releasing too early (that pesky rushing thing again). Patience!! One of my coaches recently told me to just think about the break and then let the trick happen. That was a big ah-ha moment for me, so I'm really going to focus on that, as well as my handstand to the sky. I think part of what causes me to close my shoulders is that I'm scared of peeling off the bar on the drive, which totally won't happen, but it causes me to overgrip as well as force the flip to happen. Anyone else dealing with that?

I wanted to have my layout on my own timing, but it's a long way off, so that particular goal will roll into 2016. This is not an excuse, but rather just something worth mentioning, I did not spend much time working on my layout this year. I probably should have given it more priority because it is such a fundamental skill and will do so in the new year.

Utah Flying Trapeze - SLC, UT

Goal #3 - Cutaway/Cutaway Half

The cutaway remains un-halved at this time. I did catch my cutaway multiple times, but it has a long way to go before it will be OOL or a cutaway half. I have been told I look like a fainting goat sometimes upon my release...whenever I do something weird off the bar, I stiffen up just like a scared fainting goat. It's funny because I know I do it. I had this awful tendency to force the trick to happen (at least I'm consistent), which resulted in bending in half. I've worked through through the urge to bend in half and now release from the bar in a nice flat position (usually). This is another trick that I need to relax and let the trick happen. It's been quite a while since I've thrown one, but they were coming along nicely for the most part. I would like to work on this one again soon. One time I did a split return on the cutaway stick, that was fun/ny. haha

Running Springs, CA

Goal #4 - Layout Full Twist

HA...HA HA... um, let's just say this will be a 2016 goal.

Added Bonus(es)

One random day right before the summer ended, I started working on uprises for fun. After one practice of doing uprise shoot, I moved onto uprise forward over. And Oh.My.GAWD, that day, I fell head over heels IN LOVE with the forward over. That trick came so natural to me, I had been so long since I had experienced something on the trapeze that felt so effortless...the last time must have been a set trick haha. Catching this trick was a wonderful way to end my summer and big run of flying trapeze.

Running Springs, CA

Also, just for fun, I threw a couple doubles. They are not even close to catchable and double back tucks are not a trick I am actively working on, but it was so much fun to play.

Gaona's Trapeze Workshop - LA, CA

2016 Flying Trapeze Goal Planning

I'm somewhat hesitant to actively plan additional goals at the moment since I already have so much I'm working on. So for the foreseeable future, I really want to focus on the tricks I'm currently doing and get them all solid and OOL. I want a beautiful, consistent, FLOATING layout, cutaway ---> cutaway half with force out turn around and tucked set position, forward over with a solid uprise and a straight-legged kip that rises UP off the bar. The journey of swinging and returning will continue as well as the search for a graceful take off and remount. 

The most important thing I will focus on this year is remembering to have fun. I take my training pretty seriously, but sometimes I can allow an off day on the rig to really get to me. I need to remind myself to never forget the reason why I do trapeze in the first place: I do flying trapeze because I love it and it brings me joy. So if I achieve only one goal this year, it should be to never lose sight of that happy place.

A Summer of Trapeze Firsts

Another flashback post to summer and flying trapeze. I would love to post about my current trapeze situation, however, it's nonexistent at the moment. Side note, if any of my Orlando friends have a large piece of property, get at me, because I have a proposition for you.

This summer I grew exponentially as a flyer and an instructor. I had hoped the intensive nature of the job would result in huge gains, which would hopefully make up for the lack of flying I had experienced in the few months leading up to it. 

Truth be told, I spent a great deal of the summer frustrated and disappointed in my progression. I swear it took about five weeks for me to feel like I was flying at the level I had left off a few months prior. And it wasn't until the last two or three weeks before tear down that I actually felt good about how far I had come. (We are our own worst critics). 

That being said, some pretty cool things happened this summer flying- and otherwise. This post will focus on flying and I hope to recap the other fun stuff in another post.

Mojo and I were lucky enough to go straight to Cotton Candy Club as our first order of business in California. Felt really great to be back in the air and so happy that our first flight of the trip was at that gorgeous pink rig! Thank you again Nicolina!! <3

By far one of the coolest and most memorable experiences of the summer (and a top 5 life experience) was flying under the full moon. It was my first real night fly and it was so surreal catching in the dark underneath that big bright pie in the sky. That night I posted the photo below on instagram with the caption:

When you wake up to a phone call in the middle of the night that says, "it's a full moon and we're going to fly," you wipe the sleep from your eyes, throw on your tights and race over to the rig because something magical is happening.

Another really special experience was having my husband Alex finally agree to take a swing. He did great for his first time and he even managed a fly away! It was really cool to send him off the board and welcome him into my circus world! :D

As for my own flying, I worked on my cutaway quite a bit this summer. I caught it for the first time with Efe back in June. There's a video on my instagram from one of those first few catches. We played around with some return variations, including this splits version with Rob. We never had the chance to clean it up, so here's a silly version that still makes me laugh looking back at it. 

It was pretty exciting to finally meet up with my trapeze evil twin CC! It was so much fun chatting and flying and my goodness, the time went by too quickly! She brought me to Richie Gaona's Trapeze Workshop and it was just as wonderful as I had imagined.

Christie is a beautiful flyer and person! It was so nice sharing the board with her, she calmed me down and made sure I was okay (I was so nervous leaning out to the bar. It was a faaaaaar reach for a shrimpo like myself). At the rig, I mainly worked on my layout and then started throwing doubles for fun. It was my first time working on a double back tuck and I fell in love immediately. It felt like I was rotating for an eternity. Here's my layout catch with Terry:

Efe and I had talked about uprises being a good trick for me and my interest in doing a forward over. A few weeks before the summer ended we finally got around to working on them. Within a few days of learning an uprise, I was throwing catchable forward overs (in lines of course). After struggling my way through my swing, layout and cutaway for so long, my mind was completely blown at how easy the uprise forward over felt. I can't wait until it's passing leap ready (hehe one day)!

In addition to flying, I learned so much about rigging and teaching trapeze. I can now tie a clove hitch and a double figure eight in two different ways each. I can also switch out the fly bar without shaking and sweating profusely, terrified that I'm going to drop a cable. I even hung from the catch crane and rigged up the catch trap!

I came to Pali only knowing how to run board, but I left able to pull and call for tricks as advanced hocks salto. I really enjoyed pulling lines and I think it made me a better coach and flyer. 

In addition to trapeze, I also worked on other circus-related activities. While, it was not my first experience with acro yoga, I'm including this as a first because Rob and I put together pretty chill flow and also because I finally nailed this pose:

Lastly, as the summer came to a close, I put together my first doubles act with my aerial soul sister, Adi. We are still awaiting footage, but hopefully it turns out as rad as the raw footage looked. PS we scored these sweet leo/dresses for $10 at a sample sale.

I feel like there was so much more that happened this summer. And I'm sure I'll remember stuff after I post this. I have hours of trapeze footage on my iPad that I still need to go through. And there are so many other things that happened that I don't have photo/video of, like Mojo taking his layout on his own timing...multiple times... that's his trick now. :) Heck yeah!

Rim of the World

SR 18 is a two lane road that winds its way around the mountain top...its other name is Rim of the World Highway. And at 6,000+ feet above sea level, it certainly felt like we were living at the top of the world. We drove the same two mile jog of road for 11 long weeks and the view from the van window never grew old. Some days we could see straight down to Redlands and San Bernardino through the hazy sky...

And some days the cities below were completely concealed by the clouds and it felt like we were living at the top of Olympus, hidden away from the rest of the world below.

With views like these, how could one ever grow tired of them? Cell service always cut out on the same stretch of road during the drive between camp and the house. It was as if the mountain was reminding us to look up from our phones, look around us and take it all in while we still had the chance. 

I miss the mountain and feel forever changed after having lived there for these three short months. These photos don't do her any justice. I'm very thankful to have the memories of her beauty and to have been able to share it with so many friends.

NOTE: all of the photos above are unfiltered/unedited for color

Goodbye California, Hello Florida

This summer turned out to be pretty hectic, leaving me without much time or energy to write. Sorry for the noticeable absence from the blog. I can't believe 11 weeks in the California mountains already came and went! It's true what they say about time and having fun. I returned back to the the 'ol sunshine state this past Monday. And truth be told, I'm having a bit of trouble getting acclimated to Eastern Standard Time. I find myself only sleeping a few hours a night, only to nap periodically throughout the day. My goal is to get back on track tomorrow, which means NO NAPPING. (We'll see how it goes haha).

Over the next few weeks I will attempt to recap my summer in trapezeland. Once again, we'll see how it goes. ;)

Until then, I leave you with this sneak peek into circus camp:

Follow the White Rabbit

I took this photo exactly one year ago today.

I was sitting on the beach with my trapeze partner in crime and best friend, Alex, watching the moon set as the sun rose. It was beautiful and oddly poetic, a symbol of all the changes that were on the horizon. We camped at the beach the night before to celebrate our final days together before he and a group of friends ventured off to California. My trapeze home had closed up to relocate for the summer and with it was going the people I had come to consider my close friends and my family. It was a sad time for me and I struggled for months, coping with the loss of the place that brought me so much joy. Thirty feet up in the air was my therapy and sharing our joint successes (and set backs) as a group gave me such a sense of comraderie and kinship, it was pretty tough losing it all at the same time.

So as we quietly watched the night transition to the day (and snacked on white fudge Flipz) my thoughts wandered around my life and career, feeling like I was trapped as an observer, unable to control where they were going. I had no idea how I was going to break free and make the changes I needed in order to be happy. I watched so many of my friends chase their dreams and crush their goals. And while it was so inspiring, it was also incredibly difficult not to compare my life to everyone else's. I decided at that point that I needed to stop being paralyzed by the comparison game and start acting on creating the life I wanted for myself.

I was halfway done with my yoga teacher training and I knew that I wanted to teach yoga to some capacity in the future. I was already teaching flying trapeze and needed it in my life even though my rig was closed. Yoga and trapeze changed me in the best way possible and it was time that I figured out how to continue sharing my passions with others. It was a scary thought, it can be notoriously difficult to make either a lucrative career and both come with the possibility of burn out and exhaustion, but if I never tried, I'd always wonder what if. 

So it's now one year later since that night on the beach and my life has significantly changed. Since then, I graduated teacher training and I've been leading a group of friends through their yoga practice every other Sunday. It turns out that teaching yoga energizes and inspires me in a way that I never even knew was possible. Also, since last summer, I've managed to continue flying and teaching trapeze as well. 

And now as the moon sets and the sun rises once again, I am in a much different place than I was that night on the beach. 

This time as the trapeze rig makes its way back out west, with it not only goes my trapeze family, but also myself.

I'm following the white rabbit straight to California, where I will spend a summer teaching flying trapeze. Leaving my full time job is a risky (and terrifying) move, but I have an amazingly supportive husband and together we'll make it work. It feels incredible to be going after my dreams and I'm very lucky to have Alex supporting me 100%. It's uncertain what will happen beyond the summer, but we're embracing it with open arms and an open heart. 

The moon is setting on my old life and the sun is rising on the new...I'm nervous, I'm excited and above all, I'm ready.