Flying Trapeze Class

Yesterday I took a flying trapeze class with my friend Kristin. It wasn't one of those classes from Sex in the City (I don't watch tv and I didn't see the episode; Kristin described it for me though). I didn't have to grab on to anyone else mid-air. The class consisted of swinging solo on the trapeze, back and forth, fairly high off the ground and ultimately we learned to dismount in a back flip. Well, the others learned to dismount in a back flip. I'm one of the few that didn't manage to do it. I felt like a bit of a failure actually.

The class was not anything like this picture either. We were in a trapeze school come night club on Hollywood Blvd. The class was set up by a young professional networking group -- the Jet Set Society. The class was a lot bigger than the trapeze teachers anticipated so we were each only able to go on the trapeze twice. I'm consoling myself and thinking that if I had the chance to do it again, I would have swung my legs sufficiently back to enable myself to do a back flip.

I realized when I was up there swinging through the air on the flying trapeze that (a) I'm brave. I can leap off a platform high in the air and have faith that the harness and the skill of the instructors will keep me safe from harm; and (b) I have weak hand strength. The whole time I though I was going to lose my grip and fall. I suppose it's rather hard on the hand to hold up the weight of one's body while they are swinging through the air and kicking their legs backwards and forwards. I'm going to have to talk with my personal trainer about training those muscles. I'm not sure why I would need that type of strengh, but you never know.

Anyway, I think I'm going to try again. I don't like feeling like I've failed. I'm going to do that back flip if it's the last thing I do. Or maybe I won't and will just accept the fact that I do not have a future in the circus.