When I introduce myself to a new class I often make some joke about how this is the first time I've done acro too, but don't worry I watched some youtube videos before I got here! It's one of my favorite jokes! Then I usually tell the truth, or at least I try. I usually pick a number of years, for instance "I've been practicing acro for 3 years and teaching for 2.". However whenever I do that I feel like I've been saying 3 years for, well, a lot of years. My point is I don't really remember. Some of my longer running students will ask ... didn't you say 3 years last year? Truth is I don't really know. I still feel excited about doing acro and teaching acro and I don't feel like I've been doing it for all that long. Time tends to fly not only in a class but in general when I'm doing acro. So much to learn and so much to try. I also teach plenty of classes. I've cut back a bit now but I'm currently running at 3 acro classes a week. So I can end up saying the joke a fair bit. It's also my favorite joke, did I mention that?
Today I decided to answer the question once and for all. I start my investigations with pictures! As I trudge through my past pictures I see that they begin to show up in 2013. There are no acro pics in 2012. Well that sounds promising! Although looking at some of the pics, I feel like they couldn't have been that long ago. I know I started in Feb. of some year. It was still winter outside and after a long back and forth of convincing a friend managed to convince me to go to a weekend workshop with her. I remember a communication exchange. I recall her sending me a youtube video of an acro flow put to music that I was stunned by. I didn't know it could be so ... beautiful. Still from 2013? The only communication I might still have from then is email. Email digging I go! Hmmm ... no luck, I can't find that specific message/video link, but I did find an email from Feb. 2013 talking about practicing acro with my friend and another person we worked with at that first workshop! So there it is! 2013 and its currently 2017 and not quite February. So 3 years is right for the moment but in a couple weeks it will be 4! Mystery solved!
I suppose I got used to thinking in my head now that it had been longer. I've done a lot of things in those 4 years. People have been telling me I must have been doing acro for at least 5 years maybe 6. I started to believe them. Especially when I started to think of all the trips and workshops and classes and performances I've done over the years. I recall asking one of my acro teachers how long he'd been practicing acro. I was amazed by what he could do and how much control over his feet he had and how softly and accurately he could move them. It was one of my first trainings and I was in awe of what he could do. He told me at that time he had been practicing for 6 years. Which blew my mind completely. I remember thinking it seemed like a very long time. At that time I think I was at maybe 2 years. I've taken more trainings with him since then. I've improved my skills vastly and so has he. The things he taught me in that first workshop now feel pretty routine to me. Just as easy as doing a bird pose. At the time I couldn't imagine being at this place, although I knew it was possible. I also knew it was something I could do and wanted to do. It is an achievement.
I continue to practice and teach. I start another beginner session tonight. I've lost track of the number of beginner classes/groups of students I've taught already. I also have my intermediate class of more advanced acro yogis and I have my dance fusion class where I work with a contemporary dance to make acro more like dance and to add acro into dance. Reading that email from 4 years ago I can recall my mind set and where I was in my practice. I remember how far I've traveled.
I know there is no limit to where I can go with this practice. No limit to how much I can learn or do. I've come through serious injury, through changing partners, and almost complete community change-overs. I'm still doing acro. Every time i do it I learn something new, I build something new in my body and brain. Acro is a practice of patience. A practice of repetition, of understanding and learning about your body and other people's bodies. If I could say any one thing about the practice, I would say it takes time, but that time will fly!
Today I decided to answer the question once and for all. I start my investigations with pictures! As I trudge through my past pictures I see that they begin to show up in 2013. There are no acro pics in 2012. Well that sounds promising! Although looking at some of the pics, I feel like they couldn't have been that long ago. I know I started in Feb. of some year. It was still winter outside and after a long back and forth of convincing a friend managed to convince me to go to a weekend workshop with her. I remember a communication exchange. I recall her sending me a youtube video of an acro flow put to music that I was stunned by. I didn't know it could be so ... beautiful. Still from 2013? The only communication I might still have from then is email. Email digging I go! Hmmm ... no luck, I can't find that specific message/video link, but I did find an email from Feb. 2013 talking about practicing acro with my friend and another person we worked with at that first workshop! So there it is! 2013 and its currently 2017 and not quite February. So 3 years is right for the moment but in a couple weeks it will be 4! Mystery solved!
I suppose I got used to thinking in my head now that it had been longer. I've done a lot of things in those 4 years. People have been telling me I must have been doing acro for at least 5 years maybe 6. I started to believe them. Especially when I started to think of all the trips and workshops and classes and performances I've done over the years. I recall asking one of my acro teachers how long he'd been practicing acro. I was amazed by what he could do and how much control over his feet he had and how softly and accurately he could move them. It was one of my first trainings and I was in awe of what he could do. He told me at that time he had been practicing for 6 years. Which blew my mind completely. I remember thinking it seemed like a very long time. At that time I think I was at maybe 2 years. I've taken more trainings with him since then. I've improved my skills vastly and so has he. The things he taught me in that first workshop now feel pretty routine to me. Just as easy as doing a bird pose. At the time I couldn't imagine being at this place, although I knew it was possible. I also knew it was something I could do and wanted to do. It is an achievement.
I continue to practice and teach. I start another beginner session tonight. I've lost track of the number of beginner classes/groups of students I've taught already. I also have my intermediate class of more advanced acro yogis and I have my dance fusion class where I work with a contemporary dance to make acro more like dance and to add acro into dance. Reading that email from 4 years ago I can recall my mind set and where I was in my practice. I remember how far I've traveled.
I know there is no limit to where I can go with this practice. No limit to how much I can learn or do. I've come through serious injury, through changing partners, and almost complete community change-overs. I'm still doing acro. Every time i do it I learn something new, I build something new in my body and brain. Acro is a practice of patience. A practice of repetition, of understanding and learning about your body and other people's bodies. If I could say any one thing about the practice, I would say it takes time, but that time will fly!
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