Upside Down You're Turning Me..

As bookings have just opened for the next nnoodl event on 10th March, I thought it was about time I re-embraced my inner adventurer and undertook a little challenge myself. It’s been a while since I did this, but as I looked for activities that I could do on the only free afternoon I had, I already felt excited, and of course a bit apprehensive. I stumbled upon a Trapeze School called ‘Circus Glory’ who are based in Primrose Hill and had a Friday afternoon trapeze training workshop. Static trapeze is described as 'a fun blend of sport and art, where regular training will improve your strength, flexibility, and agility as you learn to manoeuvre and create beautiful shapes in the air. Trapeze training is recognised as a great stress-reliever, energy-booster, and a wonderful reminder of the importance of play and creation'. Flexibility and heights are not great areas of strength for me, and so I was slightly apprehensive, about committing to this, but when I emailed the head of the school, Genevieve Monastesse, I immediately felt reassured by her response as to how welcoming the school was to people of all levels. Genevieve has taught circus arts for over 30 years, is respected as one of the best aerial teachers in Europe and currently teaches the Degree Programme at the National Centre of Circus Arts, one of Europe's leading providers of circus education. She worked in Cirque du Soleil for two years on their very first show, and has had a successful career as an aerialist performing films, theatre, and even doubled for Kate Moss as her stuntwoman! I knew I would be in safe hands. She also features in the video for the George Michael song  ‘Spinning the Wheel’. So, it seems like a timely moment for a song...

Turning up to events on your own, I realise can be one of the hardest things to overcome for many of my nnoodl adventurers. I still feel the same myself as you wonder what the people will be like. Will everyone know each other? Will they all be really experienced? Without exception these fears are unfounded, and my trapeze afternoon was to be no exception. We were a small group of six, ranging from people who had been training for eight years, to others who were relative beginners. They immediately put me at ease - all of them super-friendly and encouraging. Genevieve started us off with a warm up on the mats, which involved a lot of abdominal work such as planking etc. This set the tone for what was to come, as I realised how a strong core will really benefit you on the trapeze. We then did a small circuit of equipment-based warm up exercises. Genevieve came round with me as I tackled the first one – a tuck. Now this looks really easy, as she demonstrated, hold the bar above your head and then tuck your knees up above your head to meet the bar. I could only get them about halfway – what?? I was encouraged that apparently that was really good and can take a while to achieve. Next I was to attempt a straddle with the rope. Again, hands above your head on the rope, but this time, taking your legs above your head in a V-shape over your head. I think the last time I was on a rope like this I was about 8 years old wearing navy blue gym knickers, getting rope burns on my legs. Well leg strength to climb the rope was not applicable for this element – it was all about arms and core strength. Again, this is a lot trickier than it looks and so Genevieve demonstrated a version from the mat, arms over head on the rope, and pulling your legs over from there. The wobble board on one leg was a station here I felt I could do, and I was to find out how strong, not wobbly legs were to help me later that afternoon…

Then we were onto more focussed work on the trapeze. Genevieve was brilliant at making an assessment on what level people were at as she demonstrated the exercise she wanted them to try. It was wonderful to see the more accomplished students demonstrating some lovely shapes. My manoeuvre was to be the candlestick which involved standing at one side of the bar and pulling your legs up onto it, then with one knee over the bar, and one leg up the rope, dropping your upper body underneath the bar. I found this one slightly easier to pull myself into and felt an immediate rush from my first hanging move. Genevieve reminded us to all remember to keep our eyes open and focussed on what your legs or arms were doing, as the tendency can be to close them. Hmm, I wonder why, is it so that you can’t see the ground rushing towards you? Next was a sideways move on the bar. The first challenge on this one for me was actually getting my legs up onto the bar. I realise that muscly cyclist’s legs are no advantage in this form of training, they are just more weight to pull up! Once up and sitting on the bar though, Genevieve talked me through how to move yourself to one side, on one buttock, and how to balance there whilst tying to point your feet and stretch out to the side and down with one arm. I have a feeling should look a lot more graceful than this, but it’s a start (yes, that's me on the right below obviously)! One thing that I thought I would feel a lot more self conscious about throughout the afternoon was the fact that everyone else watched as we practiced our moves. But everyone was so encouraging that this really wasn’t an issue. It was also a great opportunity to watch some of the more advanced students demonstrate some more difficult shapes, which was really inspirational.  

​My final move of the day was one that got my heart racing just watching the demonstration as it involved climbing up to standing on the bar – I immediately was thinking about how much higher I would be from the ground! One of my fellow students was also fairly new to this training though and said that ‘fear is your friend’. She explained that the concentration involved to go though the moves meant that you actually achieved more than you expected to, as you were distracted from everything else. I could totally relate to this. As Genevieve talked me through each step, I found myself standing on the bar (toes only, use them like fingers she explained) and then stepping off with one foot to wrap the rope around one leg and then the other. (I could now understand why there is a ‘leggings, not shorts’ rule for this class as the movement of your legs along the bar and rope could cause some of those primary school type rope marks I am sure). Then it was a case of lowering yourself down the ropes into a suspended seated position and then finally dropping underneath the bar, supported by your feet on the bar and ropes around your lower legs, arms outstretched. This felt amazing! Of course after that it was down to the abs to pull myself back up to seated, but adrenaline was my friend by this point! 

I was on an absolute high as I finished the class – this was supposed to be a ‘recovery day’ from my triathlon training, but my heart rate was right up there. In fact as I skipped out of the class to get to my singing/guitar rehearsal, my friend who was picking me up asked me “Have you had a drink of Irn Bru or something?” And so, with abdominal muscles that hurt every time I laugh (which is quite a lot), I find myself totally hooked on this new activity. What started off as a one off experience I know will be added to the ever-growing list of hobbies I am collecting via my nnoodl research which includes paddle boarding and singing. I would totally recommend Genevieve at Circus Glory if you would like to try this wonderful activity. I will be incorporating it into my training regime for sure.
If hanging upside down isn’t your thing though, rest assured it won’t be the activity at the next nnoodl activity, though I feel it may be included in the future….
So, if you are inspired to take part in the next nnoodl adventure, there are still some places available on our early bird offer for the event on Saturday 10th March. Sign up here using the code SECRETS30 for a whopping 30% off this adventure, which will have a little creative, rather than physical twist. 

​My next blog will look at what happens in our brain when we try new things, and how it can really develop us in all sorts of ways when we push ourselves out of our comfort zone. In true style, let’s sign off with an uplifting song. This is one I was listening to a lot this week, when I was looking for songs about trying and not giving up. Well, lo and behold, when I was looking for a video clip of it, Pink is only doing an aerial performance to it. Surely a sign!