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| "St. Francis, Le Jongluer de Dieu" by Br. Robert Lentz |
Order out of chaos: Although it might appear that a juggler is trying to somehow "keep everything up in the air," there's actually a very set, rhythmic pattern involved. It isn't random, nor is it frantic. (At least, it shouldn't be!)
Adapting to the unexpected: It's true that there is a pattern, and it's equally true that no two throws are exactly the same, so the juggler is constantly adapting. One ball is a little bit further out than the last; another has too much spin; a third is thrown a little lower. These (hopefully) slight and subtle variations mean that your hands have to adjust to compensate.
One thing at a time: There's no question -- there's a lot going on when you're juggling: balls are going up and down, from the right to the left, and there are all those little variations you need to constantly respond to. Yet from a certain perspective there's really only one thing going on at a time. You throw the ball in your right hand. That leaves it empty to catch the ball coming in from the left. When the ball you just threw from the right peaks before down to your left hand, you throw the ball that's there to make room for it. Throw ... catch ... throw ... catch.
Find your rhythm: When you're first learning -- whether it's the basic three-ball cascade, or you're trying five, or seven balls for the first time -- it's hard to remember that there's only one thing going on at a time. Everything seems to be demanding your attention all at the same time! If you stick with it, though, you will generally begin to feel the rhythm, the pattern. It will begin to make sense. When that happens, you're back to seeing more order than chaos. Here's a quick story:
After you've been juggling on your own for a while, it's really fun to juggle with someone else. "Passing" is what it's called when you combine your pattern with another person's so that your right hand throws to their left hand, and vice versa. If you've been juggling for a while, passing six balls between the two of you is relatively simple. A friend of mine and I were working at one point on trying to pass seven balls, and this changes the usual rhythm in ... interesting ... ways. The balls not only have to move faster than when you're passing six, the rhythm becomes a little syncopated ... uneven. As we kept trying this new thing, both my friend and I had to admit that we were feeling a little frantic. It felt as if the balls were moving too fast for us to keep up, and we weren't quite sure when they were going to come. Each of us, though, eventual experienced a moment when the pattern suddenly "clicked." And once we'd found the pattern, the rhythm, it seemed as though everything suddenly slowed down. The balls were still moving as fast as they had been, but we had been able to slow down internally and it felt like we now had all the time in the world.
Pax tecum,
RevWik
After you've been juggling on your own for a while, it's really fun to juggle with someone else. "Passing" is what it's called when you combine your pattern with another person's so that your right hand throws to their left hand, and vice versa. If you've been juggling for a while, passing six balls between the two of you is relatively simple. A friend of mine and I were working at one point on trying to pass seven balls, and this changes the usual rhythm in ... interesting ... ways. The balls not only have to move faster than when you're passing six, the rhythm becomes a little syncopated ... uneven. As we kept trying this new thing, both my friend and I had to admit that we were feeling a little frantic. It felt as if the balls were moving too fast for us to keep up, and we weren't quite sure when they were going to come. Each of us, though, eventual experienced a moment when the pattern suddenly "clicked." And once we'd found the pattern, the rhythm, it seemed as though everything suddenly slowed down. The balls were still moving as fast as they had been, but we had been able to slow down internally and it felt like we now had all the time in the world.
Pax tecum,
RevWik
