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| Nik Wallenda |
I have watched tightrope artists, though, and have read both their own words about the experience as well as the observations of others. And I've worked with some teachers, and bring their thoughts to this post. Here are some of the things wire walking has to teach us:
Don't look down: A mistake that's often made by beginners is to look down at their feet. This makes sense, you want to be sure that you're putting your feet in the right place. Yet this will virtually guarantee that you'll lose your balance and fall. Instead, you fix your gaze at the end of the wire, the place you're walking toward. And you keep your eye on the goal, perhaps even especially if you begin to lose your balance.
Not too tight; not too loose. There are both tight ropes and slack ropes, and they are each exactly what they sound like. Neither, though, is exactly what it sounds like. A tight rope has to have a little slack in it, a little play. Similarly, a slack rope needs to be a little taught if order for someone to walk it. This is like the story of the Buddha hearing a sitar teacher telling her student that a string must be tuned neither too tightly nor too loosely -- too tight and it will break; too loose and it won't make a sound. This, the story goes, is where young Siddhartha discovered "the middle way" between hedonism and asceticism, which became core to his teachings.
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