Recollection Post #2

It seemed like only yesterday that I had my first go at tight rope walking.  This is probably because it was yesterday - a little more than exactly 24 hours ago, actually.

I guess to say it was tight rope walking is a little misleading.  It was more like a long nylon webbing tied between two trees at about two feet above the ground.  Sounds intimidating, no?  It was actually a lot harder than it looked, and that's saying something since the guy that the webbing belonged to was not only making it look easy, he was making it look ridiculously childish; he would get on the webbing, walk the whole length, walk back to the middle, swing around a bit, sit down in cross-legged position, lay down on his back, stand up again, walk a little more and swing a little more, and then with full intentionality step off of the nylon - all without touching the ground once.

When anyone else tried to get on the precarious strand of nylon, they were lucky to make the first step.  Scratch that: they were extremely lucky.  They were lucky if they managed to get up at all.

This guy (I have completely forgotten his name, so for the sake of convenience we shall dub him "Tarzan") would, at near regular intervals, would step in to demonstrate, as well as instruct us on exactly what we were doing wrong.  (I feel sorry for him; his hands were full in that regard.)  One of Tarzan's explanations, however, struck me as very meaningful.

When Tarzan spoke of balancing on the webbing, one of the spectators commented on how good he/she was at walking on a curb or balance beam, yet this was completely beyond their comprehension.  Tarzan explained that there were two different kinds of balance - one he called "normal" (which, to sound scientific and knowledgeable, I shall call "static" balance), and another he called "dynamic".  The difference between static and dynamic balances were thus: static balance involved balancing on a stationary surface (balance beam, curbside, skinny rock, etc.), whereas dynamic balance involved balancing on a moving surface (ropes, wooden bridges, someone else's back, etc.).  The goal of dynamic balance, Tarzan explained, was to keep your body's center of balance in constant motion contrary with the surface, which pupils of static balance, who learned to keep the center of balance completely still, could not easily do.

In case you were wondering, I did indeed try my luck at walking the tight nylon, and I failed miserably, which is why I am now sporting sore toes on my left foot.  On that thought, a note for people who want to try this exercise: when (not if) you fall off of the nylon, get your feet out of the way, as the nylon has a nasty habit of snapping back and eating your toes.