Saturday, October 10, 2009

Fear and capoeira

Show no fear; vem jogar.

Inevitably, all of us will run into something in capoeira that we fear. Accordingly, we'll have to work hard and overcome whatever that fear is. For some it'll seem (or even be) easier, but I believe these moments are some of the most defining moments in training.

My biggest fear is keeping me from some of the basic acrobatics like plantadas and even an . My fear which holds me back is this: somewhere along the line I saw a video of a guy doing capoeira and he fell and broke his neck. Yeah...I know a few people who are paralyzed from neck breaks and I admit that I'm scared of doing that. I've never really been comfortable being upside-down either, and never really did cartwheels and such as a child. I'm learning all of this cold, for the first time, and it is a huge challenge.

I'm learning to overcome some of my fear, little by little. I'm able to get into an assisted handstand now and sometimes even hold it for ten or fifteen seconds. This is very significant to me as I've never been able to do this before, yet here I am and I'm making very visible progress every class.

For me, the only way to get over my fear is to do things over and over again, at my own pace (moving slow and steady to gain confidence in myself) and learn on my own that what I fear shouldn't hold me back. As I go on, I admittedly get very frustrated but I channel that into determination to do my best and learn these difficult things.

I've heard stories of injuries causing fear when re-learning a move or learning other moves, and I'm curious as to how some of you got over those fears. If you're comfortable, please feel free to respond and tell your story.

Axé!

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