learning to juggle!

I see several comments recommending learning to juggle. Good idea. Juggling is easier than you think, and a week of practicing about an hour a day will give you basic competency. For the record, I'm nowhere near anything like a good juggler, but I can do torches, knives, bowling balls & such, and I did make rent for several lean months through street juggling. So:

Get three beanbags of equal weight. Beanbags are easier to catch and they don't roll when you drop them. I will hereafter refer to beanbags as balls, cuz I'm tired of typing the word beanbag.

With one ball in your dominant hand, stand facing a wall. You should be close enough that the wall prevents you from extending your arms fully. The reason you are facing a wall is simple: this encourages you to learn to toss on a plane perpendicular to the ground.

Toss the ball from one hand to another. Do not worry about catching it! This step is designed to teach you the toss, not the catch. Toss the ball until you can achieve a consistent eye-level arc.

Now teach the non-dominant hand the same toss. This took me about a day of boring repitition: I'm hopelessly klutzy with my left hand.

Repeat this enough and you will have also taught yourself to catch: don't grab, let the ball hit the center of your palm and your fingers will close naturally around it. Did I say don't grab? Yeah, don't.

Now you know the pass. Practice with one ball. Left-to right, right-to left. Stop looking at your hands! Stop watching the balls! Focus on a point beyond the wall you are standing before. Let your peripheral vision and proprioception guide your hands to be beneath the falling ball.

Now add ball #2. With a ball in each hand, toss the ball from your non-dominant hand. When that ball is at it's apex, toss the ball from your other hand. If you're doing it right, the first ball will land in your dominant hand as the second ball reaches its apex. Practice this UNTIL YOU CAN DO IT WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED. Oh, learn it both ways: right to left and left to right.

Now dig this: that's all three-ball manipulation is! It's a bunch of two-ball exchanges strung together!

Add the third ball. Two in one hand, one in the other. Think about the timing of the two-ball pattern: this is no different, just a bit faster. Toss higher if it helps, but keep facing that wall: height is much easier to compensate for than off-plane tosses.

Juggle.you Ta-da! The first time you successfully circulate three balls, the light will come on. Within weeks you'll be competent and teaching yourself tricks. And clubs are as easy as balls, and knives and flambeaux are just dangerous clubs.

Juggling gave me confidence and a fun skill at parties. It's much easier to do than it looks.


Now you've learned the exchange. Three-ball juggling is nothi g





also:
http://ask.metafilter.com/154768/That-right-there-is-BADASS#2219010