Finding Purpose in Your Aerial Practice

What drives you to do aerial arts? What motivates you to get to your aerial class and/or open gym practice? What calls you to keep doing aerial? Is it…

  • Physical challenge and athleticism?
  • Ego?
  • Creativity?
  • Pure masochism? lol.
  • Community where you finally feel like you fit in?
  • Does your job require it?
  • All/most of the above?

Whatever your reason for doing aerial arts is, you already know that your practice can take on a life of its own!

What do you do when you hit that inevitable PLATEAU? It could be a physical limitation you can’t seem to get through or an emotional slump. It could be boredom with your current regimen or a lack of focus of how to move forward or where to focus your training. Maybe you just finished a performance and now you no longer have a specific motivation to work towards. It might just feel heavy and confusing. Guess what. This is NORMAL. It happens to all of us…especially those of us who do aerial because we LOVE it! Whenever we (humans) do something for the pure joy of it, there is bound to be bumps in the road where we wonder where the joy went. Don’t worry. I have some tips that can help you through these times.

#1. Self-Awareness

Your reasons for doing aerial might shift as time goes by. You might find that you used to go to class for the physical challenge, but now you realize it is mostly because that is where all of your friends are. You might have started aerial as a new way to get into your body, but now you are craving to perform! Whatever the changes may be, the first thing to do is to be aware of them. A self-reflective practice can help with this. Check in with yourself and ask yourself how you are, what is calling you, what your intensions are, and what is in your way. We don’t need to look for all the answers to our big questions. We just need to listen to our thoughts and impulses and especially when a new idea appears or an old pattern no longer serves us.

Here are some ways you can get in touch with these things inside you:

  • Free Writing – Get out your notebook and just start writing. You could adopt a ‘Morning Pages’ routine where each morning after you wake up you write 3 pages of free writing without editing or self-judgement. Or you could give yourself a writing prompt like ‘How do I feel right now?’ or ‘What am I excited about in the coming days/weeks?’ or ‘Is there anything in my life recently that is not serving me? Why? Is there anything I could do about it?’ Then just write and see where your thoughts land on the page. Doing this daily can help shed light on confusion.
  • Non-Aerial Movement Practice – Go to the FLOOR and find some simple movements that can just put you into your body without having to think or plan too much. Adopting a 10-30 minute daily movement practice can reveal things about yourself that you would never have known. If the practice is relatively the same each day, you will notice how YOU change day to day. Some ideas might be
  • Breathing – Even just 5 minutes per day of a conscious breathing practice can center you into your body and relax your thinking brain enough to give you insight to how you are underneath all of the day to day ‘stuff.’ You could try alternate nostril breathing, breath retention, inhaling for a count of 5 and exhaling for a count of 5. You can find many guided breathing exercises on YouTube.
  • Go for a Walk (or a bike ride) – I have found that just going for a walk alone really clears my head and connects me with the present moment. I often get epiphanies and spontaneous ideas that inspire me while I am walking.

#2. Focus on Foundational Skills

When you are in an emotional slump, lacking motivation and/or creatively stuck, this can be a great time to lean into your foundational aerial (and ground) skills to get you through. We cannot expect ourselves to wake up inspired and motivated every day. We sometimes have weeks or even months of slumpy, lumpy, unmotivated periods. Because of the nature of aerial arts being so physically demanding, it is not always the best idea to take a break from aerial all together during these slumps. But we also can’t expect ourselves to be brilliant.

This is when we can just focus on going to the gym or to class and doing the minimum exercises required to keep up our aerial skills. You could focus on a very linear conditioning regimen such as warm up, 5-6 conditioning exercises, and a cool down. It could also be skills based if you have aerial equipment. For example, warm up and run 2-4 sequences of skills a few times, and then cool down. Done. You could do a mix of both ideas. It may not feel like it is doing anything, but you will see when you get to the other side of the slump that you actually have solidified the skills and exercises you had been working on and maybe gained some strength too. Now you are ready for the next period of inspiration and you can refocus your training on building skills, strength and/or creativity again.

In the meantime during this slumpy period, spend more time in nature, resting, hanging out with friends, and doing things you may not normally make time for. In my experience, this can be just what we need to reset our inspiration and energy.

Remember it never hurts to do your aerial abs. Here is my core strength for aerialists playlist.
Here is a 2 minute video about overcoming training plateaus.

#3. Set Some Goals

Do you have goals for your aerial practice? For some people goals are the main way they focus their training. For other people, goals are a burden and feel like too much pressure or a path to failure if they don’t reach them. A lack of goals might eventually leave you feeling like you are floating in the middle of a sea with no oars. If you truly enjoy just showing up and doing whatever your teacher tells you to do, or copying something you saw someone else do, great. You can stop reading now. lol. But at some point that might get boring and you may find yourself bored, purposeless and lost. This is a great time to set some goals. How do you decide which goals to set? Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  • Do I have a sequence of skills that I can do without thinking?
    • If so, one possible goal could be to work with that sequence creatively.
    • If not, your new goal could be to choose a few skills that you like. A mix of old/easy skills and maybe a newer skill that you have not perfectly mastered yet. Put them into one or 2 sequences that you practice regularly to get smooth and comfortable. Keep practicing these new sequences until they are in your body easily without thinking. Then you always have those sequences to dive into creatively and/or to make into an act for a last minute performance opportunity.
  • Are there skills that I just can’t do, but really want to do?
    • If yes, make some goals towards getting those skills. That might include booking some private lessons with a coach that can help you get there. It might be breaking down one aspect of the skill and working on that.
    • If no, it might be time to bring in a new physical challenge for yourself. That might be as simple as running a sequence of skills 2 times in a row to improve your endurance. Or maybe strengthen a foundational skill like cleaning up your inverts. This is another great time to book a couple private lessons with a coach that can teach you something new and challenging.
  • Where do I picture my aerial practice in 1-2 years from now?
    • If you see yourself doing the same exact thing you are doing now, maybe you could imagine something a little more exciting like working on an aerial project, doing some newer skills, being more flexible, or inviting a friend or family member to do aerial with you.
    • If you see yourself very differently than you are now, you could make some goals to work toward that vision you have of yourself in relation to your practice. If this seems impossible, again, book a private with a trustworthy coach who can help you make a longer term plan.
  • Do I have a positive attitude about my practice?
    • If not, your goal could be simply to change your attitude by approaching your practice with a fresh perspective. Maybe you are being too hard on yourself, and your goal could be to celebrate each moment and each small success. Maybe you are too lax, and your goal could be to try or work towards some new things.
    • If so, maybe it is time to spread your positivity within your aerial community. Take some time to give compliments to other aerial students and teachers that you normally don’t talk to. Make a training date with a friend and work on a sequence together.
  • What is my main motivation to come to aerial class/practice?
    • If your answer is, ‘because it is just that thing that I do,’ your goal could be to make a new motivation.
    • If your answer is ‘to hang out with my friends,’ you could talk to your friends about making a creative project together. See below for more.
    • If your answer is ‘to stay in shape,’ and you are feeling slumpy, maybe you could take a couple weeks off of aerial and do something else to refresh your love for aerial. Or you could try a different apparatus for a stint to see if new parts of your body and brain can get stimulated and inspired. Or you could focus on conditioning for a month or 2 instead of skills and up your strength level.

Notice how a lot of my advice says to schedule a few privates with a trustworthy coach. The reason I say this is because your group aerial classes can only give you so much personal motivation. It can be a great boost to find a coach who ignites a new fire inside of your training and/or gives you some new perspectives of your strengths and limitations. You might find that you can uncover some hidden desires within yourself. If you are not sure how to find someone to work with, start by asking the teachers or manager at your local studio. If there is no success, you could look for a coach for some online privates or take a training trip to work with a coach somewhere else. Hint: You could come here and train with me ;).

If you have some strength specific goals, feel free to check out my Strength for Aerialists video tutorials playlist here.
Flexibility goals? Here is my flexibility tutorials playlist.

#4. Start an Aerial Community Project

My last idea for you if you are feeling undirected and/or looking for purpose in your aerial practice is to co-create a community project with your aerial friends. It doesn’t have to be a grand, labor intensive gala spectacular show. It can be simple. Remember why you are doing this. It is for you to feel more fulfilled and happy with your practice…not to prove something. Here are some ideas for community projects that can be pretty doable:

  • Create an open training group within your aerial community where you practice a specific set of skills together and support each other to make improvements and even work with music. If this is not possible at your local studio, you could do some home training, outdoor cross training, or even go to the ‘muggle’ gym and do some aerial conditioning. Break it up a bit and think outside of the aerial box.
  • Make a date with your aerial buddies outside of the studio. Listen to and share music that inspires you. Watch your favorite aerial and/or dance videos together. Watch a video on anatomy (My favorite is Emily Sherb’s Aerial Anatomy online course.). Talk about creative ideas and what kind of art makes you feel inspired. Talk about shows you have seen and shows you might want to be a part of. This can make a spark in your training for sure.
  • Work on a group act. Collectively choose a song and play with putting a sequence of skills to it. Make the challenge to choreograph to music and memorize the music cues. Support each other to learn and remember. You might want to elect a team captain if that helps. Again, if lack of open gym time is an issue, try to find a solution. Maybe it looks like booking a group private class with an instructor that supports your project. It could start with a meeting together with your group sharing ideas, themes, songs, and favorite aerial skills to put in the act. Then when you are ready to activate it physically, tell your instructors and/or studio manager about it and figure out a way to make it happen.
  • Go on a trip with your aerial friends. Oh here’s an idea. Come to one of my Sweet Retreats aerial intensives here in Mexico. That is a great way to get your mojo going, learn a bunch of new things, leave with tools to work with at home and re-find your purpose. Woohoo. Check out our upcoming retreats here. Feel free to email us at SweetRetreatsMexico@gmail.com if you are not sure which retreat is best for you. We will help you figure it all out. Here are some of my intensives that you can look into:
    • Circus Fit Aerial Intensive – This retreat is perfect for the intermediate level aerialist as well as aerial instructors who want some more concrete skills and drills to understand how all apparatuses work together and how to continuously make progress (or help your students make progress).
    • Victorious Vertical – Int/Adv Silks and Rope Retreat where we celebrate all the things we have worked so hard to do. New sequences, drops, transitions, and THEORY to keep us motivated, inspired, and find purpose!
    • Circus Residency Summer Course Program – 4-6 week immersive program that will change everything! Feel what it is like to work towards your goals daily and see the results. This includes aerial skills, sequences, creative tools, flexibility, dance & floor work, core/Pilates, injury prevention, anatomy, and a live show at the end of the program. It’s a game changer for sure. Also make life long friends around the world.
    • Beginner Aerial Retreat – Bring your beginner aerial friends or even your friends/family who you want to get a taste of your life.
    • Silks & Hoop Retreat – Can’t decide between silks and hoop as your favorite aerial apparatus? No problem. We gotcha on this retreat!
    • Aerial & Adventures Retreat – Aerial is so fun! Nature excursions like zip lines, surfing, bird watching, and snorkeling are also fun! Let’s do it all!

Need some creative community project inspiration? Check out my Creative Projects video playlist here.
You can also see this playlist of my circus acts for creative inspiration.

Well friends, keep up the great work. Enjoy the process. Even when the process feels mundane, depressing, sluggish, pointless, and demoralizing, there is something to learn from all of that. Don’t be too hard on yourself and don’t take everything too seriously. You are doing great. Remember to lean into your friends and support systems to remind you of your strengths. There is ALWAYS something to celebrate if we can just see ourselves with a realistic and compassionate eye. Change your perspective for a minute and remember how amazing you are! Hope to see you soon, my friends!

Feeling particularly slothy? Check out my blog, ‘Nurturing the Void – A Guide to Feeling the Feels’ here.

For more information about Sweet Retreats training intensives, email us at SweetRetreatsMexico@gmail.com.