Keep Your Eye on the Ball

I've written previously about why, when you juggle, you don't need to look at your hands while Juggling.

It's nice to be able to do that kind of thing even in daily life - for example, tossing your bunch of house keys up and catching it. 

Try it? Stand up and hold a small bunch of keys in one hand. Tilt your head (chin up) and look upwards. Keep your head tilted up throughout. 

Without looking at your hand, toss the bunch of keys straight up. Make the toss such that the bunch of keys reaches its peak about 50cm above your head. 

Keep your head tilted up and sight the bunch of keys as it reaches the peak and starts to fall. Now catch the bunch of keys with the same hand that made the toss. You should be able to both toss and catch the bunch of keys without having to look directly at your hand.

So that's one of the ways that demonstrate how Juggling actually works. This principle (keeping your eye on the object when it's at the peak of the toss) leads to many possibilities in Juggling. 

For example, you can toss one object up into the air. While you keep your eyes on that object, your hands could be doing something else with other objects. Or your whole body could be doing something else.

 

Put a Spin on it

Screenshot of the video of Spinning while Juggling.

As a Juggler, one of the moves that I like to do is the 360° Spin. This is what happens - while juggling some objects, toss one of them (or toss all the objects) upwards into the air. While the objects are in the air, spin around quickly and catch the falling objects. 

This move, also known as the Flash Pirouette, requires that the juggler do a lot of things correctly. One of these things is to be able to quickly spot the objects in mid-air before catching them.

Here's a video in which I make the 3-Up-360° move:

Another video. In this one, I juggle three objects in one hand. Observe where I look while juggling:

So there you go - we have taken a peek at how Juggling works. How about taking more than just a peek? Read on.

How to Juggle

Now that you've watched my videos, how about learning how to juggle?

Juggling is very fun and it's also a great way to exercise your body and your mind at the same time. Juggling can be done indoors and outdoors. I do both.

I like to practise outdoors regularly because it's an easy way for me to get some sunshine to increase my Vitamin D level naturally. It's also spacious where I juggle - the space outside allows me to do things that I can't (or shouldn't) do when I'm indoors at home.

I'm both a performer and instructor. Please check out my website about Juggling Lessons. There, you'll find information about lessons and how to contact me in Singapore. Hope to see you soon!