24. Spinning the ropes

I've a new hobby, though it's strange to call it that. It's just something I do most days. I spin a rope.

It's about the thickness of my thumb, with a couple of knots I've tied at the ends as handles, and the length of a skipping rope. But I don't skip, I spin.

This morning, I've been trying to write an article about the nervous system, about presence, and about training to develop both. It's currently over a thousand words, and I've barely introduced the idea. So I stropped off out into the garden.

That's why I play with the rope most days – it's a tool for de-stropping myself, for getting out of my head. And most days I need that at one point or another.

A climbing friend wrote about developing cross-body coordination (linking to this jazz arms exercise which I found impossible to copy). Although I study aikido, play a guitar, climb, eat with knife and fork, type and operate a mouse quite happily, this set of movements was beyond me.

Even so, the idea of developing greater spatial fluency and fluidity wouldn't let go. Some time later, I came across people spinning ropes and Indian clubs, and decided to try my hand.

So I spin a rope. It's thick enough that it makes a really pleasing whirring sound around me. It's heavy enough that it stings when it slaps the back of my head (most days).

I've been going for a while and have become fluent in a repeatable cycle of movements. Yesterday I thought I'd introduce myself to a new pattern. I walked through the 3-step pattern repeatedly until I thought I had it. Then I tried it on the other side, and everything broke (really, I couldn't even think for a while).

Later I merged the three steps into a mini flow with a beginning and end on my better side. On the other side, I was still broken.

By my third session of the day, I could cycle through the steps up to 10 times on my good side.

This morning, my slower-to-learn side cycled 20 times through the flow. My good side managed seven times.

Now, let me tell you that my good side in this story is my left-hand side, and I'm right-hand dominant. The hand that I'm actually better with in all aspects of life was the slower learner yesterday. The heavy labour of figuring stuff out suited my left hand better.

My right hand did its learning overnight, while I slept. Somehow it just hooked into the left's efforts during the day, and soaked them up until it could lead the dance this morning.

Hey. Nervous systems. Bodily intelligence. Who knows.