It had been sometime since I had gone to the wind tunnel to get some exercise. In order to maximize the experience I decided to get there a bit early so that I could watch some of the other people in the tunnel during their workout. As with many things there is quite a wide variation in skill level across the individuals within the tunnel. It does not really matter how good one is, what matters is that you have a good time and learn something new every time you go.
Some of the people in the wind tunnel were doing more advanced inverted moves within the tunnel and I tried to study their positioning and method of balance. In each position there are a number of ways in which to stabilize the body and make it so that one can maintain a controlled position while inside the wind tunnel.
A few of the people were practicing flying on their back which although looks quite easy is quite difficult at first. It is not so much that getting into position is difficult it is that people tend to rush the moves in order to get to where they want to be instead of slowly finding the correct positioning and moving subtly around inside of the airspace. I have learned that in order to ensure safety and truly understand control within the tunnel one must learn how to perform the exercises slowly and be able to move softly and gracefully inside the tunnel. Once this is achieved then quicker transitions, starts and stops, can be employed in order to put everything together.
It was my turn to enter the tunnel. After a quick pre-sport warm-up before entering I was able to work on my foundation more readily than I had before and I am guessing that studying what other people were doing had a large part in accomplishing this. I started to get to the point to where I would think about what I wanted to do and my body would just do it and move forward. For example, if there is a glass on the counter in the kitchen and you want to get a drink you just think something like, “Take a sip.” You no longer need to think about how you are going to walk over to the glass, pick it up, bring it to your lips, and swallow without spilling a drop. This is how I was beginning to feel inside the tunnel and it is an incredibly liberating feeling.