I've always liked to jump. That feeling of being airborne, almost flying, for the second or so you are in the air. Weightless. Exhilirated. Alive!
One of my earliest memories of the breath-holding, heart-stopping excitement I was afforded from being airborne was around age two. My dad, lying in bed, would have me sit on his hand while he would raise me up towards the ceiling. A sort of pumping iron, using his young child as a weight.
At infant school (the first school one attends in England, starting age five), each child's birthday was celebrated by them seeking out a bar of chocolate hidden on the top of a cupboard, followed by birthday "bumps" from two teachers. They held me under the arms and bounced me high in the air, so high I thought I would surely take off right through the ceiling. One bump for each year. Six bumps seemed like they would last forever as the whole class chanted along, counting them off.
As a child, I lived for the times I could get on a trampoline. In those days (the late 60s), trampolines were common seaside attractions in British coastal towns. I would beg my parents for the chance to bounce on one, feeling as if I could almost jump out of my own skin, that for a fraction of a second I was on top of the world and had a unique view of everything below. My family couldn't afford to buy a trampoline, but skipping (jump) ropes sufficed, and I would play for hours, chanting the songs, practicing the double jumps, bouncing, bouncing until I could no more.
Dynamic meditation in my twenties, at the Osho Commune International in Poona (Pune), India, was my next taste of jumping. This meditation technique, given to us by Osho, had five parts to it, each designed to help us let go of all the emotional baggage that could prevent us from being silent in meditation. Part three was jumping up and down for fifteen minutes, arms raised above the head, landing firmly on the feet while repeating the mantra "hoo", letting the energy settle deep into the hara*. Once my mind had got out of the way, with all its reasons why I couldn't get through this, my energy began to jump me as I enjoyed the ride. Then came Eden Energy Medicine and the discovery that many exercises work better when done on a mini trampoline. When a friend moved to L.A., leaving me me her rebounder, I began to see my daily routine in a new light. Never having been someone who enjoys anything routine, I began to play with doing the exercises while I was bouncing. The simple act of jumping once again for the sheer enjoyment of it, lit up my Radiant Circuits (the energies of joy). Cross over patterns were easy to reinstall as I added poi balls to my jumping. Stubborn energies that had a habit of sticking in my head, despite constant Crown Pulls, released easily when I bounced. Bonus effects of bouncing include: moving stagnant lymph, pumping cerebrospinal fluid, and getting the heart pumping with an aerobic workout.
But the biggest bonus for me is the smile that starts on my face and spreads throughout my body as I bounce. My aura grows big and I once again feel like I'm on top of the world!
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