Juggling in English

Keeping You Healthy and Wise

Juggling is fun and great for keeping fit and agile. Dropping the balls is as important as catching them.

The Benefits of Farming… and Juggling

My grandfather lived to 97 and kept fit because he used to work all day in his orchards and olive groves. He was constantly either reaching up or bending down, which are the sort of movements you have to employ in juggling as well. When you juggle you stretch, bend and twist just as if reaching up to pick fruit or stooping down to collect olives!

They look a bit like

apples as well…

For anyone who can’t immediately get to an olive grove, juggling is a stupendous way of not just increasing brain function, but also of making you physically supple and agile. Unlike farming, juggling also keeps you fit even when you are bad at it! Dropping the balls means you have to bend down and pick them up, and that is very, very good for you.

Juggling is a fun activity that can help improve hand-eye coordination, concentration, and focus. It may seem daunting at first, but with a little practice and patience, anyone can learn how to juggle three balls. When you’ve become an expert juggler your entire choreographic repertoire of movements will keep you healthy like my granddad, even though he never quite got rich.

Any kind of learning improves cognitive function. Learning a language and juggling are two very good ways of doing this. Doing them together is surprisingly easy, a lot more fun, and, perhaps, even more effective than when doing them alone.

Here are some simple and general instructions on how to juggle as well as some of the great mental and physical benefits to be gained.

Juggling for Fun and Cognitive and Bodily Health

You may have heard the old English rhyme, that “early to bed, early to rise, makes you healthy, wealthy and wise!”

Juggling may not immediately make you wealthy and wise, but as with an early bed time, it will definitely make you healthier and happier, within minutes of beginning to practice it. And after you have mastered juggling to just a modest level of competence, there is no doubt you will also be fitter and more agile in the long-term.

When you practice throwing and catching, especially with more than one ball, you are actually training your brain. The brain responds to your efforts by laying down fresh neural pathways that control movement and coordination, which as it happens also increases blood and oxygen flow to your brain. This is the process of learning, and as your brain strengthens these new pathways you improve your thinking and physical responses.

Do not forget that the reason your brain is re-organising itself is because you are moving your whole body physically. As you move your hands to throw and catch, and also chase the balls and pick them up when you drop them, you are using nearly every muscle in your body to coordinate the movements. The movements are not in any way strenuous or arduous, and are in fact very natural and well adapted to our physical structure.

Juggling differs greatly to other ways by which we are advised to keep our minds supple and agile. Doing a Sudoku or a crossword or indeed learning a new language are all excellent ways of exercising your mental muscle and opening up new cognitive pathways. They don’t, however, do very much for your physical muscle. If you can take up tennis, that’s a good way of training your brain in new hand-eye coordination skills and keeping physically fit. If you can’t or it’s just too strenuous to play tennis, the next best thing is probably juggling. It’s easy to learn, free, requires no expensive equipment and attire, and can be done almost anywhere and at any time. And it also really impresses people.

It is quite possible that even after just a few hours, you will get the hang of juggling three balls in just one day.

The 5 Minute Session

After only 5 mins of juggling, or even less, you will already be nicely warmed up, evidence that your circulation has been stimulated. Five minutes of continuous juggling (or picking up balls!) is an excellent mini-workout that can be done anywhere it is safe to do so: on your patio, in your garden, at the beach, in your office, and of course in your bedroom or living room, though perhaps not on your balcony.

Even a really short session, lasting just a couple of minutes, is a great way of keeping on your toes, especially if you have to sit for long periods throughout the day. As the BBC and ITV’s Dr Michael Mosely points out, just standing up for 1 minute every 30 minutes significantly reduces your risk of heart disease and diabetes (also on BBC Radio). It goes without saying that if you are also moving around during that minute, tossing balls and bending to pick them up, the benefits are very much greater.

And the more sessions you can do in a day, the better you’ll become at juggling and of course the healthier and fitter you will be.

As for wisdom, well that might come as well, who knows.

The delight of your first continuous Juggle

Let’s not underestimate the psychological benefits. A session of fifteen minutes or more will certainly get you flushed and perhaps even mildly panting, and if you do this several days a week you will quickly notice changes. The most striking is that you will begin to catch the balls more accurately and more frequently, being able to better control them in mid-air and dropping them less. It is truly a rewarding sensation to see and feel those coloured juggling balls turning in your hands.

Three Balls in One Day

Along with learning a few aspects of English, we will attempt to teach you to juggle three balls in one day. Whether you succeed or not is immaterial, since you will have learned the basics and will, before long, be able to teach yourself and become a master juggler.

English Learning

Much the same cognitive effects of learning apply to language acquisition as for juggling and any other type of training. Different centres of the brain will of course be involved, though not in total isolation from the rest and this is possibly where there may be an advantage in learning something else at the same time.

Safely combining two forms of training may well enhance the learning process, perhaps working together to make it swifter and easier. You will have noticed some prepositions highlighted in bold in the foregoing paragraphs. That is an example of the type of language-learning focus we will be getting into, whilst we also teach you how to juggle balls, and of course how to drop them.

It will be interesting to see what you feel about the combination, whether it does help in learning each of the separate skills.

Your instructor will speak clearly in English when showing how to juggle, occasionally highlighting a phrase or language aspect. You are also encouraged to ask questions in English.

At the end of your Juggling in English experience, along with your complimentary juggling balls and instruction booklet you will receive a print out of the English aspects covered, so you can refresh yourself later.

Lunch in English: Cuisine e Gustazione of the Cilento

Just to make sure your brain is rewarded for its efforts, agriturismo NNNN will be preparing a fabulous lunch for all to enjoy after an energising juggling session and meeting new people. You are invited to speak English during lunch, and of course to share your views on juggling and what you have gained from it.

We hope you’ll join us.

Miscellanea

INTERNATIONAL JUGGLERS’ ASSOCIATION

Alexander Kiss

In 1969, Alexander Kiss won the prestigious Rastelli Trophy in Bergamo, Italy, crowning him as the best juggler in the world. After mastering juggling balls, who knows what else is possible.