Contact Juggling, Fushigi and a Crazy Story

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Contact Juggling, Fushigi and Crazy Stories

Do you remember a moment in your life where everything collided into a defining moment that transformed your life forever?

Those moments happen all the time, only we don’t always notice them until later on in our life.   I was just thinking about all that needed to happen in order for me to be here, typing on my keyboard and  sharing this story with you:

My friend Sofia was an extraordinary woman.  At 23 years old, she was a contemporary dancer, capoerist(brasilian martial-art/dance), yogi, meditator, chi kung practicioner and overall an amazingly disciplined person.  She was one of my role models.

We were very close and we were always sharing our philosophies on life with each other and having a good time. In 2008, she was going to an internship of dancing in Belgium and then to a Master Class of Capoeira in Brasil.  We parted ways, hoping to see each other when her adventure would bring her home after 2 years.

I was at home, in early february of 2009, and I received a phone call: Her friend announced to me that she died in her sleep at 6:40 that morning. I was totally shocked….

A few days later, I was sitting in my room and I held a private ceremony to tell her goodbye. I wanted her death to mean something, so I told her: “You have inspired me to be and give more in my life.  I want to embody your greatest gift to the world: discipline. I want to honour your gift in my life as a testamonial of our relationship.”

Back then I was working as a cabinet maker in a wood shop. The place was noisy, dusty, and I was working for 11$/hour.  My co-workers were old dudes who’s eyes told me that I didn’t want to end up like them 30 years from now; surrounded by noise and air pollution and machines that could chop off my hand in an instant.  I had a moment of clarity, which I feel I owe to Sophia, when I told myself:

“Fuck this, if I were to die tomorrow morning in my sleep, I could not say to myself that I lived doing what I love and sharing my gifts with the world.”

So I started contact juggling that very day.  I devoted 15 minutes a day to this art.  Fifteen minutes a day turned into hours; up to 5 hours a day of contact juggling.  I was finally doing something that encouraged my creativity and growth, all it took was a little discipline.

There are some magical moments in our lives where everything shifts. They happen all the time if we pay attention. The craziest thing about this is, that if all of that wouldn’t have happened,  I would have never met my beloved, Sarah.   But that is another story….

Please, share your stories below this post.

Sincerely,

Renaud