The Art Of Juggling

Having sustained itself for over 4000 years following its initial invention in Ancient Egypt, juggling is far more than just a commonly performed street/circus act. Rather, it can be considered as akin to a religion for some of the longtime veterans such as Anthony Gatto or Jason Garfield, and maybe an integral part of one’s life for amateurs like me. Meanwhile, it is also quickly evolving into a sport, especially with the introduction of organizations like the World Juggling Federation (WJF) the International Jugglers’ Association (IJA) that aspire to make this a reality.

There are many benefits implicated with the practice of juggling such as improve resilience and discipline, various psychological benefits, and the chance to gain more satisfaction in one’s life through the exploration of new, meaningful activities.

For instance, the practice of juggling is to known to have many neural and psychological benefits. A study published by the peer reviewed journal Nature divided up 24 non jugglers into two groups. They then instructed the 12 people in the second group to regularly practice juggling for the next three months while ensuring that the control group did not do this. After conducting various Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans before and after the program on the two groups, highly valuable results were produced. Through comparing the brain structure mapped out by this imaging, they discovered that the non jugglers had no significant change over the course of 3 months in their nervous system, while the jugglers experienced a significant increase in the presence of grey matter (Arne May, 2004).

In 2009, a team from Oxford confirmed these results and also found that regular practice of juggling results in a sharp increase of white matter. Grey matter is responsible for effective muscle control, sensory perceptions, speech, and decision-making ability to name a few functions. Meanwhile, white matter, or the lack thereof is a major contributing factor to alzheimer’s and memory loss conditions (P.S. Sachev, 2013). This implies that the regular practice of juggling implicates major psychological and physical benefits for human beings.

Furthermore, juggling is also known to be a reliable method of increasing concentration and critical thinking while also reducing stress. In the busy, fast-paced twenty first century, stress is a far too common problem omnipotent in everyday life. One of the best ways to overcome this stress is to take breaks from it. This can be done by diverting one’s attention from it. Getting to this point of sole focus is unfortunately quite challenging. However, juggling is an intrinsically focused art that completely absorbs one’s mind. It thus forces people to refocus their energies and combat stress more effectively.

Moreover, juggling can also be a mean of developing superior concentration and critical thinking skills. Alongside being a mean to decrease stress which in turn promotes concentration and focus, juggling is also an activity that engages one’s problem solving skills. After all, people have to try many different iterations of learning the most basic of patterns before they begin to see results. This in turn promotes critical thinking which is then transferrable into many different aspects of life certainly not limited to the workplace. In most activities that demand this level of problem solving, people tend to give up. Juggling however, is quite the contrary. Due to the enthralling nature of the art that not only captivates the mind but also the muscles, juggling can become almost addictive. This means that people are less likely to give up, and more likely to continue their journey in the art.

Additionally, juggling has also proven itself in the past to impact the lives of many in the most fruitful and interesting manner possible. One example of this would include 26 year old juggler Benjamin Teo. In an interview with the Singapore Times, he mentioned that in his more youthful years, “As both of my (his) parents were working, I (he) was a typical latchkey kid. So instead of going home after school, I (he) would walk around and get into trouble.” The bored teenager on occasions also shoplifted. However, when the arts focused social enterprise Circus in Motion did a workshop at his Secondary school, his life was completely turned around. Under the guidance of their instructors, he began to learn various tricks with props like the large italian yoyo like device of the diabolo, and juggling clubs similar to bowling pins. In fact, himself and some of his peers were so motivated by this sudden introduction of purpose in their lives that after the end of the program by Circus in Motion, they formed their own training group which met weekly to practice circus arts like juggling. Now Mr. Teo has become a regular instructor and performer for the Circus In Motion enterprise. When our english class met contemporary artist Danny Raven Tan during the array of writer’s fortnight talks, his foremost advice to us was to follow our passion to the end of the earth. It is clear that those who dared to explore their interests like Benjamin Teo managed to eventually reach satisfaction in themselves and their career.

Juggling to me is not just an activity. Rather, it is an integral part of who I am and thus manages to propel almost everything I do. Without the lessons and life skills that juggling taught me, I would have never progressed the way I did from the young, undisciplined, unfocused child I once was in grade 5 to who I am now. To ask you to also follow a path analogous to my own would be far too unreasonable. However, simply exploring this art for a mere thirty minute session as I did at the beginning of my own career could easily prove to have a variety of benefits. It may not necessarily prompt you to become a professional juggler; however, it would definitely be a thirty minutes well spent.