38-1,p7

A treatise on juggling and health

Playing its part in the transition to a holistic society

by George Niedzialkowski Milwaukee, Wisconsin

"Juggle three of these and call me in the morning..." Wouldn't you love to hear your doctor say those words and mean it? Well, apparently there is a lot more to this business of juggling than meets the eye. Here and there, researchers are finding out things about our brains and bodies that indicate juggling can be a valuable creator of sound physical and

mental health. .

A Princeton researcher, Les Fehme (see the Brain/Mind Bulletin vol. 8, no. 9. May 1983), suggests we can optimize our overall performance in life by broadening our focus. Juggling is one excellent way to do that. He claims most people have a narrow focus, a lack of awareness of their own body sensations or emotions. This narrow focus can be very absorbing and useful, as when talking on the telephone, driving a motorcycle or getting a massage. It is as if nothing else exists except that. When learning how to juggle, the narrow focus can be directed at a certain ball or pin.

This narrow focus agrees with observations that we live in a society which sees things as fragments rather than holistic. But things are changing. And just maybe, juggling is helping to change it.

In 1983 a Canadian researcher, Justine Sergent, from McGill University in Montreal, found evidence which challenges the notion of left brain being analytic and right brain being holistic. Instead, her findings show the left hemisphere better at detailed processing (the narrow focus) and the right hemisphere better at larger aspects of perception. The findings found also both sides of the brain were analytic and holistic.

The study further suggested, because as a society we "see" life and things as fragments (a ball or pin instead of the pattern), this may explain why there are more right-handed people.

But, don't despair. A recent "striking" discovery according to one researcher,

Brenda Spiegler of Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C. (see Brain/Mind Bulletin vol. 19, no. 6. M.arch 1984) showed left-handedness on the increase. Not only that, but according to a test performed at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio (see Perspective vol. 2, no. 4. August 1980), lefties scored higher in creativity than right-handers regardless of age. It went on to explain four aspects of creativity - flexibility, fluency, originality and elaboration.

Since the right hemisphere is normally associated with creativity, then any activity which helps to awaken this suppressed hemisphere is certainly welcome. Enter juggling. Who could argue juggling does not use both sides of the brain? Both hands are used in juggling, aren't they?

Jugglers learn in a narrow focus situation. Recall how most people learn to read. First, they learn to recognize the letters (the ball or pin). Then they learn to recognize the word (the juggling pattern). However, once this basic juggling "pattern" (the word) has been learned, then the focus can shift to a higher level still (the words become a sentence). An example of this would be a juggler on a rola-bola.

If an accomplished juggler now wants to learn a new trick, once again the focus must become narrow, the ball or pin must capture the attention (enter left-brain activity). Like a beginning new juggler, he or she must focus on throwing a double flip with the right hand before the left hand can throw a pin behind the back.

It appears juggling, like life itself, is a paradox. To catch we must not reach. To see the pattern we must not look at its parts. To learn we must unlearn.