How I Juggle for 5 Hours

So, a friend asked me today how I manage to juggle for 5 hours a day. Here's my answer:

I just do. Meaning, I go and juggle, and I get so immersed in my juggling that pretty soon it's been 3 or 4 hours...occasionally even 5. Juggling isn't really a meditation, and it doesn't allow the mind to wander. But, it requires an intense focus. You have to think only about juggling when you're juggling. Otherwise you'll drop. The minute you worry about other things, like whether you will drop, for instance, you do. And it always keeps teasing you with more tricks to learn. When I get into one of my long sessions, what happens is every time I learn or practice a trick, someone shows me another one. So, I of course have to learn it. The end of a juggling session usually isn't due to a lack of tricks to learn, but rather due to my sheer exhaustion, thirst and hunger.

Perhaps the reason I can juggle for 5 hours is because although it's physically demanding, you don't get as tired as fast. Or, at least I don't notice it any more now that I've been juggling for a while. I juggled again for 3.5 hours today. 2 hours into the practice I thought maybe we'd done an hour tops. Time flies when you're juggling. It's a very different, very focused world. Juggling is quite an experience.

When you think juggling, think hiking. Think reading in a quite library. Think walking alone on the beach. Think being completely immersed in your little world--focused, and alone.

On a similar note, recent juggling progress:
5 clubs, 56 catches
4 club shoulder throws
juggled 5 balls for several minutes
Learned a bunch of other stuff you'll have to see for yourself. Check out my videos (most are not all that up to date) at
http://students.washington.edu/uwjuggle/videos.htm