One year ago I started kiting. It felt like driving in the sense that when I first took one of those bars in my hands, I felt I would never be able to do this. But somehow, like driving, you find a way. The body adapts, adjusts and learns a new skill.
Now, one year further, I find myself in Egypt and I am hooked as we say in watersports. That means I have fallen in love with the sport. I absolutely love it, and in this blog I want to take you through some of the processes it spiked in my being.
In kiting there is such a thing as riding up wind and down wind. This depends whether you are riding with the wind or against the wind if we make it very simple. But because you manouver the kite in a different position, it does not feel like you are riding against the wind as such. Both have a different sensation, but when you master the sport both feel pretty smooth to an extent.
I am now at the point that I am starting to learn jumps. I will always remember my first day of jumping. I was exerting so much force to lift off. The wind was light which was not helping but I also felt I needed to jump putting in all of my own body efforts. I forgot about the wind completely. The next day I had so much stomach ache. And even more importantly, I was only able to lift off the floor a tiny bit.
I figured this was normal but when I tuned in on the wind the next day, I realized I had forgotten to ride with the wind. And when I say that, I mean that there is this beautiful force that we can use to guide our kiting and our jumps. Sometimes it just feels like the perfect moment to jump and you jump. While at other times, the wind does not catches perfectly or feels off and you can just stay afloat or slow down your pace. Today I managed to jump over twometers, land a few jumps very smoothly and feel the 'lift' that kiters speak of. Two different worlds that I would like to tap into more.
'There was good lift today', she said. I came out of the water and looked at her. I finally understood what she meant. The wind allowed for a good upward force which meant that it was a good day for jumping.
As you know, I like to relate my sports experiences to real-life feelings and sensations. Let me take you through some reflections I made regarding the lift. I realized that, exactly like I did on day 1, I often do not wait for the lift. I force it because I am impatient and do not trust the natural course of life. So I feel the need to control and redirect. In kiting this would be parallel to creating the widn when it is not there. In skiing we have managed to create artificial snow, but in kiting we still depend on natural wind.
Everything has a natural flow in life. A cycle. A rhythm. It is only when we trust this cycle and this flow that we can grow most efficiently and most effortlessly. Think about a plant that needs water once a week. We can feed it with water every day but it will actually result in the plant weakening rather than strengthening. Only giving the plant water once a week will require a lot of patience and trust, because what will happen at all these days that we are not watering the plant?
In kiting, like in life, we need to wait for the right wind to lift us. We cannot force this, we cannot pull this, we cannot control it. We just wait for it and then go with it. And when it is not there, we watch and enjoy the ride anyway in less than ideal circumstances.
What does it mean in daily life? How can we see the lift in our day-to-day moments? Let me give a few examples:
- You are waiting to meet that love of your life, that person of your dreams. You can go on Tinder and search all dating apps, but in the end you need to wait for that magical moment where the divine timing is just right. The lift. And if that happens, there is a force much deeper than you could ever create that takes over.
- You are looking to make a move in your career. You can let the boss know that you are ready, you can read all the books. But then suddenly your boss falls ill one day and you are asked to step in. You do such a good job that you are asked to step up. The lift.
- You have been building on your company for a while now. You have done all the steps required to make it work. But somehow it doesn't. Until. It gets noticed by one person that spreads the word rapidly. The tipping point as Malcolm Gladwell writes about. Or The Lift. I am now using this word with capital letters as it has gotten a holy meaning haha.
I think by now you see how the lift not only applies to kiting. It applies to our daily life.
The lift. That magical and holy moment that the wind decides it is time to lift you off and allows for a jump. Something we can use as kiters and as non-kiters once we understand the principle behind it.
The most important thing to remember is that it cannot be forced. It gets created by itself and all we can do is feel it and 'use it'. It is up to us to tune in, to use our senses and to feel the right momentum. We should not waiste energy trying to push or pull it into action, as it is like the wind. It comes and goes as it pleases.
