Juggling. That most ridiculous of human pursuits. Clowns do it. Street buskers with their Rastafarian beanies and didgeridoos do it. Awkward sixth-formers trying to impress girls at festivals do it. Objectively, juggling looks stupid.
And yet it turns out this buffoonery with beanbags is quite possibly one of the most quietly effective things you can do with your trousers on.
Let’s begin with the brain, which we all like to imagine we have in generous supply. Actual white-lab-coated, peer-reviewed studies show that when you learn to juggle, your brain doesn’t just metaphorically light up like a Christmas tree on a sugar high, it physically changes shape.
Grey matter, the expensive stuff, grows in the bits responsible for visual motion and coordination. Neuroplasticity, that sexy neuroscience buzzword that means your brain can still learn new tricks despite all the wine and reality television, gets a turbo boost.
You also get sharper. Focused. Like a cat watching a pigeon with a limp. Juggling demands attention, and not the lazy, flabby attention you give to your phone when doom-scrolling through Instagram, but proper, razor-edged, monk-in-a-temple concentration. It’s chess at 60 miles an hour.
The physical body, yes, that sagging meat suit we spend years either ignoring or punishing, is also invited to the party. Juggling hones hand-eye coordination until you could thread a needle while riding a unicycle. Your reflexes sharpen. Your spatial awareness improves. You might even burn a few calories. It’s cardio for people too proud to run and too honest to call yoga “fun.”
Here’s the twist: it’s good for your soul. Juggling, despite being the preserve of the idiot and the show-off, is weirdly meditative. There’s a rhythm, a stillness in the storm of motion, a pocket of Zen between the toss and the catch.
You cannot juggle and worry about your inbox. You cannot juggle and hate yourself. There simply isn’t the bandwidth. It is mindfulness masquerading as madness.
Children benefit immensely, as it turns out. It makes them smarter, more coordinated, less likely to become investment bankers. The elderly too, those dignified sages with hips like damp twigs, can maintain cognitive sharpness and stave off the creeping claws of dementia simply by keeping three beanbags aloft.
You might say it’s cheaper than therapy and less dangerous than skateboarding.
So there you have it. A celebration of the absurd. Juggling, the thing that once made you roll your eyes, may in fact be the thing that keeps your mind sharp, your body alert, and your existential angst momentarily at bay.
Just don’t do it in public. You’re not that interesting.
If you haven’t seen this video a few times already, set aside the next few minutes.
Graeme Dinnen
Resourcesforlife.net
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