Spinning with eyes closed

Hello from Tallahassee Fl. I haven't met other spinners here so it's hard to find people to help me on my questions. But I learn all my moves with my eyes closed. Does any one else do this?? is it good? I think it helps me tune in

If I am having a real problem learning a new move, I'll try it with my eyes closed for a while. This often helps. Sometimes it doesn't.

Hi Justin,

Superman posted a thread about spinning without arms a while ago and the subject of spinning with eyes closed appeared in it.

Ever since I have been spinning more and more with my eyes closed. First because it is a whole new sensation, an 'inner voyage" and also because it is great exercize for body balance, for knowing your body limits, for feeling the surrounding... but truth is, it does not really help me learn new moves. When I do practice one move to improve, my eyes are rather wide opened. Only when I am in bed do I close my eyes and try to re-do the move in bed to figure out what could be wrong...
Shine on
Cassandra

I tend to do a lot of twirling with my eyes closed, espically when twirling in a club where lights can be a distraction for the brain. (Although I often dance with eyes closed as well so it might just be my heavy eyelids!) Even when my eyes are open they're rarely trcaking the Poi.

Being good at Poi is a lot about having control of where the Poi are, and knowing where they are as well. Maybe more importantly you need to know where they're going next! The best way to do this is by feel. Poi become an extension of the hand, so let your hands tell you where they are. Vision becomes too slow.

So, I agree, having my eyes closed allows me to 'feel' where the Poi are, and when learning a new trick this can be very useful.

Just don't fall asleep while spinning fire!

Just a question to all of you :
when you spin for a while with eyes closed :
a. do you tend to move just as much or do you dance less ?
b. do you sometimes lose balance ?
c. when you open your eyes, do you always know what you are facing or is it always a complete surprise ?
d. does it awaken your other senses more eg spinning fire with my eyes shut, I smell the kero a lot more and the "woosh" sound suddenly has another dimension...
Sorry, Justin, it is a bit off topic, but you got me thinking ! thank you !
shine on
Cassandra

[This message has been edited by cassandra (edited 21 August 2001).]

I like to spin with my eyes closed, it's a good challenge and meditation. But shit, I always lose my balance! People must think i'm drunk! I don't always know where I am when I open my eyes, and sometimes feel dizzy. But I hardly ever spin on something flat so that doesn't help either...

Nomad

I really like spinning with my eyes closed or blindfolded. The latter is a definite crowd pleaser. I find that if there is a single, loud music source I have very little trouble locating my position and orientation. Of course, spinning with headphones removes all sonic sources of reference and provides a completely different sensation when you are already blindfolded.

This has been a subject of conversation here before.

I enjoy twirling with my eyes shut--I feel that I tune in a little better to what my muscles are doing. I usually don't get disoriented when I do this--well, I don't get more disoriented than if I had my eyes open. With some moves where I go around in circles, I can get a little dizzy. I move around at least as much.

i love spinning with my eyes shut, i actually feel more confident... maybe that's why i always try btb moves and my poi always tangle... untying poi while blindfolded is more challenging anyway ;]

Thor my good fellow,
did you do a search for the oldest thread you could find just so you could bump it up?

!!!! ALL HAIL THE BUMP !!!!

I actually found it easier to learn while blinfolded.
I always feel like i am goin bruce lee on somebodys ass.
kwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Totally agree on this one. Eyes shut helps the brain focus way more. I learnt my BTB and hyperloop with my eyes shut

yes i enjoy a good eyes closed spin. its always good.
it makes you feel where your poi are going but i never really look at my poi anyway except for doing throws which are a current fave.
i do lose balance occasionally and generally have no idea which way im facing after a good jump around poi swingy session.
if you really want to fall over take mushrooms then do poi blindfold. the patterns you make on the inside of your eyes follow the circle your hands make. it is amazing and reveals things about your movment you never thought of before.
but you do fall over while not even moving your feet at all.
another one would be blindfold AND handcuffed. its interesting but not actually very exiting as there are not many poi maves you can do handcuffed

Spinning blindfolded is great, especially when there are people there who dont even know what poi are. hvnt tried spinning fire blindfolded yet, i'm not sure why, maybe i'll give it a go tonight.

thanks for sharing the experience originalsmit, i'll make sure i try that. if i want to fall over that is.

Spinning with my eyes closed is really nice. I would never do it with fire though. I get soooo disorientated when I spin with fire anyway. I can't ever see beyond the flames and usually end up miles away from where I started!!

S'true - last time ParaffinFairy spun fire she started in Guildford and woke up on a train to Cardiff

how careless!!
on the falling over thingy . im trying to fal over from a weace and end up on my back spinning butterfly.
falling over with a tiny bit of style and continuing poi movements. anyone else enjoy fallingover
(i cant quite beleive im typing this)
or have any other good falling over moves

yeah, ive got this wicked falling over move, you do a 360 windmill over and over and over again until your legs feel light and a bit squishy, then just collapse in a heap on the ground and the poi cange from a wall plane to a face thwack plane and i t just looks amazing, took me months to get that one down!

wall plane.
side planes.
floor plane......
face thwack plane..hmmmm good inventive stuff

I'm in Tallahassee too. keen to spin with others. i'm not very advanced but enjoy trying new moves. Is there a regular group of poi sninners meeting in tallahassee??

I spin and hoop with my eyes covered a lot, makes my other senses work, good practise for spinning at night when the only bit you see is a ball of flames
it looks pretty wicked in a performance if you blind fold yourself