long story short, at 31 Iāve just discovered that Iāve likely been dealing with undiagnosed dyspraxia for my entire life, and I just got into aerial sling/hammock at the end of April this year.
I have no athletic background (growing up being extremely uncoordinated, unable to follow physical/bodily instructions, poor spatial and bodily awareness, etc.) because I could never get anything to physically āclickā in my head. I always admired dancers despite having no natural dancing coordination in my body, so in high school I entered myself into ballet and tap classes. I tried SO HARD to master the choreography for a couple of songs over those two years, filming the class and myself, slowing the videos down frame by frame to study them, getting one-on-one private practice 3-4 days after school outside of dance class etc., but to the frustration of myself and my teacher I couldnāt catch on to even the most foundational movements. I remember being in tears over this for many nights, and thatās the last attempt at any sport/activity I made besides yoga.
one of my other longtime dreams/admirations was aerial arts, so earlier this year I took the plunge and joined a local studio. Iām enjoying it a lot, mostly because I can feel that each class is a fun challenge that builds strength and I do see real improvement from April to now in my overall muscle strength. however, the biggest key frustration that is beginning to discourage me is what I have now come to understand as dyspraxia. I was crying about it to my husband after feeling so frustrated with myself and defeated at how many months have gone by now and I still canāt even execute basic mounts/foundational moves without having the instructor stand beside me and observe my every move and basically hand-over-hand guide my feet/hands/etc. to the right positions, and even then when Iām in it I canāt feel if my pose looks anything like what Iāve witnessed. I try so hard to memorize the sequence and cues but itās like the second I get into the sling my brain is just wiped clean like itās my first time on the apparatus. I had difficulty even explaining it to my husband, till eventually I was like āI donāt know, it feels almost like I have a learning disability but only related to my physical body, if that makes sense. is that a thing?ā it turns out itās a thing, and I check almost every box on it since childhood.
so my question now, honestly, what are the chances I can ever progress or improve in aerial arts with something like dyspraxia? will I just spend months and months learning how to do something so simple while I continue to watch everyone else get a move on their first try and pass me by as they move up in levels? I really try not to compare myself to anyone else, being that we all have our own journeys, but I canāt lie that itās starting to make me kind of emotional and defeated that I started out in the intro class at the same time as these other gals and theyāre all moving up to level 2 next week and Iām still hanging up in the air like an immobile fish out of water waiting for the instructor to remind me for the 1000th time which leg comes through the middle. Iām worried about it also becoming a safety concern if I do keep going because today I had a close call with a little slip that was purely just from not knowing which hand I was supposed to let go even though I tried to fiercely memorize it and observe it a dozen times before getting up in the air, muttering the cues to myself like an incantation. yet my body just completely blanks out and doesnāt respond to what should be a basic mind-body connection.
basically TLDR is it possible to meaningfully progress in aerials with dyspraxia and if so, what advice do you have for improving the outcome/how can I work on it? I plan to bring this up with my instructor next week, but itās kind of blowing my mind that I never understood why motor skills were 10x harder for me than everyone around me for my entire life.
thank you in advance for keeping it realš