Capoeira

I haven't been doing very much of anything lately, but I have been doing quite a bit of Capoeira. Usually I go three or four times a week. Usually I don't really say anything about except that it's cool and I like it, which are both true, but it doesn't do justice for how profound of an effect it can really have on a person's life.

When I started about two years ago, I didn't really know anything about it. I just thought, it looks like a good workout and it they play and sing pretty music. So I started training in Madison. And you know what, I didn't really actually like it that much because I felt so awkward. All the movements seemed so strange and difficult and I just felt lost when we played games. But I kept going for some reason. I really don't even know why.

But eventually, after training on and off for about a year I got to a point where I really started understanding it a little better, and everything started to flow a little easier and I was more comfortable with myself and the other people in the group and I found myself wanting to go.

And so what? Wellllll, I think it has to do with a lot of things.

Capoeira teaches you to be comfortable with and learn how to move your body. It teaches you equilibrium, strength, flexibility and patience. It teaches you to work with other people in an almost intimate way and be comfortable with them and with yourself. And you just feel good. Remember what it's like to walk around and genuinely feel good and calm and confident and happy? It's easy to forget but capoeira helps me remember.

But I think more than the physical aspect, it teaches you about life. about people. about interacting with them, knowing yourself, confronting situations and letting things flow. It has so much wisdom in it.

And it is spiritual and religious in a very beautiful, not dogmatic, unthreatening way. And you allow yourself to experience that spiritual part of life when you are playing and singing and watching. The music talks about God, love, heartbreak, loneliness, Brazil, slavery, the game itself... it talks about life.

And it is a family. Wherever you go. Your capoeira group supports you and helps you and you support and help them, wherever they are in the world. And besides that, you can always find capoeiristas all over the world that have a mutual understanding of the same art. And than in itself is a very beautiful thing, to connect on that level of appreciation.

When you watch it from the outside, as in, not being a member of a group, I think it is hard to understand and it seems almost simplistic or stupid or confusing. But I think, like anything, once you really dig deeper into something you begin to understand the richness and complexity and even beauty behind whatever it is.

Which is why I am going to be an anthropologist.

Also, one other thing. The other day, a girl asked me about what the "rules" are here. Well, there aren't really any official rules you have to follow here (i.e. cross at the crosswalk, give all candidates for employment equal opportunities regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, etc.), but we were talking about what girls should and should not do here in Peru. And I told her, "don't be drunk and slutty and you should be fine." And she responded, "Well, that's what I do in the US. " And I thought, well, that's the thing, we're not in the United States. And consequently, the same rules don't apply; our rulebook reads differently than the Peruvian one, if you haven't noticed. Which led me to think, "Why the hell do United Statesians (Americans) think that the brilliant rules they think up for their own country are going to be applicable in completely different cultural contexts?" And I said to myself, "God, that's stupid. I have no idea."