Footbag Kicking - Hacky Sack ^®
Is on the Rise Around the World!

There is a rhythmic movement called "The Rainbow." It is done by kicking the footbag in a rhythmic pattern over one's head, from side to side. The rainbow is done with side kicks. The process is executed by tilting one's head slightly back and looking at each kick within its arc. Your head and eyes must follow the footbag to each successive kick. (Illustration AA and BB). There is another application within the Rainbow which is basically the same process except the footbag moves much faster. In order to deal with this, you must look at the footbag at its first point of impact, make your kick, then turn your head opposite to where the trajectory is taking the footbag. The secret here is that you must locate the footbag at about head level on the opposite side in order to respond with another kick. If the head turn is too slow, then the eye will see the footbag too late to make a reasonable effort to retrieve it from its fall. This head movement is critical to the ultimate control of the footbag.

As your study of Footbag Dance deepens into the eye-foot consciousness, your response to the movement of the footbag will improve as your sensitivity develops. Sharpness of your peripheral vision will unfold; your eye will see all.

A hawk sees movement from a distance, its body flows and glides swiftly and surely to its prey. And then with the subtlety of its discipline the hawk strikes so very lightly. The hawk gracefully and efficiently falls from the sky to get to the object of its intent. The point here is that the hawk's eye makes contact first in order to respond to its prey. You too, with this new found eye-foot consciousness, will find your actual controlled thought leaving your body and a new type of clarity taking over.

As you make different kicks from one foot to the other, your brain is also changing from one side to the other. When you use your right leg for a kick, the left side of your brain gives the command to the right leg. Then as the footbag passes over to your left leg for a kick, the right side of your brain gives the command. So...as the footbag passes from left to right, the brain transfers its own thought waves from right to left and vice versa. This process creates a cleansing of the mind. The more clear your mind becomes, the greater your accomplishments will be. For more on this phenomena and its benefits read "Bloughchi, A Renaissance of Modern Movement".

This is an excellent meditative posture which reduces stress. One's mind -- through everyday use -- becomes a cluttered mess of trivia. This condition, I feel, is unnecessary to the physiology of your well-being. The mind is a very powerful tool and quite capable of taking care of itself, without the self-inflicted pain of thought introduced by the person. One can let the mind have some time for its own relaxation and it will respond to your needs more and more as its clarity increases by the cleansing action of the Rainbow.

Your pursuit of Footbag Dance by means of the Bloughchi style of kicking put forth in this book, will, day by day, produce this cleansing, and in the process it will change your level of consciousness. Your feet will become your protectors. You will know where they are and what their capabilities are at all times. Your eyes will propel you into new dimensions. Your awareness of movement around you will become acute and your sensitivity will increase in remarkable leaps. Such a consciousness to reach is remarkable!

I treat Footbag Dance as a martial art master would in his or her quest for inner consciousness...a totally centering drive for an awareness that unfolds as you experience it. There are unquestionably many levels of consciousness that await to be discovered. The discovery is the reward from one's quest for a clarity in understanding one's inner complexities.

Eastern man through the ages has always looked within for the answers and Western man must also look in that direction. (Even the Bible says, "The Kingdom of Heaven is within.")

I believe that in Footbag Dance you will find the key to many of these complexities. Get to know your feet; they are so beautiful to own when they are so much a part of you. My intensity in the study of Footbag Dance is my chosen way of looking within. You do not need to pursue this study as intensely as I do to find what I'm finding. There will be levels of consciousness that will fall upon you without following my degree of determination. You as an individual will follow your own path. There will be no road signs needed. Your mind will make the decisions...just follow the clarity you gain.

There are many kinds of kicks to master in order to subconsciously dance with the footbag in the beautiful, graceful manner of which I have been speaking. As your body strengthens and your mind clears, your flowing movement will prevail. Footbag Dance will carry you to this beauty, but only as you permit it to do so. What you learn you will never lose. You can never be tired of waiting, as waiting we must all do. Your patience is required to achieve the richness of a body and mind continuity that will be your reward.

You will become more and more sensitive to the footbag. You will not only see where the footbag is, at any given time, but will know where it is going and when it is going to be there. It's flow will be your flow. There will be no separation...you will flow as one. As the footbag moves at you, your response will be to move efficiently from its path and then render a smooth flowing block. As long as you move with its path, its field of energy is one with you.

One's path in this physical life should always be in harmony with energy, always moving with but never against. We are only flesh and bones...the world is full of things that can harm us. Most physical and mental harms have energy fields of powerful moving mass. It is better to let energy of this type pass rather than stand in its way. When you learn to flow with the energy you create in Footbag Dance you will, from within, find safety.

In mastering the study of Footbag Dance, you will possess the ability to flow with the motion of the footbag, a motion which you yourself have created. What could be a better way to go through life than to achieve the possession of your own body from such a discipline that also has benefits within you.