08/09/2026
I’ve been working on the macaco for about 20 years.
It started when I was a teenager and diving. I loved it, but one day I over-rotated a back dive and ended up with my face against the pool wall. I wasn’t badly injured, but something changed. Going backwards suddenly felt unsafe and I couldn’t understand why I couldn’t do something I’d previously done without thinking.
Years later I started Capoeira and met the macaco. I loved Capoeira, but again I could never quite commit to going backwards. I’d do all the preparation, get close and then my brain would put the brakes on.
Fast forward 15 years and I’m loving soft acrobatics training with . Yes at 40!
Being upside down, moving through space and challenging my vestibular system has completely reignited my curiosity about movement.
And there it was again… the macaco.
For a long time I avoided it. So when a 30-day challenge came up to practise one skill diligently, I knew what I was choosing.
This is from from early attempts in the depths of winter this year, mainly avoiding doing the full skill to now: day 7.
What’s surprised me is how little I’ve actually done. A little wrist and shoulder warm-up, then three to six attempts both sides. That’s it.
And yet something has shifted. More confidence, more trust, less of that moment where my brain says “absolutely not”.
Neuroplasticity, neuromuscular re-patterning, habit training… whatever you want to call it, something is changing.
I think persistence isn’t necessarily about pushing harder. Sometimes it’s simply giving your nervous system enough safe, repeated experiences to learn that something it once perceived as dangerous might actually be okay.
20 years in the making. Seven days of practice.
I’m pretty excited to see where the next 23 days take me.
