The question has been asked several times by friends recently why I continue to yoyo after all these years.
I could explain that I find it greatly rewarding when I hit a trick well.
I could explain that I love being a newbie. I feel like a newbie when I yoyo, even though I’m not a newbie, I am, when I see something differently, get a new idea, or learn something that I never even dreamed of. It’s just that exciting and cool! Love it!
I could explain that I yoyo still to kill boredom.
I could explain that I love the feel of yoyoing.
I could explain any or all of the above but generally I don’t. I just smile, point at that smile, and say, “It’s just about the smile.”
Once a yoyo is thrown the mind switches to a meditative state. In a meditative state you begin the see all is one. When you know all is one you can become one with all.
I’m in a similar boat. I started throwing when I was 12 back in 2008. I found it to be a really fun and rewarding activity, just trying to climb up the 1A trick ladder and eventually creating my own tricks. It wasn’t expensive, I could take it anywhere, impress people, make friends on & offline, test my creativity, and feel a sense of achievement. I also genuinely developed a lot of coordination. Not a lot of hobbies check all these boxes so easily!
I was big into it until late 2011 when I got into playing drums, and guitar shortly thereafter. Music and being a teen gradually pushed Yo-Yos further out of my hand until sometime in 2013 when I don’t think I was picking the Yo-Yos up anymore. That changed in 2015. I was unlucky enough to run into some serious health problems, and found myself at home a lot. I had all these nice Yo-Yos and was curious to catch up on things in the scene. Tricks had become even more techy and clever, and I didn’t even remember my old ones! I spent that year getting through the health problems while challenging myself to develop some new tricks that were much harder than my old ones. I also visited a few Texas comps and filmed the freestyles while making a few new friends. Yo-Yos really made that year into something with positives.
By the end of 2015, I was healthy again and set on becoming a filmmaker. I’d always liked making videos, but I wanted the real skills and a career. I didn’t want to forget all my Yo-Yo tricks again, so I made a quick video to catalogue everything I’d developed or re-learned. I left that on my computer, bought a DSLR camera, and started teaching myself how to be a filmmaker. Fast forward to the present, and I’ve been running an independent video production company successfully with my brother. The career thing was panning out, but then we got hit by this virus. It’s a bit harder to find work now, so I’m finding myself at home a lot… seemed as good a time as any to pick Yo-Yos back up.
So here I am, re-learning my tricks again and set on developing an up-to-date 1A style nearly 12 years after first landing “braintwister” with a wooden axle. I’m also remembering why this is such a great hobby, and realizing how much I’d like to use my current understanding of filmmaking to capture and share Yo-Yoing with more people. It’s popped in and out of my life, but it’s been so beneficial throughout. So today, I suppose I’m throwing for the same personal reasons as always, but also looking to bring some serious production quality to the Yo-Yo world when I can. I think a lot of people would really gain something from Yo-Yos if the right media existed to pull them into the hobby.
When I got into yoyos in the late summer / fall of 2015 I sent a photo of my yoyos to my dad. About a year and a half ago I sent another photo of my way more expensive yoyos and he told me “I didn’t know you were still messing around with those things.” I’ve come too far into this hobby to ever turn away from it. I am well past the point of this being a phase. I have an extremely difficult time learning new things and my trick / moves arsenal is not huge and I am okay with that because I can see tiny jumps in smoothness and flow every few months and that’s what keeps me going. Why do I still yoyo after all this time? I can’t imagine my life without a yoyo in my hand or nearby. It gives me boosts of confidence that help in other areas of my life and yoyoing, to me, is just a very cool thing to know how to do!
It’s not like jet skiing, which would be fairly elaborate and costly. A yo-yo sits harmlessly on your desk or table waiting for the spirit to move you and throw it around. Its sole purpose of existence.
I got back into it from childhood over 2 years ago, and I dont ever see my putting down a yoyo for good. It’s a very fun and satisfying (and gratifying) hobby that can be enjoyed in small increments as well as more extended sessions. I feel like im getting something out of it, in a way that I don’t really get from games. Im not just playing with a simple toy, but a skill toy. Honing a skill like this is just really cool to me.
I tell people it’s a stress reliever. I’m always trying to find ways to get myself off of the computer from time to time. Unfortunately my job is all desk based and with covid all my socializing happens online. So yoyoing is something that gets me on my feet in my tiny flat. its actually helped a lot with back pain which I wasn’t expecting haha
i find that yoyoing helps me keep my head. I first heard this piece of advice from a player by the name of alex hattori (maybe you’ve heard of him lol). he said whenever he cant concentrate on a test (to which I can relate) or anything else really, he just takes 5 and yoyos for a while. i tried it, and i found it extremely helpful. another reason i like to yoyo is because I’m an introvert and i rely on people coming to ME, wanting to be my friend, not so much the other way around. its pretty cool seeing your guys’ posts. keep it up.
I cast the yo-yo every day - sometimes for just a few minutes and other times I cast it for hours! I’m addicted to yoyo, seriously! Maybe I have a problem with the manual game;)
The truth is that it helps me to relax, to disconnect from problems, to enter “zen” mode.
I feel a certain pleasure and tranquility, a relaxation in the soul when I have control in my hands over an object turning and turning at high speed at the other end of the rope and that pleasure is greater if I finish with a bind and it returns to hand, it’s like closing a small loop, something that completes successfully:)
I keep playing because of the fluidity that linking one trick with another and creating combos offers, it’s addictive!
all that centrifugal energy at the mercy of my orders…nice!
Most of my long-term micro-obsessions are all about experiencing a moment more directly, more acutely. To act like a part of the universe just experiencing itself. As a human it can be kind of hard to get out of your own way. Yo-yo, skateboard, music, martial arts, surfing, yoga… it’s all kind of the same pursuit - just “locking in”. You start to feel like the authentic human experience is that feeling and the illusion is all of the attachment and baggage we typically hang onto it.
Yea, I feel you. I feel truly alive when I go out and do physical activities like riding atvs, skiing, skateboarding, etc. Yoyoing reminds me of how I used to find a peaceful state of mind when riding a dirt bike through the woods, or ski down a mountain. I guess you could add this to the reasons why I yo as well.
