A Life in the Balance: A Peek into the Wacky, Wobbly Slacklining World

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PLENTY OF PEOPLE walk around or stretch out while enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon in Meridian Hill Park, but Joel Steinberg does it along a rope strung between two trees.

He's practicing the sport of slacklining, which resembles tightrope-walking, except that — as the name implies — the line isn't taut, creating a greater challenge and a little bounce. (It also allows for advanced tricks like "surfing," moving the rope from side to side.)

"I'm kind of a little bit addicted to it," says Steinberg, who's been at it for the past four years and leads Washington's community of enthusiasts.

The group, which numbers anywhere from 10 to 20 depending on the day, gathers at about 4 p.m. to set up their lines (made of flat webbing, like the kind climbers use) and experiment with tricks. For some, that means a running jump mount, while others struggle to stick a second foot on the line without falling.

"Everyone's welcome," Steinberg says. "I give tips and pointers, but the best way is just to learn by doing, like anything."

For beginners, it's all about concentration and focusing on the moment, he explains. Steinberg's standard advice: "Breathe. Relax."
Injuries are fewer than observers might expect. The line is normally just a few feet off the ground, so the inevitable clumsy stumbles result in bruised egos more than anything else.

Once newbies finally manage to stand for a few seconds, they start to notice how little adjustments to their posture radically affect their balance. Even moving a finger might shift them to one side. And then there's the power of the lower abdominals.

"Connection to your center — that's what balance is all about," Steinberg says.

Not that you have to be in perfect shape to attempt slacklining, but its adherents swear that it's good exercise.

"It's a total-body workout," says Maria Quinones-Phiegh, a Los Angeles resident who runs the Web site Slackline.com (which boasts the motto "Leading the Balance Sport Revolution").

The legs, particularly some of the smaller muscles, get the brunt of the action, but Quinones-Phiegh points out that the upper body feels the burn, too. Just holding your arms out to the side long enough is a solid workout.

Its popularity may be fledgling here in D.C., but slacklining has been around since the 1970s, when rock climbers at Yosemite were looking for a new way to spend their downtime at camp.

From there, it spread across the world, finding its largest footholds in California and Europe. The first international slacklining competition was in Scotland last year, and slacklining will be included in France's Natural Games later this month.

But even if you're only doing it in Meridian Hill Park, Quinones-Phiegh says you're doing it with the best possible company: "Slacklining gets you in touch with yourself on so many levels."

Written by Express contributor Amanda Abrams
Photos by Lawrence Luk for Express