Eu sou Azeitona, sou capoeirista. {I am Azeitona, I am a capoeirista}
“I love capoeira because it has shown me how to live purposefully. It embodies my hopes and fears, while allowing me to work on them each day.”
I took my first class at ACSF over 10 years ago, and since have traveled to train in New York and Brazil. I’m grateful how the capoeira roda always has a spot for me even when life pulls me in and out of it, and for Mestra Márcia’s patience and understanding with how not everyone’s journey is a straight path. The capoeira community is all the more priceless for this, because any roda in the world has become a home and any capoeirista as family; they’re always wherever I end up.
For me, my apelido is a constant reminder of a family I belong to and my commitment to keep showing up and keep trying.
I love capoeira because it has shown me how to live purposefully. It embodies my hopes and fears, while allowing me to work on them each day. I tell myself that if I can get through class, I can get through everything else in my life. Capoeira teaches me to show up even when I don’t feel like it, to be patient with myself, and to relentlessly transform the “I can’t” into “I’m working on it.”
Leah is a regular at ACSF, and is an employee at Twitter in San Francisco.
Visit us at facebook to see last month’s HUMANS OF ACSF story about Timotej ”
Bambusal”. https://www.facebook.com/ABADA.CAPOEIRA.SAN.FRANCISCO/