Picture a living room in a Canadian winter, the gym closed, the usual routines gone, and a man walking slowly from room to room with three balls cycling in the air above his hands. He is not performing. He is not trying to impress anyone. He is keeping a habit alive, one that began as a way to get through a stretch of time when the days had nothing in them. That is the scene Emilio Jose Garcia describes in his June 2021 video, "Benefits of Juggling & Tips To Juggle Up to 5 balls," and it is the emotional center of an otherwise very practical lesson: how a working adult with no circus background moved from three balls to four, and started working toward five, by doing a little every day.
The video runs under twelve minutes and is shot the way most home-practice videos are, handheld, unpolished, with the teacher talking to the camera between throws. It is worth watching if you want the full demonstrations. But the structure of his method, and the reasoning underneath it, can be laid out on its own, and that is what this piece does.
Whywouldagrownadultstartjugglingduringlockdown?
Garcia's answer is blunt. In the opening of the video he says he wanted to cover "why I juggle the benefits that juggling brings to my life and why I was able to maintain this habit for the last few months." The reasons he gives are concrete rather than mystical. Juggling was something he could do pretty much anywhere. It kept his coordination challenged and his mind open. And during the Canadian lockdown, when the activities he normally relied on were gone, it gave him something to do with his hands.
"It was a very depressing time for me and juggling was an activity that helped me stay safe." (Emilio Jose Garcia, in his June 2021 YouTube video, 0:40)
The video description expands on the same idea. He describes juggling as a break from sitting at a laptop, and a form of attention training: "When I juggle, I am really paying attention to the balls, my hands, and I stop thinking of the day to day stuff. It's an active meditation." He also notes that anytime he feels down, picking up the balls changes his mood "after juggling just a few seconds." These are personal observations, not clinical claims, and it helps to read them that way. What they describe is a useful pattern: a skill that demands full attention is one of the few reliable ways to pull the mind out of a loop of worry for a few minutes.
Doyouneedexpensiveballstostartjuggling?
No, and this is one of the most useful things he says. His first advice is about money: "you don't need to spend money buying regular balls." He learned to juggle up to four balls before he bought a dedicated set, and when he did buy one, he bought six, reasoning that he would need four, five, and possibly six in the future.
His broader point is that the object matters less than the practice. He has juggled oranges, lemons, socks, shoes, and stones. Different textures and weights, he argues, make your coordination better. You become faster and more resilient, so that when you finally pick up a proper set, "you are going to find it way way easier." The lesson for a beginner is to stop waiting for the right equipment and start with whatever is in the kitchen or the laundry basket.
Whatisthefirststepinlearningtojuggle?
Start with two. Garcia's first demonstration is simply tossing one ball from hand to hand, throwing it a little higher each time and getting comfortable catching it. The point is not to look good. It is to get used to the rhythm of the throw and the catch. Once two balls feel manageable, he moves to passing them from hand to hand, which is harder, and then to doing the same with the other hand.
He is candid that this stage is where many people quit, because the early attempts look messy. His instruction is to keep at it: "it's okay to fail it's okay to make mistakes that's how you learn." The bridge to three is a matter of repetition rather than a new trick.
Howdoyoumovefromthreeballstofour?
Garcia's three-ball work is where most of his advice gets specific. Three balls alternate between hands, so the rhythm is a constant cross. He treats three-ball juggling as a playground rather than a drill. He shows variations he has learned, including tricks that use other parts of the body, and tells viewers that "you can do a lot of fun stuff with just three balls."
"I normally walk around the home just juggling three balls, that's how I got better. I just had them very handy." (Emilio Jose Garcia, in his June 2021 YouTube video, 5:09)
That last detail is the practical engine of his method. He kept the balls where he could see them, so he was reminded to practice. He says that every day he was reminded of practicing a little bit, and that he does not need hours: "just a few minutes every day is enough to build your practice." The teaching here is about frequency over duration. A small, visible cue, practiced often, does more than a long session once a week.
Four balls, he explains, are a different problem. Unlike three, four balls stay on the same hand and do not cross. The work is to get comfortable juggling two balls in one hand, then do the same with the other hand, then "click them at the same time." He says it took him a few weeks to learn the four-ball pattern properly, another few weeks to do it with his left hand, and that clicking the two hands together was the hardest part. His advice on the timeline is patient: "it's going to take a little bit of time."
Whydoesfailingmattersomuchinjuggling?
This is the emotional core of the lesson, and Garcia returns to it several times. He says "you need to fail" and that "failing is the way to learn." His explanation is physical as much as mental: the brain has to make repeated errors before a pattern consolidates. He describes the moment it finally clicks, when you throw four balls and catch them and think, "what happened there?" The first successful runs tend to be lucky, and the consistency that follows comes from the many messy attempts before them.
There is a technical point embedded in this too. For four balls, he says the secret is to throw the ball consistently back at your hand, rather than moving your body to chase it. If you have to move to get the ball, you will miss when both hands are working at once. So the discipline is about keeping your throws tight and returning to a stable catching zone, and the failures are how you find where that zone is.
Whatdoespracticingtowardfiveballslooklike?
Here the video becomes honest about its own limits. Garcia's title promises five, and he is working toward it, but he is clear that he is not there yet. He demonstrates a messy attempt with three balls in one hand and two in the other, and says plainly that "I cannot really do it very well yet." His practice for five is built from exercises he has repeated for weeks, not from a single breakthrough.
Two of those exercises stand out. The first is to juggle three balls in one hand, throwing them in a sequence (first, second, last), and then to do the reverse order. The goal is comfort with throwing and catching multiple balls from a single hand. The second is to juggle three balls very high and clap during the pause. He ties this to timing: the clap is the moment between throws that you need in order to manage the extra ball. In his words, once you can do these exercises consistently, "you're going to become better at the timing." Only then does the five-ball attempt start to make sense.
Whydoesthiskindofpracticekeeppeoplecomingback?
Garcia's final section moves from technique to community, and it is where the video earns its title. He describes juggling as "something fun to do with friends" and as an excuse to go to new places and practice. He talks about taking his daughter, Eva, to the park, practicing there, and watching other people get interested. He gives them balls, shows them a few tricks, and sometimes they practice alongside him.
"Other people are watching me and they get inspired to try and then I give them the balls and then they practice and I show them a few tricks." (Emilio Jose Garcia, in his June 2021 YouTube video, approximately 11:00)
He is also frank about how he learned: through free online resources. He credits YouTube and classes from professional jugglers, which teach step by step, and he notes that "everything is online guys for free." For a beginner, that matters. The method he describes does not require a teacher in the room. It requires a shelf of cheap objects, a few minutes a day, and the willingness to fail in front of a camera or a window.
Wheretogofromhere
If you want to try his progression, the sequence from the video is straightforward. Start with two objects you already own and toss them from hand to hand. Move to passing and then to three balls, and practice those three where you will see them every day. When three feels stable, work on four by getting each hand comfortable with two balls before clicking them together. Build toward five with single-hand three-ball exercises and high throws with a clap for timing. Expect the early stages to be messy, and treat each failure as information rather than a verdict.
Watch the full video for the demonstrations, which show the throws and patterns far better than any description can. Then pick up whatever is in reach and start. Garcia's own version of the lesson is the simplest one: a few minutes a day, kept visible, enough to build a practice that eventually starts to click.
Emilio is a coach and guide and the founder of Your Thriving Lifestyle. He helps people transform their home, habits and inner world through a podcast, courses, meditations and liv…
Emilio Jose Garcia recommends starting with whatever you have at home, such as socks, oranges, lemons, or tennis balls. Begin with two objects, tossing one from hand to hand and gradually throwing it higher. He says textures and weights of different objects improve coordination before you buy a dedicated set.
Garcia says a few minutes of daily practice is enough to build a routine, and he reports it took him a few weeks to learn the four-ball pattern and another few weeks to do it with his left hand. He stresses that clicking both hands together was the hardest part. Timelines will vary, so treat his as a rough guide rather than a schedule.
In three-ball juggling the balls alternate between hands and cross over. In four-ball juggling the balls stay on the same hand and do not cross, so you practice two balls in each hand and then combine them. Garcia advises throwing consistently back to your hand rather than moving your body to chase the ball.
Garcia practices juggling three balls in one hand, throwing them in a set sequence and then reversing it. He also juggles three balls high and claps during the pause to build timing. He says that once these are consistent, the five-ball attempt starts to make sense.
Garcia describes juggling as an active meditation because it demands full attention on the balls and hands, which pulls his mind away from daily worries. He says that picking up the balls when he feels down changes his mood within seconds. These are his personal observations rather than medical findings.
Not necessarily. Garcia says he learned by watching free online tutorials, including YouTube videos and classes from professional jugglers that teach step by step. He notes that he practices in public and shares tricks with others, but his own learning came from online resources.
