( Oprah.com ) -- If you 've ever wanted to run away and join the circus , Beverly Sobelman -- intrepid aerial artist and midlife career changer -- can show you how . In the spring of 2003 , software developer Beverly Sobelman was 39 years old and near the top of the heap at Microsoft , sitting at conference tables with Bill Gates and `` managing people who managed people who managed people , '' as she puts it . And then she quit . `` I ca n't be in another meeting where people just get yelled at , '' she explained in her exit interview . Sobelman spent a few months teaching yoga and living off her savings , she says , `` but I did n't know what the next thing was going to be , which was a little scary . '' One day a rock-climbing buddy mentioned a class he 'd been taking in circus aerials : the kind of midair acrobatics perfected by Cirque du Soleil . Sobelman tried a session and was instantly hooked -- even obsessed . She traveled to Melbourne , Australia , for months of training with Circus Oz and the National Institute for Circus Arts . ( `` My teacher was a lovely old French lady who liked me because I was n't 20 . '' ) Once back in Seattle , she started performing and teaching with a small troupe . `` Aerials are a way to exercise that 's fun and creative and social -- even more so than your average dance or yoga class , '' she says . Beginners might get the heebie-jeebies watching Sobelman shimmy 30 feet up a silk banner to dance , spin , and tumble in thin air . But aerials can be done by people of all ages and abilities -- at least when Sobelman is your instructor . Your great idea , whose time has come . `` If students ca n't manage a skill , I will find one they can do , so everyone walks out of the room feeling good , '' she says . `` I get a lot of people who were traumatized in grade school because they could n't climb a rope in gym class . There have been very few people I could n't get up a rope . '' By 2007 Sobelman 's classes were so popular -- particularly with women in their early 20s to mid-40s -- that she founded Versatile Arts , Seattle 's first full-time aerial studio . `` I never wanted to take the risk of starting a business , '' says Sobelman , who teaches six group sessions a week and tutors students privately . `` Yet here I am . I 've accidentally created a community : People come for their classes , but they also drop by to see their friends and help each other . '' How to find happiness at work . She has also accidentally transformed herself . `` I used to think of myself as the person who gets stuff done , not the person who comes up with the ideas , '' she explains . `` I cooked from recipes and sewed from patterns . So the first time I created a performance routine that seemed interesting and creative and graceful -- that was a revelation . Even now , when I hear a song on the radio and start thinking of choreography , or when I cook a meal based on whatever 's in the fridge , I 'm aware that I 've changed . '' Oprah.com : What do you really want to do with your life ? Subscribe to O , The Oprah Magazine for up to 75 % off the newsstand price . That 's like getting 18 issues FREE . Subscribe now ! TM & © 2010 Harpo Productions , Inc. All Rights Reserved .
Beverly Sobelman became an aerial artist when she had a midlife career change . Sobelman was a 39 years old software developer for Microsoft before switching . She founded Versatile Arts , Seattle 's first full-time aerial studio .