Human first

It’s cool to be good at training, but it’s cooler to be good at life. As a person I’m highly invested in my own practice. Sometimes to the point where I lose sight of what really matters. My practice is my passion and I am fully devoted to it but, there is a life outside of the 1, 2 maybe even 3 hours of training I do every day.

When you start a practice, at first it will have a great carry over to life. You’ll get stronger, get more flexible, feel more energetic, be happier. But as you dive deeper and deeper into that practice the carry over starts to become less and less and the progress you make will only make you better at the thing itself because the only time you’ll use the newly acquired resources is when you do the thing.

The thing is bigger than the thing itself

..or at least it can be.

What do I mean by that? When you practice, for instance, handstands you practice the art of balancing on your hands but anyone who has ever practiced handstands knows that there is a lot of frustration, failure and falling incorporated into that practice.

So, as you practice handstands, you can also, through intention, awareness, attention and reflection practice how you deal will frustration, how you navigate your mind as to not let it interfere with the focus needed to practice such a skill. You can practice how you learn to deal with failure and falling and with a non linear process with an extreme delayed gratification.

By practicing handstands you can become a person with more patience, more self-control of your emotions, better ability to focus. You can become a person that deals with frustration, failure and falling, and trusting you and the process, in a way that carries over to life.

Or you can just practice handstands, and that is okey too. It’s your life, your choice. You decide.

Explore, experience, evaluate, evolve

So explore your body and your mind when training. See what happens when you do x in another way, just to see what happens when you do it in that way. Did something different happen? Do I want the same outcome or sensation again? Or do I want to get a different sensation or outcome?

Pay attention and experience what is actually happening, on the inside and the outside as you're practicing. How does it feel when I do x? Does the sensation differ from when I do y? What sensation am I looking for?

Reflect about the information that you just received. Use that information to your advantage. To evolve your practice. What information did I get from this set/rep/movement? What can information can I use to act in a way that aligns me even closer to my desired outcome?

Act, ask, answer, act, ask, answer..

May the force be with you, always.

Micha