Imagery of Spring 🌼

"Pay attention" is a phrase my students have heard often. Whether it's during a spinal wave, a chin-up, or a handstand I'll ask students to pay attention.

It's not only that paying attention will make these movement skills better. It's an opportunity to practice an important skill for every aspect of life!

Thich Nhat Hanh talks about this in his classic book on mindfulness: "Every day and every hour, one should practice mindfulness. That's easy to say, but to carry it out in practice is not."

As I do every Spring, I have been paying close attention to the beautiful flowers in nature. Just as within our movement practice, the closer we look, the more detail and wonders we can find 🐝 🕷🐜

Show the Work

Regularly I hear the concern from people that they've "tried everything" or that they keep "falling off the wagon" with their diet. "If they could just stick with it, they'd be successful."

It sucks hearing this because there's usually also a significant amount of shame to go with it.

It's a cycle - do something that kind of 'works' (whatever that means) but it's too hard to sustain or doesn't take into account life's complications, so we stop when there's a hurdle. Then we beat ourselves up for not "just doing it" for a while until eventually we feel bad enough that something snaps and we desperately try something to feel better again. And usually that doesn't work that well because it's a decision we've made out of desperation and pain.

Obviously this isn't a good place to be. But we've all been there.

Show me one person who (supposedly) has their diet together who hasn't made a million mistakes. Tried things and had it not work. Realised that the goal they set just wasn't a good goal and had to reassess.

The thing is, these 'mistakes' are part of it.

Shame needn't hold us back. Feelings of shame absolutely hate being seen because being seen is what destroys them.

So show me the 'bad' work. Show me the experiments. Show me all the unexpected results.

The fact that we keep trying and 'failing' isn't something to hide, it's something to celebrate and learn from. It takes a powerful person to just keep curiously showing up and doing the work.

Motivation is the Result of Action

Motivation isn't the source of action.

Motivation comes after you acted. Once you've started it compels you to keep going. It's a multiplier of action.

So don't wait around to feel motivated before you act.

It starts with doing.

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Yes I know this is easy to say.

You might be asking: "how can I ‘do’ if I don't feel motivated?"

Make it easy.

If you’re not feeling motivated, don’t try to do something hard. Do something small and easy.

Practice disconnecting action from motivation.

Connect action with other things.

Like commitment to do what you say you'll do.

Break the process of taking action into tiny steps.

Don't feel motivated to floss your teeth? Just floss one tooth. My guess is that all of a sudden you'll feel motivated to do the whole lot.

Motivation is the result, not the source of action.

Figure out a way to act in some small way and the motivation will come.

Nutritious and Delicious

I'm interested in nutritious things.

Nutritious food.

Nutritious relationships.

Nutritious movement. (Check out Katy Bowman)

Something is nutritious if it contains what you need for life and growth. By its very definition, what is nutritious will change over time and depending on who you are and what you need.

Nutritious things fill you up. They help you grow and change with the world around you.

Remember food as information and communication? Nutritious things are the information you give your body that see you grow and change.

They're the delicious parts of your story.

Nutritious and delicious is a good mantra to live by.

How Your Bad Habits Serve You

Are you sick and tired of your own bad habits getting in the way? Are you frustrated that you can't seem to stop even though you know they're shitty habits?

Let's try a different approach.

First, I'll tell you something that might sound a bit crazy:

Your bad habits are serving you in some way.

You're not crazy.

You're doing it because it works on some level.

In some way, your “bad” habits are helping you to cope.

Good on you for finding a way to cope.

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Instead of beating yourself up for your bad habits, why not try a different approach. Let's celebrate your coping mechanism.

Then you can give yourself a little self compassion and take a moment to figure out what exactly you're coping with.

Once you understand what you're trying to cope with, you might be able to start to replace your bad habit with a good one.

It doesn't need to be perfect right away (or ever!), just 1% better than yesterday.

Upgrade Your Body’s Software

Communication in teaching movement (or anything really) has two main phases:

Phase one: instruction from the teacher to your ears. Phase two: from your ears and brain to your body.

How does this message get from your brain to your body? If you understand what has been said and what was asked, do you expect to be able to immediately do it on the first try?

Even if your teacher manages to give you excellent instruction that you understand perfectly in your brain, can you instruct your body to do it?

Can you feel the parts of your body you're being asked to move? Do you know how to instruct them?

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There needs to be a process of upgrading your ‘software’ before you can follow the instructions. Much of learning is about upgrading this software to translate instructions from the teacher, through your brain and into your body.

Pay attention to this next time you're learning anything. Try to learn what your teacher teaches, while also taking the time to upgrade your software to make it a little easier to learn next time.