Having a practice has many layers. There is more to it than a visible and concrete result that manifests as a skill or a product. Having a practice can and should address all aspects of human life. For a practitioner, there is always something to work on and where to improve. How do you build a practice that has an intention and leaves room for growth even in your worst days, without obsessive attachment to the end result?
There is no straightforward categorization, nor there can be. Having a practice is as versatile as each individual is, but there are some commonalities that we can talk about and learn from in any form of practice. In a physical practice you have a straight forward one that aims at breaking down a skill into its components. For example, if we take any move, say QDR static hold, there are different things within the movement itself that you can focus on. Sometimes with complex things, it is even impossible to be concentrated on more than one parameter at a time so you have to choose beforehand. In QDR you have the balancing element, the endurance element (time under tension), the technical element (position of the body in space/in relation to itself), the mobility element, etc. You can also break down every single component of just one of the layers, for instance you might have a session where you concentrate just on one thing like improving the position of the hip, feet, or ribcage. You can work on a different focal point every session, set, or even every repetition, but be aware of what exactly you are doing and stick to it. Even if it looks the same from the outside, internally only you know what is going on, so you only is a judge of how successful are you with maintaining your focus and practicing what you chose. Some kind of work will be done in any case, but there will be a different intention to what are you trying to achieve, thus different outcome in the quality and understanding of the movement.
There should be something concrete that you want to achieve when you practice something, of course. When we work on something, we want to be able to do actual things like creating music with an instrument, scoring at the basketball game, successfully defending a thesis, etc. In the movement practice, there is always a specific skill, parameter, or concept you are working on. We use all kind of different “containers” to extract knowledge from. But what about days when it just doesn’t happen? If the tangible result would be the only thing that matters, then when you are tired or you simply do not improve at the parameter you are working on for any other reason, you could see it as a failure and lack of progress. However, if you can choose to switch the layer, there still can be room for improvement, just in another direction. Let me explain this better. Imagine you work on a very specific skill like chin up, for instance, and this specific thing is very hard for you. You were progressing nicely at the beginning, but for a few sessions in a row, there was no progress at all, and even maybe it regressed. If the number of reps would be your only concern, (nobody says it shouldn’t be a concern at all, just to be clear), the session can be dismissed as unsuccessful. Usually, lack of progress makes people frustrated. Exactly this is what opens a window to work on a different side of it. What about not being able to improve in something, and not getting frustrated with it for a change? This is a much harder task for many people than doing a chin up. Suddenly strength session becomes work on emotional stability. If you are successful, there is a progress, just a different kind of it. Another proposition in similar situation is to work on letting go of the attachment to the result. With the right intention it becomes spiritual work. Cannot go a full session without being distracted all the time? Try to improve your attention - write down how many times you were distracted and next time make sure you spend more time on the actual task and not in your head (or phone;). These are just examples; anything you do has all the possibilities inside, your task is to determine them and practice. As soon as any of the parameters about your approach to the practice are improved, the growth is still there. Your growth as a practitioner, but most importantly as a person. "Learn to find improvement even in failure" - Ido Portal.
There are also bigger scale layers to the practice. These layers do not lie only within the individual tasks and concepts, but practice in general. There are four main modes that are important to cover:
- Practice by yourself
- Practice with people who are at your level
- Learn from a teacher
- Share practice with someone new to it
In each one of those, there is a different side of things that you can learn, a new facet of understanding that would be missing otherwise. Usually, we all have tendencies and leave only one or two of these layers covered. For example, often people cannot practice by themselves and always need company. The community is great; we all need partners and feedback. However, it is also important that you can do what you need without anyone holding you accountable but yourself. Learning from someone more experienced than you who can see past your current point of development is also crucial. (I talked about it already in this blog entry). Moreover, past some point, sharing what you have learned even just with your family members or friends becomes important. We start to understand better things that we can explain to others, because the necessity to communicate forces you to be very clear. Try to cover all four equally and you will see that your practice becomes deeper and brings you more joy.
Identifying the layers of the practice and choosing which ones to address at any given time is the responsibility of the practitioner. I like to think about these layers as lines of development of personality (Look up Ken Wilber for more on this). I believe nothing should be left out because when we leave blind spots in our development, we stay incomplete. The generalist approach to practice does not end on attaining a set of skills, but goes beyond it, addressing the quest of being a better human.