Day 78- What are you practicing?

 

prac·tice  [prak-tis]

1. repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency: Practice makes perfect.

2. the action or process of performing or doing something: to put a scheme into practice; the shameful practices of a blackmailer.

 

In my line of work, I help people restore natural human movement to their lives, giving them simple, easy exercises and movement patterns to correct their poor everyday movement habits and ease them out of chronic pain. 

 

It's a great job. 

 

Sometimes. 

 

But often, simple solutions are met with serious resistance. 

 

I get people coming to me who are in pain, I mean, serious pain. I assess what they're doing wrong, give them 5-30 minutes of daily corrective, restorative exercises and stretches to do--many of these require little space, no equipment and little effort--and send them out the door. 

 

When I see them three weeks later, I ask about their progress. 

 

"Oh, I liked how it felt at first, and I was really good about it, but I didn't really have time to practice it."

 

 

Okay. 

 

You didn't have time to practice feeling better. 

 

To practice living healthier. 

 

Ruminate on this:

 

You are always practicing something. 

 

Really think about that. 

 

You are always practicing something. If you're not practicing walking, then you're practicing not walking, but rather, you're practicing sitting on your rear end.  If you're not practicing flossing, then you're practicing not flossing. Instead, you're practicing gum disease.If you don't have time to practice feeling better, that means you're actively practicing feeling overworked, stressed, unhappy, uncomfortable, out-of-whack, in pain.

Does that seem harsh? 

 

I'm telling you the truth. If you want to fix, change, do something, be good at something, then you must practice it. Otherwise, you're practicing NOT DOING IT. Is that really something you want to be good at? 

In our household, we never say, "Practice makes perfect." That's stupid. Who wants perfection? 

Instead, we say, "Practice makes you better."

Because it does. If you're not practicing getting closer to your goals, then what are you practicing?

Life is now. 

Dani

Special thanks to Katy Bowman, who said the words, "You're always practicing something." and changed the way I present things to myself and my clients. 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 25---In honor of the 25-percent...of bones of your body that reside below the ankle.

Remember yesterday? When I went on about how I want you to start thinking about your feet, and their lost dexterity, and the rampant neglect we're all guilty of, and how they matter so very much to your entire well-being? 

I wasn't drunk. I really meant it. 

Change the health of your feet (and I'm NOT talking pedicures, here) and you can change the health of your hips. Your pelvis. Your spine. Your bones. 

I'm SOOOO Happy You Took Care of the FEET!

That's all pretty important stuff. 

How would your car fare if you drove around on four flat tires all day, every day? Well, I guess you'd use more gas, since the tires wouldn't really be rolling over the road surface. Then, the wheels would wear down and begin to wear unevenly, which would start to throw them out of alignment. Then, the axle bearings, being thrown out of alignment, would wear out and need to be....oh, blah blah blah! Put in the terms of your body, it means bunions, hip replacements, knee replacements---wait! This is starting to make sense.

Why am I shaking an annoyingly pedantic fist at you? 

Because I care. I've been lucky enough to spend almost my entire life, since the age of 14, in "sensible" shoes. However, that still didn't eliminate foot and structure problems, because I didn't know enough. I know more, now, and I want to share it with you so you feel better, too. 

Okay, I've climbed down now. Today's walk happened after a lazy morning of hitting some fairly lame garage sales...

Apparently, people in Poulsbo think my toe shoes are funny...

when I got to take my little family to my new favorite walking park. Sadly, it was seriously boggy due to the monsoon rains that have hit here this last week. 
We had fun, though, and got our daily does of fresh air. 

 And salmon berries...

My toe shoes came away with mud between them, which I secretly find super cool. Walking in them really helps with the connection between me and the ground, so I slip a lot less than if I was in hikers or tennies. 

More next week on loving your feet, and learning the first few steps in changing the health of those tootsies foh-evuh!!


I'll see you tomorrow with some drivel or a silly poem. I'm heading to Sequim to take advantage of a class on pelvic floor health taught by none other than Katy Bowman, the head of the Restorative Exercise Institute and the reason I'm so psyched about your feet. 


Ciao, Bellas, 
Dani