Daily Practice Update

Today marks one month of participating in Nadira Jamal’s “How to Build a Sustainable Practice Habit.” How’s it going for me? Well, today also marks one month of practicing every day, so I’d say it’s going preeeeeetty well.

I have to say, I almost didn’t sign up for this course. I knew that I’d be dealing with gem show, a visit from my in-laws, and trips to both Portland and Seattle during the 9 weeks of the course. I thought for sure there was no way I could possibly dedicate any time to participating in an on-line class. But then I realized that I always have something going on, and I always make excuses, and I end up missing out on a lot of things that could be helpful for me. So I signed up anyway, and I’m really glad I did.

You see, this course isn’t just about having a daily practice under ideal circumstances, but it also tackles the exact problems that always come up for me… Illness, changing work schedule, travel and house guests. We recently learned how to come up with a contingency plan for all kinds of issues, including how to determine when it’s really OK to give yourself a day off (can’t stand up without barfing? You don’t need to practice!) and how to get back into the swing of things after a planned or unplanned break from dancing.

So far I’ve only had two blips on my daily practice:

1- On the day of my photo shoot, we hadn’t really decided when I should come over. I woke up at 8am to an e-mail asking if I could be there by 9:30. I still had raccoon eye from Open Stage! So I had to quickly shower and put on my face and get my things together and put food in my belly. There was not time to practice, not even the 5 minute minimum! So after the shoot I picked up a smoothie for lunch, came home, drank it down, and did my allotted practice.

2- On the second day my in-laws were here, I slept in a bit and only had an hour before they were going to come meet us for breakfast. I was pretty sore and tired from being in Phoenix all day and dancing that night, so I was moving slowly. On that day, I took advantage of the “ridiculously low minimum” of 5 minutes of practice, and just did one five minute song and the 1.5 minutes of new troupe choreo that I had learned.

On a side note, the concepts I’ve been learning from Nadira Jamal have also helped me develop another habit I needed: Using the concept of “anchors” for habits, I now pour myself a glass of water after I put my oatmeal on the stove, and I have to finish the glass before I sit down to eat. This way I make sure I’m starting the day off with some hydration, because I never drink enough water. It’s been a really easy change to make. I’ll have to modify my anchor soon, as the weather is getting warmer and I’ll be switching to fridge oats instead of hot oats, but I am sure I can still make a glass of water in the morning a daily habit.

I’m already seeing results from the practice, too. I’ve been focusing a lot on omis, making sure that I practice them almost every day. Prior to this my clockwise omis were really clunky and lopsided, but thanks to daily practice, they’re now as smooth as my counter-clockwise omis, and I’m now working on making them both even smoother, walking with them, and increasing range of motion so they’re even more ooey-gooey. I’m also seeing progress with my taxims, and I’m finding myself more confident at troupe practice because I’ve been practicing our choreography more regularly.

All in all, I am very happy that I decided to sign up for this course, and I am feeling pretty confident that I’ll maintain my practice habit for my two trips next month, even if I end up just doing the ridiculously low minimum most days.