The Parts of Practice: Part 1, Repetition

Practice is a word that is used constantly. Everyone agrees it is a necessary part of progress. Rarely however, does practice get broken down and explained effectively. This results with many of us putting in immense amounts of time and not making the progress we think we should be making. Over the next few weeks we will explore the parts of practice. 

The first part of practice is repetition. Repetition means that we have to do the things we want to get better at, more than one time.

This is essentially doing second, third or forth sets when it comes to postures. We require muscle memory to carry out any skill, be it postures, artwork, cooking, etc. We must develop the right touch, right amount strength,  right effort, and all of that takes muscle memory. Muscle memory develops with the use of repetition. 

After we can sufficiently do something (an asana, etc), one repetition can be enough for maintenance. A skilled artist can make their art at the drop of a hat, a skilled athlete can perform on command, but that's because they've already repeated the task (practiced it!) an immense amount of times. We won't get better doing something only one time.

​