Struggling with Discipline
Struggling with Discipline
Another way to look at the concept of daily practice
I don’t know about you, but I have not always been the most diligent internal martial arts practitioner on the planet.
Yes, there have been times when my self-discipline was functioning well and I was sitting in meditation, doing standing meditation (*see below about my standing), and of course, my formal movements.
But to suggest I was always Mister Motivation without fail for the past 30 years would be…less than honest.
There have been times when the last thing I wanted to do on a given day was a practice anything to do with internal arts. And this would not always be a mere one day event. Sometimes it would last a week or so. Fortunately, it was always temporary and my enthusiasm for practice would return. But, if you’ve also experienced a lack of motivation, it can be concerning especially if it lasts longer than you’d like.
One trick I learned over the years was to integrate practice as much as possible into daily life. I figured out that I could practice certain aspects of internal arts while engaged in other activities.
Here is one way.
Last year, we updated our garden. Since all the plants, shrubs, trees, sod, etc. require a lot of water in these early days of their lives, I found myself standing in front of them with a hose for up to an hour, every morning and evening.
This was a golden opportunity to practice. And I used this time to refine specific aspects of my practice. I recall one morning it was posture and shifting from foot to foot.
As I stood there, moving the hose back and forth from plant to plant, I paid attention to my posture, specifically the straight spine and the position of my head. This is fundamental to internal arts as it sets the body in the optimal position for connecting to the ground with proper alignment of the skeleton. I realized that I was leaning slightly forward from my head due to being focused on where the water was landing. So I straightened up.
Then I noticed that my arm was moving from side to side in order to direct the spray. So a mentally fastened my arm to the torso and immediately had to turn the entire body and shift from foot to foot so I could still control the hose.
Finally, I noticed my attention would waver as I stood there and I used this as a reminder to remain “here and now” by attending to the above internal art skills while still making sure my new garden was being properly watered.
It was a win-win situation. Both my garden and internal skills received needed nourishment.
The other thing that was helpful was that I could make the practice aspect of watering the garden as long or short as I wished. I could focus on all the components mentioned above, or I could let them go and just water the garden.
In this way, there was no restriction on how long I would be practicing. Since I was out there twice a day anyway, I could practice just 5 minutes, or the entire time. Interestingly, it usually lasted around 20 minutes or so, quite naturally.
So if your discipline is slipping, try to get creative with things you are already doing that could be combined with some aspect of your martial arts practice.
Less pressure, more regular practice.
*one aspect of my Standing is called Yi Xin Gong. (intention-heart-skill). You can learn how it is done here: