If practice makes perfect, then we should all ask the question, “Perfect what?” Whether it’s practicing an art, science, mental or physical, how we learn anything is through repetition and practice. 

I think most people would agree with me that there is a standard belief that if you practice something, if you actively partake in making a commitment  - to stick with something - you will get good at it.

What most people may not immediately consider however is that the something a person practices has many intricate parts. It’s never a single thing – especially when it comes to a movement or physical based practice.

For example, being a good tennis player. It’s not just about practicing how you swing a tennis racquet; it’s about improving how you play the game overall. It’s about learning timing, the speed and spin of the ball, footing, rotation, strength, and flexibility, and of course the mental aspects of strategy, offense, and defense, and putting all of the learning into every second of the practice and then apply it to the game.  Practice affects every cell and molecule of our body.

It shapes us psychologically, physically, emotionally, chemically…and so on. Every cell reacts to practice. But just because you practice doesn’t necessarily mean you become perfect at it, does it? If that were the case, when it comes to activity or movement the only difference from person to person would be the quantity of practice time. If you and I decided we were going to learn how to play lacrosse and we started at the same time, did the same drills, practiced the same amount of hours we would become equally good at it over the same amount of time, right? Wouldn’t it be a shame if that were the case. Talent and skill would mean absolutely nothing. There would be no icons, no excellence or variation and thus no challenge to ever become better.

There are just as many variables in the learning as there is the practice.

One of the most controversial variables is injury. If all you have to do is practice to become better at something, how come so many people who engage in practices for years suddenly get injured during their practice? I’ve personally gotten injured exercising and playing sports on multiple occasions – especially when I was competing. Not in the first year of my practice or training by the way… in most of my sports and in my weight training, my injuries came years into my practice.

My personal belief while doing both exercise methods and many sports that as I practiced was the more I trained, the better and more accurate my body would get. On some degree I think that did happen, but my body also learned how to compensate very well to do the movements I demanded of it. I know now that back then I had some serious foundational imbalances that went unaddressed. After I got injured, sadly they were still left unaddressed. I didn’t know I had imbalances that I could or should address, and I also didn’t know that the people helping me with both my practice and my rehab were completely oblivious to these imbalances too.

So why am I blogging about this? Well, recently there was an article that got the entire yoga community up in a fuss when a senior writer at the NY Times published an article, “How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body”.  It’s absurd really. That’s like saying, “If you step on that ball it can hurt you.” Ummm, a ball can’t hurt you if you step on it. Only YOU can hurt you by stepping too hard. We should all learn to take responsibility for our own body.

I’ve never practiced yoga. It was not my calling. Over the years, I’ve obviously learned that the word “Yoga” is very overused and misunderstood. “Asana Techniques” vary from teacher to teacher so… I have to say I don’t think Yoga is the universal word we should just be throwing around anyway. My friend and colleague Jill Miller has written two blogs on this recently. I’d click and check those out.

But I digress. Let’s get back to practice making you perfect.

I don’t think it matters what you practice, there is always risk that you could get injured. But should we blame the practice? How about we blame the gurus who pass along their knowledge and get others to practice what they preach? Oh wait. I’ve got it; let’s just blame the teachers for obviously not interpreting the guru’s information. Or should we just blame ourselves and get it over with?

Let’s face it, accidents just happen. You can be careful, mindful, intuitive, knowledgeable, skillful, and do things with the best intentions and still you have a risk of injury.

Is there a way to reduce your body’s chances of getting injured in the first place? I am going to adamantly say YES. But the problem is, you have to be willing to put what you know about movement and your body aside and learn about what and how injury and pain arise.

If this blog has you curious to know more, let me know! Come take a MELT class or a MELT Training and let me show you what I know about pain, injury, performance, and sustaining good health over your lifetime. It can be done, you just need to learn more about what stabilizes and balances your body from the inside out.

Bottom line, practice isn’t what makes you perfect. And really, why bother with perfection anyway?  If you body works the way it should, your ability to adapt and respond should change daily. Just keeping it real~~~