Developing a Practice

Two days does not a practice make...but it is a beginning.

I went back for more exercise last night.  This class is really hard.  I'm grateful I went back.  I nearly talked myself out of it.  See....the first time around, you don't know what to expect.  The second class...yes, one knows the torture to come.

The instructor told us at the beginning of the class that the word for the day is Patience.  We are to be patient with ourselves as we learn new things because we are developing a PRACTICE.  This resonated so strongly with me.  First of all, anybody who knows me understands that patience is not my strong suit.  (Just watch me eat dinner!)  But the notion of developing a practice makes sense.  It took time to learn jazz dance and moves needed to be perfected over time.  It took time to learn to keyboard (we called it typing back then) and mistakes and re-do's were the order of the day.

So, I WAS patient with myself.  When I needed to modify a movement, I did.  If I needed to stop for a moment, it was ok.  I just got back in when I could.  And I finished the class.

At the end, I felt tears coming on.  Relief?  Maybe.  Mostly because her parting words to us were "Be kind to yourselves."  How about developing a practice of being kind to myself?  That did feel like sweet relief.