I was not sure what was different for quite some time, but then it came to me. Slowly, almost imperceptibly my home practice has been increasing. There were years where my practice was limited to 10-20 minutes, a few times a week, never when I took or taught a class. Recently I have been practicing a little over an hour six days a week (Sunday is for God and family).
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
by Susan Cain. I have read about the 10,000 hours needed to master a subject, but listen to how she describes practicing..."What's so magical about solitude? In many fields, (Anders) Ericsson told me, it's only when you're alone that you can engage in Deliberate Practice, which he has identified as the key to exceptional achievement. When you practice deliberately, you identify the tasks or knowledge that are just out of your reach, strive to upgrade your performance, monitor your progress, and revise accordingly. Practice sessions that fall short of this standard are not only less useful- they're counterproductive. They reinforce existing cognitive mechanisms instead of improving them."Classes are important, they introduce new ways of thinking, and through the years of my very weak home practice, the date with my mom for yoga class each week kept me moving. But...
"If you want to improve what you're doing, you have to be the one who generates the move. Imagine a group class- you're the one generating the move only a small percentage of the time."For me the perfect mix is to take two very different classes a week (one hot, one flow), teach several classes (because I think more during a class), and six days of home practice. So, it took my 15 years to figure this out. Some of us are slow.
