It can be messy…
Developing a personal movement practice is no mean feat! We think it should be something easy to do - because it’s something we want. We want to be “a person who has a regular movement practice” - we know it will make us feel good, our bodies will feel better and it will improve our mental health - along with bettering our dance skills too. Yet as it’s not always the easiest option at the time our brain reads the resistance as a stress signal and tries to “protect” us by adding more resistance to doing the thing!
Over the 15 years that I’ve been working on my own personal practice I’ve found that one of the most valuable things you can have on your side is accountability! I guess you could look at it like another potential stress signal that could be generated by the thought of letting someone (or yourself) down - which helps to keep you doing the thing!
There’s a few different ways in which you can generate accountability -
Do the thing with other people - this could be in person, over a zoom call or even just checking in with each other to make sure you are doing it, even if it’s at different times. Over the years I’ve had lots of accountability partners for my movement practices and in 2021 I wanted to introduce monthly intention-setting into my life. I found a friend who wanted to do the same and each month around the new moon we have a quick call to check in with each other about our intentions for the coming month and how we did in the previous month. It hasn’t been perfect, by any means, I’ve been late and forgotten all about it on a couple of occasions but it’s kept me going and I’m looking forward to improving things in 2022!
Pay for it - there is something out there for every budget and by making a financial commitment it motivates you to make the investment worthwhile, whilst also investing in your physical pension!
If your practice doesn’t have a payment option, then make a small contribution to a savings account each time you practice - with a treat at the end to work towards! Make sure you have something new lined up for each time you reach your target, so you keep the momentum going!
Create a visual plan for your practice with the option to tick off when you have done it - this could be a physical planner on your wall or a reminder on your phone. Even better if you gamify it by setting a target to hit - I’ve been learning Arabic on Duolingo this year and the only thing that has kept me going daily is their reminders for me to keep my “streak” going - often that means me doing a basic lesson late at night, which of course isn’t teaching me much, but I think otherwise I’d have fallen off the wagon long ago!!
So… with all that in mind,,, I would like to help you have some accountability in the New Year!
Starting on 10th January, I’m going to be running my free Happy Hips mini-course as a live programme for 7 days. You're going to learn the basics of self-assessing for imbalances in the pelvis to help you dance injury-free, along with my favourite strength and flexibility exercises for powerful hipwork in your dance and a fluid, juicy spine for effortless movement. What’s more, you’ll have all the accountability you need to get going with your personal movement practice in 2022!
There’s also going to be the opportunity to win fantastic prizes, for those that complete the 7 days - yet another little incentive to keep you accountable!
Does that sound like an awesome start to the year or what?
To join us comment “tell me more” below and tag a friend to do the challenge with - for double the accountability! I’ll be in touch with details of how to join very soon!