If you are a Peloton subscriber, the photo above should take you straight to the yoga class that inspired today's post. If you're not and want to try a free, two-month membership, let me know so that I can send you a link. Either way, you can read this post about pushing our limits to expand them.
Something Anna Greenberg said in the class reminded me of an ice-skating tip I heard attributed to Bill Mandigo, one of the winningest college hockey coaches of all time. (Coincidentally, my family rented his house for three summers when I was in graduate school. Also coincidentally, one of his daughters--great kid, now adult--went to Hotchkiss.) The instruction he gave to his own daughters and his team was that if you don't ever fall, you're not pushing your edges enough. If you don't know about hockey skates' blades, it's worth a deep dive sometime. There's a lot more to the shape of a skate blade than you might guess. For my purposes, it's enough to understand that the way to move faster is to push off at the steepest angle that doesn't lose contact with the ice; when the blade loses its grip on the ice, the skater falls. Of course, the only way to learn how far to lean is to lean just past that and then scale back. Without falling, the skater cannot learn how to go really fast.
I selected this particular yoga class for its music and its instructor; I wasn't expecting to hear a life lesson that would inspire a blog post. Partway through the class, Greenberg gave three related pieces of advice I liked:
- Be okay with every wobble in the difficult poses.
- Create a soft landing pad in case you tip over during crow pose.
- Get up and try again if you fall in the balancing postures.
Note that she never said not to try the difficult and balancing poses. Instead, she advised to prepare for what could go wrong, enjoy pushing through difficulty, and accept failure as part of the learning/strengthening process.
These pieces of advice obviously apply to more than yoga or skating. I think about my diving team. The kids who improve the most are the ones who are willing to get right back up and try again after they smack the water or hit the board.
The applications of these ideas are limitless. When we aren't willing to push past ease in any sport or activity, we never find out where those limits are and certainly never extend/expand them. But pushing doesn't mean thoughtlessly forging into danger. She also advised putting down padding, just as I'm sure Bill Mandigo's skaters wear pads and helmets. On New-Dive Mondays, many of our kiddos wear long-sleeved, oversized T-shirts during practice. That saves them from the bruising of unprotected smacks so that they can keep trying until they enter the water in painless form.
How do these idea apply to academics, hobbies, and life in general? What are some of the ways you've prepared yourself to push limits, embrace the wobbles and failures, and try again? When have you learned new skills this way? What skills? Please share your responses in the comments.