I’m going to keep it brief today and share some thoughts on progress and success in terms of skills. I’ve been doing a lot of hand standing lately, and in hand standing, even MORE than in in aerial, progress is slow, minute, and it whispers rather than yells.
Progress doesn’t necessarily look like “oh, I can suddenly do the trick now!”, it often looks like “I used to have to focus really hard to straighten both knees, and now I only have to remember to straighten the right knee when I straddle up”, or some similar such thing.
I suggest to students to pay attention to their struggles, not so they can fix them immediately, but so that when those struggles start to fade, their absence is notable.
Progress is also not linear (see image above). I have had to revisit various elements of hand stands at different stages in my training. One day, I finally managed a press handstand, and then couldn’t repeat it for a week. Then I got it back, but there was a day a month later when I couldn’t do it again. The ebb and flow, the constant re-commitment is part of the process of gaining mastery and success. So, my darling readers, don’t beat yourselves up over slow progress or lack of big leaps. Don’t stress if something feels hard, even though it was easy last week. Just keep re-focusing and noticing what works and what needs work. You are on your way!