Touch the Art Daily
One of the things I taught and tried to live up to was “touch the art every day”. This simply meant to do something within your practice daily.
It didn’t have to be a full practice session of whatever length of time one was striving for. It meant to not let a day go by without connecting with an aspect of practice.
This idea is related to the interconnection of the various aspects of one’s art. Sitting relates to Standing; which relates to moving from foot to foot; which relates to moving in specific patterns (forms); which relates…
My thought was that if I had done enough focused practice on these different aspects, and had integrated them over time, then practicing one would maintain the connection with them all. Also, at first I thought it was necessary to have a few years of that focused practice before “touch the art” would yield any benefit at all. I was thankfully wrong.
New students were also told to touch the art, even if they only know the initial stages of Sitting, Standing, and warm-ups. I did this because I wanted them to feel comfortable with whatever length of practice they could add to their day.
It turned out for some that this simple idea helped them with what is arguably the most important part of practice, developing the habits. Keeping the spine erect, relaxing antagonist muscles, etc. all need to become habitual. And simply repeating these daily builds those habits. It turned out a short session of “touching the art” made it easier to both build the habits and engage in longer, focused session.
To my regret, I did not always emphasize this in every class. But now that you know about it, perhaps you will go forth and touch your art…today.