“An ounce of practice is worth more than tons of preaching.”

Mahatma Gandhi

“Doing poor or feeble practice in the worst of times is far more meritorious

than doing a good practice in the best of times.”

Prashant Iyengar

In the Uncommon Voyage Index there are 18 citations for “practice.” Learn to Practice is one of the LIFESAVERS. Some others are: “Practice active listening.” “Practice what you are going to say at the next meeting.” “Practice (fill in the blank) with your spouse or partner.” “Practice in front of the mirror.” Most importantly, I write, “Trust in the power of daily practice.”

Why?

Because daily practice is a taste of the sacred. It is about health—mental, psychological, physical and spiritual health.

So how do we do it? How do we start to practice?

First we need the interest. Then we need to keep our attention on what we are doing. We develop our rhythms and skills by repetition. This is why I recommend keeping a journal every day for one week, writing 1-2 lines a day. In the second week, expand. Repetition. This is “a small stone” to toss. Another thing to practice is comfortably sitting with eyes closed for one minute. Use a timer. Try to do this once a day. After a week, try increasing to two minutes.

Practice is the goal, not perfection. The purpose is to establish a routine and even more important to do it when we think we don’t have the time! Re-read the Iyengar quote above, and enjoy the accomplishment of writing down one simple phrase in a journal on a day when you feel like you can barely keep your head above water.

You cannot imagine the conversations I have convincing myself to practice. I think of every reason not to. When something is intended for the end of day, usually I procrastinate as long as I can until I might not do it at all. With swimming, every morning I have a few seconds of thinking, “Maybe I’ll skip it today.”

People who know me cannot believe this about me. They always tell me, “You’re so disciplined.” Usually they are referring to my daily yoga practice but it could be anything. Little do they know that the conversations I have with myself give meaning to the word struggle. Yet, I make every effort to take care of myself.

When I just do it—just put some words on paper, just dive in the water—I feel the affirmation of keeping to my routine. It’s good to be addicted to good things!

Self-care is challenging work. The work of self-care involves practice. Self-care seekers need tools within themselves (and outside of themselves). Practice is the fundamental tool to regenerate, recreate and even imagine a reconstructed view of the future.

Think of yourself—of life—as a laboratory, and practice is like having a flashlight to explore its dark—sometimes scary—places. The more we practice the more our eyes get used to the dark. As we progress, our practice becomes both flashlight and telescope, illuminating things once in shadow and bringing clarity to them.

Practice breeds strength and discipline, perseverance, and an ability to be free of old patterns and silly mistakes. Practice gives feedback: a deeply satisfying sense of ourself. Practice is nourishing. Practice gets inside like the most delicious food. And the only thing you can (or cannot) control is what you put in your mouth!