Do do more by doing less

Getting better at something isn’t just a matter of practice and repetition. As Dr Feldenkrais put it: ‘it isn’t a question of increasing your willpower, it’s a question of increasing your ability’.

We need to expand our self-image (the mental picture we have of our self) so that capabilities that were not available to us become available. What was impossible becomes possible.

This is true whatever our field of physical activity – whether playing a sport, a musical instrument, or standing on stage to give a performance or presentation.

Expanding our mental picture of our self is internal work. Sensing from the inside how we use our self in action. Directing our attention to how we do what we do, so we can master our habits well enough to be able to bypass them when we want to. Finding ways to use only the necessary amount of energy, and no more. Not trying harder in a way we know, but trying other ways which may not be as hard.

With this kind of practice, we discover we can move and behave in new ways. Ways we never imagined we had in us. We become more capable.

How do you expand your range of possibilities? Please leave a comment.