practice makes practice

tonight i had the pleasure of practicing at mala yoga (which, by the way, is an amazing yoga studio in cobble hill, if you're in brooklyn).  they had a little flyer advertising a "yoga camp," basically a little morning intensive for two weeks, and the tagline was "practice makes practice."  i love that.

one of the reasons i put myself on choreography regimens for new years is the idea that 30 consecutive days of doing something creates a habit (the benefit of habit being, of course, that you don't have to TRY so dang hard anymore).  i want the creative process, and specifically for me the creation of movement, to be a habitual thing that just kind of pours out of me every day.  shocker - i haven't made it yet.  BUT, the more i do it, the easier it gets.

what i love about "practice makes practice" has two parts.  first, the idea that practicing creates more of itself is nifty.  like how smiling makes one feel happy, and happy people smile.  that's a pretty inspiring concept when applied to creativity.  you aren't going to "use it up;" rather, you use it and use it and there's just more of it.  (so the one or two good ideas i've had, those aren't the last two i'll ever have!  YES! sounds obvious when i type it out like that, but hey it gets scary up there in my mind sometimes and these things aren't so obvious.) similarly, if you love more, you aren't going to run out of love, you're just gonna keep loving and its going to keep coming back to you.  actually, if we take that a step farther, i think that's a pretty profound measure for things of value in life.  does "using" or "practicing" something create more of that something?  creativity, smiles, love, thoughtful yoga practice... yes.  money, gummy bears, positive reviews of my creative work... not so much.

the second part i love about it is the distinction between "practice makes practice" and what it's playing off of, "practice makes perfect."  fashion is never finished.  you're never done working on a successful relationship.  creation is never done.  it's about the process.  thank goodness, because turning out quality work, or the best work of my life, or constantly "improving" my craft can keep me up at night.

what's empowering about all of this is that we can create our own habits.  we can break the old ones, create new ones, and break those new ones if they're not working.  we can intentionally put the stuff we want in our lives until we don't have to focus on it so much, and then we can let those habits continue while we focus on intentionally adding something else.  sweet.

living clichés

While gearing up for the Boston fireworks last weekend, I heard Martina McBride sing:

"This is for all you girls about twenty-five
In a little apartment, just trying to get by
Living on, on dreams and spaghetti-o's"

And Sara Bareilles popped up on my iTunes this week, singing:

"I'm gonna quit my job and move to New York"

And here I am, scraping by in an apartment in Brooklyn, practicing yoga, cleaning dance studios for classes, and making my own kale chips.   It's kind of strange to suddenly find myself living a kind of life that people mention in songs (?!)  Sometimes I feel like a giant walking cliché.

But then-- don't fit me perfectly into the mold.  (Enter geeky Harry Potter obsession, engineering degree, love of pretty makeup, lack of enthusiasm for most indie films.)  Just a nice reminder that all the "cliches" I see walking around this city are probably just as one-sided as I am.