“Every day, think as you wake up, today I am fortunate to be alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others”
- Dalai Lama
Close your eyes. Take a deep breath. Now, imagine that the last time you were training in martial arts. What day was that? What did you notice about the gym or dojo? Were you by yourself? Were you training with a partner? What were you doing? Were you performing katas or techniques? Were you performing exercises or conditioning? Do you remember if you did something successful? Why was it successful? What about something unsuccessful? Go ahead and open your eyes and write down what you thought about.
We just went through a reflective practice exercise. What exactly does that mean though?
Defined
Reflective practice is the capacity to engage in a process of mindful continuous learning or in retrospect. Essentially, thinking about what works and what doesn't in your martial arts journey. What does it mean to be reflective in a specific martial arts context? In martial arts it depends on largely on what your aspirations are.
If you are competing, you may want to work on specific skills for the upcoming opponent. For example, if your opponent has great endurance, and you reflected on your last fight that your endurance is pretty lousy. Then you can work on building your endurance. If you are a Tai Chi practitioner, maybe you have noticed you hold your breath while performing the 24-form. And you want to work on your breathing while performing the forms. Whatever your goals are, mental reflective practice can help.
When should you use reflective practice?
Ideally, reflective practice should be incorporated into your daily martial arts training. However to be honest, I myself do not always remember to reflect about my training right after training or even on the same day. I might be extremely tired or preoccupied with other parts of life and I will reflect a few days later. Additionally, the sooner you reflect the faster the positive outcomes can be.
How do you effectively use reflective practice?
1. Determine your reflective practices goals
Figure out the right schedule for your lifestyle. For instance, be determined to be reflective every Sunday to review the past weeks' feelings and accomplishments. Or try to be reflective every night after the martial arts class.
2. Define a List of questions
Create or find a list of questions you want to ask yourself. Having a list will help you remember to practice reflection and keep you on your schedule. Here is a short list of sample reflective questions:
What did I accomplish today?
Was I prepared for training?
What did I do well and how was that accomplished?
What was unsuccessful and what can I do about it?
What knowledge did on pass on to help others?
What knowledge did I learn from someone else, either a student or instructor?
3. Capture your thoughts
Capture your thoughts and emotions of your training. You can't improve if you don't have anything measurable to compare against. I personally use Evernote (Mobile App Blog). But if you like to use an old school journal with pen and paper by all means. Write just one or two sentence responses for each of your defined questions.
4. Reflect and expand on the thoughts
After you have gathered some initial thoughts, think a little bit deeper on how to improve or build upon what you are successful at. Build a plan to put your thoughts into actionable items.
5. Put reflective thoughts in action
Act on your reflections. If you noticed, that your kicks don't feel right or you feel like they just suck. Ask an instructor to help you out or a senior student. Just being reflective starts the process, but to continuously evolve and improve in martial arts, action is required.
6. Repeat
Repeat the process. Nobody is perfect and there is always something to work on or an area to improve. If you are an MMA champion, you have to work hard to get to the high level and work even harder to maintain that championship caliber.
Conclusive Musings
Being mindful and reflective is a process that can be easily overlooked in martial arts. Train and document your thoughts, your feelings, your emotions and make yourself a better person and those around you better as well.
What are your thoughts on reflection?
-Dwight
(Corresponding podcast)
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflective_practice
http://www.teachhub.com/5-quick-steps-reflective-practice
https://evernote.com/
http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/project-planning-tools/overview/pdca-cycle.html
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