Practice in the time of Coronavirus

The world grinds to a halt to curtail the spread of a novel virus. But we won’t let the disruption or isolation hold back our practice. 

“You are only as strong as your weakest link”.  But what does that look like when the rubber hits the road, in the day to day of living our lives? If you are only as good as your worst day, it stands to reason that when the shitty day comes (and it ALWAYS comes), you can’t bury your head in the sand. 

So during the lockdown, we maintain our practice with full intensity. We are aware, of course, that we have been separated in some sense from our tribe, and that our practice is missing a critical layer. But we can’t afford to stay stubborn; we must be adaptive, responsive.

Don’t wait for motivation and easy days, for the time when your friends will be around to practice with; prepare for them. Because they always come back - and when they do, if you weren’t busy growing during their absence, you start again from scratch. 

And if we value the idea of being the generalist, this is a time to examine what that means, practically. 

The best definition which has ever been given of a high standard of organization, is the degree to which the parts have been specialized or differentiated

- Charles Darwin.

The arms manipulate, the legs locomote, etc… BUT Darwin never said the WHOLE is specialized, only the parts. WE are not specialists - we don’t practice only when there’s a certain context, in a specific place, at a certain time, we don’t over-identify with any layer of our practice. 

This is nothing less than an opportunity to work on mindset, to build robust bonds with your tribe through other means, and to keep looking at the big picture of practice from as many angles as possible.