The Sweet Spot
How 1-Minute of Exploration Reveals A Lot of Information to Work With
Yesterday gave me two ‘a-ha’ moments that I will share with you for inspiration.
The first, I had planned to attend the “International Lockdown Challenge” but couldn’t find the link to join. I thought I had signed up, but apparently I didn’t. So I decided I would attend the daily noon online training instead.
This change of plans reminded me to led me to look for the doors ahead of you when one closes and gave me a brilliant learning experience that is the inspiration for today’s post.
Today’s noon workout was awesome because there were only 4 people which allowed a lot of interaction between coach and student (me). Coach Evan led us to work on balance in our landing position, which is on the balls of the feet. Moving too far forward or backward by just a millimeter causes you to miss sticking your landing.
In a 1-minute exploration we were to balance on our toes on a bar and move in out of balance to experience all of the compensations that occurred. Evan demonstrated that the adjustments we were looking for take place in the joints between feet and t-spine. This was my ‘a-ha’ moment, because I had mapped adjustments only coming from hip, knee and ankle joints. This is a great reminder of how mispmapping influences execution.
There was more!!!
In this minute, I experienced how teeny-tiny shifts magnified as large-scale instability in the body, particularly from the ribs up. WHOAH! I started looking for the sweet spot in my 60-seconds. It was elusive but I came to know it a little better and my curiosity to know more is ignited. As I write this, I realize the third lesson of the class is that you can do a lot in 1-minute.
I starting pondering how much a similar intention could reveal in other activities
. What is it like to look for the sweet spot in one-facet of your work? Maybe it is a word that conveys your feeling or idea, maybe it is the optimal breath volume and speed or ideal tension in the embouchure.
If you want to approach this from the big picture of awareness, it might be how you use your eyes as you try to create the perfect phrase.
Today, take 1-minute, tune into a very specific facet of your activity and explore how small changes in that facet influence sound, comfort or expression.
Set a timer and be curious…
I would LOVE to know what you discover. Maybe you can tell how excited I am about this experience ;-)