Enhancing Your Skills: Strategies for Building a Better Formal Practice
- Steve Ehrenreich
- May 13
- 10 min read
In Formal Practice, our goal is to engage in practice. We put on our pajamas, go to our designated space, initiate ritual and ceremony, and repeatedly perform our form, exercise, or technique.
This article will explore how to effectively establish your formal practice for success. We'll examine the ideal location for practice, appropriate attire, duration, and other essential elements. The goal is to incorporate Integrated Strength Training into your lifestyle seamlessly, rather than allowing it to become a disruption.
Focus on Solo Practice
Fortunately, the WAY of INTENT emphasizes solo practice, which can easily fit into even a hectic schedule. With some creativity, you can practice in your basement, on the porch, in the backyard, at the office, on a plane, in a car, or even while lying awake in bed.
Unlike many other arts, the WAY of INTENT doesn't require a training partner, a dojo, special equipment, or much space. Especially in the beginning, Personal Practice should concentrate on inducing and developing the Integrated State. There's no need to jump into Testing Strength or equipment training until there's something to test or experiment with. Doing so only reinforces the movement patterns we aim to change.
Even when Testing Strength becomes a focus, the insights gained must be integrated into your solo practice. Training evolves as you progress, as your awareness of your frame deepens and things 'activate.' In a seemingly paradoxical way, we aim to make our predominantly single movement practice non-repetitive.
Reframing Standing the State
For us, Standing the State represents both the beginning and culmination of our personal achievements in Integrated Strength. It is where beginners start, new ideas are introduced, new forms are tested, and new feeling states are created. Paradoxically, it is also where our accomplishments settle. The Integrated State brings together achievements with structure, elongation, alignment with gravity, orbit, root and branch, opening and closing, receiving strength, issuing strength, and creating intentional connections, among others.
My Teacher encourages students to understand that each gesture should ideally reflect the entirety of their accomplishments, much like each brushstroke of a master painter embodies the artist's complete skill. Standing the State should be like this: evolving with each practice session while reinforcing all other aspects of practice.
The Interdependence of Habit & Practices
Establishing a Formal Practice habit is essential for the WAY of INTENT. Understanding Kung Fu is not equivalent to possessing Kung Fu, much like reading a map doesn't guarantee reaching the mountain peak. The map is beneficial, but you must put in the effort to acquire the skill.
In essence, there are two interconnected objectives for setting up your Formal Practice. The first is the practice habit. Design your Formal Practice habit to suit your needs. Ideal practice times are those when you can consistently train effectively. If you're not a morning person, scheduling Formal Practice at 5 am is likely to fail. Instead, tailor the practice to your lifestyle. Develop a morning routine that energizes you whenever you wake up.
The second objective is the exercises you incorporate into your practice habit. The WAY of INTENT focuses on training techniques that employ intent in various ways to help you Discover, Develop, and Apply Integrated Strength. As you will learn, the use of intent varies in each of the three stages/aspects of Integrated Strength training.
The Discover, Develop & Apply Stages of Formal Training
Consider a straightforward example. Soon, you'll be engaged in Rooting & Branching. During the Discover stage, you will concentrate on using vivid imagery to merge the sensations of root and branch into a unified feeling. In the Develop stage, you will challenge yourself to enhance the quality of this Root & Branch sensation and maintain control over it in increasingly challenging situations. In the Apply stage, the emphasis shifts to using the Rooting & Branching sensation to achieve specific objectives.
By clearly defining your training objectives, you can avoid much of the confusion that hinders progress. Many people mistakenly believe that the goal of Standing the State is to endure physical and mental discomfort for a certain period as a demonstration of mental discipline.
That is not the goal; I have pursued that path, and it leads nowhere. StS is about activating the integrated state of being in the Nowspace. It involves gaining conscious control over the body's tensegrity as a whole and interacting with our environment in unity, rather than through isolated movement patterns we have learned. When I realized this in my own practice, StS shifted from a daily struggle to the most enjoyable part of my day.
Want to read more?
Subscribe to thewayofintent.com to keep reading this exclusive post.
