WOM: Discover

Challenges make you discover things about yourself that you never really knew. Cicely Tyson

I love this picture of Master Teacher Trainer, Katina Griffin. It shows the power and capabilities we have to discover our own personal edge. There is so much thought and integration working throughout her entire body to hold this challenging position in phenomenal alignment. She’s focused and consistently discovering how she can align or engage deeper to reach her best potential – today.

Self discovery and experiencing new things are true passions of my own and I’m excited for our June word of the month: Discover. There’s so much in life to discover, to see and do and feel. I love to travel, be introduced to new cultures, experiences, sights, and to meet new people. I also love to play with movement. It allows me a chance to learn something new or experience something familiar in a very different way. So much of what we do at The Dailey Method is to help you discover what is inside of you. Our workout provides you opportunities in every class you take to uncover your best potential.  It calls on you to discover new challenges in a way that helps push you past your edge and onto greater achievements.

Here’s a few ways for you to “Discover” this month:

  1. Discover how your breath patterns can change the way an exercise feels. I tend to think generally the best technique is to inhale as you lengthen (move away from your center line) and exhale as you shorten (draw towards center line or the more exertive portion of the movement). But try it the other way and see if it changes the way you can engage. Or play with lengthening out your breath to see how that feels.
  2. Take different types of classes offered at your Studio or online this month. If you stick to Dailey Basics, try a Dailey Barre class. If you’re a Dailey Cyclist try a Dailey Interval class. If Dailey Interval or Dailey Fusion are generally you’re choice, try a Dailey Basics or Dailey Gentle instead. You may surprise yourself with what you discover which will inevitably help you gain even more out of the format you prefer.
  3. Challenge yourself to do something you’ve never done. This can be as simple as going to a movie by yourself or as big a challenge as skydiving!
  4. Stop and smell the flowers. (such old advice, I know!!)
  5. Discover a new body part to focus on today in a position where you tend to think of the exercise as only one-dimensional. An example: In Narrow V thigh work – work on engaging your gluteals and hamstrings more as you squeeze your heels together. This will allow you to feel how the back body and inner thighs can work as hard as  your quadriceps during thigh work. Especially on the upward part of the movement.
  6. Transform your Dailey Method practice by discovering  new ways to shape “your edge”. And “edge” doesn’t always refer to intensity. Today, maybe you opt to take a couple more resets versus pushing through a difficult part of class. Try it! You could discover a segue to inviting more allowance for recovery time in every class you take therefore opening the door to a 4-5 day a week TDM practice versus only 1-2.  

There are so many things out there to enjoy and discover.

Have fun exploring!!

Jill