It's a topic that recently came up in conversation in one of our training sessions with another acro couple.
So I wanted to go a bit deeper and share about how and why we are implementing this new approach, and the challenges of it too.
The route of some of this comes a bit from my (Caspian's) childhood upbringing, so we'll start there which will make more sense soon.
As a kid I did a lot of sports when I was young, Football, Karate, Golf, Cricket, Tennis, Badminton, Rugby etc.
And my parents always strongly encouraged/pushed me to do my best and give 100% effort.
My mum was the kind of parent who in a karate competition would be in the stands screaming "hit him, smash him!" - she's not aggressive by nature but this certainly brought out the competitive parent in her.
My dad was the one who if I didn't give 100% or didn't perform to what I was capable of would give some strong words, and point out the areas I needed to improve or do better in.
What this did overtime for me was form a certain resilience and mindset that I would bring into my sports (but also many other aspects of my life).
Once I was a teenager doing school sports, or at University playing football, or the past years doing acro, I automatically go into the mindset of giving 100% effort and trying to perform to my maximum.
I honestly have found it in general to be a very positive thing, by having this mindset I have been able to learn and excel faster in sports than I otherwise would have.
I think it's because of this mindset I have grown as much as I have in acro.
And on the other hand yoga and acroyoga have been a great counter to that mindset, in learning to drop my ego, be less attached to the outcomes, enjoy the process and have fun.
And that's definitely the case when I'm playing acro with someone in a jam.
But when it comes to more serious acro training the 100% mindset immediately comes back in.
How that 100% mindset looks in our acro training is as follows:
We focus on bringing full confidence and commitment in every skill and every attempt.
That means if the entry wasn't perfect or if a catch wasn't quite right, we stick it, we fight for it and aim to complete the skill properly.
It also means we are solution focused, if things aren't working or aren't quite right we are trying to as quickly as possible figure out the key correction and implement it.
We also can have fun and have a laugh, but we try to keep it focussed and like proper training.
We use this 100% mindset because of PRESSURE!
Me and Laura put quite a bit of pressure on ourselves relating to our acro training.
We have lofty goals and ambitions for teaching, performing and more (which Laura will tell you about in the next email actually).
And with those goals comes pressure and a big desire to achieve and makes those goals a reality.
Because as the email title says, pressure makes diamonds!
But then also comes the challenge...
How can we pursue these goals, train hard, but still have fun and enjoy the process.
This is something we are still figuring out.
So far Laura has been shifting her mindset in training sessions to bring more of the 100% effort mindset.
Whilst I am being more conscious about switching that off whenever we are not in a full-on training session.
I still hold the belief that if we want to perform and really chase these bigger goals then we need to train seriously and be more disciplined, but I don't want to kill all the enjoyment and love from the process either.
As is so often the case it comes down to communication...
We have had several conversations now to understand and figure out how we want to approach our training sessions together.
And how we can easily communicate in a training session so the other person understands.
In the start or in the middle of a session Laura sometimes communicates - "for this skill or this 15 minutes lets just have fun, no pressure, no 100%."
Then that's easy for me to switch my mindset for that period.
And on the other hand I sometimes communicate - "okay for these reps imagine we are performing now and we have to nail it!".
Then we can really go with full commitment and intention for those reps.
So the invitation in this email for you is to see if you would find some benefit to your acro practice by implementing a mindset shift.
If you have bigger goals and want to train harder, maybe adopting some aspects of the 100% mindset could help you.
Or if you are already too far on that end of the spectrum, then consciously choosing a mindset more focused on fun and enjoyment could be what you need.
Whatever you choose the most important thing is to communicate it clearly with your training partner, so you can get on the same page and understanding.
We hope this helps, peace out!
Caspian
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