My advice? Do it wrong
"Brainy What-Why-How"
Your weekly nibble of science-backed goodness to help you move better and feel unstoppable.
🧠
What (the TL:DR)
Sometimes the fastest way to stop making a mistake is to make it worse on purpose.
Yup. Fail. On purpose.
If you're stuck doing the same thing in the wrong way, neuroscience shows us that deliberately doing the opposite of what you want to achieve can help your brain understand the error, and therefore understand the goal.
Why (the geeky neurology)
Your brain doesn't just make movement you want to make.
It inhibits movement you don't want to make.
And it doesn't just learn what to do or not do from doing the right thing. It learns through correcting errors.
But here's the catch:
Your brain needs to understand what the problem is before it can correct it.
That's where error augmentation comes in.
By deliberately exaggerating an error, you make it easier for your nervous system to detect it.
For example: Let's say you want to get a straighter line. Not just for its looks, but because that straight line means your muscles are working in a way that keeps you stable 👀
Common mistakes in straight handstand are:
shoulders being too open or too closed (the amount of shoulder flexion)
spine arching too much (spinal extension)
hips typically piked (hip flexion)
You could train -- on purpose -- backbend shapes in handstand.
By working on shapes like the hollowback and scorpion, you'll be intentionally doing these movements, thus bringing more awareness to these three important body parts while upside down (yay clearer brain maps!). See?...
How (apply it to your life)
Next time you catch yourself getting stuck on the same mistake, don't just try harder to stop doing it.
Make the mistake BIGGER.
Fail on purpose and pay attention to what happens.
In movement. In your job (yes...especially if you're self-employed!) In life!
To failing on purpose,
Want to go way deeper with me? 👀
• Join Handstand Club — where we break the rules of alignment to understand perfect alignment
• Sign up to my next NeuroYoga TTC where I teach YOU how to blend yoga + neurology
• Join me on Move With Adell -- your brain-based yoga hub -- Click here to start your FREE trial.
• Check out the courses from Z-health, where I started my education in brain-based approaches: Click here for my discount codes on their first 3 courses!
• Get my book "Too Flexible to Feel Good: A Practical Roadmap to Managing Hypermobility"