What does practice ask, as the body keeps changing?
I have a long Aikido background before coming to Art du Dรฉplacement in my forties. Iโm in my fifties now. The age of air, this stretch has been caleld โ after roots, fire and water. Things that used to take effort donโt. Things that didnโt take effort do. The practice that carried me here doesnโt fit anymore, and Iโm still figuring out what Iโm going to do about that.
This thread is a path through pieces Iโve written and conversations Iโve had with others, sequenced for someone whoโs wondering what their practice is asking of them next. None of it answers the question! But, Iโm hoping it makes the question easier for you to explore yourself.
The age of air
7 for Sunday #144 โ July 2025
Six months ago I tried to put a name to the thing I felt subsiding. I was reminded of the roots, fire, water and air progression โ the rough shape of how my engagement with practice has shifted across decades. Iโm not sure the metaphor holds; Iโm sure something is changing. Start here, if you want to know what shifted before any of the rest of this came into focus.
Practicing with an unknown expiration date
Movers Mindset Field Note โ with Vincent Thibault
Vincent said it off-handedly, but itโs bedrock reality: Youโre doing something temporary, and you donโt know when it ends. Not โpractice as if it might end tomorrowโ โ practice while knowing it will end at some unknowable point, which is a completely different relationship to what youโre doing.
Movers Mindsetโs Three Words
constantine.name โ November 2019
Discovery. Reflection. Efficacy. These are the three words I came to as the through-line of my practice. The part I want you to notice is that they donโt depend on what the body can do today. Theyโre about how you meet whatever it is that it can do today.
Strong from what, exactly?
Movers Mindset Field Note โ with Iron Gump
Iron Gump has taught elderly women in Maui who hold positions for an hour. Meanwhile, young visitors canโt hold their arms out for a minute. A different definition of strong โ available later in life rather than earlier โ which Iโd never have framed so clearly without his generous conversation.
Honing your craft
constantine.name โ April 2020
I keep returning to this one. The phrase that does the work: you have to love living in the forest, just for the sake of living in the forest. Practice thatโs contingent on getting better gets brittle as the body shifts. Practice thatโs its own reason doesnโt.
Two things
constantine.name โ March 2022
The fastest way to mindfulness Iโve found: this may be the last time I do this. Not morbid, but clarifying. The age of air finds its weight here. Practice gets sharper when you remember you wonโt always be doing it.
Friction and process
constantine.name โ July 2022
If the bulk of this thread is about why the practice asks what it asks, then this one is about how to keep showing up. Set up a life where you find yourself, without trying very hard, simply being the sort of person who does the practice. Thatโs what I think the next decade is asking of me.
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