The Shakti Gymnast

Have you ever heard of the saying, "Your brain thinks, but your heart knows"? I have heard this saying ever since I was a little kid, but I never really understood the meaning of it until recently. I realized that the brain is good at making logical decisions and weighing the pros and cons of each decision in that moment. It picks the path where pros outweigh the cons. The heart, on the other hand, doesn't think logically. It picks a path for you that feels right. Allow me to tell one story that made me realize the meaning of this saying: A few months ago, when I moved to my new gym, it was sudden and almost spontaneous for me. I was happy at my old gym, but the owner suddenly created a new rule that I had a very strong belief about. I couldn't break that belief even if it meant that I had to leave the gym and the owner wasn't willing to break his beliefs even if it meant losing one of his top gymnasts. So I set up a meeting hoping we would come to a compromise,

A few weeks ago, I walked into my sister's room to talk with her. We have evening discussions a couple of times a week, so this isn't an unusual event that occurs. Since we are both serious about our sports, our discussions tend to be about our sports and how we can optimize our practices. This time, we discussed some of the quotes that were on her wall. They are all positive quotes that are motivating and encouraging. I noticed a new one that was right above her desk that said, "Think discipline, not motivation," and I was confused about it. A few weeks before that, we were talking about how we can get motivated to do everything, even things that are mentally challenging for us. Naturally, I said that we just have to find a way to like everything we do. But sometimes, there are things that are just not fun to do even after doing it for a long time. For example, going in a freezing cold pool of water, doing isometric holds for conditioning, getting up early at 5am eve

I have always been big on goal setting in nearly every aspect of my life. I think that comes from having parents who are big on goal setting and continuously set goals, big or small, to better themselves. In gymnastics, I am the most adamant on goal setting and set short and long term goals. I feel it is the one area in my life that I know exactly what I want to achieve and I know exactly how to get there. In other areas of my life, like what I want my life to be like 20-30 years from now, it is kind of fuzzy. I know in general what I want, but I don't know exactly what I want and I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to get there.  When I goal set in gymnastics, I set weekly, monthly, and yearly goals that are in-line with my long term goals. I also keep track of my progress by writing down what I do at the gym every day. I feel that by logging everything I do, I tend to take more turns at the gym and try harder to complete those weekly goals, because I know that I'm going t

I posted about healing a rip a few years ago and it was a big hit. Now that I have got more experience with rips, I think I can provide you with more information on how to make you hands heal faster.  Warning: this post contains graphic images of bloody peeled gymnast hands 😬 Step 1: Wash your hand(s) with warm water. Be thorough about getting all of the blood (if there is any) off your hand. If you can, use some mild soap to help clean it off. I never used to do this because I wanted to show my mom and take a picture of it at home. Sometimes I would even make her post a picture of it on her Instagram. I don't think her friends appreciated it.     Don't forget to wash the blood off! Step 2: Cut the peeled skin off. Don't keep it on like I used to do because I had to wait to take a picture of it after practice. Actually, even after the picture I would keep it on because I thought it looked cool. It's not. Now I know why my mom would freak out every time I showed her o