…and to practice without thinking.
From Ivan Brunetti’s Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice:
The diligent student can read entire books on this subject if they wish (it never hurts), but the deepest realizations come to us from the daily practice of drawing. It is the pencil that teaches best, and anyway, the trees of theory can obscure the forest of practice. I would go so far as to say that practice is philosophy, for practice itself encompasses philosophy, and philosophy without practice is shallow indeed. A lengthy description of a glass of water is no substitute for the experience of drinking a glass of water; so it is with art.
From Erich Fromm:
It is essential… that discipline should not be practiced like a rule imposed on oneself from the outside, but that it becomes an expression of one’s own will; that it is felt as pleasant, and that one slowly accustoms oneself to a kind of behavior which one would eventually miss, if one stopped practicing it.
From Dexter Ico’s description of his workshop for performers and public speakers: Practice Makes Practice:
Most everyone can relate to stage fright, public speaking, and performance anxiety, and everyone knows that the only way to get over it is to go through it…you learn by doing, on stage, and from sharing your observations of each exercise you go through. Minimal time to think, maximum time on experiential exercise.
From Kathi Kizirnis of Practice Yoga:
If it makes you think you’re separate from, “other” or “not like” the rest of the world, it’s not yoga you’re practicing.
From Kazuo Ohno
Not thinking. Only Soul.