Warm up + Don’t be static

Over the first few lessons with my new students, I send them a short ‘post’ after class, where I focus on one specific part of the learning journey. One of them addresses the contradiction between sedentarism and learning. Here it is:

“We hear all the time that before getting any physical exercise we must warm up. Unless we do, we risk ourselves to suffer serious injuries, right? Well, the same is true before doing any mental work. We need to get active just as if we were to practise sports.
Just because you are about to do mental work, it doesn’t mean you have to forget about your body. Our brain –especially when we are doing mental work– likes to trick us into believing that our body is just the shell within which our thoughts sail freely.

So, here is the deal: Take five minutes before the class, or any sort of practice session, and get your heart pumping a little faster than normally. Jump in place, do some push-ups, stretch your legs,
move your arms. Anything goes as long as it makes your heart beat a little faster than it was a minute ago.
In line with this, another myth we tend to keep alive is that when we are studying, we must remain seated.

This alleged principle is not as true as it appears to be: You should take mental breaks while keeping physically active.

Plus, there are many ways in which you can move + practice your language simultaneously. For example, you could go out for a walk and listen to a podcast, a song, a recording in Spanish, or just keep a steady pace while you try to make an imaginary conversation with the things you’ve learn so far. Say it out loud. It’s much more effective. Even when it might seem awkward, it’s just a matter of habit.

Why don’t you try these ideas and tell me later how it goes? I don’t stick to them strictly, but I apply it when I start to feel I need a change of gear.”

Learning Insights #7

Today I came across a Jim Kwik video where he recommends juggling as a way of taking mental breaks. I really liked something he says: “Sitting is the new smoking”. But more than that, I loved that he suggests juggling as a great way of taking some time off and give your brain some time to rest. Information-packed video:

Hope it helps you stay more focused and make your learning more effective,

Good luck!

You might also want to read these articles:

• On Huevos and Pelotas
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• Cognates and False Friends
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• Cancherear
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• Hacer una vaquita
  I’m not going to argue how ridiculous this phrase may sound at first. Let me just tell you what it means in Argentina.