Muscle Memories

Any good athlete is required to have flawless muscle memories, without it, one will lost his/her precision in performing to a sport’s perfection. Muscle memories have been mentioned fairly often in the past few days, ever since the opening of 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy.

Throwing vessels on a potter’s wheel also requires muscle memories. For formal ceramic students who have gone through rigorous trainings, cylinders, bowls, and plates, the three basic forms, are to be made repetitively. Perfection and precision are expected, and these values do not come without muscle memories.

In pottery class, we train our muscles to remember a certain posture, a certain movement, a certain pressure exerted. With these memories, one would be able to produce high quality pieces, effortlessly, and timely.

Before I start doing pottery again, I didn’t know I was actually starting myself on a new sport. I have to say, my back hurts, and my muscles do not have good memories. Yet, I love it.