What is practicing?

The concept of practicing for singers is so different than compared to instrumentalists. I can't keep count of how many times this year I got asked how much time I spend practicing daily. Yes, I would spend 30 minutes to an hour physically singing as "practice". But practice goes so much more beyond the physical doing. My teacher wrote an article for Classical Singer this past year about mental practicing. All the pros do it. There are breathing exercises, mouthing words, practicing expressions in the mirror. But I also constantly listen to other singers singing the rep I am currently working on. This helps me with pronounciation and memorization. I steal my dad's technique books to see if I can make any connections to my singing. But then I listen to all the greats, Fleming, Sutherland, Cabelle, Price, to hear what solid technique sounds like and then think through my process and technique. There was a time where I was unable to sing for about a month, but I was constantly thinking about my technique, so after I came back it was like I hadn't lost any of my previous work at all. In fact, my muscle memory had settled in and some of my flaws corrected themselves. Again, a singer's instrument is a singer's  body. We can't strain or overwork our voice, it can be harmful. But that doesn't mean we can't take time during the day while we do other activities, like driving home from day jobs or doing yoga. Taking care of our bodies counts as practicing too, in my mind. This goes for any musician. The more we take care of ourselves, the less will get in the way while we sing. That's partly why I am back in physical therapy, taking yoga clases, going to the gym, eating better and drinking water all day long. I may not be sitting at the piano doing exercises vigorously the same way a pianist would, but I am still perfecting me and my instrument.