What Do You Do?

Something about Aikido makes it very attractive to intellectuals who like to think.  Particularly those who tend to overthink.  

Our old dojo is notorious of being the home to the over-educated overthinkers. "How many PhDs are there in your dojo now?" used to be a perennial joke at summer camp.

"It is hard to talk about Aikido," Mike often says.  "Without a shared experience, it is impossible to talk about it.  That's why I'd rather talk to students and answer questions after class." 

Unfortunately, that is not how most people work. 

The wife of a dojo friend has stopped coming to dojo parties. When asked, she said, "I have had it.  You Aikido people are so single-minded. You already spent hours practicing together on Saturday mornings.  And then, the moment you see each other at the party in the evening, you talk non-stop about Aikido again!  Can you take a break and talk about something else for a moment?"  

Umm, apparently not.

I must admit that I am part of the thinker population. "Over" or not, though, is subject to discussion.  

I reflect a lot on technical and philosophical issues.   And I do not mind answering students' questions at any time.  If a student is puzzled by something before class, it could be helpful to resolve the issue and get it off his mind so that he can focus better in class.  If I am leading class, I may even build a class round it so everybody gets to examine the subject together via first-hand experience.

One type of overthinking behavior on the Aikido mat is to insist on intellectually figuring a technique out before being willing to physically try it.  Watching a demo, listening to the instructor's explanation is not adequate.  Some people feel the need to be convinced verbally in such a way that they can understand right there, right then.  Or, they would just stand there to ponder till they have it "all figured out".

A variation of that behavior is to stand on the mat to argue/ debate with the partner, or even the teacher, about the technique at hand.   

When they really cannot figure out what the teacher shows, another mechanism that some people adopt, is to do something different, but makes sense to them intellectually.  When the teacher points out that they are not doing what is being shown, these people revert to variation #2.  They cite all kinds of rationale to justify their actions.  "I am actually trying to do XXX . . . "  

Friendly reminder:  In class, you are supposed to try your best effort to reproduce what the instructor is showing.  You are a student, not the instructor.  You do not have the latitude to do whatever you want.  Watch, listen and do.  You are being rude and selfish to the teacher and your fellow classmates, otherwise.  Don't tear the class apart, please.  

I got chatting with Harvey Sensei at Summer Camp.  Many people were familiar with mechanical Aikido, but not the connection Aikido that Harvey Sensei was showing.  We ended up with all three of the above behaviors in abundance on the mat.  

To make things worse, the apprehensive ukes (attackers) were not attacking.  Nor did they take ukemi.  They just stood there with a blank face waiting for the nages (throwers) to move them.  

"There is no way you convince them verbally that they are just dead men standing.  The only way to demonstrate that they are hit is to physically hit them.  Yet, if I actually do that, they would be out and would not know anything.  So, this is not going to work either."  I took this rare opportunity to vent my frustrations to the teacher.  

Harvey Sensei closed his eyes, chuckled and nodded. 

"So, what do you do, Sensei?"  

With a little smirk, Sensei murmured like a big cat purring, "Some people, you just leave them alone."

Watch [What Overthinking Looks Like]