Imagine
"The old man gave us something beautiful. Aikido is very simple, but it is not easy." said, the late Alan Ruddock Sensei.
As a beginner, you first learn to watch a demo: Both the uke (the attacker) and the nage (the thrower) are doing something you are not familiar with. Which person do you watch? There are hand and foot movements. What about the two people's relative positioning that keeps changing constantly? Argh! No wonder it is so hard to capture what is being shown in demos and then retaining it.
In his book Aikido For Life, Gaku Homma recounted a story about helping a student who was stressed out by failing to memorize techniques from classes. Instead of a once in a life time train ride in Europe, Homma Sensei compares to Aikido practices as a regular commuter train ride. One should not aim at soaking in everything in one shot. After riding the train enough times, even though you have not been watching everything outside the window intently, you will become so familiar with all the sceneries and details. It just comes naturally.
I feel for my students because I was a terrible beginner. Pretty much any kind of problems they encounter, I guarantee I have experienced it myself. As instructors, it is our job to be creative in addressing students' issues and coming up with a different angle to help them relate to what is being shown in front of them.
A student used to have a hard time moving with his partner. He is a psychologist. "Don't break up with your partner! No matter who you are dealing with, maintain a strong self. You can't change your partner, but you can always change yourself. Be adaptive so you can have a relationship with anybody." These are words pulled right out of a psychotherapy self-help book. The familiar framework of relationships helped Mr Psychologist connect better with his partners almost instantly.
A student who is great at sewing couldn't "move her partner". But when I told her to drape an invisible cloak over her partner, and then move the cloak with the partner inside, her movements were so swift and convincing that her partner floated around like a cloud.
Another student cannot perceive the feeling of being connected. "Go find a heavy door and try pushing it open only with your arms. If you can't, figure out how to do it with your body." It cures unconnectedness every time.
And then another student, like me, find it hard to remember movement sequences. Yet, he has an appreciation for flow. "It's like a roller coaster track." Together, we trace out in space the path of this imaginary roller coaster. As he follows the flow, without thinking about it, his hands and feet automatically figure out how to move along. Everything falls into the right place.
Not everybody is a natural to Aikido. All we need is to be creative.
As a beginner, you first learn to watch a demo: Both the uke (the attacker) and the nage (the thrower) are doing something you are not familiar with. Which person do you watch? There are hand and foot movements. What about the two people's relative positioning that keeps changing constantly? Argh! No wonder it is so hard to capture what is being shown in demos and then retaining it.
In his book Aikido For Life, Gaku Homma recounted a story about helping a student who was stressed out by failing to memorize techniques from classes. Instead of a once in a life time train ride in Europe, Homma Sensei compares to Aikido practices as a regular commuter train ride. One should not aim at soaking in everything in one shot. After riding the train enough times, even though you have not been watching everything outside the window intently, you will become so familiar with all the sceneries and details. It just comes naturally.
I feel for my students because I was a terrible beginner. Pretty much any kind of problems they encounter, I guarantee I have experienced it myself. As instructors, it is our job to be creative in addressing students' issues and coming up with a different angle to help them relate to what is being shown in front of them.
A student who is great at sewing couldn't "move her partner". But when I told her to drape an invisible cloak over her partner, and then move the cloak with the partner inside, her movements were so swift and convincing that her partner floated around like a cloud.
Another student cannot perceive the feeling of being connected. "Go find a heavy door and try pushing it open only with your arms. If you can't, figure out how to do it with your body." It cures unconnectedness every time.
And then another student, like me, find it hard to remember movement sequences. Yet, he has an appreciation for flow. "It's like a roller coaster track." Together, we trace out in space the path of this imaginary roller coaster. As he follows the flow, without thinking about it, his hands and feet automatically figure out how to move along. Everything falls into the right place.
Not everybody is a natural to Aikido. All we need is to be creative.
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