Oh, Say Can You See . . .
Recently, a student asked an interesting question: "You are our instructor; we learn from you. Being an instructor, who do you learn from? Are there still many people who can teach you?"
To begin with, day in day out, as an instructor, I reflect on myself and keep checking on my own movements to look for things on which I can improve.
During class, by watching students practice, I keep honing my skills in perceiving what it is like to be them. I need to be able to put myself in my students' shoes and feel what they feel before I can understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. This way, I can help them modify their movements or even their heart so as to put them on a better path. My students are my regular teachers.
When I get a chance to practice with my "teacher teachers", I watch as attentively as possible and try to replicate what they do. Again, "What does it feel like to be them?" If possible, I try to be the uke for sensei so as to feel the technique first hand, but the chances are rare. There have only been handful of times in the past decade when my teachers actually came to show me things and make corrections. It is not that I am so brilliant that they think I have "got it". Most of the times, it simply is because there are other junior students who need even more help than I do. Sensei has to triage and decide to whom he should give his limited attention. The lucky recipients tend to be the less experienced students.
Being a senior student, it would be foolish of me to wait and expect sensei to come over to teach me. I need to be able to learn myself and seek improvement at every available opportunity. Developing an "eye" for Aikido is a must.
I saw an old footage of an interview with the late Tamura Sensei. During the interview, Sensei quoted teachers in Japan," If you don't understand by watching, you won't understand by being told." Too many people want to be told and so they wait to be told, instead of actively seeking it by feeling it themselves.
“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
The above is a quote from a famous Aikido shihan. Most people know him as The Little Prince.
To begin with, day in day out, as an instructor, I reflect on myself and keep checking on my own movements to look for things on which I can improve.
During class, by watching students practice, I keep honing my skills in perceiving what it is like to be them. I need to be able to put myself in my students' shoes and feel what they feel before I can understand what they are doing and why they are doing it. This way, I can help them modify their movements or even their heart so as to put them on a better path. My students are my regular teachers.
When I get a chance to practice with my "teacher teachers", I watch as attentively as possible and try to replicate what they do. Again, "What does it feel like to be them?" If possible, I try to be the uke for sensei so as to feel the technique first hand, but the chances are rare. There have only been handful of times in the past decade when my teachers actually came to show me things and make corrections. It is not that I am so brilliant that they think I have "got it". Most of the times, it simply is because there are other junior students who need even more help than I do. Sensei has to triage and decide to whom he should give his limited attention. The lucky recipients tend to be the less experienced students.
Being a senior student, it would be foolish of me to wait and expect sensei to come over to teach me. I need to be able to learn myself and seek improvement at every available opportunity. Developing an "eye" for Aikido is a must.
I saw an old footage of an interview with the late Tamura Sensei. During the interview, Sensei quoted teachers in Japan," If you don't understand by watching, you won't understand by being told." Too many people want to be told and so they wait to be told, instead of actively seeking it by feeling it themselves.
“And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
The above is a quote from a famous Aikido shihan. Most people know him as The Little Prince.
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