A great way to approach each day in the dojo is to decide to "get one thing right today." Isolate one aspect of your art - a foot position you struggle with in iaido, the rhythm of a form in karate, or the hand position leading up to a throw in judo - and concentrate on doing it right.
Check with the Sensei to find out what the proper checkpoints are, make sure you understand them, and try to execute them. Once you get close to the example set by the sensei, practice that aspect over and over until you perform it reflexively. Next time you come to the dojo, run through it a few times to make sure you are still doing it right, and come back to it now and then in the future to see if you can make it better.
Wait until you can get that "one thing" right before turning your attention to another. You will be surprised at how your foundation moves improve if you take this approach. Since the average student comes to the dojo three times per week, you could get really good at 156 components of your art in a year.
A student who never masters one aspect before moving to another may know more techniques at the end of a year, but the one who gets "one thing right" will be better at the core movements of the art.
The Japanese Martial Arts Center would like to thank the many Ann Arbor businesses that support this blog, both martial arts-related and others, including: Network Services Group, Art of Japanese Swordsmanship, Shudokan Martial Arts Association, Budo Mind and Body, Art of Judo, Iaido Dot Com, Lorandos and Associates, Oxford Companies, Bluestone Realty Advisors, Portfolio Ann Arbor, Invest Ann Arbor, the Law Office of Nicklaus Suino and the ITAMA Dojo.
3 comments:
This post reminds me of the advice of a boss I had many years ago, "start a task, do a task, finish a task, THEN move on the the next task."
This advice is good no matter what you are doing. If you focus on overcoming a specific challenge, you can not become overwhelmed. In martial arts, this is one of the ways to achieve what all martial artists strive for: Excellence.
You can't master everything all at once, so it is better to master each piece of a motion or maneuver, then master blending it together. This way, you are not being overcome by all of the complexity of the task at hand, instead, you are focused on just the portion you have chosen to practice and improve upon.
This is such valuable advice! My first few weeks in the dojo were extrememly difficult. I felt much more grounded when I set a goal during each class. I would just focus on the feet, then the grip, then the gaze, etc. I think it has also helped me identify some of the building blocks of good technique. Putting it all together is another matter!
I find that this is a great strategy to help me put all of the pieces of a form together. Learning a new form can sometimes be a bit overwhelming. But by focusing on fixing one small thing each day I find that I'm able to put the components of the form together in a way that doesn't make it seem so daunting. It's also a great way to keep me attentive and ensures that I'm not just "going through the motions".
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