Trying to relate and make a connection

       I definitely get complacent in my training and appreciate when we get the opportunity to train in a different form or do an exercise that’s more outside the box.  Still, I have my preconceived notions of things, muscle memory, personality, and just some things that I do because that’s the way we do it.

       Going over stick 2 with some of the yellow belts I noticed a couple of them right off the bat doing something strange.  After they kick-kick the stick before the strike they were grasping the left hand above the right.  After a lot of thought, my best guess is that we tell them to hold the stick on their thirds and they were probably just trying to achieve this, but obviously was causing issues in the form.  It really made me think about this certain technique and trying to relate to why they were doing it that way.  After doing it a few times, I still just did it the way I normally do it, because that was the way it was taught to me, and logically makes the most sense.  Don’t want to cross my arms in that way, so my left hand gravitated below my right despite not being on my thirds.  This made me think about how much of this is mindless movement based on training- which to a degree we do want.  We want our movement to be automatic in a situation.  Versus, how much of this is Nigel recognizing it needs to be this way for my body to work in a harmonious way and get the most out of a technique.

        I find it hard to relate to that kind of movement.  Further more, and we’ve discussed this in the past, I’m obviously limited by my vocabulary and thus can make it difficult to build a connection for the students.  As for my own training, I recognize that it is up to how I interpret my instructors instructions and hoping that I’m on the right path.  Same goes for those I instruct.  My hope is that I can explain well enough to steer them in the right direction.  It won’t always happen and I need to think of a different approach.  I also recognize that I need to ask questions and to multiple people to get answers that will lead me down the right path and not just what I want to hear.