The Thoughtful Sensei-Aikido Musings

Those Who Need It The Most Do It The Least

When we are little buggers and first learning to tie our shoe laces before we romp off to kindergarten it was just an impossible experience.  In between the dropped laces, clumsy fingers, impossibly convoluted and un-fixable knots, mom and dad telling us to do it again and again, the tears and frustrations, we finally reach a point where we just "give up" and relax and then almost magically, we can finally do it.  But it took practice and patience and finally, belief in the parental-units who are teaching us, along with faith in the instructions.  Martial arts are largely the same; and then some.

Over the last 12 years that I've run my own dojo, and the many years prior to that when I ran the mat for my prime Sensei, I have observed many types of students join class for lessons; many of whom were in law enforcement (including those working for federal acronyms) or  scarier yet, subject to violence of various sorts in their jobs and their daily existence.

These are the ones who need rational martial arts training the most, but in all too many cases, take advantage of the training the least.

Consider .......... a reserve police officer in Texas attends the reserve officers academy for training, during which they recieve a grand total of 6 to 10 hours of training in hand-to-hand.  That's six (6) to ten (10) hours on watch and not semester hours like in college.

One of my ex-training partners in Aikido and Jodo who retired from both his career in corporate security (as an ex-FBI agent under J. Herbert Hoover) and his martial arts training (he was older than I and with his wife finally retired to his dream home in the hill country) told a similar story about his time at the academy at Quantico.

Another ex-training partner in Aikido (sometimes I think I've been on the mat too long as I keep outlasting my training partners) was with one of those Federal acronyms better known as the DEA and was quite active in undercover work.

All told the same story and had basically the same response to the question; "So, just HOW many hours of training did you have in hand-to-hand while at the academy?"

The answer in all cases was pretty uniform and ranged anywhere from 6 to 20 or so hours (clock hours) of training.  The rest largely focused on procedures, certification as a law officer, first aid, how to draw your sidearm without shooting yourself in the foot, how to wear a coat, tie and sunglasses (J. Edgar was apparently pretty tight-assed about a lot of things), etc. and etc.   .... most of which, while important to professional level performance on the job, had little to do with an officer's self-defense when within the range of the 21 Foot-Tueller Rule or developing any kind of zanshin much less true martial skills.

Most of this (training emphasis) had little to do with reality and everything to do with who was training director at the time or what some white-shoe (attorney) had to say about avoiding lawsuits while getting the officer killed in the line of duty; death benefits in the long run being cheaper than the cost of a major law suit (the cynic's view of bureaucracy and the mindless bureaucrat).

This mind-set over time rubs off on the agent/officer who unfortunately begins to always fall back on the visuals/ego-factors of the position which provide "imagined" security and protection; the badge, the uniform, the side-arm, the dark sunglasses and the ear-bug and the security clearance.  All ego-boosters but providing protection from absolutely no-one other than already law-abiding citizens who don't pose a threat anyway.

Recently one of the deshi sent me a link to an article from a law enforcement site dealing with a new threat to law-enforcement ... the karambit; a small knife that can be rigged to automatically open when withdrawn from a hip pocket.  The method of attack is to be within essentally one to two arm's length and when asked for ID to hook a finger in the loop at the end of the knife and then to pull it out of the pocket and slash horizontally across the officer's face and throat.

After discussing it with the deshi and then reviewing the web site I thought to myself, "My God ... how easy is that" assuming of course that the officer is properly trained with internalized responses to begin with.

Seems that police training consists of a couple of hours of training in which one officer faces another, the trainer blows his whistle and then they have at it.  A couple of hours ... wow .... one can really develop some true martial skills here. 

People who work law enforcement or who work for an acronym need to spend a lot more time on the mat than a civilian since they are much more likely to be in harms' way on a daily basis and never know when their skills may be called into play.

So do they? ......... do they actually spend enough time on the mat?  Nope.  Not by a long shot.  If I were an acronym or a police officer I'd live at the dojo if Sensei let me and I would consistently train on a daily basis in everything offered: Aikido, grappling, jodo, kenjutsu, everything.

Karambit and the new, improved, felonious method of use .......  When asked for his ID he reaches  back with his right hand (even tho' 95% of the world is right handed and carries their wallet in their left hip pocket and not the right) so the officer misses this first clue.  His ID is on the wrong side but is on the correct side/weapon side for a right hander to draw it.  He can't strike unless he closes to no more than one arms' length so the officer misses the first index point (the distance).  His attack will either have to rise vertically from the hip to the face or come in horizontally with a slight upward diagonal so the officer misses the first and most important moment of self-defense; domination of the center-line and the most effective first-choice strike target ... the faces, eyes and throat of the knife-attacker.

For a seasoned martial artist this one is almost too easy with the only caveat here being that the trained martial artist cum defender has to be willing to seriously hurt the attacker since all the right responses have already been internalized.  The goal here is to stop the knife as it is being deployed.  After full deployment, the game  (and strategies/waza) changes so the first opportunity for the defender to strike is the most critical.

Officer Acronym on the other hand, with little to no training and totally insufficient practice time for full internalization has no chance to survive.  His academy's preference for use of badge, gun, taser, asp overrides all else and now the Tueller Rule results in Officer Acronym's injury or demise.  He reaches for a side-arm .. and is cut ... he reaches for the side arm but realizes that it's too late ... and is cut .. he panics and tries to close and grapple ... and is cut.

The other part of the problem is that sometimes Officer Acronym tries too hard.  Instead of picking one martial art to do focused training in he picks two, or three  ... always looking for that magic bullet.  Problem is, if Officer Acronym is training in two different art forms under two different Sensei then he potentially now has two different reflexes to the attack and goes into vapor lock.  It's almost better to have one and only one effective second rate reflex to the attack instead.  It may be the second best on the market, so-to-speak, but at least it is fully internalized, automatic and fully ingrained; as opposed to having two competing responses in their head.

Moral to the story (blog); pick the best art form you can find and spend as much time on the mat as possible and fully internalize your responses in order to stop the attack before it is fully deployed.  Do one martial art (and maybe complementary weapons form  ... Aikido and Jodo for example) and get good at it .... really good.

While one may legitimately argue that a civilian doesn't need hair-trigger responses to dangerous situations (assuming they try to avoid problems to start with) someone in law enforcement or who is a federal acronym cannot make that argument at all given their daily second-to-second exposure to the underbelly of society.

I could write for days on this topic.  Years on the mat, years teaching this material, experience in working with my old Sensei who at one time was head instructor to the local SWAT Team, experience in working with law enforcement, having on two separate occasions put together training programs for the DEA and for the Department of Diplomatic Protective Services (working in conjunction with Certified Police Instructors who actually started in Aikido before going into law enforcement), having experienced first hand the preference of immediate subconscious reflexive responses to sudden, unanticipated attacks out of no-where ............. have only strengthened my first response to anyone who has a problem in self-defense situations (esp. law and government) ........ stop lolly-gagging around, get on the mat, increase your training time, increase your mat hours, ask Sensei, ask other senior players, build reflexes, stop using the uniform, badge & gun as your first response, quit making excuses about having duty assignments (do the assignment & get back on the mat).

Train  ... or not ....

L.F. Wilkinson Sensei, Aikibudo Kancho

Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

January 2012

 

But Mommy, It's My Turn To Win!

To continue my New Year's thematic ........ the truth is truly extreme.

How many times have you heard the phrase, "As a martial artist you must learn to transcend victory and defeat"?

Wow.  If I heard that once from Sensei I heard it a thousand times ... maybe 10,000.  Problem is .... it's largely a lie ... or a falsehood ... or too optimistic and unrealistic  ..... depending on how critical you feel like being today.  It just sounds all "zen-ny" and "new-agey" and "aikido-esque"; sorta like saying, "When you can snatch the church key from my hand you are ready for happy hour."  ...... 

Humans didn't survive the last million years or so of evolution as we shed our hair, lost our tails and climbed down out of the trees and started walking upright and learned how to talk and use tools by not being competitive survivors.  We survived because bottom line; we are highly competitive creatures who got here by competing with nature, with animals, with the weather and with each other.  It's only the fact that we developed abstract and critical thought processes that we haven't killed off the planet or made ourselves extinct ..... yet.

Not competitive you say?  Bwahaha .. don't make me laugh and call you  a liar to your face.

Standing in line at a great restaurant that won't take reservations, waited for 2 hours and the next person called for a table ahead of you got there AFTER you did.  Roll-over or immediately ask the host WTF?

Studying hard in school, took the tests, scored the same perfect 100%, straight A+ scores as one other person but told THEY are going to be the Valedictorian and you're not?  WHAT?

Working that dream job for the big corporation that has one slot open for promotion and a 20% raise in pay.  You have seniority and you've been doing that job anyway for the last 90 days as a stand-in until management decided who to promote ..... and the guy who sits in the cube next to you with half your experience and half your time on the job gets the nood.  And you're happy about that?

How many examples do you want of just how competitive all of us really are?

You want to win just like I do.  The problem is that an overly strong desire to win is largely out of place on the mat when training, especially when doing randori of any kind.  It leads to inappropriate behavior, injuries, hurt feelings, belligerent attitudes and anger.  So this is where Sensei says, "You must learn to transcend victory and defeat"  ...... (must be said in deep booming voice with echos in background like a mystic living in a cave)  ...... you know ...... one bowl, one robe, one koan ..... oh and throw in some mist slithering along the ground like in an old B&W werewolf movie.

So what do we do about our competitiveness?  Well, my solution was one I could never voice to my Sensei as I don't think he'd really understand nor appreciate.  I want to win all the time but ... I equally want to lose all the time.

If I want to win then I'll do my best.  If I want to lose all the time the it's likely that I'll not do my best or, will hold back so that Sensei is not critical.  So the rub here is that if I have the wrong view of "transcending" then if I win I may start feeling guilty about being better at randori/kata so I'll hold back and do badly so that everyone likes me and I follow Sensei' directions.  Now I'll never do my best and never improve.  Judo gets past this with no competition in class but with shiai at tournaments.  Aikido, being a non-competitive martial art (tanto shiai be damned) has no such outlet so randori in class can become an issue.

In Aikido randori (the toshu, tanto kind with no tournament or competitive aspect of that kind involved) I strive for a balance.  I want to win as much as I want to lose.  I want to lose as much as I want to win. 

If I can keep it at 50-50 then both benefit me.  I have the satisfaction in randori of "winning" (more properly translated as "doing the best I can even if the other guy is less able than I am and can neer catch me.")  But if I lose then I have a very positive attitude about that because I can take that experience and improve myself.  It becomes a "win-win" even when I lose and my training partner who just took kote-0gaeshi on me 37 times in a row is teaching me and showing me where my weaknesses are so that my subconscious mind can begin to make those little corrections in my footwork and timing and posture that will, in the long run, make me a much better Aikido player.  If this is the case and my attitude, then how can "losing" to him be a bad or a negative thing?

So now "winning" or dominating the other person in randori teaches me how to be technically best and most effective against a lesser "opponent/uke/player" ...... while losing to that other person shows me my weaknesses so that I can correct and improve upon them.  Both "winning" and "losing" then become positives and I can positively direct and focus my competitive side while not feeling badly or fretting over my "I lost" side.

It is certainly true that in a dojo there will always be those naturals who have spent the time to become better and that in a heads-up randori scenario they will most always come out on top.  However, as long as everyone acknowledges that "winning" is not that "bad thing" that we're told it is and as long as the better players always take the time to assist and teach the lesser players how to improve and grow and become that "better" player, then a positive atmosphere is developed and maintained in which "winning" in randori is not a negative and "losing" in randori is simply nothing more than a challenge to oneself to work to learn to do better and is always, always a positive learning experience for all involved.

Randori is a critical part of training and of learning.  "Winning' therefore is not something to be avoided and "losing" also is not something to be dreaded.  The two are nothing more than two sides of the same coin and each should be valued for its appropriate place in the Aikido paradigm.  One cannot exist without the other and both can, and should be, made positive learning tools for the true Bushi/Aikido player.

 

L.F. Wilkinson Sensei, Aikibudo Kancho

Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

January 2012

Need to blog-o on this one. What's the difference between "unstable balance" and "dynamic stability"?

Some thoughts for a Sunday. "The ability to act swiftly is obtained by performing movements quite slowly during the learning period". Moshe Feldenkrais.

Todays' Lesson In Corp-Speak

The truth is extreme .................... why yes it is, no it's not, yes it is, no it's .......

Sometimes this stuff almost writes itself.  On Face Book a comment on "corp-speak" aka "what over-paid, over-sexed, over-educated corporate suits going no-where in a hurry" say during a staff meeting was posted by a player I know (so of course I'm stealing 'cause it fits with my current blog-o-theme of facing the truth in your martial arts training).

Now been self-employed for the last 12 years or so but before that having spent 25 years plus in corporate america (plus a stint as a government employed troll for the State of Texas) I am all-to-familiar with this kind of mindset and the unbelievable BS that it engenders.  Here is what was posted on the FB account as the corp-use of "internalize" .....

Internalise - As in "What you have all failed to internalise is that there has been a paradigm shift.  As a result you are all now behind the curve when it comes to the multi-lateral interoperability needed to realise the supra-organisational mission statement.”  Even though there is an awful lot to detest in that statement "Internalise" is the word we most object to.  It appears to just means learn or remember but as telling someone to learn or remember something appears instructive, suggesting they internalise it will sound more empathetic, but at the severe cost of sounding like a clone-monkey."

Bwahaha .... how entertaining for a laugh (as long as you're not subject to being forced to be there) .......... how depressing to consider that live humans can actually say things like this with a straight face ....... and how illuminating to consider that this term of "internalize" complete with it's conjugation ("internalization") which has been used in martial arts for possibly centuries, has now been perverted to this amusing bit of empty dialogue as in "...It appears to just means learn or remember but as telling someone to learn or remember something appears instructive..."

Unfortunately I have in recent years run across, into, onto (after I threw them down) a few Aikido players cum martial artists who think that this corp-use is the only use when in actuality it is simply NOT.  It's not even in the same ballpark (remembering that the Japanese are real baseball fans).

In the MA when we speak of "interalize" or "internalization" what we are truly describing is the process that takes place over a long period of time as we run thru' kihon, then kata, then bunkai, then slow randori, then faster randori.

Consider the aspect of being human in how we do something as simple as blinking our eyes.  How many times a day do you do that?  A thousand?  Ten thousand?  You don't know; none of us do.  In fact, you're not even aware of blinking at all unless you force your conscious awareness into monitoring it and even then, something else (cup of coffee, a conversation, a noise down the hallway) will shift your consciousness to it and you'll go on blinking and continue not being aware of it.

That is true internalization .... something so ingrained into you, so automatic, so intuitive, so reflexive, so a part of your total existence that you do it (when hit with the proper stimulai) and you are never aware of it at all unless your force yourself to become aware of it.  As the Zen-meister said, "It just IS".

So if we accept this for a more appropriate definition of the term "interalize" then how do we apply it to the martial arts and to our training?

An article I read once and still have sitting in a paper file folder at home gave the results for a study done on tennis players in which researchers were attempting to discover the real difference between a good country-club weekend hacker and a world-class professional.

The answer?   The number 10,000.  10,000 hours ... 10's of thousands of repetitions of a movement such as how to serve the ball across the net.   The hacker was good but simply didn't put in the time to become world class.  The professional would train for hours everyday and do such things as standing at the base line with the racket in one hand and the ball in the other and do nothing more for 30 minutes or an hour than toss the ball in the air and cock the racket back for the serve.  The ball was never hit as the goal was to perfect the angle, height and body/racket position of where the ball, body and racket should be at the exact of service.

Then that was followed by an uncountable number of hours playing and not trying to score but simply to run back and forth across the court and recieve the service from the other side.  By doing so, the professional watches the ball and based upon how the other player holds their racket, moves across the court and the racket touches the tennis ball and how the string on the racket depresses at the moment of stroke, begins to interpret intuitively and instinctively ("internalize") where the ball will come across the net and where he has to be to meet it and then return it ot the other side.

Note that all of this cannot be a conscious effort when you're playing at Wimbleton.  It has to be "internalized" and completely intuitive, reactive and reflexive.  The first moment the conscious mind gets into this evaluation/decision process the player will miss the ball and lose the set and eventually the match.

The most common term for this full intuitive use of "internalized information/reflexes" is "In The Zone" and professional athletes will make such comments as "I don't know what I did.  I looked down and the ball was in my hands and I was across the goal line" or "My hands just kept hitting him all by themselves and suddenly he went down in the 2nd round and I won" or as the Samurai said, "The katana will know it's own technique".

So what truth is there here that's extreme?

10,000.  10,000 hours on the mat.  10,000 repetitions of kihon.  10,000 repetitions of principly correct waza.  10,000 hours of correct study of bunkai.  10,000 hours of slow, precise, methodical randori.

The truth is extreme when one suddenly realizes that all the "soft-touch" in the world, all the sitting and watching others train, all the seminars, all the wishing and the hoping just won't get you there.

Only 10,000 hours and 10,000 reps will actually "internalize" all the information your brain needs to turn your martial arts into something truly an integral part of your being; just like blinking your eyes.

See you on the mat. 

Now get to work and stop lolly-gagging around.

No more Kuchi-waza.

Start "internalizing"  .... bwahaha ...

L.F. Wilkinson Sensei

Aikibudo Kancho

Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

December 2011

 

I Know All There Is to Know

As I posted last time; the truth really is extreme and as humans, we tend to avoid it as long as it doesn't catch up to us.

Fred (it could be an Ethel, I just like the name Fred as it sounds a little "non-serious")  is an Aikido player and has spent years on the mat before finally reaching that pinnacle of achievement ........... senior black belt-hood.  Actually, his rank isn't all that high but within his dojo he has become one of the seni0rs on the mat.  He is so highly ranked that when invited to learn new and stratospheric kata that he shows a slight ... shall we say ... demure hesitation. 

Demure?  Of course since he doesn't want Sensei to think him "uncommitted".

Hesitance?  That's the reaction you get when you ask him to do some extra work on that new and more difficult material.  It's subliminal and difficult to detect but there none-the-less.

So, what's that all about?

Humans in the dojo sometimes have the tendency to make a senior rank and then they begin to enjoy the position that comes with it including the authority granted them by Sensei, the admiration and respect of the junior players and in some extreme cases ... the hero worship from impressionable beginners who have no MA exposure and no seasoning.  In my last dojo I observed this behavior as it led to senior players beginning to farm the mat for sex from juniors (pretty detestable in IMO as people come to learn and not be subjected to "Happy Hour Behavior" and "Ladies Drink Free" nights.

This new position can be seductive especially if this new senior ranked player has never experienced it before.  Ah-HA you say; but what if he is a bank president or head of his corporate division or rich? He's already been worshipped there ... why the dojo?

No matter if all of those are the case outside the dojo.  Inside the dojo is different.  On the mat it carries hints and inferences of "Yoda-hood" and "Jedi Knight-ism" and is therefore somewhat "Magical" and "Ninja-like".  It has a whole "other-worldly-ness" to it and therefore has nothing to do with life in the corporate world.

The seduction can, in some instances, cause the player to stop trying to learn new material, stop doing difficult things such as highly advanced or complex kata, can inhibit his desire to do the impossible such as becoming a truly competent randori expert.  After all; he's already gotten to where he is and to begin the hard study-path again is to take on new challenges that he may not be up to and is to also imply that he really doesn't know as much as he thinks he does.  He begins to engage in a bit of "denial".

Engage Internal Dialogue .............. "I'm good enough at randori now.  Heck.  I can already man/woman handle everyone in the dojo except Sensei and maybe one or two others.  I already can do all the basic kata better than everyone else.  I'm already Sensei' uke a lot of the time.  I'm tired and I'm going home and taking every Saturday off.  I really don't want to get to class early to do extra training and I have a cold beer waiting at the house so why stay after class?" ............ Dis-engage Internal Dialogue

It's easy to get lazy and enjoy the adulation of being the BMOM (Big Man On the Mat) aka BDOT (Big Deshi On the Tatami). 

It's easy to not do the hard work of hour after hour after hour of tough and tiring practice once you (he) becomes relatively competent (as compared to others of the same rank) or extremely superior (in ability) as compared to others of lesser rank. 

It's easy to begin to coast and once you start to coast it is admittedly difficult to get ginned back up and start that trek up the mountain again.

It's easy to rationalize it when you look in the mirror and say to yourself, "I'm good enough already for now.  I'll think about doing more hard work next year.  After all, I really don't feel good about it when I'm doing kata and Sensei comes over and starts correcting me.  It makes me look dumb in front of the White Belts and I makes me feel bad because after all ..... my fundoichi doesn't stink and besides, how much more can Sensei tell me that I don't already know or can't discover on my own."

Think Fred knows he's saying this to himself?  Likely not.  That's how deceptive self-deception can be.  It's subliminal and so internalized that without knowing it we can run this thru' our heads everyday and never really be aware of it.  (Go study Transactional Analysis sometime if you really want to understand the concepts behind internal tapes.)

It's all too easy to lose sight of the path, lose sight of the big picture, lose sight of the possibilities, lose sight of what you intended to become when you started.

As you rise up in rank your horizons should be placed further out, not close in.  You should understand how much more there is to learn, not become satisfied with how little you actually know.

Reaching your current "high rank" is supposed to open your eyes and cause you to look up at a horizon that may not be totally clear   ......... not hood your eyes and cause you to lower your gaze because what you can see is both clear and focused.

So get refocused and re-discover what matters on the mat ............. or quit.

Aikido players and Bushi always move forward. 

They don't stand still because it's the easy path.

Even if you are physically past the ability to take 1,000 ukemi you can still move thru' new waza without force or falls, you can still learn light randori, write treatise on Aiki, be productive.

But standing in place  without forward movement or acting hesitant (as if you have a prior appointment) when Sensei says "Time to work" is not acceptable and is ........... not the "Way".

L.F. Wilkinson Sensei

Aikibudo Kancho

Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

December 28, 2011

Ahh .. A New Year Cometh

Formulating a few topics for some blogs next year (uh .. only a week away) and rolling some ideas around in my noggin.  A quick thought, and view, of what I may get into.

"The truth is extreme.  To make it moderate is to lie."  ..... Unknown

How Does He Know?

Sensei can sometimes be crafty people; or so it seems.  However, what some view as "crafty-ness" is really just some common sense.  So when Sensei walks up and makes a statement and you wonder how he figured that out it's likely not majic but some common sense born of years on the mat and of dealing with the human condition.

After anyone has spent some time in any activity whether it be golf, Aikido, calligraphy or shooting hoops in the driveway as you play your BMI-impaired neighbor in some "Horse" for a Bud' or two understands the idea, the requirement actually, that in order to excel at anything that takes skill (no, taking a nap doesn't count as a skill-set) you must continually practice the basics AND you must practice those basics correctly.

Many times in a dojo I observe deshi coming in early, working out a bit, and then leaving right at the start of formal class.  Sometimes this is to work as uke with someone preparing for their demo or, they themselves are working towards their promotional demo and are putting in extra time on top of their normal training schedule to get ready for it or they are working on learning new material for themselves.

Good Budo-manners dictates that they come see the Sensei first and explain themselves so that Sensei knows that they have a rational reason to leave before the class starts.  So Sensei always wonders what is happening when this "early arriver" takes off before bow-on should they not come to explain.

Coming in early, working on advanced material and then leaving before the regular class can indicate several possibilities.

• They have a very legitimate prior commitment concerning work, family, etc. (the Sensei will always understand this)
• They are taking time away from family to put in extra time and the family/spouse is allowing that on the proviso that the deshi come home early after stopping for some bread and milk on the way :-) ..... (the Sensei will always understand this one also and will be most happy that the deshi is trying to strike that sensitive balance between training and making the money so that baby can buy a new pair of shoes).  :-)
• They have a hectic schedule and are coming whenever possible until their schedule straightens out or changes (the Sensei understand this one too)
• They only want to work on advanced material and do not want to work with lower ranking deshi (kohai).  (the Sensei will frown on this one)
• They only have interest in the advanced material, thinking that they have understood and completely internalized the kihon and basic material and only need study the advanced to progress (the Sensei will frown on this one also)

There may be other reasons but these four come to mind quickest and if you'll notice, only the first three are legitimate in the mind of a Sensei while the last two reflect poorly on the manners, attitudes and/or personal commitment of the "early leaver".  (And, please notice that I'm not mentioning someone who feels ill or puny and feels the need to leave because of wanting to go to class anyway and put in some mat-time after a looong and tired day ... and then getting a little sweaty and suddenly not feeling up-to-speed due to a possible bout of flu or seasonal crud, something which can happen to us all on occasion.)

Many body-work specialists (Feldenkrais comes to mind at this moment since I'm now re-reading some of his most excellent early work in my research of "internal power"... a topic I still feel the need to beat on but more on that later) have stated in very direct terms that the fastest way in which to build increasing levels of ability, coordination, understanding, efficiency and speed is to do repetitive practice of the fundamental movements SLOWLY over a long period of time AND to repeat that type practice essentially .... forever and a very regular basis.

The person who leaves after some advanced practice and then who fails to stay for the beginner/intermediate class are denying themselves the opportunity to improve their advanced knowledge by practicing the basics in this slow and precise manner ... and by so doing are also denying the kohai the benefit of their knowledge (a direct violation of "giri") ... AND are also denying themselves the deeper understanding that comes with thinking about how they do what they do and then putting that into words that a white belt can understand; itself a form of deep and considered practice.

By avoiding this nightly practice in the fundamentals their basics will eventually invert; that is, their basics/fundamentals/kihon will become polluted by the advanced materials which can, in some cases, be done in a sloppy (but still effective) manner given the dynamics and body geometry behind an advanced throw or joint lock or atemi done at high speed (speed leading to errors).  Kihon are intended to be that "pure line" of fundamental understanding and "super-clean" principles that keeps everything beyond that clean, pure, efficient and unchanging at whatever speed or dynamic you find yourself in.

Now, compound this issue of inadequate practice of fundamentals with the attitude inherent in not wanting to work with beginners and you have a serious issue to deal with.

Now, additionally compound this with not coming up to Sensei before leaving class and rushing out the door and you just added some bad manners to the mix.  All-in-all some bad mojo.

A good Budo-ka and a high-level Aikido-ka are made and not born.  And the making is done in the most difficult way possible; year after year of self-discipline, careful observation and thousands of hours of direct teaching transmission from the Sensei, hard work, careful thought, good manners observed, positive attitude flowing both up and down the sempai-kohai line and in the end, lots of ukemi and proper practice of kihon and base-fundamentals and principles.

Dropping or reducing the practice of fundamentals only retards your advancing.

Not working with white belts only retards the process.

Not taking a million ukemi only retards the process.

Not observing manners also only retards the process since it shows a state of mind.

One must consider these things in their daily practice.

L.F. Wilkinson Sensei

Aikibudo Kancho

Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

November 2011

 

 

 

 

The 12 Volt Sensei

A growing trend in the martial arts world is that of "internal power". 

(key music, start intro-video da dum .... da dum .. dadumdadumdadumdumdum .... eeeeekk !!!!!.....

 

Back when I started training in the late 60's it was almost never mentioned; at least until everyone got past the judo phase and then the empty hand karate phase and then the PKA safe-kick/punch phase and then the Bruce Lee phase and then the kung fu/grasshopper phase and then we hit (almost simultaneously) the Aikido phase and the Ninja phase (which seemed to occur simultaneously with or shortly after the transcendental meditation phase) and then suddenly it was every where and Sensei had to fight off the young grasshopper wanna-bee's with his chop sticks every week.  Except that it wasn't called "internal power" but instead was "ki" or "chi". The phase I remember was "aiki" or just "ki" for short with no use of the phrase "ki power".

Then we got into the UFC/BJJ phase and all that came before, for the most part, went away in favor of more rationalistic thought esp. after the first UFC bout where all the "traditionalists" had their fundoichi's handed back to them. 

Suddenly many training regimens changed in response to that first UFC thrashing that we all saw on tv. 

• Some changed back to where they had originally started from but had left due to desires to grow their dojo (back to more practical, more hard training, broader view of their own history instead of the new marketing ploy). 
• Or, they changed for the worse ("Ok, kiddee's ... let's light our candles and hold hands .... hmmmm .. kumbaaaayaaaah my ...."). 
• Or they just stayed where (and where they had always been) since they had never left or "evolved", weren't into trophies and had never lost their effectiveness to begin with, having ignored all the "Aiki-Bunnies" running around.

I can live with the terms ki and chi since they're oriental and not easily understood and kinda' "global" since they cover about as much territory as you want them too; so in my mind they're actually easier to work with.  You can do a lot with them such as defining them logically and then applying that to training ... "No Little Johnny, you cannot levitate nor can you will your zafu to float across the floor with you on it like you're attendees at a TM festival.  Just focus, breath deep, relax, concentrate, control your fear and just whack him with gusto and mutual respect." .....  or  ..... "So Sensei, is that what ki is?  Sure if it makes you feel any better now get to work and gimmee' another 100 kote-gaeshi's and some ippon seonage to finish up with and then we'll talk about some concepts of kuzushi."

See .... problem solved without any smoke and mirrors involved and now everyone is happy with what aiki is .... just hard work and a focused game plan that takes place and evolves over years in the dojo as you strengthen your body, focus your mind and learn the kihon and then the kata and then the bunkai.

But today the idea behind them (ki and aiki and chi) has been "Americanized" and "marketed" and has been more clearly defined and labeled  as ... "internal power". 

Hmmm .....  In-ter-nal pow-er ..... Now just what is that?  Gas?  A strong constitution (or strong case of constipation)?  Too many vaso-dialators downed at one time and now they have to stand you in the corner until you can relax a little?  bwahaha     ...  I know ... maybe it's .... more of an electrical phenomena ...........

Naw ... that can't be it.  So what is it?

Humans are physical beings and subject to the laws of physics.  If you cannot control your body you fall down a lot.  The laws of mass, inertia, gravity, heat transfer, oxygen usage, proper eating and exercise, healthy life-style all impact us every moment of every day and failure to correctly observe the laws of nature and what our bodies are capable of will, and does, result in "fail" of whatever we're in the middle of at any moment.

Early martial arts were started by people who did not drive cars, eat "organic" food (it was ALL organic assuming you could get to it before the critters ate it, or ate you).  They worked hard every day because they had to and the old saying of "root hog or die" was observed daily.  So the MA started in small villages or on a farm somewhere and all the students entering the dojo already had strong bodies and focused minds (no work-no eat ..... no train hard-guy down the creek will kill me and steal my woman).  All-in-all pretty simple, pretty basic, primal in many regards and there was no mistaking how life went.

What do we have today?

Processed foods leading to obesity.  (So is that why all the Sensei I see look like they spend too much time at the buffet counter?  Come on man.  At least wear a girdle would ya' please? Jeeeezus!)

Little exercise leading to weak muscles and poor posture.  If folks spent more time at the gym and less time yelling at the plasma flat screen during Monday night football they'd be in better shape to do some ukemi.

People were mentally tougher since they most likely grew up having to fight for food at dinner or fight the kid down the path to get back something he stole from you.  Today if your kid touches someone he's in detention for days and lord help him if he actually (gasp..) gets into a fight and bloodies some little truant's nose for him.

Today's humans are as a rule (but not universally since some of us still grow up with some old-style discipline and hard work and the occasional fist up the side of our head)  ...... softer, less mentally tough, less able to work with physical stress, less able to deal with pain and much less able to fight thru pain and discomfort to keep moving forward and have lower frustration tolerance.

Comparing the two types of humans ..... the one's from rural times were physically tough and therefore able to generate physical power while today's people have to start from scratch and slowly build up physical power and fitness before they can even do the waza, much less worry about something like ki or chi.

So the "already fit" person goes to the dojo and is accepted for instruction.  He learns the waza and how to apply his already existing physical strength and only then goes to the temple where he's taught ki and chi and .... ok, ok, ok .... "internal power" so he's way down the road to mastery pretty quikly (on a relative basis) without Sensei having to work that dunlop disease off his belly, get him shape and then have to have instruction in how to use his body.

The "softee person" has no physical power, can't throw the uke and now assumes out of ignorance (or is told by an unethical instructor) it's because he has no ki and no chi charged up in his tanden and that he must "learn" and "accumulate" and go after that Mystical-Magical-Mystery-Tour that today is called "internal power".

The instructor is now faced with a choice.  Does he tell the little butterball the truth; that he needs to get into shape and stretch everything out and become stronger and then learn the ryu and understand how to use his body efficiently BEFORE he starts worrying about ki/chi/internal power? 

Or does the instructor take the route of least resistance .... that of teaching "internal power" to out of shape students who can't take decent ukemi, much less take hold of an opponent who is 6 inches taller and 50 to 100 pounds heavier and whack them with panache and proper principle?

Given our current "state of the culture" in which the easy way seems to be the only way, in which self-promotion is rampant, in which instant gratification is endemic, in which too many look for the "magic bullet", in which the deshi wants to be an instant simulacrum of Kwai Chang Cane/Obi-wan Kenobi/Seagal, and in which the Sensei has learned basic economics and understands how to market and bring home the bacon (not ot mention having a firm grasp of the principles of self-aggrandisement) then we end up in seminars, training clinics and dojos in which the hard work is simply pushed aside in favor of the fast way, the easy way, the mystical way.  The student, and eventually the Sensei all want to believe and this is what all too many times occurs .....

 

For a time when I was attending the university I finally graduated from (too much party down dude with my Frat-Rat brothers) I considered majoring in psychology.  One course (taught by a semi-madman who came to class stoned and who kept buming cookies from everyone, but was very skilled and knowledgeable in what he taught) explored the ideas, concepts and methodology behind hypnosis. 

There's not a blog big enough to lay out a comprehensive picture of this but suffice it to say that ever since the time of Mesmer and all the way back to the Egyptians these ideas have been used both on the individual level and on small groups.  What this video shows is a technique called "rapid induction" which was popularized by Milton Ericson (look these up in Wiki for more fascinating detail).  Having taken the college course work and having been to martial arts seminars and having seen this done   .... well ... you make up your own mind about the ideas (some but certainly not all) currently being floated around out there in the "No Touch Knockout Kingdom" and "Internal Power Land".

Here's something to consider.

Real "internal power" comes from refining, understanding and being able to use nature's principles of the natural body structure and composition (such as knowing the function of fascia for example).  If a student tries to take that giant leap forward into the higher level, more sophisticated waza and randori areas that are designed to enhance and polish the fundamental principles and kihon (without already having the body understanding and development in place) then he will quite simply fail. 

Martial arts kihon and kata are based in and are intended to be a way by which to learn, internalize and make intuitive all the patterns of stimulus/response to various combative conditions and situations that by their very structure are designed to push the present limits of the students' body and prepare them (that body) for the application of the ryu's principles.  Ergo .... no practice, no improved shape, no understanding of how to use the body to apply the basic kihon or kata, much less actual waza, bunkai and randori.

Proper practice, good conditioning, internalized intuitive responses, learned thru' repeated practice enables the student to apply the correct movement/step/use of muscle and limbs at the correct moment in time and space and do it all on a subconscious/intuitive level .... in essence the mind controlling body without conscious thought.  Until this point is reached in the students' development then all attempts to learn internal power is useless and without purpose since achieving this level of intuitive ability is, on its face, itself internal power of the highest sort.

"Internal power" is nothing more than a calm and focused mind, giving internalized and intuitive directions to a body that has been developed and can make the most efficient use possible of the mechanical design and advantages of being a bipedal/bilateral creature, alignment and posture, the natural elasticity of tissue, muscle, ligament, tendon and fascia, stretch and contraction reflexes and muscular strength to most correctly apply the principles of the martial art form to the opponent at the absolute correct moment of time and space in the most efficient manner possible.

Mind controls body with calm spirit; and at the highest levels of ability (achieved only after years and decades of steady training) all the potentials of the subconscious are brought into play and under control of the conscious mind.  Not in a magical sense but instead in the sense of looking at the opponent with such a calm state of mind and confidence in your ability that the opponent changes his mind about attacking but if he does, everything you do is made to look ridiculously easy.

That's all it is folks and I'm really sorry to have to be the one to tell you that it only takes a few thousand repetitions if not 10's of thousands to get there.

So I guess I'll see you on the mat.

 L.F. Wilkinson Sensei

Aikibudo Kancho

Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

October 2011

"Are We There Yet?" - The Paradox of Commitment

Every Aikido style/method/ryu has its core material; the material that must, must be internalized into automatic reflexes almost as far down as the limbic/lizard brain level.  Without this "core" embedded into the player's nervous system the remainder of the system cannot be easily learned, correctly assimilated or understood at any level.

Beyond that is what the rest of class consists of.  Here in Houston we have our core that we go over at about 90% of all of our beginner/intermediate classes and it consists of:

• aiki-taiso - warm-ups to loosen, strengthen and condition the body many of which contain movement or physical requirements used in actual Aikido practice
• ukemi - a set methodology for teaching proper ukemi and for making the ukemi response/reflex automatic in just about any configuration of a throw or take-down possible
• walking - a solo drill designed to both utilize all Aikido tai-sabakai and combined hand blade movements while requiring the player to focus on their posture, breathing, body condition and coordination
• 8 releases - a drill/kata set that allows the player to totally ignore the grabbing attacks of uke while building a subconscious response that dictates that upon violation of ma-ai (combative distance) and a grab by uke of any part of the clothing or body that tori (the defender) move off-line of the attack and  break the attackers posture & balance and then move to a strategically superior position
• 17 attack movements - the most basic ways in which to use a strike, shoulder/elbow lock, wrist lock or throw off of any of those against the attacker in a very proactive fashion
• the last 1/3rd of class is then spent in covering any of a very wide range of Aikido waza, ideas, concepts and philosophies.

In some dojo in some ryu/styles they do not cover nearly as much material as we (and other dojo) do in the normal course of training.  Ever been to a dojo where the Sensei leads aiki taiso and the spends the next hour having you do ONLY Shomen-uchi Ikkyo?  I have and I can tell you ... I was good at Shomen-uchi Ikkyo .... but bored beyond all belief and every time I hit the mat I thought "When do we do something else?

Keeping to the current thought of "How do I inspire my students to train as hard as I did?; consider this ....... how do I help them get "biten" by the "Aiki-Bug" such that they'll not only come to class once in a while but will finally jump in and want more and more, and eventually become really high-level players?"  Consider how much material you not just expose the students to but how often they see it and whether or not it makes them "curious".

By the time our people make Shodan they have learned well:

• body conditioning
• break falling
• a "walking" method of self-awareness and kinesthetic intelligence
• 8 releases of auto-responsiveness along with 2 to 4 actuall techniques for each of those (8 x 4 is 32 waza)
• 17 assertive "attack" methods/waza, each of which tie-in to the other 16 and also having 3 differing methods of taking kuzushi (17 x 3 = 51 waza)

and they will have extensive exposure to,

• knife randori
• hand randori
• multiple attack randori
• grappling
• standing and on-the-mat strangulations
• several Kodokan Judo body throws & foot/leg sweeps

etc. etc.

I could list this material all morning long but the point here is this ....... do you as Sensei provide a broad enough spectrum of material to keep everyone interested and excited or do you tend to fall back on the time-honored dictum of "Studying Ikkyo and Niyko for the first 3 years is enough and if it was good enough for me then it should be good enough for them."  Do you help them see the larger picture of Aikido and MA and Budo        ............ or do you restrict the curriculum to what you were taught at their level (30 years ago)?

I think that if you want students to commit then you need to show them a path that has no clear target, goal or ending; one that contains and extolls the idea of "Wonder what's around the next curve up ahead?  I think I'll go see."

L.F. Wilkinson Sensei

Aikibudo Kancho

Aikibudokan, Houston, TX

October 2011