So I went in on Thursday of last week ready to apologize to Nut for my lack of cohesion even if he didn't realize that my gears were stripping last week. Alas, he didn't show and I was left off balance again (thanks Pat).
It was a very regular class and Teacher was very conscious of my back and kept asking if the activities were aggravating it. Felt like star treatment there for awhile. That will go a way in time I'm sure.
I got to do block and punch exercises with the new guy, Red. He's been around the block and seems to warm up to MA easily. I don't think I was doing my best as I ended up guiding a punch into my nose and then elbowing Red in the mouth. Teacher pointed out that sparring or even exercises in this case lead to more injury. The white belt does the unexpected! Boy I must have made his life miserable when I was a white.
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At 6:05am I looked at my phone quizzically while trying to wake up. My SaBomNim (master teacher), who is legally blind, sent me the messa...
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At 6:05am I looked at my phone quizzically while trying to wake up. My SaBomNim (master teacher), who is legally blind, sent me the messa... -
Since I'm not in classes for a bit and feeling better after a bit of illness it was time to jump back into the morning workout routine. ...
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There are exceptions to every rule. However, exceptions are rare. Tonight I was filled with dread and excitement about returning to class. ...
2 comments:
With this post you're teetering on the brink of an aiki response to Red that might apply to Nut as well. I asked an aiki shihan a question one time (don't even remember what question) but i got the distinct impression that he answered some other question besides mine. Anyway, the lesson he gave has stuck with me. It was about leading a potentially violent and chaotic situation in a direction you can handle.
Suppose you have a new guy who has been around the block enough to make your danger sense go off. You have to get this guy to play right so that you can have a productive class and he doesn't hurt you. What do you do? You feed him the attack that you know you can handle then leave yourself wide open for that one attack. Sorta ends up being a Jedi mind trick in which you program the attacker with the attack you want.
An example of this is practice lunge punch from outside ma-ai with the whole class for a while. During this time you're studying up on him, watching his timing and form, etc. Then pick him as an uke and give him some subtle signals that say "I bet you can't lunge punch me in the face." You now know what he is about to do, which gives you an advantage you can work with.
Why does this situation happen and why does this Jedi mind trick work? Red is unpredictable because you and he do not share any similar framework or mental model. If you just tell him out of the blue, "punch me in the face," he might do anything. But if you take a couple of minutes and provide him with a framework that is acceptable in your dojo then you have just programmed him to attack in a more acceptable fashion.
You have to watch out with this trick, though, because you don't want to always choreograph your ukes or you'll end up sanitizing your dojo experience and your street-validity will drop.
Pat - as always you give me a lot to think about. I would say you were 100% correct in your estimation of Tues. class. I suspect I use the subtle signals on a subconscious level, but now you've bought them to the surface. Intriguing stuff to ponder.
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