One can go to more classes, longer classes, and hope to advance more quickly.
Or...
One can do one's homework. That is, practice mindfully when not in the dojo. What do I do when I go do laundry? I go in back of the laundromat and practice kata. When I'm sitting at home and I don't want the TV blaring mindless tripe? Practice kata. Whenever I have ten minutes of uninterrupted time available? Practice basic exercises. Practice my Japanese.
And I try not to do mindless repetitions of kata; I try not to let my mind wander and just let my body go through the motions. I try to stay in the kata, thinking about my feet, my hands, my timing as I go through each step of the kata I'm practicing. I imagine the attack I am defeating with each move of the kata, the opponent coming towards me and launching a kick or a punch, etc, and how I will defeat it, what it will feel like when my block or my kick hits him. From a bang block to a brush and sweep, hard and soft, what the reaction of his body will be and mine as we clash.
When I feel I have done all the thinking I can do about foot placement or moving with power and speed, I think about breathing, where I want my breath to be as the strike hits home or the block goes in. I practice breathing from my tanden, keeping centered over my central balance point, not leaning forward or back.
I am just a beginner, but I begin to think that it is not by mindless repetition that we improve, or by learning more technique and more kata all piled and jumbled in together faster and for longer classes that we advance. It is by learning the mechanics of a thing, and then mindfully practicing it, over and over, until it makes sense, until it seems natural, and until I can imagine actually defeating opponents with the bunkai I pick out of it and use in self-defense.
Last night, we spent a good part of the class with one technique; in our case, tegata barai nukite or open hand middle body block and knife hand strike. We practiced the movement, but then we spent an hour just putting together one self-defense move after another, one application after another, all based on a tegata barai and then a nukite strike. I really enjoyed that, it seemed to flow for me; and I think part of the reason was because I practice that when I am practicing mindfully. Open hand block, why? How hard? Under what circumstances? How does it feel? Can you use it to entangle as well as to block? (yes.) Can you use it to turn the opponent's body? Are there other targets that will present themselves to you as you do so? (yes, as it says in the Bubishi, and lo and behold, it works.)
I have read several threads about advancing quickly, or how long to mastery, or should I learn multiple arts, and all of them seem to be asking the same basic question - how can I advance (in skill or belt) more quickly?
For this beginner, the answer is simple, but not what most probably want to hear. It's the answer to the old question "Hey Mister! How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" "Practice, practice, practice." But not just any practice. Mindful practice. The body needs to learn the movements, and mindless practice will train muscle memory; but the brain has to be able to put those building blocks to good use, and for that, the practice must be mindful.
Or...
One can do one's homework. That is, practice mindfully when not in the dojo. What do I do when I go do laundry? I go in back of the laundromat and practice kata. When I'm sitting at home and I don't want the TV blaring mindless tripe? Practice kata. Whenever I have ten minutes of uninterrupted time available? Practice basic exercises. Practice my Japanese.
And I try not to do mindless repetitions of kata; I try not to let my mind wander and just let my body go through the motions. I try to stay in the kata, thinking about my feet, my hands, my timing as I go through each step of the kata I'm practicing. I imagine the attack I am defeating with each move of the kata, the opponent coming towards me and launching a kick or a punch, etc, and how I will defeat it, what it will feel like when my block or my kick hits him. From a bang block to a brush and sweep, hard and soft, what the reaction of his body will be and mine as we clash.
When I feel I have done all the thinking I can do about foot placement or moving with power and speed, I think about breathing, where I want my breath to be as the strike hits home or the block goes in. I practice breathing from my tanden, keeping centered over my central balance point, not leaning forward or back.
I am just a beginner, but I begin to think that it is not by mindless repetition that we improve, or by learning more technique and more kata all piled and jumbled in together faster and for longer classes that we advance. It is by learning the mechanics of a thing, and then mindfully practicing it, over and over, until it makes sense, until it seems natural, and until I can imagine actually defeating opponents with the bunkai I pick out of it and use in self-defense.
Last night, we spent a good part of the class with one technique; in our case, tegata barai nukite or open hand middle body block and knife hand strike. We practiced the movement, but then we spent an hour just putting together one self-defense move after another, one application after another, all based on a tegata barai and then a nukite strike. I really enjoyed that, it seemed to flow for me; and I think part of the reason was because I practice that when I am practicing mindfully. Open hand block, why? How hard? Under what circumstances? How does it feel? Can you use it to entangle as well as to block? (yes.) Can you use it to turn the opponent's body? Are there other targets that will present themselves to you as you do so? (yes, as it says in the Bubishi, and lo and behold, it works.)
I have read several threads about advancing quickly, or how long to mastery, or should I learn multiple arts, and all of them seem to be asking the same basic question - how can I advance (in skill or belt) more quickly?
For this beginner, the answer is simple, but not what most probably want to hear. It's the answer to the old question "Hey Mister! How do you get to Carnegie Hall?" "Practice, practice, practice." But not just any practice. Mindful practice. The body needs to learn the movements, and mindless practice will train muscle memory; but the brain has to be able to put those building blocks to good use, and for that, the practice must be mindful.