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The other night, we were working on various jo kata. In so doing, one student I worked with made it a point to go as fast as he could and push the limits of his and my ability. Thankfully, I was able to keep up with him. At one point, I reversed it on him by stepping up the pace to a range that he had to back away and stop.
"Well, if you can't keep up with it, you can't practice. So... let's take our time and do it right!"
This was a major help. By doing kata at a healthy and calm pace, you get the repeatition "in" to learn the kata, but at the same time your mind gets time to form questions: why am I doing it this way? am I blocking or setting up a strike? what is my opponenet going to do next?
Aikido practice in general, but reeealy with weapons, should emphesize QUALITY of technique over speed of it or number of times you did something.
I once read that bokken strikes should be practiced with 100 strikes per day. Well, that's one thing... but if you just rush through them to get them done, what was the reason of doing it at all?
Take your time.
Think about it... but not too much.
Breath
Relax
Be there for a purpose, not just to hurry up and move on to something else.
01-14-2005 12:40 PM 