Attitudes when visiting other styles

[Please visit our sponsor:]

[Shipley]

This is a side topic from the splintered aikido thread in General, but enough off topic that I thought I'd start another thread.

I've found that I'm guilty of some of the things that were brought up in that thread when discussing attitudes when visiting a dojo of a different style, or attending a seminar by someone also not of the "splinter" that I came from.

Specifically I find that I can be overly cooperative as uke when I'm not sure as to the type of training done there. I find it hard to find a balance between being too cooperative and irritating the person who I am training with. As it is their dojo I try to err on the former side.

Another fault that I've found myself guilty of in the past is doing techniques the way that I learned them instead of the way that it was demonstrated. This is due to a lack of attention on my part rather than an intentional "my way is better" attitude, but I could see how it could be interpreted as such. I appreciate it when an uke (whether they are junior or senior to me) points this out to me. I'd like to think that this is other's attitude as well. I just brought this up in hopes that Niadh might see this as another interpretation of what he/she saw.

How do you all handle these situations? Both as the one committing the heinous acts, and as one who is training with somebody showing these behaviours?

Paul

[Erik]

Shipley wrote:
How do you all handle these situations? Both as the one committing the heinous acts, and as one who is training with somebody showing these behaviours?

Roll with it (I'm so witty).

Seriously, does it really matter how we do technique right this minute?

As to your question, I think it pertains to how willing I am to be uncomfortable. The more willing I am to be uncomfortable the more I learn whether from a visitor or as a visitor. I think the point is to learn but we sure lose track of it.

As long as I remember that it doesn't matter much what we do. Hell, it won't last more than a few minutes to an hour or 2 anyway. I'll live.

[Edited by Erik on August 25, 2000 at 03:54pm]

[Dan Hover]

Sometimes, when we err on the side of caution, you're right we can be an irritant to Uke or nage, Usually when I am Uke and my Nage is doing a particular Technique the way it is commonly done or "how they learned it" instead of how it is being deomonstrated, I try to tell them that although they are correct Sensei is trying to empahsize X ( hopefully I am right when I say that X actually is X, if not, then aren't I the Idiot). This way I acknowledge that they know the technique and that sensei is trying to draw our attention to whatever therefore deflecting the responsibility off of my nage. When I commit the Faux pas, I try to look at from thier point of view and try to accept their style, because who knows maybe theirs is better, sometimes this works and other times, I have to go back to what sensei was doing to try to see the emphasis myself. Tact and courtesy are always your best bets.

Dan Hover

[Magma]

<<agrees with Dan 100%

I'm draw on experiences I've related in the Sempai Knows Best? thread to say that this sort of behavior I find quite frustrating. Sometimes you can just see the baffles closing as a mind locks down:

0. (Technique is shown)
1. Let's see, that looks like iriminage...
2. What was that, was someone talking?
3. (references internal memory of techniques)
4. Yep, that's iriminage
5. ho de do (whistling)
6. There's that talking again.
7. Let's train, here's my iriminage, the same iriminage I always do... the same I've always done.

With never a mind that something was being emphasized as being different, or a different variation was being shown. I see it within style as well as across style, but because this is a matter of personal development, there's nothing to do but just flow, flow, flow.

M.