Tonight at class I was reminded of the other side to cross training in another style by a student of mine. The situation where the Sensei in the other dojo tells you that pretty much everything you have learnt (and as a result tend to do almost second nature) are all totally wrong simply because of minor stylistic differences and approaches to Aikido training.
Had a student who had problems with another Sensei for slapping with the trailing hand during a forward roll, which is a norm for us.... he was told that it was incorrect and thus got very confused, especially when trying to roll in a way that seemed very unnatural and unrealistic.
Personally though, I love to train in other styles, tends to make the style I usually do look even better
and it always gives me food for thought with regards to technical or philosophical concepts that I may not address on a regular basis.
Would be good for the open mind towards training to be shared by both students and Senseis alike though.
My 2 cents.
L.C.
