Chuck Clark

Our annual Shochugeiko training will happen next week for five days and the main subject will be: "How to watch - What to watch"

I notice that, often, most people are watching the effect of the technique, the end result (the photo op...) instead of components that make up the conditions that cause the effect to happen. Things listed above are important, even if you can only pay attention to one at a time, other things will join the first one thing and finally you'll see it all and it will be "one thing."

It's similar to ballet students learning to watch choreography and be able to model that reasonably well quickly and then become closer with every repitition. It's a process that must be worked on until it becomes a valuable tool for learning.

Often in koryu training the teacher will demonstrate a kata and then the student follows the movements of the teacher once or twice... and then the teacher expects the student to replicate that kata in a rudimentary manner. If they can't then they're not ready to learn that kata.

It is important that we learn to watch and be particular about what we watch at different levels.