Qatana

But some people DO actually have beginner's mind. My best friend trains at the dojo with me and she literally has to start from the beginning every single class. After ten or so months she still needs to be coached through "simple" exercises we do every week, such as tai no henko. She can execute a technique if she is coached through it but will immediately forget what she just did. Three more times.

If our dojo followed a syllabus where every technique is taught in sequence, giving students the time they need to absorb, she would retain a great deal more physical information, but as we operate more holographically, she has no continuity to build upon.

This was how she learned Morris Dancing, which has a lot of fancy steps and endless choreography to remember, but it was taught to her in a manner which she could absorb.Even she agrees that she would advance in physical aikido technique in that kind of envirnment, however it is Sensei and the environment he provides which keep her where she is.

However testing is not an issue for her, as a non-paying dojo member she considers herself a Guest of Sensei, and wouldn't accept an invitation to test even if she could retain enough information to do so.