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Old 02-23-2006, 10:37 PM   #11
SeiserL
 
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Location: Florida Gulf coast
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Re: Article: Apples and Oranges; State Specific Learning by Lynn Seiser

Great conversation.

Sorry for my delay, I had to go make a living.

IMHO, state specific learning works at all levels. On some level, all martial arts are the same because by context and application, they are martial arts and if trained within the context of honest and genuine intent and intensity should be generalized and applicable to similar contexts outside the dojo, you should be able to fight.

Hard styles and soft styles are different in their strategy and tactical applications, but are both still martial arts. Compartmentalized training in a soft art will not necessarily make you better at a hard art, because they are not state specific in training context, intensity, or intent (learning objective?).

Concrete example: I came from a FMA bashing background, a martial art with emphasis on flowing stick, knife, and hand technique for limb and body destruction. The way we trained and for the purpose of destruction make it drastically different that my Aikido training. I had to compartmentalize my past training in order to learn the new stuff because it just did not fit into the mental and physical constructs I had learned. The still remain different and separate, but can integrate and flow more sequentially. If you ever see me do an Aikido tanto technique you will see my FMA background.

I see a lot of people in seminars who have learned Aikido a certain state specific way in their dojo and even with and different Sensei and style, still do it the old way because they cannot get out of their way of doing it. Too compartmentalized.

First learn the form, then variations of the form, then break the form.

State specific learning is a strategy that has worked for me. I don't believe that one state is better than another, just different. I love most fruits, nuts, vegetable, and cross-training but each for the state or season they are best suited for.

Thanks for the stimulating intelligent conversation.

Lynn Seiser PhD
Yondan Aikido & FMA/JKD
We do not rise to the level of our expectations, but fall to the level of our training. Train well. KWATZ!
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