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Old 08-15-2012, 03:11 PM   #77
Basia Halliop
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 711
Canada
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Re: ki testing...emphasis on both uke and nage getting stronger

Going back to the earlier discussion of 'testing to the point of failure', I guess I don't understand the value or purpose of never having something 'fail'? How can you know where the point you 'fail' even is unless you play around the edges and occasionally go there so you can clearly see the difference between what action of yours leads to success vs what action leads to failure?

I get the motive behind practicing success much more often than failure, because practice makes permanent and you want to build the habit and muscle memory of doing it right. So, yeah, you want loads and loads of successful practice if you can.

But without ever seeing what _doesn't_ work, how can you really understand what does? They exist in contrast to each other... to me it seems too much like trying to read print but the print and the page are the same colour -- how do you know the shape of the print and what information it contains if you have nothing to contrast it with?

To give the word 'failure' so much emotional baggage seems to me sad and potentially damaging... it's just information and need not have any 'bad' feeling attached to it unless you choose to put it there. If you shut yourself off from information then IMO that's no good...