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Old 08-31-2002, 01:22 PM   #3
Deb Fisher
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 145
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I think you're saying that sometimes you get so frustrated when doing something incorrectly that it causes anxiety, making it difficult to focus. When that happens, you focus on just being in the dojo, and not on doing the technique correctly.

If I heard you correctly, then yes, I've definitely been there! I have a lot of critics running around in my mind, and they have a lot to say whenever I do something wrong (which is often - aikido is hard), and this causes a lot of anxiety for me.

I tend to see this as a mind/body problem - my mind doesn't know how to tell my body what right and wrong is, it has to learn it by itself. The goal is to make the mind stop blithering nonsense about being "wrong".

I try to laugh at myself if it's really acute. Laughing at myself all the time could make training some silly business, though, which is not what I want. So when I hear myself berating myself about "doing it wrong" I try to smile very broadly and tell it to shut up. Concentrating on smiling helps me to remember that it's supposed to be fun, it keeps me in the physical space, in my body instead of in my mind, which is telling me nonsense that impairs my body's judgement.

If that makes any sense... my $.02

And yes, I agree that being frustrated is a good sign, it means you're learning. In all things, not just aikido. Comfort = complacency.

Deb Fisher
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