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Old 01-24-2011, 12:05 PM   #79
RED
Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 909
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Re: The Essence of Training

Quote:
Mary Malmros wrote: View Post
So what, in real-world specific terms, is "a commitment that is equal to your very best"? Training every day? Training three hours a day? Six hours? Nine hours? Becoming an uchideshi?

No matter what anyone does, you can make the argument that that's not their "very best" because there is something they didn't do and that they could have done (at least theoretically). But how does that help people to know what they should do?

If you don't like that idea, then it's up to you to show how "mere mortals" can achieve your level of commitment, isn't it? Railing against the "hobbyist" attitude is only helpful if you also show the alternative.
In my opinion, there are so many Aikidoka out there that live the alternative everyday that we are either blind, or living isolated, if we claim to have never seen them. The alternative is anyone who goes out to train with the highest level Aikidoka they can whenever they can, even make sacrifices to do so.
For me personally, I decide what hours are negotiable and non-negotiable. My hours for training are simply non-negotiable, everything else may bend around it. Barring my husband gets into a car accident or I get hit by a bus, those hours are non-negotiable. I will get a minimal amount of hours done by the end of each week.
Whether the time a person considers non-negotiable for their devotion to their Budo is 16 hours a week, or 3 hours a week; I believe the dividing line in commitment is the choice to declare that your training time is non-negotiable. No matter what is on TV, no matter if your work wants you to stay late, no matter if you have to get up at 5am, no matter if your friend wanted to try this new Italian place, no matter if your husband managed to score tickets to the ball game...those hours are non-negotiable; whether they be 16 hours or 3 hours a week. You make everything else that is important in your life for the rest of the hours. There are 168 hours in a week. Plenty of time to work, go to school, have friends and children, drive in the commute, try that new Italian place and train a non-negotiable amount of hours in our Aikido. This to me is the alternative to the hobbyist. IMO of course.

In the end the person that is respecting the art the most, IMO, is the person that never feels enough is enough. They never feel like they trained long enough, or hard enough. You are never good enough. It is the "I think I'm doing enough", or "I think I'll figure that technique out later, maybe someday" attitude that is causing the issues in Aikido I expressed frustration in. There is no summit to this sort of thing. Even the people who have a non-negotiable amount of training time will still feel like they need to do more, I do at least.

With this aside, I understand physical limitations. And obviously if some one needs to take a hiatus do to injury, illness, your child is sick, or for mourning, it is only healthy to do so. I mean, I went to my own wedding instead of training that day, and I've taken time out to heel a back injury. I'm talking about an over all attitude of devotion, not being an obsessive psycho who ignores family and health.

I think a balanced life can encompass a devotion to Aikido on a serious level. I've been a musician in classical instruments. I know I would of never been accepted to study with any good teacher if I had only studied once every few weeks, or once a week, etc. Why do we treat our Budo differently? A balanced life can encompass devotion to family, friends, collegues and Budo. If it can't encompass it, something is unbalanced some where in my opinion.

Last edited by RED : 01-24-2011 at 12:20 PM.

MM
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