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03-20-2010, 07:20 PM
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#26
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Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
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Re: getting harder
Quote:
Anonymous User wrote:
wow... well when i say i want to stop feeling useless, i really mean that i want to try and feel more confident with the basics and not feel that every move is still unnatural after 7 months.. i realise this could be a long process after your comments lol...
i'm by no means uncoordinated and have probably improved to an extent but its such a weird feeling thinking about breathing, leg work, moving offline, keeping centre, taking uke's centre, posture... blah blah... i get so frustrated sometimes that even walking through things can seem imposible....
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Well, you'll either develop patience and stay with it, or you won't and you'll quit. That's pretty much the way it goes. Most people who try martial arts wash out within their first year, including some of the people who were most gushingly enthusiastic when they started -- in fact, I have a gut feeling that those early enthusiasts may wash out at a higher than average rate. Their expectations are high, and when the early glow wears off and they're facing the plain hard work, they get discouraged and quit.
"But I'm willing to work hard!" is the typical response of someone in this situation. That's fine, but are you willing to work hard even if you're not constantly getting rewarded with some new achievement, some new breakthrough, the certainty that you are getting it? Are you willing to live with not feeling "confident with the basics"? Because, really, seven months is no time at all to be feeling confident.
Training in martial arts isn't like training a dog, where the dog is constantly rewarded with snacks. In martial arts training, you go a long time between dog biscuits. They're tasty when they come, but they're just not going to rain down you with any frequency, and most people are simply not cut out for that.
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03-21-2010, 05:21 AM
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#27
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Dojo: Cleveland Aikikai, Cleveland, Ohio
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 80
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Re: getting harder
Mary, I have to say that I experience training differently from what you described. I don't think I am particularly patient. I continue training not because of the rewards that will come down the line if I continue training, but because of the rewards I feel in the moment through enjoying the process of training.
Anonymous, I think it's really important to be clear about your personal goals. Why are you training at all? Someone else started another thread on this subject, and I think it is a good thing to think about at length. Once you come up with the answer, then you should know what to do.
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03-21-2010, 06:44 PM
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#28
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Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
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Re: getting harder
Quote:
Anita Dacanay wrote:
Mary, I have to say that I experience training differently from what you described. I don't think I am particularly patient. I continue training not because of the rewards that will come down the line if I continue training, but because of the rewards I feel in the moment through enjoying the process of training.
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But most people don't perceive that reward. That's my point.
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04-11-2010, 04:42 PM
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#29
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Dojo: Northcoast Aikido
Location: California
Join Date: Jul 2002
Posts: 289
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Re: getting harder
I think I usually feel good while *in* a plateau, and start to feel like c##p when I'm at the end of a plateau headed into a learning slope. It's when I start to be able to see things with finer gradation than I had: for example, my awareness of balance might have improved, so all of a sudden I'm noticing the places where I've always been off balance, but didn't have the perception to detect. It really feels terrible, but it means that you have a new capacity to improve that you didn't have before.
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04-13-2010, 06:02 AM
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#30
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Dojo: Allegheny Aikido, Pitsburgh PA
Location: Pittsburgh PA
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 948
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Re: getting harder
As per several suggestions on this thread I picked up and read Mastery. Have to say I see plateaus in a whole new light, as a good, if frustrating place to be. Plateau is where the real learning is actually taking place he tells us.
To the OP... I counted back and yeah at about 7 months I was in the same fix.It lasted a good while. Pretty much from right after my first test in October until about mid January I think. I'll be testing again next month. It will be interesting to see if I bottom out again like that. As everyone else said just keep going, eventually it ends.
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04-13-2010, 06:45 AM
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#31
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Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
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Re: getting harder
Quote:
Cherie Cornmesser wrote:
As everyone else said just keep going, eventually it ends.
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Not IME. It's always hard. There's no magic fix, it's just a question of whether you're cut out for an activity that has endless capacity to make you feel -- no, to make you know -- that you don't really know what you're doing.
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04-13-2010, 03:08 PM
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#32
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Dojo: Allegheny Aikido, Pitsburgh PA
Location: Pittsburgh PA
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 948
Offline
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Re: getting harder
Quote:
Mary Malmros wrote:
Not IME. It's always hard. There's no magic fix, it's just a question of whether you're cut out for an activity that has endless capacity to make you feel -- no, to make you know -- that you don't really know what you're doing.
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oh... you mean life? I guess I'm just resigned to the fact I'll always feel that way.
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04-13-2010, 03:44 PM
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#33
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Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
Offline
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Re: getting harder
Quote:
Cherie Cornmesser wrote:
oh... you mean life? I guess I'm just resigned to the fact I'll always feel that way.
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And that's the secret, isn't it? Becoming comfortable in that "don't know" state.
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04-23-2010, 08:06 AM
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#34
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Dojo: Wokingham Aikido
Location: Reading, UK
Join Date: Mar 2003
Posts: 393
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Re: getting harder
Quote:
Anonymous User wrote:
its such a weird feeling thinking about breathing, leg work, moving offline, keeping centre, taking uke's centre, posture... blah blah... i get so frustrated sometimes that even walking through things can seem imposible....
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Hi there,
You are not more useless, you just have a far greater understanding of how much you have still to learn now than you did in your first few classes
The new student's journey
Stage 1: You learn how to move your arms and legs in vaguely the right direction in order to apply technique.
Stage 2: You learn how to do the above while keeping your own balance.
Stage 3: You learn to do the above while remembering to breathe.
Stage 4: You learn to do the above while avoiding getting overpowered by the attack.
Stage 5: You learn to do the above while remembering the name of the technique.
And so on.... taking uke's balance, maintaining your own centre, moving smoothly etc etc all come at later stages, and as you progress through them your understanding of just how all these elements come together to enable you to apply techniques increases, and you feel there's still so much to learn... This for me is partly why I think Aikido is so great - you never stop learning
After this first 'plateau' (or giant leap in understanding ) you will emerge with an improvement in your Aikido. You may not be personally aware of it (most of us are not) but ask your sensei for feedback on your progress and you will be surprised at how much better he/she thinks you are than during your first month at the dojo
Ruth
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04-23-2010, 09:48 AM
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#35
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Location: Left Coast
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 4,339
Offline
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Re: getting harder
This is a natural part of learning anything, like Ruth wrote.
When I was about a yr into my self-taught Spanish, I was doing basic home hospice intake interviews, apologizing often for my mangling of the language, and of course sticking to the present tense.
Now that I know all of the tenses and rules, and have about 10 times the vocabulary, it seems I get MORE tongue-tied sometimes because 1. there are so many more choices/decisions to make and 2. all that knowledge still hasn't been fully integrated by practice, practice, practice.
Coming back to the dojo, its why after my 4th kyu test, and every test since, I say "My aikido sucks at a higher level."
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Janet Rosen
http://www.zanshinart.com
"peace will enter when hate is gone"--percy mayfield
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04-23-2010, 07:56 PM
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#36
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Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
Offline
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Re: getting harder
I was just reflecting the other day that for me, when things suddenly seem hard, it's usually a sign that I'm being my own worst enemy...and also, usually, that I need to get back to basics somehow.
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04-23-2010, 10:38 PM
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#37
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Dojo: Taikyoku Budo & Kiko - NY, PA, MD
Location: Greater Philadelphia Area
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 1,000
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Re: getting harder
Quote:
Mary Malmros wrote:
I was just reflecting the other day that for me, when things suddenly seem hard, it's usually a sign that I'm being my own worst enemy...and also, usually, that I need to get back to basics somehow.
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This is very, very well put. And true, in my experience.
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04-26-2010, 09:54 AM
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#38
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Join Date: Apr 2009
Posts: 909
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Re: getting harder
Quote:
Anonymous User wrote:
is it just me being useless.... or is this a common thing
i've been practising for about 7 months now and feel in some classes that i am/feel worse in my execution and understanding of techniques than after the first few months of training.. i know 7 months training is nothing but surely things should be starting to feel slightly more natural...?? techniques just seem to be getting harder, even though the same as 7 months ago...
my main noticable difference is my core muscles have increased substantially and i understand principles slightly more, but just have a harder time in execution??? help!
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Why would you be ashamed to admit this and have to be anonymous?
This is a common feeling... we've all felt that way. I've felt this way.
I felt this way after my 5th kyu and 4th kyu exams specifically. You just plateaued. work through it and you will hit new ground... it is all part of the learning process IMO :/
Heck I know that in my dojo there is this weird 3rd kyu drop off. People get to 3rd kyu, then they drop out of school. I think it is the plateau effect that gets them. Either that, or they think they already got what they wanted from the art.
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MM
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