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johan_frendin
11th December 2002, 07:08
Gassho!

When you teach Shorinjikempo it is very easy to keep up the physical pace during kihonpractice. During kihonpractice it is also very easy to keep the students mentally focused on what they are doing. But when jitsugi practice begins the students loose physical pace and mental focus and starts to chat, looking in the kamokyu-ho, looking at others (often with higher grades) instead of practice.

Is there anyone out there who has a cure for this ”disease”?

Johan Frendin

Tripitaka of AA
11th December 2002, 08:51
Hhhmm, often a tricky problem. I've never been an instructor so I can't claim to know. I would imagine that there are different causes on different occasions, and for different people. I guess that Kenshi generally feel that everyone else is doing something more interesting, when they have to split up into separate grades to practise techniques. In English the phrase might be "The Grass is always Greener on the Other side of the fence".

The structure of the Shorinji Kempo syllabus is designed to ease this problem. The techniques which seem dull and repetitive often lead on to some of the most exciting techniques later on. Perhaps this can be emphasised... but on second thoughts, that may just lead to greedy students craving to "run before they can walk".

I guess the best way to avoid people from losing focus is to provide an incentive. The simplest one would be to show them how far they must travel in order to achieve effectiveness. After splitting into groups, the Sensei will pass from student to student giving a first-hand experience of what the technique SHOULD feel like, then move on and allow the pairs to strive to match the form, power, accuracy and excellence of the Sensei. Using Higher Grade students to teach beginners can help, as long as they really are focussing on teaching, not watching other grades themselves. Leading by example...


Nothing really useful there, I wonder what the REAL Masters think...

tony leith
13th December 2002, 12:58
Tripitaka wants to know what the real masters think - well, I suggest you look away now, but here's my tuppenceworth. The intensity of training can fall of during technical practice. It depends to some extent on the composition of any particular class and how the people present like to train (at the moment in Glasgow, we have had the good fortune to have a keen bunch of beginners who just pretty much get on with it, and their attitude affects the ethos of the whole group). You can also run classes where for example chnikon is either at the end or beginning of training rather than half way through, which can obviously help keep the tempo up.

However, despite the fact that I tend to wander round classes telling people to train rather than talk, I think technical training is distinct from kihon. Kihon is about practising the fundementals of Shorinji Kempo movement. Lots of repetitions are key because we're basically trying to progamme our muscle memories with the key elements of hokei, tai sabaki and ashi sabaki. This lends itself to training of certain pitch and intensity. When people are working on syllabus techniques they're trying to extend the boundaries of their knowledge about kempo - this process is often more reflective, and probably requires that partners talk about what's going on, especially re. juho waza. An instructor has to be attentive and ensure that this doesn't degenerate into a bunch of people standing around talking about kempo (or about something else entirely..)

The way I try to do this is to get students to take a technique to completion, or ideally go through several repetitions, and then talk about it, rather than talking about it while they're doing it (though of course there can be times where such discussion is necessary and valuable, but too much of it tends to be distracting for everybody)..

Tony leith

Tripitaka of AA
13th December 2002, 18:14
Can I open my eyes yet Tony?:p

(I cheated anyway, I had them open a little bit ;) )

Onno
17th December 2002, 02:19
Gassho __||__

Here is something that we did in Tokyo at Sendagaya-doin.

The classes started with warm ups snd stuff followed by kihon. After that we did Chinkon-gyo. Then we did ido-kihon, first singly then in pairs or triplets. After this sweat was flowing well. When it came time to seperate into groups we would have a couple of minutes to decide which technique our level was going to practice and write it on a blackboard at the front of the class. We then formed a tight shugo in front of the blackboard with the lowest ranks at the front. Each level sat in it's own row. The Sensei would then look at the board and demonsrtate the first technique ( sankyu )making any comments he/she felt nessasary. Then an insrutor was assigned to this group to assist them. They would then go off and practice while the Sensei would then go on to the next level.
I found this was a great way to stay focused because you had a limited amount of time to choose your technique that you wanted to study. Also you would have an instructor who new what you were practicing as well as what points the Sensei mentioned. It also provided a refresher for all the higher ranks as they watched the lower level techniques being demonstrated in turn. This method works well if there are a lot of kenshi as it keeps them organized and it is easy to see what everyone is supposed to be working on.

Hope this helps

Kesshu

Onno Kok
Alberta Shibu
Calgary Canada

Gary Dolce
17th December 2002, 15:43
Gassho,

We have a two hour practice, beginning with Chinkon and Kihon. We try to keep Kihon pretty vigorous so by the one hour mark people are feeling a bit tired. We take a short break for water and then often do Howa. For the last 45 minutes or so, we typically break up into smaller groups to practice techniques in the syllabus at the appropriate level.

I agree with Tony that this last part of practice is different from Kihon and by nature has a different kind of atmosphere. The goal here is to learn new techniques (or new ways of thinking about old techniques), so I encourage people to give feedback to their partners, to experiment and talk about the results, to take notes, etc. I accept that this leads to a more relaxed atmosphere than during kihon. Of course, people shouldn't just gossip or spend more time talking about techniques than doing them. But this is usually not a problem.

I think it is important that the instructors leading the individual groups pay attention to the way students are behaving. If attention is wandering, I usually assume that students are either getting tired or bored. In either case, I look for ways to change the pace of practice when this happens. For example, I might start them working on a variation of the original technique, or I might move on to a new technique, or maybe do some randori centered around the technique. One surefire approach to getting students to refocus is to tell them that in 5 minutes they will have to demonstrate the technique in front of everyone, or that they have 10 minutes to develop an embu sequence using the technique.

I strongly believe that practice should be fun. Some of the best teachers I have seen use humor to help keep attention. I would rather see smiles and occasional laughter during practice than have two hours of grim-faced work at every practice. I get enough of that in my job.

Gary

Tripitaka of AA
20th December 2002, 19:09
I love your last paragraph Gary :)

It really is possible to enjoy training, isn't it.

johan_frendin
21st December 2002, 07:23
Gassho!

Thanks for all the advice.

My personal opinion on this issue is this.
When a student first starts Shorinjikempo he/she often have difficult to learn even the most basic (kihon) techniques. Controlling their bodies is the first challenge, and this can not be done without controlling the mind as well. If a student wants to become skilled self-control is an essential element, and it is learned through disciplined training and focus. During kihon nobody seems to have a problem but when jitsugi starts the students minds begin to wander and I believe this is a major problem.

When a student or a teacher stepping in to a Shorinjikempo dojo he/she must be in concentration for safety reasons and also of course for the process of learning. A Shorinjikempo student and of course also a teacher faces many situations during practice where a reduce in attention could be dangerous for their partner, especially during jitsugi practice. Striking to the neck or the throat, kicking to the groin, applying painful wristlocks and so on demands the students or teacher to be in a state of presence here and now so that every action can be taken without jeopardize your partners health. In technical aspect it is impossible to not be focused and be able to catch the correct opportunity to apply a proper juho or goho wasa. Shorinjikempo is GYO but we must never forget it is also a “combat” method for real self-defense. I personally see no conflict in that the student should talk to each other during jitsugi practice and remain highly focused and concentrated. If a student do not have a cooperative mind during jitsugi he/she will waste his/her possibilities to develop because you need to evaluate your technique together with your partner, constantly. But many student starts to talk about other issues and lose concentration, focus, attention on the present moment and this is a shame. They will have a much better chat if the went on to the local pub or a café than wasting valuable training time. During my over ten years as an instructor I tried a truckload of ways to avoid this “disease” but never really been able to solve the problem.

Sometimes I even think that the whole idea about Shorinjikempo is to get students more sociable individuals than skilled in self-defense technique?! Maybe the Jitsugi “disease” that I talk about is instead the “cure” and where we all should put our focus?! Maybe it is the people that chat and laugh during the training sessions that is the ones that have understood the secrets of Shorinjikempo?!

Anyway thanks for all advice.

Johan Frendin
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