Why do you practice martial arts? If it’s for fun, once you’ve achieved a good level of fun, why seek to get better? If it’s to win, why does winning matter? If it’s for artistic or personal mastery, why? Like getting caught into a conversation with the pedantic child who always asks “why?”, down the why-hole lies madness. When I Read More …
This past weekend, I was teaching in Istanbul, Turkey, a city that was arguably the centre of the western world at one time. It is a city steeped in both European and Asian history. Every site you visit reveals layer upon layer of history that goes back at least 2000 years. This makes Istanbul both an interesting and fitting place Read More …
If you feel that you learn best by reading or writing, you are not alone. For many these are the learning skills that they’ve had the most practice with, since our school system focuses so much on them. This in itself is an important note. It may not be that you are “wired this way”, simply that you have not Read More …
Luis Preto gave a wonderful analogy in the instructor section of his Jogo do Pau level 1 instructor seminar where he compared how we teach martial arts to how we teach someone to catch a ball. The typical martial arts approach to teaching catch: Demonstrate the catching motion. Have the student practice catching as a solo exercise, focusing on the mechanic Read More …
At the end of a workshop delivered by Guy Windsor recently, Guy asked all of his students “Did you have every opportunity to get what you wanted from today’s session?” This was a subtle shift from a question I had heard him ask two year’s prior “Did you get what you wanted from today’s workshop?” It is up to us Read More …
Understanding your strongest and weakest learning styles can be a useful and illuminating tool for becoming a more engaged and effective student. This week we examine effective strategies for maximizing visual learning and retention. Check out the DTV Livestream on Effective Learning to hear a discussion on this same subject. Visual learning is the process of learning a new skill by seeing it Read More …
Your learning is only based partly on the effectiveness of your teacher. It is largely based on your own personal effectiveness as a learner. Good teachers should certainly help you on this journey, but the more you can help yourself, the more you stand to gain in each of the learning situations of your life. On our recent DTV Livestream, we Read More …
It is easy to fall into the idea that there are right approaches and wrong approaches, true paths and false paths. If your group does things one way, if you’ve invested your time in one path, it can be difficult to allow that those who practice a different system, approach, or have invested in a different strategy, may also be doing something Read More …
“What have you failed at today?” This question is one that a friend’s father used to ask her and her brother every day at dinner. I found the story inspiring. This question, as well as her father’s warm approach in how he asked it, contained so many positive questions and affirmations: What did you try today? How did you challenge yourself? Read More …
We’ve all got one. That self-inflicted bump on your head, scrape on your arm, or a knick on your cheek. We’ve all had that moment. The moment when you made a bad parry and deflected your sword into your own face. That time when you were making a circular flourish with a stick and clipped the side of your head. When you attempted a Read More …