Internship Expectations

As mentioned before, I will be working as something of an Intern for the dojo that Sensei Nick teaches Aiki out of. Tomorrow I will head in for a Cardio workout in the morning followed by some time with the instructor to go over some of the first TaeKwonDo kata.

Which reminds me I need to practice my own kata...
(WHICH I actually did some of today, just not all of them yet)

Here are the things that I am hoping to get out of my "internship":

• Learning to recognize learning styles
• Learning to communicate with different learning styles effectively
• Learning drills and fun activities/work outs/exercises to do with kids classes
• Learning good exercises and fun work outs and drills for adult classes
• Learning what to do or how to deal with kids (and adults) who misbehave, don't focus, are a distraction, or in general disruptive to the class
• Being able to teach
• Being able to help someone understand something for the first time or improve on their technique
• Being able to learn from my students

I'm sure there are more, but that is all my tired brain can think of right now. I will post more as I think of them and write how my internship goes as I am able to spend time in the dojo. Due to finally acquiring a job this may be a little more difficult and sporadic then I would like, but I will make it happen.

Night everyone.

Updates and Upcoming Seminar

It's been a while since my last post. I have been feeling a little under the weather lately and have been having some back problems, but overall, things are busy and there has been quite a bit going on. There are a lot of things coming up and some good posts that I should be finishing up and posting in the next two weeks or so. Here is a quick update:

1) Musashi, the Great Dane samurai dog has settled in as an honorary Uchideshi. He is adorable and learning fast. He starts obedience classes later this month and is sure to do well. He is only 11 weeks old and already weighs more than 20lbs. Now that he has acclimated and his appetite is back, that should be skyrocketing. Sensei Nick and I ran into some people on our walk last night, they have a 7 month old Great Dane puppy who already weighs 120lbs. I cannot believe in another 4 months my dog will more than quadruple his weight. @.@

2) Working on both Aikijutsu and Shotokan Karate. Both are loads of fun and I am learning a lot. I received my 8th Kyu in Aiki last week. I am now a white belt with TWO green stripes! Hizzah! :D I'm not sure how close I am to testing for my yellow belt in Karate yet, but Sensei Nick says its not too far off. I am working diligently on both Heian Nidan and Heian Shodan as well as the Bunkai for these kata. In addition Sensei Nick and I are working on all our rank material and thinking about how we would like to set up the school once things get going, I have more training, we get our own facility, etc etc etc. Lots to think about. We also have new rank certificates! Congrats to Jared for achieving Nikyu and Caryn for Kukyu. I am excited to stream-line the look of our material and the school's identity. Graphic Design is so much fun, especially when you get to work on something you are really passionate about.

3) Preparation for Iain Abernethy's seminar in Missouri this weekend. I am really looking forward to meeting Mr. Abernethy and learning all about Bunkai and different techniques from different kata. Should be awesome. Sensei Nick is probably 10x more excited then I am as he has already had a chance to work with Abernethy. Should be all around a great weekend. I will post a review of the seminar and some of my thoughts and things I learned when I return. Probably Monday evening.

4) Almost done with "How to Win a Fight" by Kane the Wilder. Sensei Nick is about half way through it. I should be posting a review of this book soon, and I will make sure he does the same.

5) Working with Sensei Nick on getting PowerLine Designs up and running. We will offer a wide variety of T-shirts and related items (cups, coasters, clocks, backpacks, buttons etc.) Stay tuned for more information on this. Many of them will be Asian or Martial Arts related. Chinese Zodiac Signs, Elemental Kanji, etc etc. In addition to humors T-shirts and the like. I think some of the designs are sure to be really neat and most are turning out really well so far. Also, if anyone is need of any Graphic Design work, or knows of someone who is. Keep me in mind and/or send me a message if you are interested and would like to take a look at my portfolio.

I think that about covers it. Been very busy and have lots going on, but all good things. Hope everyone is doing well. Best wishes to everyone!

Musashi Inu!

Since Sensei Nick has been back in the country we have been working on Aikijutsu and Shotokan Karate. It has been wonderful to have my Sensei here to answer all my martial arts questions. We have been working specifically on refining the techniques in and learning the applications (or Bunkai) of the Heian Nidan kata. We have been working loosly and across the board with Aikijutsu techniques and kata, as well as sword play, among other things. Life is awesome.

However, Sensei Nick will have to leave the country again in another few weeks. Since I am watching the house and helping with the school while Sensei Nick is out of the country, we decided it might be a good idea to have a dog around. Both for protection and companionship. 

Yesterday, we adopted a 9 and 1/2 week old Great Dane puppy. I named him Musashi. After Miyamoto Musashi. 

--> Wikipedia says this about Miyamoto Musashi:  a Japanese swordsman and rōnin. Musashi, as he was often simply known, became renowned through stories of his excellent swordsmanship in numerous duels, even from a very young age. He was the founder of the Hyōhō Niten Ichi-ryū or Niten-ryū style of swordsmanship and the author of The Book of Five Rings (五輪書 Go Rin No Sho^?), a book on strategy, tactics, and philosophy that is still studied today. Miyamoto Musashi is widely considered as a Kensei, and one of the greatest warriors of all time.

So that gives you some idea.

Anyway, the reason I wanted to post about getting a dog is because I am excited for the learning experience this is going to provide. The main reason I am here with Sensei Nick to learn Martial Arts, to learn Practical Self Defense (As I do not believe these two are always necessarily the same thing) and to learn to teach both of those things.

I am really looking forward to working with Musashi and teaching him. I also expect him to teach me as much as I teach him. I know there will be times when he really tests me, but I consider this a lesson/exercise in being patient, being calm, being assertive and in control at all times, and working with people (or in this case an animal) that has a very different learning style and/or needs than my own. I want to use Musashi to better help me observe and pick up on behavior patterns. Dogs cannot tell you what they need. (Sure they can whine and scratch at the door or their food bowl, but they are not capable of communicating to us if they are ill, hungry, thirsty, have to go out, etc. if we do not pay attention to them.) Sometimes, I think students have trouble with this as well. Whether because they are shy or simply don't have the right words or knowledge to articulate themselves, sometimes we (students) just don't know how to communicate what we want or need to our instructors. Sometimes we don't even know what we need. But by learning to watch and observe behavior, movement, etc. I think it will help get me in the habit of looking for those kinds of things by the time I am ready to start teaching.

In addition, dogs need structure and schedule. Musashi will have to be walked between an hour to an hour and a half EVERY DAY. This will be great exercise for me, and also give me time to think. I think it will help regulate my schedule a bit, and overall be good for my health. 

Now, please don't get me wrong. I am incredibly excited to have Musashi and I already love him very much. I am determined to take EXCEPTIONAL care of him. We did not get Musashi to be used as a tool or turned into a learning experiment. But I believe every situation in life presents an opportunity to be learned from and getting a puppy is no different.

We should always be seeking ways to deepen our understanding of the world around us and to grow and better ourselves as people. No matter what the situation or circumstance, we should always strive to treat each other with honesty, sincerity and kindness. This I believe with all my heart. 

Have a great week all. 

~ Samurai Girl Sahara

This is a picture of Musashi on the day we got him. He was 10 weeks old. D'awwww!

A picture Musashi as of April 2013. He is 21 months old. Just over a year and a half.

Kata Practice

Sensei Nick is out of the country currently. I am able to attend the biweekly Aikijutsu classes as he has a senior student to teach them. However, since he was mostly teaching kids (as I understand it) there is no one work on Shotokan Karate with while he is out of the country. Well, I take that back. Some of his friends are experienced Martial Artists and could work with me on this, we just haven't been able to set up a time to actually get together and work on anything yet. But there are no actual classes that anyone is teaching at the moment.

Alas. Much sadness abounds when your instructor is out of the country. 

However, Sensei Nick DID give me Heian Nidan to work on while he is away since kata is something I can practice on my own. We haven't gone over ALL the bunkai yet, but I do have the whole form down and I am supposed to be doing the form at least 10 times EVERY DAY.

I am ashamed to admit I have slacked off a little bit. Which is particularly sad as kata is something I desperately want to excel at. I've had a few projects I'm trying to finish up for cash and I'm still trying to nail down a job. But I am always thinking about it in my head, and I know I should be practicing more. 

I ready Felica's blog post today and she had a link to another post she had written about a specific kata practice technique. It's a good post, give it a read. Go on. You know you want to.

Honestly, its not that I wasn't motivated before, but it just helps renforce, I NEED to be practicing! Only through lots of practice and hard work can I become the martial artist I want to be.

To myself I say "Self! MAKE TIME! No excuses! Get up and practice your kata!"

To all you I say "All you! Go practice your forms!" or if Martial Arts isn't your thing practice whatever it is that YOU want to excel at. Only through devotion of time to your art (be it drawing, writing, singing, cooking, miniatures, whatever) can you obtain the level of competence and proficiency that you want to achieve. Even if its a few minutes a day, spend some time every day doing what you love. After a while, that cumulative time blossoms into real skill, understanding, and mastery. 

To Felica I say "Thank you!"

Have a good week all, practice practice practice! ^.~

~Samurai Girl Sahara

Follow up to my request

I think my last post stirred some things up in a way that I did not intend for it to do so.

In addition to this Josh made a very poignant comment on my blog. His comment reads

Josh K. said...

Ah, but did you tell them what you just told us?

There seemed to have been a failure to communicate information from you to them also. I know sometimes the mid-level instructors in a field can be touchy, but it something they need to learn; the ability to switch hats from instructor to student. 90%(made up stat. alert) of all learning failures is do to the instructor just assuming the student just didn't understand their brilliant teaching method.

:-)

Josh 

My response is this:

I feel like me saying "I need to do the technique to understand what you are trying to tell me" is essentially telling them I need to do the technique to learn it and understand what you are saying, similar to what I said in my blog post. I was getting incredibly frustrated and was probably not communicating very well towards the end, and I was also still upset when I wrote this blog, which also means I probably didn't convey this situation in as neutral of a light as I meant to.

I should have mentioned in the post that after I went back to working with my initial partner the assistant instructors broke us up and I worked with the second instructor who was very patient and was able to actually walk me through the technique and help me in a way that I needed. I did try to tell him as he was doing it that THAT was exactly what I needed. I need to do the technique to understand it. I didn't mean any disrespect or accusations by my previous post, I was merely trying to post it as an example of what can and does sometimes happen in any learning environment. I should have concluded the post by saying that there was a resolution to the issue and I was not merely left helpless to struggle through it on my own.

That being said, I do agree with Josh. It is as important for students to communicate to their instructors HOW they learn as it is for instructors to understand how to teach to that learning style. The road goes both ways and in retrospect I could have communicated better as well. 

(Way to Black Belt has an incredibly good chapter on this, and I believe Teaching the Martial Arts addresses this as well)

I would like to stress again that I was not trying to point fingers nor was I trying to imply that the assistant instructor(s) are bad instructors or that the were doing a bad job. We were simply having trouble communicating and I wanted to use the situation as an example in hopes that I might make other instructors or students aware that this can and does happen and that when it does, you need to find a way to communicate with each other about how to work through it.

I hope this clears things up a little bit.

A request to instructors everywhere

A teacher can either make or break a class, a subject, or a concept. I truly believe the reason I always hated math was because I struggled to pick up the concepts and I never had very good teachers who were willing to work with me on it.

If the teacher understands that they are talking about, that is really important, but I don't think that automatically makes them a good teacher. 

In my opinion a really good teacher is someone who is passionate about both learning and teaching. They are excited about what they are teaching, which is infectious and in turn makes the students excited and engaged. They are good at communicating. A really good teacher is someone who understands that you might need to explain the same concept different ways to different students because there are different learning styles. While one student may be able to hear an explanation, another student may need that explanation worded differently while another student may need a visual aid to understand the point a teacher is trying to make. A great teacher will be able to teach across all learning spectrums or be able to explain the same concept a number of different ways until something clicks with the student. And finally, a teacher needs to be knowledgeable on the subject they are teaching. 

If you end up with a teacher who is not excited, cannot communicate or does not know what they are talking about it can make learning an incredibly difficult and frustrating experience.

If you are in an instructor position, I would strongly encourage you to do research on learning types and related teaching methods. There is nothing more frustrating than being a student and asking for help and having your instructor be unable to communicate with you in a way that you understand. 

For example, this evening in Aikijutsu class we were practicing shomen uchi irimi nage and one of the assistant instructors made the comment that I was doing certain parts of the technique wrong. (Go figure, its the 20 year throw...) They then showed me how to correctly perform the technique on the other assistant instructor. While I do pick things up visually I am a much stronger at learning kinesthetically. (which is to say I have to do it to get it) I asked the instructors to walk me through the technique as I was doing it on them. Instead they proceeded to show me the technique on each other several more times and explain in great depth the concept and workings behind the technique. I understand how the technique works, but if I cannot feel where I am doing the technique wrong or right as I am actually performing the technique, all that knowledge is useless to me. I asked them again to please allow me to do the technique and walk me through it as I was doing it. The instructor who had initially made the comment I was having problems continued to say "No, watch, THIS is how it works," while still doing the technique on the other instructor. After a good 5 to 10 minutes of having both assistant instructors try to help me and another student chime in and I became so frustrated I gave up and just went back to trying to figure it out with my partner.

This is NOT ok! If you are a teacher or instructor in any field, I IMPLORE YOU, on my knees, to please research learning styles and teaching methods for the sake of your students. PLEASE. 

For Martial Arts instructors specifically, Sensei Nick has recommended Martial Arts Instruction. This is the next to read on my list. 

Next post I will post a bit about learning types and related material. Till then, keep it cool everyone.

~ Samurai Girl Sahara

Uchi-wha?

内 弟 子

内
Uchi - inside, within

弟 子
Deshi - pupil; disciple; adherent; follower; apprentice; teacher's student-helper

Uchideshi can more or less be translated to "live in student". Traditionally when students wanted to study Martial Arts, they would leave home and study at a dojo. They lived at the dojo and worked closely with their Sensei, working to build martial arts into all aspects of their lives. (There is a lot more to it than this, sometimes you had to get a letter of recommendation, and then the Sensei might make you do nothing but menial tasks like cleaning and cooking for more than a year to test your resolve. There is lots to it, but more or less, you studied, worked and lived at the dojo. Martial Arts was your everything.)

Since my post about find your passion and making a life of martial arts my goal, I have been doing quite a bit of research on the subject lately, especially into places that currently offer uchideshi programs. While my current plan/arrangement is move to OK to work for and train under Sensei Nick at Guinn Martial Arts, he has no existing uchideshi program, so we will more or less be making this up as we go along in hopes of being able to offer an uchideshi program to students in the future.

Here is some of the information I have found. (Keep in mind most of the these dojos are in the states, although some of them are owned/run by native Japanese practitioners, none of the dojos I looked into were schools in Asia. However, many of these uchideshi programs offered exchange or study abroad opportunities with schools in Japan.)

- Almost all of the uchideshi programs I looked into were for Aikido. There was one Karate school in Australia that has an Uchideshi program.

- Most Uchideshi programs allow students to live in the dojo, or very near by designated space. Rent is incredibly cheap, and sometimes includes food and amenities, such as laundry. Sometimes uchideshi are expected to share cooking expenses and responsibilities. Usually your privacy is limited, you have dorm style accommodations or a very small room with a common living area.

- Depending on the dojo, some uchideshi programs are very strict and rigorous. Some schools expect you to lead a monastic life style of meditation and practice. I found one program where you are only allowed to own clothes and martial arts equipment, and everything you own must be able to fit into a locker. Others give you time for a job and school.

- In general uchideshi are responsible for the upkeep of the dojo, assisting with administrative work, and once they are experienced enough assisting with teaching classes. Some dojos expect senior uchideshi to be responsible for new and younger uchideshi.

- Most schools have their uchideshi either attending class or practicing a very minimum of 14 to 18 hours a week. This is usually two to three classes a day and does not include special training time with the Sensei, cleaning, or administrative work. In addition students are encouraged to meditate, read and study martial arts related material, and bring the martial attitude into all aspects of their lives.


A lot of these aspects are keeping in line with tradition as I understand it. Obviously it doesn't work exactly the way it did in Japan back in the day, but the idea is generally the same.

One of the reasons I like the (traditional) Japanese culture so much is its so steeped in tradition. Everything has a purpose and a meaning and a specific way to be done. You dedicate yourself wholly to the perfection of your chosen art or path. You take pride in your work and constantly seek to make yourself and your work better.

Are there any people out there today who really understand what it means to devote your whole self to something? 




Do I?


I would say there are, but that those people are few and far between.

Maybe I'm just living in the wrong time period.

Either way it has been making me contemplate:
What does it really mean to be an uchideshi? What does it mean to live only for the study and perfection of martial arts? To put the needs of the sensei and the dojo before your own?

I feel like I experienced something similar to this when I attended art school. Since I went for a BFA instead of a BA I was in the classroom 30 to 40 hours a week instead of 15 like at a traditional college. You ate, slept and breathed art. Literally. I knew students that would get to school at 7:30 in the morning and wouldn't leave until the building closed at midnight. They had such passion and fire for what they were doing.

There were classes that made me feel that fire, but overall, just between you and me, if I had been an Illustration major, I would have had that fire for every class. Design is something I sincerely enjoy, but I prefer the more creative aspects of the job over the technical aspects. Could I devote my life to only art? I think so, if it were the right kind of art. Could I devote my entire life to martial arts? I know so. While I experienced maybe a taste of that kind of life at college, what does it mean to really, REALLY have that kind of passion, and to really live it?

My point is... actually... I'm not even sure what my point is or where I was going with this... Other than, I have been thinking a lot about what this life change is going to mean and how my perspective will change. This goes back to the bushido post I think. Deciding what values you want to live your life by and what kind of life you want your life to be.

Its a lot to think about. I know these things will change and grow over time as I change and grow. Sensei Nick and I have already started planning out a potential schedule and material to cover and such, which I may share if anyone is interested.

For now, suffice it to say I am excited, scared, nervous, and in general looking forward to starting this journey.  I will post more thoughts on what it means to be an uchideshi and related topics as they come.

If anyone is interested in any of the links or information regarding uchideshi programs, let me know and I will be happy to share what I have gathered.

Sorry for such an odd, stream of consciousness post, thanks for listening all, have a great week!