Mastering a martial art is a lifelong practice. And there is always something to learn or
discover. Sometimes they are profound ah-ha’s
and sometimes they are things that appear simple.
If you learn something new in a class and it appears simple
or straightforward, you may ask yourself why did I not know that already or why
am I now just learning this?
There are many reasons I can think of why this may be the
case.
1.
Maybe you were not
told before now because it was not that critical for you to know it previously.
2.
Maybe you were not
told before now because the information was not appropriate until you reached a
certain rank. Some things are adjusted
as you progress in the art form so some of the details can change. And there are some variations to the standard
techniques we teach as progress in the art form as well.
3.
Maybe you were not in
the classes when that topic / detail was discussed. I try my best to repeat things over several
classes but I cannot guarantee everything I have conveyed in class over the years
and ensure every student at one time had a chance to hear it. There are dozens and dozens of details for
each technique. All the physical details
of the stance and the technique itself, the muscles that are engaged, the specific
motion, the eye position and head position, how it should feel, what it can be
used for, the best targets, the benefits, the drawbacks just to name a
few. To gain understanding of all the
details for every technique takes time to learn and them really
understand. This does not happen all at
once and is not explained all at once.
4.
Maybe you were not
ready to hear the information yet. Maybe
you were told something but you were not at a place with all the other
information you were processing to put this information as a priority to
understand so you did not even remember hearing it.
·
The learning process
is such that it can take potentially seven (7) times to hear something before
it sinks in or is truly understood. I, personally,
have also heard from others that they have been told things by their
instructor(s) but it did not really register until later in time.
5.
It is new insights for
the Chief Instructor. As I continue to
discover things about the art form, applications etc., most of the time I share
it with Club Members shortly after I gain insights and as appropriate for a
student’s rank. So, it may be that you
are learning it for the first time after I gained some insight or clarity and
pass it along.
6.
And you should not
expect to be explicitly told every detail.
Let me state that again - you should not expect to be explicitly told
every detail. Especially, the higher in
rank you become, the more it is expected you do more self-discovery and / or
explicitly request information because it will not necessarily be just explicitly
told. Self-discovery is a necessary
aspect of mastering an art form. Recommend
you review or re-review the August
2024 Knowledge and Experience of the Art Form blog and the February
2026 Do You Know What You Should Be Working On? blog.
So, if you are “learning something for the first time” that
you may think you should have known already, instead of asking yourself, “why
did I not know that already?”, be curious and ask yourself, “why is now the
right time for me to know this information”.
Or be excited to try something new and ask yourself, “how can I put it
to use?”.
Regards,
Kelly
"The more
I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know." ~ Albert Einstein (1879
–1955), a German-born theoretical physicist best known for developing the
theory of relativity
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