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Unknown
In every dojo. Some students seem to improve faster than others. Let's take a look at this today. Sports psychology research shows that focused practice and attention matter more than talent. When learning complex skills. And I've noticed this in my teaching as well.
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Unknown
I can't tell you how many times
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someone has come in to try Aikido. They've been really talented.
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Unknown
And everybody notices.
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my students always say, oh my gosh. Yeah, well they're definitely going to join right. And I'm like I don't know. We'll see. I try to never make predictions anymore. Anyway, sometimes the really talented people join. Sometimes they don't. But when they join, it doesn't necessarily mean that they're going to be really good.
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Unknown
It might. It might not.
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Unknown
the people who end up getting really good are
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the ones who watch the instructor closely,
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and they quiet their minds.
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They notice the details.
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the
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quieter that the mind is, the more they can notice the details visually
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Unknown
and then also tactile.
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Unknown
And they can also study the movement patterns.
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So maybe they watch details such as the angle of the body or how low
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tori is,
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how much
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they're bending the knees or something. But also
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they can notice the movement patterns.
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Unknown
And if the mind is busy.
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Unknown
Then this really gets in the way of learning.
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Unknown
for example, we had a new guy at the dojo just last night
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who was such a nice guy, and he was nervous because it was his first night at the dojo. So he did what a lot of people do their first night, which is I show a technique at the beginning of class.
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Unknown
By the way, these days when I have a new person, I say, by the way, here's how I teach. I try to speak as little as possible so that you can get reps in. And so that we create an intense but meditative atmosphere.
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Unknown
We create this meditative atmosphere so that you can really focus and quiet the mind.
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Unknown
And that way you'll pick up more information. So this, first of all, does help them accept
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Unknown
this teaching style that's usually very foreign for most Westerners. And so he was okay with that. But then every time that somebody came to him and said “Onegaishimasu”, he would say, hi, oh, how are you? I don't know. I don't know anything.
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Unknown
I don't know how to do this. And of course, it's it's all good and it's very it's almost kind of endearing in a way. All new people feel really self-conscious, of course. And, But anyway. So I'll do my best as his instructor to see if I can, get him more and more comfortable so that he doesn't have to do that every time.
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Unknown
And it wasn't just
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Unknown
when he would pair up with a new person, was when he would pair up with anybody. And after every single throw. I don't know if that was the right one. Still, I see tonight. I don't know. I can't, you know. And so he did great for his first class, but hopefully we can break that, break him of that habit for his sake so that he can progress more again when the mind is quiet.
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Unknown
Then you can focus more and you can, you can get more information. You can see more details. And the first step to this, by the way. The first step to making the mind quiet is to make the mouth quiet. And as a teacher, I try to encourage people to do this. When I first came back after ten years in Japan, I was like, don't talk.
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Unknown
And and now I like to say, let's talk later. So, anyway, that seems to be working fairly well now.
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Unknown
An interesting story.
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One of the guys who always comes to my seminars, in Germany.
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Martin. He came to me and he said. He said you lived and trained in Japan. Now you're a teacher in Los Angeles. He said, what is the deal?
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Unknown
Why is it that Japanese people progress faster than Western people? That's his statement, not mine. His statement. And I said, well, wow. Interesting.
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I said, tell me more. And he said, well, I train five days a week and so-and-so, a Japanese person, trains three days a week and so-and-so trains three days a week, and so on.
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So I watch them. And kudos to him for saying this.
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Unknown
He's a black belt. He's been a black belt for a while. So it was really great.
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Unknown
it was not about grading. He didn't mention like, they got this done or this rank or anything. He said, I watch these, those two people and
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they got better than me.
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And I train more than them. What is it?
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and he's an athletic guy.
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And I said, wow, that's really interesting. He's really, really an analytical thinker.
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And I said, well, it's possible, I don't know, but it's possible that maybe those two people
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are analyzing
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each and every throw less than you, because I know that he does do that.
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He analyzes every single throw.
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And I said, I think there's something to be said. Now, you may agree or disagree with me, but I think there's something to be said for turning off the mind at certain points to certain degrees, and just moving and feeling.
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Unknown
I know that a lot of people don't like that idea. But anyway, I thought it was so interesting that he said Japanese people progress faster than Western people.
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Unknown
Why? I watch them and they're getting so good.
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Unknown
In my opinion and my experience in Japan.
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Silences are more accepted. At least they are more accepted in Japan than in the USA.
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I can't speak about Europe.
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But I think that it's similar.
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Unknown
But we Americans in general, there are exceptions in general. We Americans like to fill up those silences. And one of the things that I really liked about Japanese culture was that the the silences were accepted,
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Unknown
and they were so refreshing and so peaceful. So I think that helps in Aikido, when you can quiet the mouth but also quiet the mind and move.
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Unknown
You will notice more.
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Unknown
So getting back to.
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Why some students improve faster than others.
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Unknown
Getting away from the cultural topic that that I just wandered on to.
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Unknown
another quality that those people have is they try to stay loose. And this really doesn't have anything to do with stretching. Oh, I'm not very flexible, I hate yoga. No problem. But you can learn
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to
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connect with your partner
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without jolting them, so to speak.
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Unknown
One of my senpai. He's now passed away. Takahashi sensei, if you watched him during the warm ups, he was really pretty stiff. You know, I could touch my toes better than he could. And I'm not particularly flexible myself. But when you touched him,
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Unknown
It felt like you were training with a cat. So flexible.
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Unknown
And he just knew how to not collide with you.
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Unknown
So the people who get better fast, they find a way earlier than others to not have that jarring feeling when you connect with them and yet not get overpowered. So that's that's the balance to find. That's that's the real challenge.
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Unknown
the third and final point about those who improve faster than others. First of all, of course they they show up for training. Nobody ever gets really good without good attendance.
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I really do recommend minimum three times per week. That's where you will see, really nice. Pay off.
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But other than that,
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they stay curious.
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They ask thoughtful questions. They shut up after the question and listen to the answer. I can't tell you how many people ask me a question, and then they start to answer it before I have a chance to answer it. It's really interesting. It's so, And they stay open minded during practice. The the practice beginner's mind is what it's called.
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Unknown
Which means please, please never have this sentence in your mind. Please never say to yourself, oh, shionogi. Yeah, I know this one. Don't say I know this one. You never know this one, right? Because there's always. There's always better. You can always do it better. And if you tell yourself, oh, yeah, I know this one, you're not going to try to reinvent it.
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Unknown
And you know, you don't have to reinvent it like my teacher said to, to enter with my inside foot. I'm going to try entering with my outside foot. You don't have to reinvent in such a blatant way. But maybe just like tilting the hips a little bit differently or something is going to give you a whole new insight and people will go like, whoa, that was so much more powerful.
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Unknown
I was training with you last week and it didn't feel that way. You know? So never tell yourself, I know this one. You can tell yourself, oh, I like this one. Oh, we're doing this one tonight. Yeah, I love this one. But don't tell yourself I know this one. So keep, shocking beginner's mind
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Unknown
approach every class and every technique as if it's the first time that you're doing it.
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The first time that you've been introduced to it. Keep an open mind
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If your teacher starts doing variations, then be curious about them. Celebrate the the variations. Also, reflect on your training.
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What do you want to improve next in your own training?
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I have some students who are at a level where they're now leading class,
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and I'm guiding them on how they can become a teacher someday.
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Unknown
And I always ask them, okay, you know, how to how did class go? And they tell me and I said, what did this student do? What did. That's all good. Yeah. You could try more of this and you'll keep doing that. Instead of that, I would try this next time,
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Unknown
And then I also ask them, what are you working on
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while you were leading the class? What were you trying to improve about your Aikido?
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Reflect on your training.
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Unknown
And try things off the mat too. And your day to day life. You know, maybe I still. Or I still catch myself a little bit like this. Sometimes when I'm walking down the street and then I go, oh, yeah, I want to open my chest and have good, good posture. For a while there.
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Unknown
Every time something, every time I had to pick up something from the floor,
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Unknown
I would do the footwork like the shionogi throw a really deep shionogi throw. Do you know what I mean? Where you go into hanmi and you reach down while keeping your back straight and bending your front knee a lot. So I practiced that all the time when I would be picking something up for months and months, I was doing that.
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Unknown
So reflect on your training and that will really help you be one of those students who makes progress faster.
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Unknown
So in conclusion, improvement often comes more from curiosity and tenacity showing up all the time. Being the first on the mat, the last off the mat and
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Unknown
quieting the mind than it does from talent. So keep showing up.
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Unknown
Don't give up when plateaus come. Keep showing up. Looking forward to training with you someday. I hope. If you do want to train with me in person, I'll be teaching in Boston next week. Just for one night. That's July 1st and July 15th through 19th is our 30th anniversary summer camp and celebration in Los Angeles. It's the 30th anniversary of AKI USA, the organization that I made after coming back from Japan after ten years.
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Unknown
So please join us for that. I'll be the main instructor. There will be some other AKI USA instructors and some other AKI instructors. One of them, Numata Sensei from Japan.
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Unknown
You will not regret it. And in September, right around the corner. Now I'll be taking a group to Germany. You'll be doing a tour. Will be going to four different dojos in four different cities Heidelberg, Bonn, Dusseldorf, Sehnde and we'll be doing some training.
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Unknown
Of course, we'll be doing some seminars, but we'll also be having some off the mat. Master classes. So please join me for that.
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Unknown
There'll be a link in the description below that you can click on to get all the details and info about that tour. And then I'll be in Montana and Redlands in October. So please join me somewhere sometime. Looking forward to training together. Thanks so much. Bye bye.
