Stepping Stones

When we first start studying an art of most any kind, our instructor bequeaths upon us various exercises.  Coming up in RyuTe® Ren Mei, its predecessor1, as well as the other arts, my instructors had given me countless exercises (verbal and physical) and kata.  Most of the time these were taught, particularly by Taika, to illustrate a point.  Once that point was grasped, we moved on.  Well actually, with Taika, even if it wasn't quite grasped you moved on.   Later on some of these exercises would be revisited by Taika, often piling pieces from other exercises.  He added the groin cover later to what we called exercise one, and then years later changing the stances, and then years later adding the kake covers to all the blocks2, and then 'backfist/kake' from the 'technical application' of Naihanchi Shodan.   How is that for a run on sentence? All of these early exercises were our Stepping Stones.  Though we don't always have to return by the same path from which we came, I believe it helps give us a better understanding to revisit where we started.  A visit, but not so much a dwelling3.  A lot of people initially abandon these early exercises in their training regimen.  They believe they outgrow them.  With Taika's help, we continually expanded our minds and our skills.  Now, as I go through every exercise I can remember, I continually ask myself - What Would Taika Add.  There's some new bracelet endeavor for you budding entrepreneurs...   I have begun reviewing old seminar footage for those lost treasures, exercises I've lost. Yet another great perspective tool in our learning is in teaching.  Regrettably, not all yudansha in the organization branch out and open a dojo or even co-teach at a school.  Many just don't have the opportunity with real life in the way or their location.  Teaching, however, opens your eyes to things you missed.  I started teaching the kids class at Northland Ryukyu Kempo Budokai I believe around 1990 (Tony can and will most assuredly correct me as he probably remembers better when he fled to an out of town job leaving me with the class of 16!)  That accelerated my understanding of things because I was not only forced to repeatedly puke out my own performance of said exercises, I was forced to explain and teach.  Taika would always say, he could tell who's students belong to each instructor by the ripples or reflections of their mistakes.  I think our mistakes are usually amplified in our students.  So as an instructor, you start seeing things that you....yes you....are doing wrong.  OK, let's be positive.  What you can do better.  As you start teaching these old exercises, gradually added steps as their ability grows, you realize there is a lot of learning left in their study.  Even by you.

Assorted footnotes to make you begrudgingly scroll to the end of the page and then back up and then back down and then back up to exert my evil Sith plan of control upon you. 1. When I started it was called Ryukyu Kempo. 2. Those that know me well, and my evil counterpart Tony, know that the word block is not used in our dojo without most likely spitting to the side afterwards.  Our philosophy is that by teaching things as blocks the students put less importance on it (for subliminal reasons unknown) than if the exact same motion is called a strike.  So we call a low block a low forearm strike, an upper block an upper forearm strike, et cetra.  Taika himself called these low, middle, high. 3. Dwelling.  Well, I think some people take the exercises and even kata a little too literal at times.  Most often the purpose of them wasn't necessarily a specific fighting moment of your life but to teach you a principle.  Take 'Spider Web' for instance.  People too often take each little portion as a literal 'real fight'.  If he punches me with his right hand I do this...  My take on that exercise is he was teaching us to a) be fluid, as well as b) move freely from the inside to the outside or vice-versa.  He would openly make comments that these were not techniques, they were 'ideas'.  Principles. Or maybe I just thought that not ALL readers (all 3 of you probably) needed the finite explanations.