When I first joined the dojo one of the promised made to the teacher was that I would practice the martial arts every day in some capacity. The idea of continued refinement and polishing of the martial arts through your life.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the
world shut down, but the training had to continue. Training on my own,
continuing to work my way through the lessons and the densho.
But what about class?
There are many reasons why the martial
arts need to be experienced in person. Part of it is certainly being given new
material to work on, another part is being corrected and adjusted by the
teacher- pointing out where your movement is weak or wrong.
Another important point is to be able to
feel and experience the movement first hand- the idea of transmission.
But the training must always continue.
We started zoom classes as a way to
continue training together under impossible condition. As martial artists it is
important to respect tradition and be thoughtful of others as a warrior, so
meeting in person, keeping things safe was priority.
Those months where we could not meet in
person, meeting over zoom, allowed us to explore this technology and figure out
how to use it to be better martial artists.
So what did we learn from the
experience?
Zoom classes are best kept short so we
can stay focused on the training, being remote and not physically present, it
is easy to lose focus.
There are many, if not most things one
can’t do over zoom- partner interactions, kata, and most waza- martial arts techniques.
Some things, although few, one can do
over zoom/remote, and do them quite well. Martial arts postures and other solo
kata drill, like the san shin no kata in our own taijutsu training.
Practicing postures together and as we
cycle through them, offer points and reminders/adjustments for the postures.
What aspects of your own martial arts
training or tradition can work remotely?
Following this format, we found that a
thirty minute quick training class, a few times during the week, in ADDITION to
regular in person classes and training outside of class works very well- using
the technology to compliment and not replace in person instruction and
transmission.
See you on the (virtual mat).