"Ah HA!" Moments in Your MA Journey

[CredoTe]

I've been training with my Te (Ti) instructor privately for several months, now (he's been helping us for over a year). Each session reveals something new to me that improves my Karate. Tonight, however, his training produced an epiphany / "Ah HA!" moment, and reshaped my understanding of Karate. This has happened many times in the months I've trained privately with him.

These "Ah HA!" moments have surely altered the paths I follow on my MA journey, for the better. But, enough of me, what about you?

What have been some of your eureka / epiphany / "Ah HA!" moments that have changed or set you on a new path on your MA journey? Did they further / deepen your understanding and training in your chosen style / art? Did they cause you to leave a style / art for another?

[Hawkmoon]

wow!

Like you there are a few, I'd need to sit back and think about the most meaningful ones or one.

The newest to me was the other day, walking out onto the mat at a national knockdown tournament....that first exchange between me and my opponent.

I could 'see' sensei demonstrating block and counter combinations in my mind as I responded to the other fighter doing exactly what he had had us drill over over over again in the dojo!!

Edited December 5, 2013 by Hawkmoon

[Harkon72]

This happens to me every week. There's always something new that inspires me, a breakthrough, a moment of light coming on in my head. We had a classic one last week; my Sensei strapped my leg straight so I could perform a spinning kick correctly, I threw it a dozen times and then took the brace off my leg. Eureka! A good spinning heel kick at a decent height with less effort than before. Yes Aha moments are priceless.

[kensei]

Every once and a while my instructor stops by to watch class, he is 73 and his health is not the greatest. He will watch intently as I teach and at the end of class he will come up and make a single comment and leave. Most of the time its "good class" or "thats exactly right" and he up and leaves.

But every once and a while he will say something to a student or me and you just have that light bulb lighing "AH HA" moment that you were talking about.

The other day I was teaching adn he came up to a group of us and said to the students in general "a straight punch is just straightening the arm, dont make it so complicated". then he did this incredible Oi-Zuki that looked like it came from a man half his age...crazy snap and he just snapped out his arm. We all sat in shock, he turned bowed and put on his boots and left the club.

The words are simple but his action and his words just made that move seem so much more simple and easy and I saw the light bulbs go on for alot of students.

[Wastelander]

I have certainly had them, but I'm afraid I haven't kept note of when they happen, or what they are about--they all blur together like trees in a forest for me . I really do wish I could remember individual instances!

[sensei8]

Good topic CredoTe!!

[bushido_man96]

Its hard for me to pick them out now, but I've had a few over the years. Not many recently, though...

[Kusotare]

I've been training with my Te (Ti) instructor privately for several months, now (he's been helping us for over a year). Each session reveals something new to me that improves my Karate. Tonight, however, his training produced an epiphany / "Ah HA!" moment, and reshaped my understanding of Karate. This has happened many times in the months I've trained privately with him.

These "Ah HA!" moments have surely altered the paths I follow on my MA journey, for the better. But, enough of me, what about you?

What have been some of your eureka / epiphany / "Ah HA!" moments that have changed or set you on a new path on your MA journey? Did they further / deepen your understanding and training in your chosen style / art? Did they cause you to leave a style / art for another?

There's a reason why dojo masters of old used to advocate training in other styles / schools.

We all pretty much learn by rote (even if we think we don't) and sometimes it takes a look from a different perspective to make that penny drop.

K.

[lowereastside]

I've gotten a lot of Ah Ha moments -for me these days its more like evolving and refining - I have not reached my peak yet and I'm almost 60. Nice topic CredoTe.

[Lupin1]

The biggest one I can think of was about a year ago right before I got my brown belt. Before that I was like many kyu ranked students and my whole thought process was about getting to the next belt. I wanted that yellow. I wanted that blue. I wanted that green. I wanted that brown. I think we all recognize that it's not an ideal way of thinking, but it is natural and can even be helpful in the beginning when looking at the entire vastness of the art would just be completely overwhelming.

And then one day I was doing a reflection (I kept a written reflection journal for awhile-- maybe it's something I should try again) and out of nowhere it was like I could feel the art just opening up to me and suddenly I could see and feel that vastness. Like I said-- it was right before brown, so at the time I was solely focused on getting that brown-- but in a single instant my focus just completely shifted.

In my reflection journal I likened it to climbing a ladder to the top of a mesa (I think I even drew a picture to illustrate it). At first your only focus can be getting to the next rung of the ladder because those rungs are all you can see against the solid rock wall. But at some point you get just high enough that suddenly you can see over the top and are confronted with the vastness of the mesa and all there is to explore up there. Suddenly it's not so much about the narrow path of the ladder as it is about taking time to wander and explore and learn. It may not be as obvious that you're climbing once you reach that point, but you're still sloping upwards. You're just moving along a broader, less well-defined path.

My "Ah HA! moment" was hitting that point where the top of the mesa was visible to me. Suddenly I wanted that brown belt not because I wanted another step in the ladder, but because I could see that the ladder was ending. I saw brown belt almost as its own wide little ledge just before the final ledge stepping up to dan studies. I became excited to get off the ladder and spend some quality time just exploring without worrying so much about advancing.

And, a year later, I thankfully haven't fallen out of that mindset. I'm still happy to be a brown belt. I'm happy for the nice wide ledge I have to stretch my legs here before having to worry about moving up again and for the width vs. height mindset I'm finding myself developing (aka-- trying to work on developing things all throughout my repertoire as opposed to just looking for the minimum height of knowledge I need to get me to the next level). It's a comfortable place to be.

I think in metaphors.

Edited November 26, 2013 by Lupin1