Starting over in same style

[wagnerk]

...Essentially I was doing mostly kata without any explanations of technique meanings or the body mechanics involved. All the elements required to really know what I was doing.

Also a nearly nonexistent and very foggy idea of some kata applications....

You have started to learn that the more you know and learn, the more you find out how much you don't know

[Spartacus Maximus]

Sometimes I wish I had no prior training at all. I suspect those people are better off since they don't have all the bad habits to unlearn and therefore less confused by previous or excess baggage in their minds. Having been in karate since my early teens I am now remembering what it is like to be a complete novice.

With all the parts and information I am missing I actually became one. Progress seems so slow that if my sensei didn't tell me I can't tell if I'm getting anywhere.

I see many on here have two or more grades in different styles. If you were in my situation would you mention a previous grade if you started teaching. For example:

Shorin ryu (association X) 3rd Dan

Shorin ryu (association Y) whatever grade

If I teach I don't think it would be right to mention a different grade than what my sensei awards me even if the style is the same. I would rather not count it since I restarted anyway.

[wagnerk]

Depends if you teach within the association that you are currently studying with or not and also on what your focus will be.

TBH, I see nothing wrong if you leave your current association (join another one) and start teaching at your previous rank if your focus will be competition based.

If you stay with your current association and decide to teach for them, then use the rank that they awarded, as that is the one that they recognised and stick with their focus - which sounds more self-defence rather than competition.

There this is nothing wrong with either path (so please don't take it that I'm swaying you either way).

Edit:

I have seen people who do not display their rank and I have seen people who mention their different ranks, but they put the association first then the style, so something like this (this is just an example):

Black Tiger jujitsu 3rd Dan

White Crane Jujitsu 1st Dan

American Champion Jujitsu 2nd Dan

-Ken

[bushido_man96]

I had a bit of a different experience. I was in one style of TKD, and started over in another. I was learning new forms and one-steps, but the techniques were by and large the same, with a few chambering differences. I enjoyed my time going back through the ranks, and feel that it helped me a lot.

[Spartacus Maximus]

The best part of starting over was to take a closer look at everything I thought I had learned and understanding why I was doing it wrong and how to do it right. That way of looking at a technique that I am now being taught will help me refine my skills and help me when I become the one who has to explain them.

The more difficult and discouraging part is realizing that I may have gone through the ranks too quickly before. It's hard to think like a complete novice when you are already familiar with all the kata in the system. Even if you want to with all your heart and mind you are still stuck with a past baggage of flawed techniques and bad habits that you do unconsciously.

[bushido_man96]

Is it flawed, or just different?

And it doesn't have to be baggage. Its experience, and it should count for something. I would also deter you from trying to "think like a novice." Don't discount what you've learned, and assume it has no place with what you are doing now. Just go to class, learn, practice, and let it come to you.

[Spartacus Maximus]

If your are in my situation where you have been taught before but with important explanations missing, then there will be flaws. I am speaking from that point of view. It is only after starting over in my style with a teacher who could tell me what I was missing that I realized I had been taught techniques without learning how they would or would not work and why.

If you come from a completely different system then it is probably much easier to start something new. Thinking with a novice attitude frees the mind to focus on what is being taught without distraction and avoids confusion. The first step for me was to realize I was doing things with subtle parts missing.