The part about 'Mirror Neurons' and how they help us learn was particularly interesting.
http://www.npr.org/2011/02/14/133026897/v-s-ramachandrans-tales-of-the-tell-tale-brain
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Training in a Small Space
Anyone who visited Sonny's home or has seen the training session videos will know that he held class in his living room. The room was of average size, possibly 15 ft by 15ft ish. There were couches along 2 walls, a big TV console with video recorders etc in one corner, a work table in another corner and a small chest along the other wall. The final wall was taken up by a set of french windows.
The walls themselves were hung with weapons sitting precariously on small nails in the sheet rock, and in the back corner sat a fan on the floor ostensibly for ventilation - Sonny chain-smoked Winston cigarettes - but whose main job it seemed was to give Sonny a big laugh when he backed people up into it and tripped them over.
Anyway, I thought back on this as I read this post on Mick Coup's forum regarding the 'Nature vs Nurture' debate.
The guy posting talks about a book called "Bounce' about a table tennis champion -
Quote:
" .... It relates to the greatest British table tennis champion, Desmond Douglas who was known for his lightening reflexes. He would stand leaning across the table while other players had to stand back to give themselves time and space to return the ball. When a group of sports scientists researched the British table tennis squad they found that he actually had the slowest reflexes on the team, even slower then the cadets and the team manager! It turned out he had developed his ability because the club he had practised in most his life was so cramped everyone who played there was forced to stand so close to the table! While his friends had dabbled in the sport he spent all his time at the club learning to play without time and space."
Also -
"How the game Futsul made brazillian football world class by forcing them to learn to play without space and time and at greater intensity ..."
This makes complete sense to me.
Back when I taught class at a Dojo. I found myself sectioning off a corner to play in, as a full room did not work as well. Now we play on a patio with about the same dimensions as the living room. The corners are the only places you are out of range - Just as it should be.
The walls themselves were hung with weapons sitting precariously on small nails in the sheet rock, and in the back corner sat a fan on the floor ostensibly for ventilation - Sonny chain-smoked Winston cigarettes - but whose main job it seemed was to give Sonny a big laugh when he backed people up into it and tripped them over.
Anyway, I thought back on this as I read this post on Mick Coup's forum regarding the 'Nature vs Nurture' debate.
The guy posting talks about a book called "Bounce' about a table tennis champion -
Quote:
" .... It relates to the greatest British table tennis champion, Desmond Douglas who was known for his lightening reflexes. He would stand leaning across the table while other players had to stand back to give themselves time and space to return the ball. When a group of sports scientists researched the British table tennis squad they found that he actually had the slowest reflexes on the team, even slower then the cadets and the team manager! It turned out he had developed his ability because the club he had practised in most his life was so cramped everyone who played there was forced to stand so close to the table! While his friends had dabbled in the sport he spent all his time at the club learning to play without time and space."
Also -
"How the game Futsul made brazillian football world class by forcing them to learn to play without space and time and at greater intensity ..."
This makes complete sense to me.
Back when I taught class at a Dojo. I found myself sectioning off a corner to play in, as a full room did not work as well. Now we play on a patio with about the same dimensions as the living room. The corners are the only places you are out of range - Just as it should be.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Another Perspective
Jeff Finder aka Stickman sent me this. I thought it was interesting as there are certainly many similarities with Flow Training in VCKE.
The only point I am not totally convinced by is #7 - One of the more powerful aspects of learning this way, at least in my experience, was a feeling of lack of control. Events were happening at such a pace that there seemed there was no time for conscious thought. Sonny's skill was to keep the student right at the edge of their control, to work outside the intellectual mind at a deeper level, to teach the body first, and the mind later.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the former head of
psychology at the University of Chicago.
" According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow is completely
focused motivation. It's a single-minded immersion
and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing
emotions in the service of performing and learning.
Csikszentmihalyi identified these 9 factors
that accompany the "Flow" experience:
1- Clear goals (expectations and rules are
discernible and goals are attainable and align
appropriately with one's skill set and abilities).
Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should
both be high.
* SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) - JF
2- Concentrating: a high degree of concentration
on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in
the activity will have the opportunity to focus and
to delve deeply into it).
3- A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness,
the merging of action and awareness.
4- Distorted sense of time; one's subjective
experience of time is altered.
5- Direct and immediate feedback (successes and
failures in the course of the activity are apparent,
so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
6- Balance between ability level and challenge
(the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
7- A sense of personal control over the situation
or activity.
8- The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there
is an effortlessness of action.
9- People become absorbed in their activity, and
focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity
itself, action awareness merging."
The only point I am not totally convinced by is #7 - One of the more powerful aspects of learning this way, at least in my experience, was a feeling of lack of control. Events were happening at such a pace that there seemed there was no time for conscious thought. Sonny's skill was to keep the student right at the edge of their control, to work outside the intellectual mind at a deeper level, to teach the body first, and the mind later.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the former head of
psychology at the University of Chicago.
" According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow is completely
focused motivation. It's a single-minded immersion
and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing
emotions in the service of performing and learning.
Csikszentmihalyi identified these 9 factors
that accompany the "Flow" experience:
1- Clear goals (expectations and rules are
discernible and goals are attainable and align
appropriately with one's skill set and abilities).
Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should
both be high.
* SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) - JF
2- Concentrating: a high degree of concentration
on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in
the activity will have the opportunity to focus and
to delve deeply into it).
3- A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness,
the merging of action and awareness.
4- Distorted sense of time; one's subjective
experience of time is altered.
5- Direct and immediate feedback (successes and
failures in the course of the activity are apparent,
so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
6- Balance between ability level and challenge
(the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
7- A sense of personal control over the situation
or activity.
8- The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there
is an effortlessness of action.
9- People become absorbed in their activity, and
focus of awareness is narrowed down to the activity
itself, action awareness merging."
Monday, February 7, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Random Flow and Martial "Art"
Here's a quote from Rory Miller's blog:
"Martial Art
There's a question that comes up frequently on MA sites- why martial art? Why not martial science or martial endeavor? Where did this art thing come into it and why?
Honestly, it's not worth the time to read crap like that. It's like the people who are arguing about whether jutsu or jitsu is right... there's no letter 'u' or letter 'i' in Japanese writing so it just doesn't matter. Does red taste like chocolate?
However, I did have a thought the other day. It ties in with things already mentioned here about the messiness of combat, the unpredictability, the fact that there really aren't right answers, just stuff that worked that one time.
Maybe that's why it's called an art and not science, because in art it's accepted that there are no absolutes, no right answers."
The whole post is here: http://chirontraining.blogspot.com/2006/01/martial-art.html
By the time I started training with Sonny, pretty much his whole training method revolved around Random Flow, he felt it was the most efficient way to gain meaningful skill. He believed that adding in the unpredictability from the get go, with limited parameters that slowly disappeared as skills improved, was the best way to get comfortable in a chaotic environment. A way to make our senses understand the physical information needed to move with an adversary. A 'holistic' way to "see' and not worry about individual solutions to the infinite variables that exist. A way to gain an intrinsic understanding of physics and possibility, and the patterns inherent in human behavior.
I'm going to post some flow from other arts that are I think are cool - no pre-set patterns. All random flow.
"Martial Art
Honestly, it's not worth the time to read crap like that. It's like the people who are arguing about whether jutsu or jitsu is right... there's no letter 'u' or letter 'i' in Japanese writing so it just doesn't matter. Does red taste like chocolate?
However, I did have a thought the other day. It ties in with things already mentioned here about the messiness of combat, the unpredictability, the fact that there really aren't right answers, just stuff that worked that one time.
Maybe that's why it's called an art and not science, because in art it's accepted that there are no absolutes, no right answers."
The whole post is here: http://chirontraining.blogspot.com/2006/01/martial-art.html
By the time I started training with Sonny, pretty much his whole training method revolved around Random Flow, he felt it was the most efficient way to gain meaningful skill. He believed that adding in the unpredictability from the get go, with limited parameters that slowly disappeared as skills improved, was the best way to get comfortable in a chaotic environment. A way to make our senses understand the physical information needed to move with an adversary. A 'holistic' way to "see' and not worry about individual solutions to the infinite variables that exist. A way to gain an intrinsic understanding of physics and possibility, and the patterns inherent in human behavior.
I'm going to post some flow from other arts that are I think are cool - no pre-set patterns. All random flow.
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