Learning how to learn

[Tanq]

Just a little bit of musing on something that's so fundamental to making progress in any kind of skill, but often gets taken for granted.

Last night a new guy came to check out our HEMA group. He was especially interested in learning longsword, so when we were doing armed/unarmed grappling, arming sword/dagger drills, etc., he didn't participate much even when we tried to include him (the theme of the night was common concepts of grappling in indes). When we were going through different techniques and drills, the new guy didn't bother actively watching, didn't really listen, and didn't try to slow down his movements to get even basic body mechanics right. He basically demanded (he didn't quite ask) that the instructor review a longsword technique with him while the instructor was working with me on some unarmed grappling, towards the end of class. Then he wandered off to look at swords on the far wall while we were in the middle of working on the technique, which was mainly for his benefit.

Seeing this particular "case study" really made me reflect on and appreciate the importance of, well, learning how to learn.

I wasn't really taught how to learn martial arts until after becoming a student at my Japanese weapons dojo. Up to that point, at other martial arts schools I had visited, it was more like, somebody showed me some gross body mechanics, and I copied it; then somebody stopped me mid-movement and made some very fine adjustment without explaining why the new position was better than the previous; and rinse, repeat until I passed a belt test.

The first night at my dojo, after my muddling through the basic techniques and a simple kata for jo and sword, everybody (the teacher included) took turns demonstrating at the front of the class and got critiqued by everybody else, no matter the level of experience. The critiques had to include at least one good thing someone demonstrated and one thing that could be improved upon. The question my teacher asked was very simple: "What do you see?" The idea was to force those watching to develop good power of observation (we call it ganriki). It was also a gauge for my teacher to see our levels of understanding, as well.

So eventually I was inculcated into a learning process in which we had to see beyond the gross body movements and steal what made the techniques work. With further improvement in skill, the refinement of technique became more and more subtle, yet the results were drastically different in efficacy. With each level of advancement, it became harder to see those differences. Instead of asking questions all the time, we trained hard and worked smart, trying to figure out together what we saw the teacher and more senior students were capable of pulling off with ease. Perseverance, perseverance.

Of course after trying really hard and we got stuck, we'd ask questions, but the answer would often be to train more, watch and analyze more, until we got it. We'd get hints once in a while to nudge us in the right direction though. When we were at an adequate level to really understand a certain concept, my teacher would explain in full - he said that unless certain gaps in knowledge are filled, the answer to some questions wouldn't be helpful, and a misunderstood answer with faulty foundations could be detrimental to making progress.

But when we deciphered the answer, and it carried over to more effective techniques, that discovery was exciting and exhilarating. This is one of the things that I really enjoy about the training process itself - figuring things out for yourself in a way that unifies your mind, body, and spirit. It's a happy medium, I think, between being too cerebral in trying to learn a body movement and just repeatedly doing the same thing until you think you get it right.

Sorry if some of this comes off as incoherent rambling, pretty fatigued. But anyway, that's been my experience...what about you guys?

[Nhylus]

Point! I enjoyed reading this. It is something we all usually overlook. Learning how to absorb the information we need. Often we hurry or rush into things or we only seek one goal, without realizing the importance of other building blocks. I have been a vocal student for years and wanted nothing more than to have a smooth R&B style. I overlooked things I needed to pay attention to. I tried rushing into things I wasn't ready for. Many things that seemed useless or silly to me at the time. I think an important note is that learning is not always going to be fun, but we need to put 100% of our focus into everything we are being taught. We cant give 100% to the things we like and 40% to the things we don't.

[Oramac]

Point! I enjoyed reading this. It is something we all usually overlook. Learning how to absorb the information we need. Often we hurry or rush into things or we only seek one goal, without realizing the importance of other building blocks. I have been a vocal student for years and wanted nothing more than to have a smooth R&B style. I overlooked things I needed to pay attention to. I tried rushing into things I wasn't ready for. Many things that seemed useless or silly to me at the time. I think an important note is that learning is not always going to be fun, but we need to put 100% of our focus into everything we are being taught. We cant give 100% to the things we like and 40% to the things we don't.

I was gonna type up a reply, but it would have plagiarized this one.  lol.  I agree 100%.  Point for both of you. 

[Darth_Arkanus]

My experience? Hmmmm, limited.

I have spent a large portion of my life learning; be it guitar, voice, martial arts, computers, tarot cards, whatever. For the most part the instruction I have received has been precisely what you described before, "show, copy, rinse, repeat".

At times I've been "left alone to figure it out", but frankly that has seemed more like laziness on the part of my teacher, rather than some grand esoteric design to make me learn by understanding better for myself.

Tae Kwon Do was a bit of a case in point really. We were "taught" the forms, in a very loose and frankly, slipshod manner. If you were quick, and I think I can say I was, you would go away find other sources of information for the next form, or the next few forms, learn to repeat the movements yourself, then come back and show the teacher, who.....seeing that you could perform the moves, didn't REALLY go into any depth of what they were about, or why you were doing them. To be fair, any gross errors were corrected; stances, blocks, strikes, kicks etc, but generally the quick and observant were an easy ride for the instructors, and WE often ended up helping those less quick than ourselves to keep moving along.

I don't think I ever really consciously "learned how to learn" and as a consequence I have a LOT of bad habits and attitudes that are really unhelpful to me in what I'm trying to learn now; lightsaber.

I often wish I could have my time over again, and do it RIGHT.

[Sin Obsidian]

I certainly agree with you, Tanq. It's one thing to learn via mimicry. Yes you will get the physical moves down, and with enough practice you can appear to be very proficient. It's an entirely different experience to actually be taught, to be shown the posture, and THEN be made to understand the philosophy and mental aspects behind it. When this is done, and you are given a direction to follow but forced to gain the knowledge on your own, but with guidance, it is a truly uplifting experience.

Touching back to the experience you described with the new guy at your HEMA group, this brings everything back to something that I see come up on the forum quite a bit, something that I have had to go over with other students, friends, family, and pupils which is "you have to pick up the basics FIRST". I think that it's a very sad sign of the times that some people have become so used to (and some to a degree completely enamored with) instant gratification. "what do you mean I have to work at it?" "Why can't I just pick it up and start doing crazy epic level everything?" Because you haven't learned how to do the things that lead up to that. You just started to learn an instrument last week and you want to be a world class musician? Practice your scales. Don't try out for an orchestra, because you can read the notes in a symphony. You want to learn a martial art? Learn the philosophy of the art first. Know why you want to learn it, and why it is used before you learn it.

That's my view point anyways.

Oh, and the first step in correcting a problem habit is identifying and admitting it's there, Arkanus.

[Darth Nonymous]

This reminds me of my teacher Gabriel. I often say that he did not teach me Taiji and Gongfu, but he taught me ho to learn. "Get so good at it, even when they lie to you you can figure it out." as he would say.

We would also talk privately about two concepts: WuLin and JiangHu.

WuLin is the "martial forrest" and is comprises of all the practitioners of martial arts. The forrest is dark and it is easy to loose your way.

 JiangHu means "rivers and lakes". When you are lost in the forrest, you find water. JaingHu is made up of people who know The Way of GongFu (cultivation of skill) and they feed and form the life force of WuLin.

It is no mistake that we would ally JiangHu with the learning process. Water has no shape of it's one, it flows to the contours of the landscape. It does not judge nor oppose directly, but flows around resistance and can take the shape of any vessel. But it behaves by it's own rules, a resistance with non resistance if you will.

We would also remark that it is like buying  a yacht: If you have to ask how much, you can't afford it.

It is not a path for everyone. Most people just like to fool around with stuff. But there are those of us who want to look deeper into what make things tick. There are universal principles governing this stuff, focus on these and ignore the superficial sidetracks that we are enticed to.

There is also the lesson of the empty cup. One must not be afraid to empty it's contents in preparation for a new flavor.

Very nice.

[Mors dilectio]

Learning to learn... an interesting concept.

When I was starting high school the first self defence lession I got was from my Dad who taught me how to take someone down as simply as possible. Crude methods but they would get me out of trouble.

Forward a couple of years when I get involved in a bit of Karate I learnt from people saying "If they attack high, block high, attack low, block low." (kinda like the basics of Shii-Cho).

When I got involved in Tae Kwon Do I learnt through pain, avoid pain and you have done it right, get it wrong and you get hurt. With the patience of the black belts I sparred with and learnt from I got rather good for my level. A variety of teachers helped me but so did my respect for the teachers and the time and effort they put into getting to their black belt. There was little philosophical content but with patience and research I found the philosophies of Tae Kwon Do, Justice and Honour.

So for me respect and pain were excellent ways to be taught but some people don't like that =)