Peter Ajemian of Soja Mind/Body:

A few days ago I had a conversation with my students in my White Crane martial arts group here at the Soja studio and I feel like sharing their questions and my responses with you so that I can assist more than just my group here.  The initial question was….Given the multitude of challenges of a traditional martial arts practice or refined movement system (like classical ballet, or even your golf game) how long does it take to get good, or feel like you’re progressing significantly?  My response is this: I believe that there is something of a false truth that adult students tell themselves about the need to train extensively for years on end in order to have the themselves feel as though they are ‘mastering’ a move or set of moves.

One obstacle to their feeling they had a good grasp of specific movements or techniques was frustration at not spending enough time at their practice because of the normal adult work and family responsibilities.

My response to that perceived obstacle is that that is a normal predicament and frustration that I hear a lot from my students. They felt like that if they don’t show up to class at least once a day, that they are doomed to mediocrity and/or a lack of understanding of the true essence of any particular technique. I disagree.

Here’s why: I believe that after people have achieved a reasonable foundation of proper body awareness and reasonable body core strength, that they are able to learn new techniques relatively quickly.   I believe strongly in the normal adult human’s capacity to learn continuously throughout their life. Mastering a technique should take a few months at most…and then you should move on to a different technique or a variation thereof. The concept that you need to practice a technique for years on end every day for hours on end in order to have the proper understanding is something of a fallacy in my mind. Surely, if you practice / work on your technique each day… your understanding will come sooner and it will be deeper. I practiced on and off for hours on end almost daily for 30+ years.  During that process I put a lot of activities on the side and managed to inflame my hip sockets so much that I needed to get hip replacements on both sides about 3 years ago. Do you need to spend that amount of time to really get the essence of the movement / technique?   Not really. In fact…for most people I think it would be a waste of time to continue focusing on the same technique within the same context, without focusing their efforts on new varieties of the same or other movements.

For adult new practitioners of any physical activity, be it martial arts, dance, a sport, circuit training, weight lifting, yoga, I believe you would find you were moving along fast enough if you managed to practice 2 – 3 times a week. Of course if you have nothing better to do…no job, no family responsibilities, you could spend a great deal of time practicing each day.   Ohh?  You do have a job?  And you do have a family or a long term committed partnership?   The other side of that question is that if you spend 6 hours training a day to become a master of some new move, what do you lose?  Your time and energy of course!  1) You could easily over train and hurt and exhaust yourself, mostly by not allowing your body to re-cooperate naturally through rest. 2) Now weigh your new found understanding of a particular physical technique with the missed opportunities to interact with your new born children, or your teenagers, or your partner…friends.  As I get older, I feel this second part of the question more and more.

So what do you need to be able to feel you are progressing with your movement practice whatever it is?  It helps a great deal if you have a perceptive, experienced teacher or coach to start out with. Even more important than that I argue it helps if you are very clear about what goals you set for yourself, especially the baby steps, each time you practice.   Mindfulness in setting reasonable, achievable goals for yourself is key here.   

A coach certainly speeds up the learning process.   A critically constructive peer group with a variety of skills and experience is also extremely helpful.   I strive to offer this supportive learning environment each day in my Soja studio…and I’m happy to say that for the most part I feel I achieve this at least to some degree.

I post this conversation in order to inspire YOU to move forward to achieve your short and long term goals, yes, to get you to your class/workout, whatever it is, and not create yet another obstacle to growing your human being.  I would love to hear your feedback and comments from our Soja members and the extended community, teachers and beginning students alike. Your thoughts?

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This article first appeared at the Soja Blog and is reproduced here with permission.

As a personal aside, Soja Mind/Body is local for me. In addition to a good compliment of ongoing hand-to-hand MA (plus yoga) classes for adults and kids, they also host a lot of high quality defensive seminars with people like Rory Miller, Terry Trahan, Violence Dynamics, and Scott Park Phillips—check their Adult Workshops schedule for details if you’re in the SF Bay Area. It’s also my go-to facility for less-lethal and classroom courses. Highly recommended. —Nick