Theme of the Week: Communication

Quality communication means conveying an idea efficiently.  Can you teach your fellow students a technique in under 2 minutes?  Can you teach part of a form without talking?  Can you make someone realize they need to keep their hands up by punching them in the head?

Words are wonderful things but they are not our only means of transmitting information to our fellow human beings.  Can you make someone understand that you want nothing to do with them with a two second glare?  Can you tell when someone wants your help but is too afraid to ask?  Can you spot when your partner is overwhelmed with the drill your working on?

One of my favorite means of communication in the martial arts is forms.  Why do we practice forms?  What do they tell us about the person who made them?  What does each form say about our system that we have it as part of our curriculum?  What is each teacher’s individual take on a particular form?  What is each student’s individual take on a particular form?

Lots of questions.  Hopefully they provide a good starting point to this weeks theme.