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Martial Arts and The Habit of Learning
June 3, 2006
“Quality is not an act.
It is a habit”
-Aristotle
Everything we accomplish or don’t accomplish is a result of
habit. Good or bad, you are going to have habits. The trick
is to have habits that serve you instead of you serving
them. In training it is always during the first few months
that you develop the habits that will follow you through
out your time in this art. Since we must have habits, let’s
work on developing habits that will benefit us in our
training and life.
Developing good learning habits can keep your mind eager
and hungry for knowledge. No matter how experienced or
skilled one is, there is still a lifetime of knowledge to
uncover. Once you stop learning you stop growing, and your
mind will slowly die. Our training incorporates the
physical and mental aspects needed for a long healthy life
of activity and learning. By developing good learning
habits early you will begin to see what the Zen are
speaking of when they say “beginners mind”. The mind starts
to change and one becomes a learned student, instead of the
learner. Ch’an or Zen philosophy has what is called a
beginner mind. This beginner mind is what they strive a
lifetime to achieve. It is in keeping the mindset of a
beginner that we can remain free of many negative pitfalls
in training. In order to make good habits we need to keep
the same mind for learning that we had when we first
started.
The beginner mind should be free of self doubt, and the
many worries that most adults have when they begin
something new. Keeping your mind free of these problems
will start you on the path of good learning habits, and
with time you will come to understand the beginner mind.
Regarding habits, I am not talking about whether your
“horse stance” is too wide, or if you cross your arms
completely while doing a rising block. What I am talking of
goes deeper than that. It is the reason that you don’t
cross your arms completely, and the reason that we continue
to do the same thing over and over regardless of whether it
is good or bad. I am talking about the habit of learning,
and the method in which we learn.
When you first began your training, you were given a white
uniform and told that you were a beginner. After a few
months you begin to gain confidence and knowledge as you
progress in the training programs. This is where the danger
lies.
In order to learn we must first do. In order to improve on
what we learn, we must first evaluate. Self evaluation is
an important element to learning that must be developed
into a usable skill. Look at what you are doing, see what
needs to be improved, and then improve it. How many times
do we learn something the very first time we try it? Most
of the time we do a movement many times wrong before
finally doing it right. There is a process of mental
feedback. This feedback is always working, and we need to
learn to listen and use it to our advantage. We must be
able to monitor this feedback.
Knowing the difference between constructive thought
patterns and those irritating negative thoughts is vital to
the development of healthy thinking habits. We start to
evaluate what is incorrect and then work on correcting it,
thus training the muscle memory. We must move slowly enough
that our old habits (existing muscle memory) do not
override our ability to sense the whole movement. Then we
ascertain if the movement is correct or not and what needs
to be fixed. This is actually a lot easier than it sounds.
Most people can see an incorrect motion from a correct one;
other people can feel the difference between a right one
and a wrong one. The trick is practicing enough to train
your learning habits. Then you will know when you are doing
the motion correctly and when you are not, and be able to
change what you are doing wrong. Another important thing to
remember is to always improve.
Always find something that you improved upon and something
that you can still improve upon. It is critical that the
last motion in a set be your best one, as that is what your
body will remember, so try and keep that in mind as you go
through your work out. The self evaluation phase of your
training needs to remain free of any negative emotions or
self defeating talk. Come to an understanding that each
movement can never be fully understood.
You will never grow bored and you will keep looking at a
motion and keep learning each time you train the motion.
Through this kind of training you will start to understand
yourself and begin to realize the potential of this art,
and who knows, you may even find some things that have not
been taught to you.
A mind free of false expectations, and ready for the
planting of knowledge. This mindset can follow you into
every aspect of your life. Imagine all the things that you
could enjoy and improve upon just by following this method
of living. Even daily chores can become a learning time if
we remember to stay in the moment and practice the habit of
self evaluation. You may find that you begin to improve
your all around-life and become aware of your reactions to
every day occurrences.
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