In keeping with the topic of this forum, I want to say that actually, in all honesty, INTJs "may" just be the type I enjoy being around and talking to the most. I am always curious to compare the way we think.
My kung fu teacher was working with me on using a chain whip one day; my ISTP training partner and I kept having trouble with a particular turn. So, I started verbally breaking down his every move and bouncing it off my partner who, in turn, would do what I said. When all of a sudden our teacher looked at me with and said, "I know how you think now. You have an analytical mind." He seemed quite amused by that revelation.
[MENTION=20856]grey_beard[/MENTION]
below is my underwhelming response. (Thank you, btw, even if my response is amateurish enough to *seem* insulting at first glance.)
You are welcome and it does not seem amateurish to me
there is a kind of mental and physical *fluidity* I see in the martial arts, where the same actions or forms can be utilized and combined and recombined in all kinds of ways, but still retain their identity.
Kind of like how 26 letters can make all the words, or like one can build simple UNIX commands into complex and elegant scripts.
Absolutely. My teacher [the INTJ] says that every technique is like a tool. He shows me how to operate each tool. The way I decide to put them together is up to me. Each tool can have a hundred or sometimes more applications. It's really a mix and match thing. Martial arts has to become a part of a person to be effective. It becomes a part of you just like learning to drive a car. You get into your car and you don't consciously think about the process of backing out of the drive or shifting gears. It becomes automatic, but when you first learned, you had to put concentrated effort into the tiniest maneuvers. The fluidity in martial arts comes from practicing over and over for the span of a lifetime. I will do martial arts for as long as I live. I will never cease to be a martial artist anymore than I will cease to be an artist. It becomes a thing we are and not a thing we do over the course of time.
Wow. *chills* down my spine -- you're a gifted teacher, as I can visualize, and all but *feel* this as I read the words: and I am not usually visually inclined in my imagination...only sometimes in my memory.
Thank you!!!
I am glad it made sense!
I think that this has always been my stumbling block -- I know that precision is important instead of sloppiness, in weightlifting as in (hat tip to [MENTION=9310]uumlau[/MENTION]) dancing as in martial arts, and I think I get too...pedantic, overly precise, overly literal and controlled, in my movements.
The wonderful thing is that it doesn't matter at first. It's like a baby learning to walk. Even Ni-doms can learn to do it
I think this is an Ni-dom stumbling block, but it CAN be overcome. Both my teacher and I are proof of that. He is the fastest man I've ever seen! I tease him and call him Master Yoda, because he walks with a cane. He was injured in an automobile accident that nearly killed him, yet when he fights, he's all over the place, so that's why I call him Yoda. However, he is pretty wise, except for calling me Twinkie and I think that's just plain orneriness.
This has the effect of making me self-conscious and hesitant instead of fluidly moving with power.
Absolutely, but that's where a good teacher comes in, reassuring the student that every person learns in his/ her own way at their own pace.
The muscle memory I get, I have it in bicycling and (oddly enough) some typing and computer commands, built into my fingers without thinking: in fact, I find that when I *try* to think of the command on how to do something, I lock up.(1)
Yes! Exactly. That is how it becomes with martial arts. When a technique has been learned to the point that it has become "automatic" it takes a concentrated effort to slow it down and teach it! Yet, I love it, because each time I do it, I re-examine myself.
(1) bonus problem: how does one do the endless repetition and drills best, in order to put them into muscle memory? in class? at home?
Everywhere. All the time. When I'm teaching class, I'm training. When I'm walking through Wal-Mart, I'm training. When I'm watching TV or driving my car, I'm training. I'm constantly aware of the way I move, how I hold my body, how I walk, how I breathe, etc. I train at home, everyday and at the school everyday. I do the forms over and over and over and mix them up and do them forward and backward and even do them in my mind.
how do you check your form so you don't "learn" improper form in your muscle memory? in a mirror?
You find yourself a partner who knows as much or more than you do. I have a partner that I train with three days a week. I call my teacher any time I have a question and he will actually come visit me and help me work out any kinks I'm having.
and does it bother you if a student is a "slow" muscle learner?
Oh, I would lie if I said that it didn't. BUT, I understand that I must cater the system to fit the student and not the student to fit the system. I must teach the individual, not the curriculum. By that I mean that I will do whatever it takes , for as long as it takes, until the student "gets" it, if the student truly wants to learn it. I tell them that some things come more naturally to some than others, but that doesn't mean we can't learn and be effective.
that is, they have an *approximation* of last week's lesson, but continue to be choppy and clumsy at it?
Then I just keep working with them on it until the day comes when they aren't choppy and clumsy at it.
Thanks again, you've given me a lot to think about and a much ...cleaner, crisper...appreciation for it.
You are welcome.
Yesterday, my teacher was watching me teach a class and as I drew a diagram on the floor with a piece of chalk to help a student know how to move her feet he said, "That is a very ingenious way to teach that concept." He, the Master INTJ, was pleased with my ingenuity. He loves out of the box ideas and ways of implementing the system in ways that people can understand. So, are you
all that way? Or just the really cool ones? haha.