Fall Back Fridays - Watch The Words
Note: Furuya Sensei originally posted this to his blog on August 27, 2003.
Watch the words, do not hear them. When you listen, it is important to see what is going on at the same time. . . . otherwise you will get confused by your own interpretation in your head or confuse them with some other technique
For example, when an instructor says, "behind," you must see if you are moving "behind" your opponent, or stepping behind yourself - these are two completely opposite movements so you must not get confused.
Sometimes, when I say, "lead foot" or "front foot,” I often see students moving the opposite or back foot. This does not make sense to me. I think they must hear only the word, "foot." This always drives me crazy because simple things like this should be already understood by the student after just a few months of training. . . . .
When someone says to move the hand upwards, you must see if you are moving your hand towards your opponent or just to yourself, again these are two completely separate movements but described with the same words. So, I must say, “See the words, not just hear them!" This is true in all training with any teacher. . . . .