Teaching martial arts to both Children and Adults can often be a challenging assignment. Anyone who has taught martial arts for a reasonable length of time and reflected on their and their students progress will know that teaching others is a key component to continued learning about oneself. From my experience, I have found that teaching Children bears different insights to teaching adults.
I have had the pleasure of working with Children who have taught me that courage is not a factor of age. Similarly, I have taught classes where children have been more open to making the technique work and ultimately ‘theirs’ than their adult peers. Indeed, there is a lot we can learn from watching how Children process information and then get on and do it. This is one of the key benefits of combining both younger and older students in the one class, each can, and should learn from the other.
This brings me to the point of this article. As adults, we develop and condition ourselves into a particular way of thinking and processing ideas. If a technique does not work the first few times we attempt it, then there must something wrong with the technique. Or that looks so hard, I don’t think I can do it; even worse still, I won’t even attempt it because it’s ‘beyond me’. These are some of the comments I hear from some beginner level students.
The martial arts classroom is a microcosm of life. The fears and insecurities a student brings with them as they walk through the door for their first few lessons, so often, will mirror their approach and attitude towards life. On the flip-side however, the skills and learning’s students receive in the gwoon can be transferred to almost all aspects of life. This is because the human body is controlled by the mind, and therefore it is the mind that we are developing as much as the body. Obviously the body needs to be flexible, strong and sufficiently conditioned to be able to execute certain movements in martial arts. However, the mind is what drives the body in its pursuit of martial arts ability and therefore is where we should spend a considerable amount of time developing. As adults, we often have to unlearn what we have previously learnt before we can advance. Students who are not naturally gifted (physically) for martial arts, often have the most to gain through training; and will often advance their psychosomatic levels well beyond others in the class. A stronger and more flexible mind is an asset in dealing with the challenges we face in life. Through martial arts training, we learn to adapt to moving challenges, view them from different angles, select the most appropriate solution (weapon) for the problem (target), ultimately seeking to control the situation as best as we can to look after ourselves and our loved ones. As an example, the skills we develop in breaking down a difficult technique into bite sized components can help us to deal with challenging projects at work; likewise, setting a goal to perform a complex form in public or win gold in a tournament fight, may help us to plan our life to improve relationships with others, achieve career fulfilment or obtain financial security.
To help us gain the most from our training, it is equally important to spend time reflecting on the lessons contained within the process of learning, as it is the learning itself. This will help to develop character and amplify an understanding of ourselves ultimately leading to achieving a higher level of self knowledge and awareness.
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