Teaching: another angle on practice
by Gabe Dimarco

Gabe DiMarco

Looking back over the last few years, I would have never imagined myself practicing aikido, much less teaching aikido. I must admit that I did feel a little intimidated teaching when there were aikidoists of higher rank sitting in seiza waiting for class to start. But once I start the class I just focus on teaching and forget about the higher-ranking students. It doesn't intimidate me anymore and I suppose I've learned a lot about myself while taking on the role of teacher. For example, I am a lot more confident in front of a crowd than I used to be. I really hate the spotlight and teaching has been a great confidence booster.

Teaching makes me more aware of how and why we move the way we do. In having to explain the how's and why's to students, I have to understand them myself. I doing so, I found the opportunity for using atemi if uke moves in a way that makes him/her vulnerable. Although we practice in a respectful manner and are not out there to hurt uke, I believe that it is still good to know you have options if the technique doesn't work out or if uke is not moving in a defensive way.

"Practice what you preach," applies to a teacher even more than to anyone else.

You could say that knowing your options is probably a more self-defensive way of aikido, in that you shouldn't expect uke to co-operate in the real world situation. In the end I believe it has improved my awareness and practice of the art.

"Practice what you preach," really applies to a teacher or anyone else for that matter. For example, I like to make it a point to beginners about their posture and being stable when entering in or when finishing a technique. I also stress keeping eyes up instead of looking down, although this is a bad habit I have and am desperately trying to change. It's also more difficult to change bad habits the further you progress and eliminating bad habits from the start just makes things much easier later.

Students all learn at different rates. So I hope that students are not discouraged, but just keep practicing. Hard work always pays off, even though it may not seem so at the time. From time to time it is a challenge to keep a high energy level and keep students interested. We all have our ups and downs in life. So when it's time to teach or practice, I know I have to leave my problems outside the dojo, or else I know it will drag the energy level down. Sitting in seiza and focusing on my breathing for ten minutes before class helps me remain neutral. I love to practice aikido. Even though I am teaching, I still like to practice with the students, although it is difficult to do if it is a large class or the technique demonstrated is a little more complicated.

Students learn in different ways: by what they see, by explanation, by what they feel. In aikido, sometimes what you see is not what makes a technique work, it's what you "feel", the connection with uke. The one way to show "the feel" or connection is to describe it using words. Using words or the proper words to describe "the feel" has also been a challenge for me. The best way to get or understand "the feel" is to practice. Kokyu dosa is great practice for developing "the feel".

The challenge of teaching isn't over for me yet. Keep practicing everybody.


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