Response to Anshu's inquiry

[Torime...@aol.com]

Here at the Warrior Quest Society in California we have our students on an element saturation program where they spend 4 months (sometimes less) in each element.  When we have students of multiple ranks we group them by elements and give them their element specific kata and lessons to work on.  If we have a few students of varied ranks we will pair them with partners of different elements but each person is working on his or her own lesson. 

 

We have a small school with two instructors on the mat at any given time so our classes function almost like semi-private lessons when it comes to structure.  When I'm teaching I like to take the first 20 minutes teaching the class as a whole working on basics as a warm up - ever changing types of ukemi and striking, ground movement drills, San Shin etc.  Then we split the class into realms and work the lessons.  The students have freedom within the structure to make discoveries and then have them verified and/or improved since they are not always under the constant attention of the instructor.  I know with other instructors at WQS, they do a preliminary quick warm up, curriculum training and finish with 10 minutes of some form of group experience - energy drills, special techniques etc.

 

Our students seem to like the element saturation and they come out of the process with a very clear sense and feeling of the element.  Most of our students also seem to come away with a strong ability to create within a given element.

 

Merry Christmas everyone!  And/or Happy Holidays!

 

Tori Myotoshi Eldridge

Senior Instructor Warrior Quest Society

Newbury Park, CA

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