Wednesday, August 24th, 2005 04:05 pm
As I've mentioned elseJournal, I'm going to be conducting a martial arts seminar on pressure points and extracting combat-applicable techniques from katas (forms), for a group of people who have no clue that forms are anything but complicated dances, and whose idea of pressure points are the eyes/throat/solar plexus/groin. I've got one day to give them the basics -- tall order!

I've been doing this particular brand of martial arts for 11 years now, and various other styles for 10 years before that. I am confident in my own knowledge of the material, and in my ability to teach. The one thing that I don't do very often is work with complete newbies, and even then it's with newbies that I know I will probably see again at the next class, or next week, or whenever, so if I overlook something I can "catch them up" then. I realize that there is a lot of stuff that I know on a subconscious level... and there lies the trap I'm trying to be sure I avoid. This is going to be the equivalent of taking a bunch of Jr. High School students who've had basic arithmetic, and introducing them to algebra and geometry... done by someone who is working on the level of Calculus.

I've already talked this over with my beloved [livejournal.com profile] gryphonrhi and with [livejournal.com profile] alysswolf, and they made some good points. Now I'd like to throw it open to you.

The basic framework I'm planning is to concentrate only on one very simple kata that they already know. The morning session will focus on what to do and how to do it, then the afternoon session will get into the more advanced topics, like why to do it that way.

If you were to attend such a seminar, what things can you think of that you would want/need to see covered in order to help you understand the material?