Dojo Discernments
Hi all! Here is this week's edition of Dojo Discernments, where I share nuggets of thought earned in training this week.
Simplicity
We takled about keeping it simple a couple weeks ago. K.I.S.S. Keep it Stupid Simple. And in the spirit we came across the next level of this teaching.
M.I.S. Make it simple.
Take the complicated, the obscure, the hard to grasp, and simplify it. For those around you and for yourself.
The Power of
Reductionist Thinking
When things get complicated, I try to boil them down to the simplest truth. In guard passing, that truth is: don’t get stuck in your partner’s guard. Easy to say, but in the middle of grips, movement, and interplay, we lose sight of it.
When you return to that one guiding concept, passing starts to feel a lot less overwhelming. That’s the power of reductionist thinking, strip it down, focus on what matters most, and let everything else flow from there.
Cleaning up, Pieces of the Whole
Sometimes the best way forward is to zoom in on just one piece of the bigger picture. In guard passing, business, or any practice, it helps to hone in and give your full focus to one detail at a time. Once that piece feels sharper, you can bring your attention back to the whole system and move with more clarity.
Not loosing sight of the whole
The key is to never lose sight of the full system while focusing on one part. Otherwise, you can end up fixing one thing at the cost of another.
A question I’ve been asking myself lately: How does this lesson transfer to other areas? Work on a piece, then let that lesson spill over into the rest.
Solid Foundations
This balance: simplicity, reductionist thinking, parts, and whole, came alive for me in a swim workout this week.
Sunny afternoon, outdoor pool down the street. Twenty minutes, 1000 meters, Combat Swimmer Side Stroke. I cycled my focus with each stroke iteration: breath, straight line, glide, flutter kick, left pull, right pull, entry angle… then back to breath when isolating details was too much and would destroy the whole stroke.
Because of practice, discipline, and a good method, the stroke stayed efficient.
It felt good to get back in the water. Solid foundations always serve us in the long run methods built on sand will only sink us.
Saludos,
Isaac
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