Long time, no post. Time to review and reorder all of this.
To reflect on what has been learned in the interim, courtesy of sabre classes – which have reached a point where all that needed to be taught has been taught, now all that needs to be learned, as in, integrated.
Being taught and having learned or having the lessons properly internalised – and being able to thereafter fight with it usefully, are the stages. And am at stage 2 of the 3.
The group is moving on to learning sword and buckler thanks to our enthusiasm in class.. and the fact that quite a few always have brought along bucklers and always there is at least one or two bouts in the freeplay session after class. The teacher has also seized the opportunity to extend and test his teaching method to sword and buckler using manciolino. Which is wonderful learning opportunity!
It has also inspired a training partner to delve into marozzo directly. I’m open to that, being the uke to the tori. A peer who has a talent for what I would otherwise have to contend with by myself is to be valued, indeed!
But the main part of my effort must nevertheless be in seizing the prime opportunity – the class itself.
The teacher’s approach (which has much merit) is different to the conventional way of hema learning (which i was working by and distilling for myself in this blog). While I still would need to fill in with the conventional, my focus is going to be on really absorb what the teacher is offering.
(WARNING! Tangents ahead!)
For this is my preferred way, to trust in the more experienced person and their take on passing on the material.
As noted elsewhere, other hema students take the path working directly with the sources themselves, and work it out for themselves. Essentially they are their own teacher. This is part of the enjoyment for them, and thats great. For me, how can I know my interpretation is better than another’s? For I have no stake in ego here, whether it is through my own insight or through another’s, whichever is the best, that is what I want to take on.
Self-directed learning is sometimes necessary in my view, but only if its a necessity. If there is a teacher (a credible one and one who can walk the talk to at least a certain extent (imo walking and talking in balance, and one who can walk the talk but not talk the walk is ipso facto no good at teaching), then benefit from their insights and ALSO your own. How can you lose? It is between the two extremes.
Anyway, as for myself and my progress. It is good. And full of frustrations. Which is good. Or, bad but in a good way.
My biggest challenge is to be disciplined with personal practise time and effort.
Solo drills. Shadow fencing.
Need to connect what I know and what I can do.
Else what I know will fade as memory fades, leaving only that which I can do.
Which right now is: getting mightily stuck at decision points and freezing under pressure… classic sign of knowing more that you have integrated into being able to do.
So either simplify options to choose from, or integrate the options to be able to do more of them without the thinking.
The latter is ideal, but the former would be better that my current state.
Facinating shit. That’s hema for you.
Turning Bolognese.. 