Last Tuesday, when we were doing the ‘wipe’, you see how little details make the biggest difference. Steps for that learning process:
- imitate the motion. Most copy the major arm motions (drawing of circles with both arms) and can do that within minutes. However, when put to test even without stress, the technique doesn’t seem to work.
- feel the skill as a recipient – feel how it feels when the technique is applied on you, with different type of resistance and be aware of the specifics of the situation / assumptions
- feel as a by-stander – put your hand on the person applying the skill correctly and feel how the shoulder / back muscles contribute to the technique; look from different angles as the technique is applied on someone else; find keywords and imagery that help you adopt a new movement pattern
- practice and experiment – repeat “practice and experiment” steps frequently so that “the new way of doing things” become instinctive even under stress
The entire learning process requires more than just physical motions, it is quite intellectual and to change movement patterns, it takes a lot of concentration (and therefore mental aspect) or the old habits kick in.
Exercise
Refer back to an older post “Training slow” and see if you appreciate the details or understand how ‘slow’ can be a valid training method to help master some aspect of skills. Tell me what you understand now and how you plan to apply it. Be specific.
All in the details