Teaching Aikido to my blind students at Junior Blind of America has been so interesting and revealing. Their agility in learning complex techniques is quite amazing.
In a regular class at the Dojo, a technique is being demonstrated a few times by the instructor, from different angles and different speeds, without any verbal explanation. The students watch the teacher's demonstration, usually trying to concentrate on the participating body parts, each of the times it is being shown. First they look at the whole movement, then, maybe on the footwork, later the arms, the smaller details, and then again - looking at the whole thing. They also look at the Uke, who receives the technique.
When I teach at Junior Blind, each of my sighted students partners with a blind student. I verbally explain a technique as I demonstrate, while the sighted students apply the technique on the blind student. The first impression that my blind students get comes from audio and tactile sense. Mainly they feel how the technique is applied on them; what is the pressure point, which direction is it moving, how to grip, etc.. They get to use their touchy-feely sense, and then, organically response to it. So, when we change roles, they seem to have a "body understanding", which enables them to quickly apply a clear technique.
I am wondering about this clean transmission that my blind students demonstrate. It seems like, as sighted people, our vision and brain work in unison. We collect data and immediately process. Then, we act, trying to produce a good copy of what we saw. It may take us days, weeks, months, and even years to "get it". Maybe what we perceive with our eyes is so processed, translated, turn into conclusions - that we end up with something quite different than what was shown. Rather than seeing with our eyes alone, we see more through our mind. The results of our learning, as sighted people, seem to be more sluggish, busy and hesitant. We trust our vision much more than our other senses, hence creating a separation between reality and our perception of it.
I am sure this is just the first lesson in a series of teachings I am about to encounter, and I am thankful for this eye opening opportunity.
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Very interesting. Might be fun to have your regular students blindfolded for a lesson and see how things go. Would be a neat experiment. It'd teach them to use their other senses they don't normally use, or rely on as much. Sight is so powerful, if you see pink ice cream the mind thinks strawberry flavor and tastes strawberry. Saw a experiment on TV once, they blindfolded this lady and gave her chocolate ice cream but told her it was strawberry. She ate it claiming it was the best strawberry ice cream she's had in her life!
ReplyDeleteThis is a good suggestion!
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely a wide field we can experiment with.
Saw my dad over the weekend and told him about this. He suggests teaching your blind students to create an energy field around them so they will know if anyone enters their field since they cannot rely on sight and can't see if they are attacked. With practice, it can be done!
ReplyDeleteI will try that. Whatever tool that can help them sense better is a blessing.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
dear sensei,
ReplyDeletemy name is Farshad. i am the vice president of Iran Aikido Aikikai. next week i am going to meet the authorities of the Sports for blinds federation. i would like to teach Aikido to them. i hope i can use your experiences.
best regards
info@iranaikido.com