The Force is strong with this one...
Sunday afternoon I taught Taijutsu. I do not have any adult students yet, but Liam and a little boy named Quinn regularly attend the kids’ class.
Quinn is a sweet boy, but he is young and has a hard time paying attention. I put Quinn into the adjacent classroom for a time-out (with his father) so he could calm down, and came back into the dojo to continue with Liam. We were working on muto-dori, sword evasion.
I held the bamboo training sword above my head, and brought it down in an arc onto Liam. Each time he watch the sword intently as it came down, and reacted too early. After repeating this three or four times, we needed a new approach. I asked Liam to shut his eyes, and wait. He squinted, and then popped one eye open.
"Keep them shut please," I asked.
He shut them again, squeezing down hard, and then squinted small too keep from noticing he was peeking.
"Shut them really tight so you can’t see anything."
Again I waited, looking for fluttering eyelashes or the whites of his eyes, but saw nothing. Liam looked calm, and stood without fidgeting. I waited a few moments before bringing the sword down. My strike was gradual but not slow, gentle but not weak. As the tip of the practice sword moved within an inch of his head, Liam effortlessly stepped to the side. His movement was so small that the sword grazed his sleeve as it slid past him.
I began laughing softly. Hearing me, Liam opened his eyes and said "I can’t do this with my eyes shut!"
J
Quinn is a sweet boy, but he is young and has a hard time paying attention. I put Quinn into the adjacent classroom for a time-out (with his father) so he could calm down, and came back into the dojo to continue with Liam. We were working on muto-dori, sword evasion.
I held the bamboo training sword above my head, and brought it down in an arc onto Liam. Each time he watch the sword intently as it came down, and reacted too early. After repeating this three or four times, we needed a new approach. I asked Liam to shut his eyes, and wait. He squinted, and then popped one eye open.
"Keep them shut please," I asked.
He shut them again, squeezing down hard, and then squinted small too keep from noticing he was peeking.
"Shut them really tight so you can’t see anything."
Again I waited, looking for fluttering eyelashes or the whites of his eyes, but saw nothing. Liam looked calm, and stood without fidgeting. I waited a few moments before bringing the sword down. My strike was gradual but not slow, gentle but not weak. As the tip of the practice sword moved within an inch of his head, Liam effortlessly stepped to the side. His movement was so small that the sword grazed his sleeve as it slid past him.
I began laughing softly. Hearing me, Liam opened his eyes and said "I can’t do this with my eyes shut!"
J