Howdy!
Ando here from Happy Life Martial Arts.
Hey--have you ever worried about forgetting your kata or forms before a belt test?
You wake up in the middle of the night soaking wet covered in sweat or whatever, terrified
that you’re going to freeze up and fail?
Look—we’ve all been there, but you don’t have to stay there.
Today, I’ve got three tips to help you remember that kata, ace the test, and hopefully, get
some sleep.
Okay.
Tip #1: Practice your kata as fast as you can.
Let’s say you get called up on your belt test and your instructor asks you to recite
the alphabet.
Would you be worried about that?
No.
Because you know the alphabet.
You really know the alphabet.
And one way to prove that you know the alphabet is to recite it as fast as you can.
In fact, let’s try that right now.
Take a breath.
Ready? Set. Go. (SAYS ALPHABET)
Good job.
Now, apply the same idea to your kata.
Don’t worry about doing everything properly or even doing it very well.
Just see how fast you can speed through the sequence without any stops.
It’s like lifting weights.
You lift weights to isolate your muscles.
Going through your kata as fast as you can isolates your memory, your brain.
The only trick here is to be very honest with yourself.
If you can flow from beginning to end without any stops at all, I’ll bet you could go
a little bit faster.
Heck--I can’t even say the alphabet without choking if I’m pushing the speed limit.
(CHOKES).
Okay.
Once you figure out your brain’s maximum speed limit, then go back and practice your
forms at the proper pace.
I promise—you will suddenly feel like a brainiac.
Tip #2: Practice your forms in different directions.
Back in my Tae Kwon Do days, I had to travel to a different school for belt tests.
And I remember one belt test where I started my form and froze.
Why?
Ugly, brown wood paneling.
You can see it right there.
Behind the good-looking guy in the sexy green headband.
So, what happened?
Here’s what happened.
In my home school, I always nailed the form.
I start off facing the flags.
I turn to face the mirror.
I turn to face the door.
I turn back to the flags.
But in the other school, there was no mirror.
I started off towards the flags.
I turned and faced a wall of ugly, brown wood paneling.
Of course, the problem wasn’t really the paneling, was it?
The problem was that I had learned the form based on external points of reference instead
of internal points of reference.
So, how do you fix something like that?
Simple.
1) Practice your forms in your home school starting off in every direction.
Get your eyes off of the room and back on to you.
2) Practice your kata everywhere you can.
Practice at home, in the park, in the parking lot—anyplace.
Just be careful in the shower.
3) My favorite.
Try this—spin around.
Count to three--1, 2, 3.
Wherever you end up, start your kata right from there.
I promise—that’ll do the trick.
Tip #3: Practice your forms with your eyes closed.
Now that you’ve eliminated the external points of reference from your practice, you
can go deeper into developing your internal points of reference.
Closing your eyes will force you to feel your way through the kata, instead of see your
way through the kata.
The goal is to know your forms up here and in here, not out there or out here.
When you close your eyes, your awareness of your balance, breathing, alignment, and weight
shifting, will be heightened.
You’ll start building sense memories, instead of just intellectual memories, and that’s
the key to making your form part of you.
I would recommend choosing one feeling to focus on at a time.
Maybe it’s the sound of your breathing.
Or the weight in your feet.
Or the pressure in your hands.
The big idea is if you give your brain something to focus on, it’s a lot less likely that
it’s going to get distracted by noises in the room or the voices in your head.
So, pick a feeling and focus on it.
Two more quick thoughts.
First--if you make a mistake performing your kata during a belt test, if you blow it, own
it.
Your forms are supposed to help prepare you for a real fight, right?
Well, if you were in a real fight and you missed with a punch, or you got hit by a punch,
you wouldn’t just stop fighting, would you?
You wouldn’t start swearing at yourself, right?
So, don’t allow yourself to get upset if you make a mistake.
Just keep going or ask for permission to start again.
Whether they say yes or no doesn’t really matter--you stayed strong and you kept going.
The truth is if you keep going after a mistake, that might be a better demonstration of who
you really are than if you had performed your kata perfectly the first time.
So, if you blow it, own it.
Second thought--if you follow all of these tips and you still can’t remember your kata,
you know what--you’re just not ready to test yet.
And that’s okay!
Look—these tips are not short cuts.
No matter how you train, you still have to put in long hours to be your best.
But remember--the ultimate goal of martial arts is not a new belt, it’s a new you.
A better you.
So, don’t be in a hurry.
Do the work and enjoy the journey.
If you liked this video, thanks for giving it a thumbs up and sharing with a friend.
Until next time, get some sleep and keep fighting for a happy life.