Feel 101

I get messages all day long about how to do stuff, usually related to Iaido. Unfortunately, they are questions about the "feel" of something.

I've said this repeatedly over the years. Westerners (me included...but not as often anymore...) need to know how to do a technique, every detail, before it is even attempted. If I have said it once I've said it a hundred times. Don't try to understand it. Just do it. Thousands of times. The practice combined with a little detailing by the instructor will produce a great technique.

For example, "I can't make my noto look like yours..."

20 years, hundreds of times per day... call me when you're done.

Seriously, I can't tell you how to feel something. There is a great story by Hakko Ryu Jujutsu Soke Ryuho Okuyama that rings true:

"You must tune three strings when you practice the shamisen. Most beginners cannot, so for their beginning stage, they ask their teacher to tune it for them instead of doing it themselves. But gradually, bit by bit, because they practice everyday, their feeling for the sound becomes sharper and sharper. Usually within a year or so, they have a trained ear for the sound and can tune it by themselves. So until then, teachers won't say anything very useful to their students. Teachers know there are no words to express how to feel the sound."

Amen