My friend and colleague, Deborah Klens-Bigman is an accomplished martial artist and respected scholar of Japanese classical dance. She often does me the honor of serving as a sounding board for ideas, and generously edits my posts to make them polished. This time Klens-Bigman Sensei responded to my ideas with an essay of her own, which I 'm proud to be able to publish here.
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| Deborah Klens-Bigman Photo Copyright Iaikai 2016 |
So you wanna cross-train?
Previously, two posts considered cross-training in other budo. The first set
out the benefits as a means to deepen understanding of your primary art.
The subsequent post looked at another
side of the issue - that some martial arts teachers might forbid their
students to seek training at another dojo.
That post also suggested that students caught up in such an
arrangement may have picked the wrong person to train with in the first
place, and speculates on such teachers' selfish motivations.
So - here we have two solid arguments in favor of
"cross-training." It seems like a good idea, right? Find a different
(though maybe related) art form, and go for it, right?
Not so fast. There's a right way, and a wrong way, to train at a
different dojo. If done right, you can obtain benefit for yourself and do credit to your home dojo. If not, well - read on.
Let's first assume that you are a student in good standing, who is
also not a raw beginner. A
very-beginning student who seeks training in another art form gives a
teacher the impression that you are not serious in your practice in the
first place. The term for this (at least in English)
is "dojo-hopper." The sense is that the student is in some sort of
martial arts shopping mall, with various things on offer. Come in, poke
around, try a couple things on, and go on to the next store. This is
definitely how to shop for a prom dress, but
most budo teachers take their practice seriously, and expect students
to do likewise.
Next, let's consider motivations. I am not talking
about jumping ship and looking for a new teacher - that's a different
subject altogether (see above). And I seriously doubt
you would look around and think to yourself, "I'll bet I could deepen
my understanding of the principles of [fill in name of current practice]
by trying out [something else]." More likely you saw something on
YouTube or even (shockingly, but it does happen)
at a live demo and you thought it looked cool and would be fun to try.
NYC is a veritable feast of martial traditions, both Asian and Western,
old and new (and even theatrical and cinematic!). It's easy to feel
like a kid in a candy store. There is nothing
wrong with this motivation. But there is a proper way to go about it.
So I am offering a list - from smartest to dumbest
- ways to go about cross training in a different budo form.
1. Talk to your teacher and ask for permission to
try something else, and ask for her suggestions as to where to find
another dojo. For example, you could say, "I was thinking
about trying a jujutsu class. I wanted to run the idea past you
first. Do you have any suggestions as to who I could study with?"
Believe it or not, even in a place as huge as the Big City, many budo
teachers at least know each other by reputation, if not
personally. Moreover, we know who the crank teachers are; or, at
least, we have the means to find them out. Asking for permission,
along with asking for advice, accomplishes several goals - it shows the
teacher you respect her, and that you respect her
opinion. It also puts you in line for a good recommendation with one
of her colleagues. Having been recommended and accepted for
cross-training in another dojo also shows respect with regard to the
other teacher, who then has a clear idea of who you are
and may have a sense of what you might be able to accomplish by
training with him.
2. Ask your teacher for permission only. This is
not as smart as suggestion number 1, but it at least shows enough
respect to your teacher that she won't throw you through the
nearest wall. Most teachers will say yes (and if she doesn't agree,
there is probably a reason, as in she doesn't think you are ready to
branch out. If you respect the teacher, you will respect her opinion
and ask again later). Some may volunteer advice
if they think you might be interested in hearing it; others may just
say it's fine, and you are then free to roam.
3. (Moving to less-smart ways). Go somewhere else
and don't tell either the primary teacher or the new teacher what you
are doing. I don't recommend this, but it can actually
work, as long as you exercise some discretion. Don't do what one of my
students once did: blow off a request to perform at a demo by
explaining that you have a tournament with another teacher that
weekend. Just say you're sorry and you can't make it; and
you hope to be able to perform with the group at another time. Being
so up front about your conflicted schedule may send a teacher the
message that you are so enamored with the new style that you are not as
interested in what she has to teach (even if that
isn't strictly true). Moreover, not
supporting the dojo when it asks for your help also makes you look less
serious about your practice, unless it involves work or family issues.
Your perceived lack of interest may result in the teacher's attention
being directed a little bit more to other students instead.
Tangentially, if the second teacher learns about your primary art form
by other means than your telling him about it, you may find yourself
getting the same treatment. I'm jus' sayin'. We
like to think that our teachers have better tempers and more wisdom
than lowly students (and they might), but they are also human beings
(with a lot more experience than you) and they have feelings, too. And
those feelings should be respected if you are serious
about your art form.
4. Declare that you are going "budo shopping" for other stuff to do - you
say you may come back to the home dojo someday, but then again you may not. Believe it or not, this has actually happened.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the
student has given the impression that the teacher (and her art form) are
interchangeable; with one practice being not any better or worse than
another.
The now-former student in
question was fortunate to have done this via email and not in person.
Needless to say, this person is no longer welcome (except, just
*possibly* as a guest, and paying the guest mat fee).
Unless you really intend not to come back at all, I don't recommend
this method.
5. Just show up at a new place and disparage your
primary teacher to gain favor with the new one. As I said, we all know
each other, by reputation if not personally. Remember
the six degrees of separation? In the budo world, it's more like one or two. You won't be accepted once the truth comes out.
As my colleague the Budo Bum has said, there are
many benefits to cross-training, and most of them won't be revealed
until you have spent months (or even years) training in another
form. In my budo career, though my primary art is iaido, I have also
done some training in naginata, kyudo, kendo, some empty-hand, and I am
currently studying jodo as a rank beginner. I also train in Japanese
classical dance;
an art form that developed in the Edo period that shares many
principles of movement with koryu budo forms. Many of my colleagues
and teachers both in the U.S. and Japan also cross-train. For the most
part, all of their teachers know and respect each other,
and are cross-trainers themselves. My teacher, Otani Sensei, when I
spoke to him specifically about working with another teacher,
interrupted my carefully-rehearsed permission-asking speech by saying,
"That's okay, that's okay. Once you know the principle,
the technique doesn't matter." I still can't say, all of these years
later, that I fully understand his point, but I knew then I had the
freedom to figure it out.
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| Deborah Klens-Bigman Photo Copyright Iaikai |
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