When I studied relaxation techniques and self-hypnosis in my psychology training, I was taught this technique to identify one’s predominant learning style:

After prompts of visual, auditory, kinesthetic cues describing a peaceful setting, one is instructed to pick a couple that resonate with them the most. These usually represent a way that we interact with the world most frequently with, or in other words, our learning style. For me, being a kinesthetic-visual learner, for example rocking in the imaginary hammock, feeling the wind on my skin and watching a sunset were most relaxing, while the sounds of waves or seagulls felt distracting.

 

Another area of individual differences is whether we are more of the interpersonal or solitary learners. For example, there are students, even during big seminars, who don’t mind practicing before class, even if they have an audience. And there are others (including myself) that don’t find that very appealing. Having this knowledge might translate into whether you would like to practice a new skill with others, including your teacher, watching, or you’d rather gain a degree of mastery over it on your own first. It’s helpful information for a teacher as well. Knowing that, they could suggest you work on a certain skill or movement on your own, rather than in front of others.

 

Since Aikido is a traditional Japanese martial art, it comes with a certain culture of student- teacher relationship. Some of it, including respect for teachers, sitting seiza while observing a demonstration, or not yelling out our questions during class are great contributions to our learning. But there are others that might be worth modifying. For example, talking to our teachers about how we learn best could strengthen teacher-student relationships and help us grow as individuals and communities. A conversation like that should probably mostly happen off the mat to facilitate learning during class.

 

 Just to be clear, I would never go up to Saotome Sensei and say “I’m a kinesthetic learner, so please throw me in class”, but I would welcome that kind of information from our students in the local dojo. Since Aikido is a mature art in the US, we can create our own culture that will facilitate learning in the best way possible, while being respectful of important aspects of etiquette.

 

So how would that happen? Teachers could invite information about how students learn best on an ongoing basis an encourage students to observe how they learn. We could ask the question when the new student joins the dojo and since when we start we might not be clear on what works best for us as, we can keep that line of communication open. Also the teacher can notice what method worked best for a particular student and share it with them, and apply it more frequently when delivering instruction.

 

Students can also let their teachers know when something is especially effective for them in grasping a movement and making progress in their Aikido. It could be as simple as saying “that image you used was really helpful”, or “when you organized these movements into categories, it clarified a lot for me”, or “it was really helpful to feel the throw”. It could also be a more general statement like “I learn best through movement and images”, or “your explanation is really helpful” etc.

 

So in order to help our teachers teach us, we need to observe what works or doesn’t work for us in class. For example, I noticed at some point that when I watch a teacher demonstrate or explain the technique, I do a miniature movement with my hand (I try to make it invisible to others) to “translate it” for myself. There are people, who like to write things down after (and sometimes even during) class. And there are people who respond really well to images and metaphors. That’s really good information for ourselves and our teachers and it should be shared.

 

Aikido practice helps us identify how we learn best, but also pushes us to learn in ways we haven’t been able before. We develop new ways of absorbing information and actively work on expanding our learning styles. We adapt, imagining ourselves in the position of the person demonstrating, facing the same way, and “performing” the technique or kata (for kinesthetic learners), or have an internal monologue, describing what we’re observing (for auditory or reading/writing learners). Visual learners can learn to turn verbal instruction in class into an image. And there are also people who benefit from writing down what they experienced or saw to facilitate their learning. In other words, we use our strengths in learning to develop an ability to learn in other ways as well. There are students and teachers out there who are already very aware of individual learning differences and can use their knowledge to speed up the learning in their dojos. Saotome Sensei often talks about being adaptable to a situation. In that spirit, we need to find the right learning for ourselves in an Aikido dojo. It will help us become better students and provide our teachers with more tools to teach us. Hopefully, it will also help us “get there sooner”! 

 

I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback. Please share your comments or reach out to me at ania@aikidooofmaine.com. I wrote this hoping it would start a conversation about learning and teaching.