Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Theme of the month ideas

Over at the Mokuren Dojo blog instructor Patrick Parker has committed himself to "emphasizing a different broad principle each month" when teaching his judo and aikido classes, starting with relaxation in January 2009.

I think that this is a great idea, and for my jiu-jitsu and classical judo classes I plan to trial an explicit "theme of the month" starting in February, when I re-start my class after the summer recess.

Here are some ideas for candidate monthly themes:
  • Juicy kuzushi
  • Beautiful breakfalls
  • Push and pull
  • Minimum effort, maximum effect
  • Divine alignment
  • Whole-body power
  • Sense and sensitivity
  • Do try this at home!
  • Come along, come along
  • Wriggle like a piggle; squirm like a worm
  • Groundhog month -- rejected: instead we occasionally have Groundhog day
  • Combine and conquer
  • Countermeasures
  • Striking thoughts
  • Distraction is a good thing
  • Get smarter through kata
  • Creative kata
  • Mind and body
  • Jiu-jitsu geometry: Circles, spirals and spheres
  • Jiu-jitsu comes from the sword
  • Ju, jitsu and do
  • The higher goals of judo
Ok, at one a month those should keep me going for about two years!  So I'll try to rationalize, combine and prioritize.  And report back on what I do choose each month.

As always: Comments, suggestions and requests are welcome.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the was Juicy Kuzushi sounds!
And the Do try this at home!
When I first saw the Beautiful Breakfalls, I misread it as
Breakfast Breakfalls. That could be catchy too!

Dan Prager said...

Mmmm: Breakfast breakfalls!

Could get messy. ;-)