by Nick Lowry
Been thinking lately about a three tier curriculum for our dojo– at first was considering the the standard beginner, intermediate, and advanced idea but that seemed a little clumsy, linear and hierarchical — and would probably lead to folks being unnecessarily typed and excluded from work they might enjoy or benefit from.
Now reconsidering along the lines of foundational ( the basic ground of our system, stuff like standard ukemi, walk, 8 release, 17, Owaza) then supplemental ( things that we can add on or plug in to the basic system, stuff like shime waza, ashi waza, sutemi waza, neiwaza, henka of all sorts, koryu kata, tactical/ combative systems, weapons work) and finally transcendental ( things which multiply potential of the system, stuff like renzoku chains, randori, 5 elements work, and also various reinterpretations of principle like the two functions of “off line,” bridging /dropping, mechanical/ nervous system oriented kuzushi etc. .)
Clearly everyone needs foundational work but when we see folks only remain in that skill set model the point of view becomes heavily skewed to a black and white – self limiting understanding of aikido– the supplemental work seems a good curative here and depending on training context different parts of the supplemental work may be most appropriate or necessary but if all of our time is devoted to the interesting supplemental material we fall prey to a never ending “complexification” of the system — we need a to move into complexity but not be overwhelmed by it, lost in it.
The transcendental includes all that comes before it and simultaneously challenges our basic assumptions and multiplies our potentials — if the supplemental work basically adds more pieces to play with , the transcendental invites us to take what is well worn stuff and work with it in completely new ways — the difficulty here is again not to become overwhelmed, this time not so much by complexity, but by active reevaluation/ reinterpretation— as i look at it all three circles of work are interlinked and self supporting, as one grows in the art over a lifetime of training and practice one may spiral through each of the tiers many times with deeper and deeper appreciation,understanding and realization
