Going back to basics again.

I find my kendo tends to follow a sort of pendulum between “focusing on basics” and “focusing on higher level things”  (I’ll be writing more about this later).  It all depends on how my basic kendo is going.  Men strike is looking good?  Start to focus on maai and the opponent.  My strikes start to turn bad then I go back to focusing on “just go men.”

I have been, for the last few weeks, trying to escape focusing on the minutia of my attack.  To allow my body to simply make the strike while I direct it from a higher level.  I’ve found mixed success so far.  While doing this I do see my  opponent’s moves much better.  I’ve even once or twice been able to predict a move.  But I’m still not sure how much is luck and how much is skill (I’m leaning towards luck until I see more consistent results).

While focusing on higher level tactics I also find myself a bit more frustrated at making my attacks.  This is where my mixed results come in.  I can see the “playing field” better but I seem less capable of executing my strikes.  Perhaps this is because I have an inflated sense of ability when I focus more heavily on my strikes themselves.  But I also think that a better-executed strike has a better chance of actually succeeding.  There is much to experiment with here.  

These days I’m swinging the pendulum back towards basics.  Just go straight and keep low (I have been hearing more critique on these points lately).  But I won’t swing all the way back to “tunnel vision men strikes only.”  Perhaps I’ll only nudge the pendulum a bit and see how it works.