terrible study techniques, volume eight

Today's topic, class, is cramming.

...there's no one in this room.  I'll still go on.

I had a schedule conflict last night, so I wasn't able to make it to class.  Instead, I was playing a show, singing (ok, screaming) in the band Maus.  The black belt class being the highlight of my week, I was a little disappointed, but getting to play a show is a ton of fun and only happens every month or two.  

Right before we played, I was thinking about what I put into the  black belt and I Ho Chaun classes: two hours of pure sweat, focus and intensity.  So I decided I was going to take that work, especially the intensity, and cram it into the next 15-20 minutes of music.  I wanted to try and be as exhausted and sweaty as I was every Friday night.  It worked.  My roomate's girlfriend called me 'crazy eyes' because of my high level of intensity.  After just one set of 5 songs all I wanted to do was sit down.

This made me think about every technique or form I do.  A rep of Kempo, for instance, is the culmination of my eight years of training.  I don't know how many times I've done that form, but it's a lot.  Add all the time of fine tuning certain parts of the form and I've spent a pretty decent chunk of my life practicing this form.  All that is in the background for every rep, but I want to bring it up--cram all those years of practice into the next rep so I'm mindful of what I'm capable of.

Independent of this I've also been messing around with what I like to call 'flash meditation'.  Master Brinker recommended to a class a while back to take a deep breath while saying "I'm breathing in" and then exhale with "I'm breathing out".  That would bring us into the moment of whatever we were doing to appreciate it better.  It's a great technique--what I've been trying is just taking five breaths while trying to zone out for just a second.  Anytime I need to focus or really appreciate what I'm doing, I try to do 10 minutes of meditation in five breaths.  It's pretty neat.

So think about what's behind all your practice, or even outside actions, and start cramming.