What do you think about sword forms and left handed people? Should they practice as anyone else with the sword in the right hand or they should use mainly left hand and eventually invert forms directions?
regards
sword and left hand
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Lefties have a great opportunity being forced to learn the form right handed with the group. Everyone has a dominant hand. In martial arts we work to train so that they are more or less equal, lefties get a great push towards becoming truely ambidextrious by learning the sword right handed. Personally, I wish there were enough left handers around to lead the group doing the form left handed, so we righties would all learn it the other way around.
BTW, My Grandfather, Brother & Son are all lefties.
BTW, My Grandfather, Brother & Son are all lefties.
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Mirror image practice: historical basis?
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Mirror image practice: historical basis?
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Mirror image practice: historical basis?
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Last edited by Scott M. Rodell on Wed Jan 16, 2008 11:17 am, edited 1 time in total.
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I have seen this topic come up a few times, and I agree with the general statement that exercises should be done on both sides of the body. However, I have a few reservations. If a form is designed to be used against an imaginary right handed stylist, when it is reversed it will be for use against a left handed stylist. For most moves this wont matter, but with advanced techniques I think it would be better to develop left handed techniques for use with a right handed opponent. On a more esoteric level, the energy pathways of the body are not entirely symmetrical. Advanced movements may take this into account. By reversing a form, the energy training may be interfered with.
So in general, I would say that basic moves should be practiced on both sides, but more advanced moves need to be thought out carefully before they are reversed. If you only practice the moves reversed once in a while it should not matter, but if you are left handed and exclusively practice on the left, there may be problems. Just because you are left handed does not mean your heart, or that of a foe, is on the right.
Josh
So in general, I would say that basic moves should be practiced on both sides, but more advanced moves need to be thought out carefully before they are reversed. If you only practice the moves reversed once in a while it should not matter, but if you are left handed and exclusively practice on the left, there may be problems. Just because you are left handed does not mean your heart, or that of a foe, is on the right.
Josh
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