How one approaches it depends on the tradition. In aikido, for example, students are expected to practice on both left and right sides for both the “entering” principle and the “turning” principle of each technique. In many combat pistol courses, students are taught to assign a good-to-fair amount of time in shooting practice training the non-dominant hand. However, some Korean systems aren’t as comprehensive. For example, both Kuk Sool Won and HanMuDo (Hapkido derivatives) only teach techniques in one way, in one side of the body. Students are “encouraged” to practice the off-hand on one’s own time, OR instructors will hold an “off-hand” or “backwards” class where for ONE DAY every now and again students get to fumble about with what other arts consider to be “regular training”.
More importantly, what’s off-hand martial training methodology got to do with “What would less look like?”
Let me ask: What happens if through injury, or age, or whatever reason you cannot use your dominant hand in a time of need and crisis? What happens is: you have LESS (fewer) resource(s) in which to do your daily work. Whether the resources be limbs or digits, finances, time… if we prepare to still do the best, even without the most ideal of circumstances, when the wort finds us, it’ll find us ready and awake.
To ask ourselves, “what would less look like” is to ask ourselves questions along the lines of: Can I live within or below my means? What if I lost my right hand, or arm? What if I lost a leg in a motorcycle accident? Then, after we’ve asked ourselves these kinds of questions, we admit that we don’t know, and put together ways to practice… just in case that day ever comes.
The lesson today is to train ourselves to be the best in the worst circumstances by doing that training in the best of times.
(See y’all tomorrow)