Life lessons from the dojo
May. 2nd, 2010 09:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eveglassAnother two karate classes yesterday. The normal sensei wasn't there, because she was taking a bunch of black-belt students to Connecticut for a competition. Consequently, there weren't that many black belts left in Montreal, and the class was taught by a blue belt about a year older than me. It was nice, though. Despite the lack of a black piece of fabric around her waist, she's a pretty good teacher.
That said, onwards to some reflections. I realize there are a lot today, but that's because I'm just starting out and I get a flood of thoughts every time I step foot in the dojo. I'm sure that in time, it'll taper down to just one or two reflections per class.
Life lesson #9: Set your precedents early
The very first day I started at this dojo, the sensei asked if I would lead the warm-up for the advanced white-belt class. She knew I had previous teaching experience, and moreover I was the only other adult in the room. I very much enjoy teaching, so I was happy to help out. Well, now it seems that even after a single week, I'm known as someone who can lead a good warm-up, so I led both of them yesterday. This makes me happy. Hopefully it will blossom into eventually teaching other things as well. It just goes to show, though, how important that first day really is.
Life lesson #10: People from different backgrounds bring richness of experience
One of the things I like about taking classes with new people is that I always learn new things. Everyone brings their background to their teaching, so even in the warm-up I'll learn new types of stretches or moves that I've never done before. I'm sure that some of the stretches I did for the warm-up -- stuff I'd learned at Don's dojo or even before -- were things that had never been done at Sensei Malerie's dojo. Because of the different focus brought by our blue-belt instructor, I could concentrate on a different set of techniques and skills from what I normally would have. And this, my friends, is how we improve.
Life lesson #11: You can always push yourself to be better
On the topic of improvement, I've complained here before that being in a class full of white-belt children, I don't feel challenged. Of course, that was only half the truth. Because in karate, as in most endeavors, you get out what you put in. You can always challenge yourself, like forcing yourself to keep your stance low when you really want to stretch your leg. There are always personal challenges you can give yourself. True, it's not as good as pairing up with someone experienced, but you should always remember that you don't need anyone but yourself. If you have the right mindset, you can always improve.
Life lesson #12: The best way to avoid being corrected is to not make a mistake
The blue-belt instructor was much more interactive in her corrections than the sensei usually is. She routinely walked around the room correcting people. Which is wonderful, of course. There's no other way for people to learn. On the other hand, most of this stuff is pretty basic for me, and I'd feel personally embarrassed if I was corrected on, say, a basic stance or punch. (No one else would notice, but I would feel I'd let myself down.) At one point I was thinking to myself, "Please, I hope she doesn't correct me." And then I realized I was being silly. I've got experience, I know what these stances and moves should look like. The best way to avoid being corrected is just to do them properly. So I did. It was hard, because I'm not in the shape I was the last time I did karate. But it worked. I got corrected on a few small things, which was very useful, but not on any of the major issues I was working on. It's a focus shift from the external to the internal, but it's very, very helpful.
Life lesson #13: You can react more easily if you've already prepared
Leading the warm-up was a bit of a challenge for me. It's been a while since I've done karate, and I've had to dredge up all these stretches and moves from their nice, happy homes in the back of my mind, where they were quite comfortable, thank-you-very-much. So while I was leading one move, I was thinking about what the next one should be. Consequently, I wasn't really able to devote my full attention to the students who were following me. I literally couldn't see if they were doing the move right or wrong, because all my attention was internal. I know that once I've gotten back into a routine, I'll be able to shift my focus outward onto my students. But it's a good lesson to remember: if you want to focus on helping other people, you need to already know what you're doing yourself.
That said, onwards to some reflections. I realize there are a lot today, but that's because I'm just starting out and I get a flood of thoughts every time I step foot in the dojo. I'm sure that in time, it'll taper down to just one or two reflections per class.
Life lesson #9: Set your precedents early
The very first day I started at this dojo, the sensei asked if I would lead the warm-up for the advanced white-belt class. She knew I had previous teaching experience, and moreover I was the only other adult in the room. I very much enjoy teaching, so I was happy to help out. Well, now it seems that even after a single week, I'm known as someone who can lead a good warm-up, so I led both of them yesterday. This makes me happy. Hopefully it will blossom into eventually teaching other things as well. It just goes to show, though, how important that first day really is.
Life lesson #10: People from different backgrounds bring richness of experience
One of the things I like about taking classes with new people is that I always learn new things. Everyone brings their background to their teaching, so even in the warm-up I'll learn new types of stretches or moves that I've never done before. I'm sure that some of the stretches I did for the warm-up -- stuff I'd learned at Don's dojo or even before -- were things that had never been done at Sensei Malerie's dojo. Because of the different focus brought by our blue-belt instructor, I could concentrate on a different set of techniques and skills from what I normally would have. And this, my friends, is how we improve.
Life lesson #11: You can always push yourself to be better
On the topic of improvement, I've complained here before that being in a class full of white-belt children, I don't feel challenged. Of course, that was only half the truth. Because in karate, as in most endeavors, you get out what you put in. You can always challenge yourself, like forcing yourself to keep your stance low when you really want to stretch your leg. There are always personal challenges you can give yourself. True, it's not as good as pairing up with someone experienced, but you should always remember that you don't need anyone but yourself. If you have the right mindset, you can always improve.
Life lesson #12: The best way to avoid being corrected is to not make a mistake
The blue-belt instructor was much more interactive in her corrections than the sensei usually is. She routinely walked around the room correcting people. Which is wonderful, of course. There's no other way for people to learn. On the other hand, most of this stuff is pretty basic for me, and I'd feel personally embarrassed if I was corrected on, say, a basic stance or punch. (No one else would notice, but I would feel I'd let myself down.) At one point I was thinking to myself, "Please, I hope she doesn't correct me." And then I realized I was being silly. I've got experience, I know what these stances and moves should look like. The best way to avoid being corrected is just to do them properly. So I did. It was hard, because I'm not in the shape I was the last time I did karate. But it worked. I got corrected on a few small things, which was very useful, but not on any of the major issues I was working on. It's a focus shift from the external to the internal, but it's very, very helpful.
Life lesson #13: You can react more easily if you've already prepared
Leading the warm-up was a bit of a challenge for me. It's been a while since I've done karate, and I've had to dredge up all these stretches and moves from their nice, happy homes in the back of my mind, where they were quite comfortable, thank-you-very-much. So while I was leading one move, I was thinking about what the next one should be. Consequently, I wasn't really able to devote my full attention to the students who were following me. I literally couldn't see if they were doing the move right or wrong, because all my attention was internal. I know that once I've gotten back into a routine, I'll be able to shift my focus outward onto my students. But it's a good lesson to remember: if you want to focus on helping other people, you need to already know what you're doing yourself.
