![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Once again, it has been proven to me that I have some of the best students anywhere.
Even those who've never been involved in the martial arts know that respect is a major element of what we do. What most of them may not realize is that in any good school, there is a HUGE amount of trust among the people there.
When it was time to start class tonight, I was still busy discussing things off to one side with someone who had come in, so I had one of my senior students (Joseph) take over the beginner-student section of class until I could join them. He did his usual fine job, like I knew he would.
I trust Joe. He has been with me for a couple of years now, and has EARNED that trust, some might say he's earned it the hard way. Regardless, he HAS earned it, and I made sure to thank him in front of the group, and to make sure that they knew that he had my trust as well. (i.e. yes, listen to what he tells you, I don't care that he's not a black belt -- he still knows what he's talking about!)
Later in the evening, I demonstrated something that I don't do all that often -- I knocked Joe out, completely. We usually stop at the point of making someone light-headed, or making their knees go weak, but not this time. Joe knew what was coming, and showed a huge amount of trust in me to calmly go through the technique with me. He trusted me to have sufficient control over my technique, to have sufficient knowledge that I wouldn't be doing him lasting harm, and sufficient skill to wake him back up again afterwards.
In our organization, it's easy to get almost blase about knocking someone out -- but we shouldn't. This person is placing themselves completely into our hands, and they need to know that when it comes to being in good hands, we make Allstate look like a bunch of fumble-fingered idiots... because we HAVE to be at that level, for the sake of our students.
Even better? One of the new students saw that trust, recognized it, and we discussed it a bit after I resuscitated Joe.
Those would have been enough to really make my night, but my night wasn't over yet.
I recently held a 2-day qigong workshop. (If you don't know what qigong is, the simplest explanation is that it is a series of exercises for health and longevity.) One of my Kempo students also took the workshop, and he posted a message to the public board for our qigong organization that ... well, let's just say that any teacher would be very happy to hear such things from one of their students.
To all of my students -- who are also among my greatest teachers:
You guys ROCK, and you make me both thrilled and humbled to have you in my classes.
Thank you, one and all.
Even those who've never been involved in the martial arts know that respect is a major element of what we do. What most of them may not realize is that in any good school, there is a HUGE amount of trust among the people there.
When it was time to start class tonight, I was still busy discussing things off to one side with someone who had come in, so I had one of my senior students (Joseph) take over the beginner-student section of class until I could join them. He did his usual fine job, like I knew he would.
I trust Joe. He has been with me for a couple of years now, and has EARNED that trust, some might say he's earned it the hard way. Regardless, he HAS earned it, and I made sure to thank him in front of the group, and to make sure that they knew that he had my trust as well. (i.e. yes, listen to what he tells you, I don't care that he's not a black belt -- he still knows what he's talking about!)
Later in the evening, I demonstrated something that I don't do all that often -- I knocked Joe out, completely. We usually stop at the point of making someone light-headed, or making their knees go weak, but not this time. Joe knew what was coming, and showed a huge amount of trust in me to calmly go through the technique with me. He trusted me to have sufficient control over my technique, to have sufficient knowledge that I wouldn't be doing him lasting harm, and sufficient skill to wake him back up again afterwards.
In our organization, it's easy to get almost blase about knocking someone out -- but we shouldn't. This person is placing themselves completely into our hands, and they need to know that when it comes to being in good hands, we make Allstate look like a bunch of fumble-fingered idiots... because we HAVE to be at that level, for the sake of our students.
Even better? One of the new students saw that trust, recognized it, and we discussed it a bit after I resuscitated Joe.
Those would have been enough to really make my night, but my night wasn't over yet.
I recently held a 2-day qigong workshop. (If you don't know what qigong is, the simplest explanation is that it is a series of exercises for health and longevity.) One of my Kempo students also took the workshop, and he posted a message to the public board for our qigong organization that ... well, let's just say that any teacher would be very happy to hear such things from one of their students.
To all of my students -- who are also among my greatest teachers:
You guys ROCK, and you make me both thrilled and humbled to have you in my classes.
Thank you, one and all.
no subject
no subject