The Takeaway Of The Takeaway
"You are a martial art teacher? 😮 You don't look it!" I got that from a lot people. Do martial art teachers have to LOOK a certain way? 👹? 👿? 💀? People really have notions about martial arts folks. This evening, a young lady accidentally popped into dojo. I took the opportunity to explain to her what Aikido was, gave her a brief demo and invited her to come try some time. She looked hesitant and skeptical. "Is there any real life benefit from learning this?" she asked. Although she only said one line, I still could not help hearing something implicit between the lines . . . . To my delight, like a choir, our students went, "YES!!!!" Of course, one expects to learn some nice moves and to become more agile after taking Aikido classes. However, as my teacher, Cottier Sensei, used to say, the goal is far beyond physical fighting skills. You learn compassion. You become a stronger, k...
