When I was sixteen, I started practicing Kung-Fu. It was an instant obsession for me. Over the next ten years, I would train from between two to six hours a day. When I moved out to LA, I stopped training to focus on a variety of new art forms that caught my attention, but the lessons I learned while training in martial arts stuck with me, assisting me on my journey. I wanted to share some of those lessons with my fellow Steemers. Enjoy!
Check out my first post in this series: Principles and Techniques
Finding the Right Teacher for Anything
There’s an old adage: when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.
Over the years, I've heard a variety of interpretations of this saying, but I believe that a component to being a excellent student is questing for a great teacher.
Whenever I start training in anything new, these are the questions I ask myself when reviewing the prospective teachers:
Is this person both a teacher and a practitioner?
When I left for college, I wanted to continue my training, so I asked my Kung-Fu teacher, “how do I find another great teacher to train with?”
He replied, “Would you rather learn martial arts from the best martial arts teacher or the best martial artist? I’d take the teacher.”
An impactful lesson.
And it’s true for every art form. It's easy to get caught up in the idea that we’re “training with the best!”
And we’ll even pay top dollar for “the best” — but the best what? If the answer isn’t “teacher” you may not be getting your money’s worth.
We must remember that teaching is just as much an art form as the art form being taught. As a student, you're looking for someone who's most capable of passing on the knowledge they have to you, not someone who is simply skilled in the art form you want to learn.
Will I practice what they teach me?
If you’re not going to practice what they teach then what’s the point of going to class?
- Are the teacher’s lessons exciting to you?
- Are you motivated to work on them?
- Can you communicate with the teacher in a way that helps you solve problems with practice?
- Can the teacher provide you with different ways to practice if one method doesn’t work for you?
Remember, one of the teacher’s duties is to motivate you to practice, and to develop more effective and efficient ways to pass on the knowledge, but it’s your duty as a student to put those methods into practice as best you can. The eternal dance between student and teacher.
Does this teacher understand the principles of the art form?
The idea is pretty simple. Does this teacher understand the fundamental principles of the art form or are they simply passing on info without understanding why.
In all artforms, there are fundamental principles — from those principles spring an infinite number techniques. When you group those techniques together, you end up with a style.
Which means — all styles are rooted in the same universal principles. In the case of martial arts, there are universal principles of combat. The teacher should be aware of what those principles are, and how their techniques are connected to them.
For more on the principles and techniques check out my last post: Principle and Technique
Will this teacher be able to help me reach my particular goals with this artform?
Everybody is different, we all have different wants and needs when it comes to training. After you find out if the teacher understands the principles of the art form, and you recognize this person as someone who's methods you'll practice. Ask yourself what do you want out of this art form and will this teacher be able to help you achieve them?
What do I do if there aren't many options?
Sometimes we just don't have that many options, but still want to practice. In my next post, I'll teach you how you can take mediocre instruction and transform it into a powerful personal training regimen.
Thanks for reading!
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