Social stuff that reaches beyond class

My last post gives so little of the totality of social interaction, that I figure I should give a little more. There's no way to share it all, online. Online social interactions among martial artists, while interesting and important, are nothing like real-life interactions.

Anyway, for all the students who've been working a while, and many of the new students, when we leave class, we continue to feel connected. I think part of this is from helping each other so much. Part of it is from sharing an obsession. :) Part is that we always have such a good time when together, both on the mat and off.

A big part of it is testing. We have pretty tough tests, that push the students' endurance and ability to focus and persevere. Tougher is better come test time. This also builds bonds, as we all stagger out, sweating and aching, and feeling like we've done something meaningful, something powerful, and we've done it together. When I'm running the test, I get frustrated, because I can't be out there working with them. I find myself pacing and walking all over the floor, dodging strikes as I evaluate them. In those cases, we all still feel bonded even though I'm not sweating like they are. This is partly because I participated as instructor, and partly because of a sense of shared experience because they know I've been there, done that, and will do it again for my instructor when it's my turn to test.

-- SGB