“We rescue because it feels good,” Lahey says. Parents want to rescue their kids from everything, and so do instructors,… Read more Don’t Save: Teach
Tag: Taekwando
A Day in the Life of a Sensei
A Sensei is many things – janitor, nurse, counsellor, accountant, career guidance coach, wailing wall, mentor, caterer, event manager, teacher and role model. Even when we don’t want to be, we are always in a gi.
Late Bloomers Welcome
I got an email from a possible student the other day, asking if we offered adult classes, or if we… Read more Late Bloomers Welcome
The Launch of Martial Heart
It is with this in mind that I finally started an initiative that I have been thinking about for a long time. It is a small start, but I hope it will grow over time.
Vygotsky and the Sempai
Lev Vygotsky offers a way for us to understand the value of peer teaching, which appears in all good dojos around the world: the sempai-kouhai relationship.
How to look after your gi
They say the suit maketh the man, and while that’s a bit narrow, it is helpful to paraphrase it as the… Read more How to look after your gi
Returning to the Dojo
One missed class can easily become three. Three classes becomes a month. Then six. Then a year. And then there’s a day when you open your cupboard and there is your gi, hanging up and gathering dust. Waiting. (And silently judging you.)
Dear Adult Beginners: It Gets Better
But as an adult beginner, the constant corrections are overwhelming, and sometimes humiliating. It’s hard not to feel like a failure, and to think that no one else has ever been this bad at karate, or aikido, or judo, or whatever you choose to do. But you know what? There isn’t a senior who wasn’t a junior, and who doesn’t learn every day from the junior students they teach. You’re not slowing anyone down by asking for help.
Zojo Dojo 