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The Power Trip: How to Survive and Thrive in the Dojo
Many students have little knowledge of what to
expect or how to increase motivation, retention, and rate of
learning when first signing up to study the martial arts. You are
left in the hands of an instructor who is often a student himself,
not a teacher by profession, and who has little or no knowledge of
the learning process or the psychology of teaching. As a result, the
instructor simply states the facts—this is the name of the
technique, and this is how it is done—without considering why the
technique is done, the concepts behind it, and how to tailor it to
fit your individual traits.
Learning the facts, or learning the mechanics of a
technique, is the first stage of learning. But if you fail to go
beyond rote memorization, you are unlikely to gain proficiency even
in the simplest techniques. To understand this idea better, I like
to use the analogy of the martial artist and the historian. The
historian does not merely memorize battle dates and names of great
generals. He or she studies with the intent of uncovering the
underlying currents that shaped those events and learn from them.
The same is true when learning the martial arts. Whether learning
from a book or through hands-on experience, the underlying currents
help you understand why a technique or concept is important. For
example, a recent article about self-defense for the street stated,
“No matter how scared you are, don’t let your emotions show.”
The fact is, “Don’t let your emotions show.” While it is easy to
agree with this statement, theoretical knowledge of the fact does
not make you proficient at performing or understanding the
technique. When confronted with life and death, just how do
you learn not to let your emotions show?
As students of the martial arts, we often go to
the training hall without considering exactly what we can do to
further our learning. The glory is in performing our art and not in
pondering the learning process. The purpose of The Power Trip series
is to educate you about the science of learning, instill confidence
through familiarization with and recognition of a multitude of
scenarios, and give you the power to act when you encounter specific
problems. It is about making your education more profitable by
showing you why rather than what to learn, and showing
you how to teamwork with your instructor and peers even when your
instructor and peers are uneducated about the learning process and
cause you “problems.” The Power Trip series will give you the power
to survive and thrive in the Dojo, by showing you how to recognize
and counter situations when your instructor or peers are sitting on
their “high horses” ready to go on a power trip that can prove to be
more than a nuisance to you.
Furthermore, by looking at different situations
from both the student’s and instructor’s viewpoint, you will learn
about the many difficulties the instructor faces. The insights you
gain will help you appreciate the instruction more and give you
options for a mutually productive learning experience. You will
learn how to turn a mediocre training session into an advantage,
where everything your instructor and peers say and do is used for
your gain.
As you continue deeper into your training remember
that, although it is your instructor’s responsibility to help you
progress in the martial arts, it is equally much your responsibility
to help your instructor pave the way for good learning to take
place. I once overheard a conversation between two ladies discussing
how much fun it was going back to college years after graduating
from high school. One lady said that she didn’t understand why the
youngsters don’t want to go to school, when you “just sit there and
get spoon fed.” But learning is a two-way street and often not as
simple as taking in what is fed to you. Your instructor, no matter
how talented, is only half of the learning process. Although you
can’t do much about your instructor’s teaching methods, you do have
considerable control over how you approach the lessons. The Power
Trip series will show you how to extract the information that your
instructor and peers possess but don’t necessarily know how to
express, so that next time you go to class you can meet your
instructor halfway and contribute with the missing half that makes
the learning process whole.
