20240611 - Sensei Says
When I am in front of my group of students, even after all of this time, I spend a lot of time deferring to my teachers. “When I learned this movement from X-sensei, she showed me Y.” Or, “Z-sensei told this story once and I think it illustrates the point perfectly.”
To me, this goes back to the idea of living in a lineage of instruction. I refer back to my teachers because I didn’t make up any of this. I can – and do – trace the knowledge I teach back to the people I received it from. When I studied with those teachers, they referenced their own teachers as well.
As with everything, there’s a reason. I don’t constantly reference my teachers because I lack confidence in myself. (Just ask anyone who’s ever met me!) I reference them because I’m at the tail end of a lineage that gives me tremendous confidence. If anyone wants to understand me, they should look at the people who “made” me and judge me by how perfectly (or not) I lived up to the standards they set. I bring my teachers to the dojo for every class in one way or another, and I do my best to keep their lessons fresh by telling their stories.
I give credit because I’m proud of my teachers and I want my students to be proud as well. Maybe when they are teaching someday, they’ll be saying “sensei says” about something I said back in the day. Until then, my teachers will take center stage.
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