You and Your Martial Arts Instructor - Understand How the Relationship Changes

Your relationship with your instructor might not always be easy as you travel along the martial arts road.
 
It usually starts off fine. After all you chose someone you like and trust...right? And while you are a white or yellow belt your instructor generally encourages you and guides you gently in the right direction as your self confidence builds.
 
In time though, as the path gets steeper, you might find your instructor gets a bit tougher with you. They will usually be especially hard on you when they see you try to take the easy way out.

Believe me a good instructor knows what your body can do. (Training for 25 years or more teaches martial art masters a lot about the human body.) So when you think you can't do something. Your instructor might know that you can. 
 
Good instructors have taught me how high I can jump. Or how far I can stretch. Or how big a board I can break. In every case the end result was far higher, further or thicker than I ever dreamed I could achieve.

It's worth knowing that as you move up the belt system the teaching you get gradually changes. When you were a white belt you probably got spoon-fed and lots of praise and encouragement.
 
But as you work towards the senior grades you have to start taking more responsibility for your own training. You have to find your own motivation. And you have to start working out where the path is for yourself.
 
So when you're a blue belt don't expect praise from your instructor every time you do a great kick!

Resist the temptation to put your instructor on a pedestal or to make them your hero or idol. Sure respect them, and show them respect at all times.

But remember that your teacher is human. And because he or she is human, at some stage he or she will make a mistake. There is no such thing as a perfect human being.
 
Remember. Everyone can have a bad day. Everyone can judge a situation wrongly. Everyone can mess up. And instructors have outside lives too which can sometimes affect their day.
 
If you see your instructor as a great, but inevitably slightly flawed human being, then you can more easily accept their faults as an integral part of them.