Many martial artists learning capacity has an expiry date. They get what they want or need from a teacher or system and some stop progressing at that point or move on to someone or something else.

It’s a hard pill for some teachers to swallow as they feel discarded and that the work they put into that person was wasted but that’s not true.

If the student stops learning at that point they’ve reached capacity, but the teacher’s contribution still have added value to their life.

Others have got what they wanted or needed from one teacher and now need to further their studies elsewhere, the teacher needs to realise that doesn’t invalidate their teaching and that we’re all different and need different pieces of the martial jigsaw to build our own picture. It’s good to contribute pieces to that puzzle.

Giri (loyalty) is to give love and respect to our teachers and for the teacher to return it to the student. It’s a bond that transcends, each has a piece of the other for life. When I hear disrespect from either side it saddens me that the person giving it has not understood that the expiry date was not necessarily a ‘fault’ of either party but simply a natural fork in the road for both.

To give credit to what you have learned from whom is that act of love and respect. To be happy for those that you’ve taught and to still be a part of who they are now wherever they are is to be a real teacher who understands the deeper aspect of ‘giri’.
By Steve Rowe