dojo spirit

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[Paula Lydon]

~~What is at the heart of dojo spirit and comradery? Is it a needed part of any dojo? What extinguishes it, and how can it be rekindled?

Any thoughts, please :ai: :ki:

[indomaresa]

nice thread paula

it's somehing that's been on my mind as well

like any other activity group, for any comradery to occur, people should genuinely respect each other first, and then extend the interactions to activities beyond regular training.

but the heart of dojo spirit in my experience is 1. sensei's personality and 2. the sempais' personalities. A warm, respected and caring sensei will be an automatic magnet that keeps the dojo spirit alive. The sempais are like semi-conductors to that effect.

I think if the two factors are favorable, everything will move smoothly from there.

As for whether it's needed or not, some will argue otherwise, but I can't live without it.

What extinguishes it? ... maybe the loss one or both factors above and aikido jerks ( you know what I mean )

ciao,

[Nick Simpson]

I have to agree with you both, excellent topic Paula and right on Maresa, It's the personalities and attitudes of the sensei and students that create the environment we train in. If they have bad personalities then that creates a bad environment, if the sensei is excessively brutal then many of his students will also be and then you have a fearful environment.

When I first visited my dojo I was amazed by the comaradery and friendship between the students and sensei. Hearing the sensei use a joke to illustrate a point on self defense and then hearing laughter on the mat also seemed a far cry from my memories of karate as a child. Because of this and of course the fascinating things they were doing, I knew then that I wanted to train with these people and Im so glad that I did and still do, I love my dojo and my dojo-mates, they are my second home and family.

I suppose a lot of factors could extinguish the spirit of a dojo, perhaps losing a sensei or a sempai, or if a prominent member of the dojo is going through some personal troubles. Perhaps if some students attitudes change and challenge the status Quo. Sometimes it would be up to the sensei to rekindle it/fix the situation, sometimes not? I would suppose it's up to everyone who cares about the dojo, I know if anything happened to extinguish the spirit of our dojo, that we would do everything in our power to rekindle it. We've come through some rough times recently, but we are stronger than ever :)

[Nick Simpson]

Wow, I think I killed this thread with my soppy sentiment :P

[indomaresa]

:)

I think it's because there's nothing left to say.

paula, did you have any problem with your dojo's spirit?

Call the ghostbusters

:)

[Paula Lydon]

~~HA! HA! Ghostbusters--good one, Maresa! Perhaps it's just the size of my dojo coming up again and logistically we're too large to do things together; people get splintered into smaller groups; these people don't talk to or work with those people.

Don't get me wrong; every now and then people will go out, but usually the same 'ol people. Maybe it's like a large village instead of a family unit; people will tend to break up into their own family units and have little to do with others. And, yes, neither of my instructors seem particularily outgoing or into bonding the group into a whole--just their personalities, I guess. When something large or tramatic occurs we pull together quite well, so perhaps dojo spirit is there but on a subtle level. Still, there are these folks who feel disassociated from those folks and I wish there was a way to meld/reconcile that sort of thing.

Thank you both for your input, much appreciated :)