What's next?

It takes a great deal of patience to train in martial arts. It seems that as a student, one is always waiting for the next big thing. As beginners, students have to learn the basics before they can begin to learn the "cool" techniques. Once students reach the intermediate stages of training, they can begin to explore the more complicated aspects of the art, but they absolutely must continue to practice the fundamentals regularly to achieve a level of relative expertise. When students finally find themselves at the advanced levels of training they can focus more on the elaborate and complex techniques that inspired them to train in the first place (Of course, a student should ALWAYS continue to practice basics). Through each of these stages of training, students must practice a certain amount of patience. It can be frustrating but one reason they continue is that there is always something new on the horizon; something to look forward to. But what about students that have trained for 10, 15, 20 years? What motivation do they have to continue training?

The most profound learning comes through teaching.

While you'll never run out of new techniques and concepts to learn as you progress through your training, there comes a time when you will practice what you know more often than learn something new. There are effective ways to keep your training fresh such as cross-training or seeking alternate applications for established techniques. Of course, practicing what you already know is important and the path to continuous improvement. But beyond that, ask any instructor and they'll tell you that sharing the art through teaching can have the most profound impact on your growth as an advanced practitioner.

Teaching forces the advanced martial artist to take a different perspective on techniques. Instructors must be aware of every detail in order to help students learn. Moreover, instructors must find different ways to teach the same technique based on the needs and learning style of an individual student. Throughout the course of developing a teaching style, the instructors gain intimate knowledge of the various techniques, which in turn leads to improvement in their own skills. Sharing the art is the pinnacle of martial arts training. In essence, teaching is the highest level of learning.

Whether or not you continue training for 10 years, 20 years or for your entire life is entirely up to you. Once you have reached that level of experience, it's also up to you to make the commitment to share the art. The most profound learning comes through teaching.