Fit the container

Recently, I have had an opportunity to take on some teaching responsibilities in my dojo. It has been a great practice, and I am still trying to figure out what "Sensei Rob's" style of teaching is like. However, what I am really enjoying is the practice of being a teacher and a student.

When I worked with the army cadets in my town, it was always interesting to watch the young bys and girls start to take on leadership roles. The very often reinvented themselves as a "leader", and in the process lost some of the skills and adaptivity that made them good followers. This is what is coming up for me in my practice these days.

Being able to switch from leader to followr or from teacher to student and back is not just a nifty parlour trick. It says a lot about where our mind is at. In fact, there is no switch. What I have come to find is that it simply a maturity that is free of ego and ready to enter the situation without pause. Characteristic of mind tells a good teacher it is time to move on to the next thing, is the smae charateristic that tells the student to grab Sensei's hakama and fold it. It is an action without gap.

Water takes on the shape of the container it is in. It fills the space and moment in the most appropriate way.

Do we?