Every year my first teacher closed the dojo over the winter holidays for 2 weeks. During that time we cleaned the space down to the bone. One year he discovered termites on the floor under the mats. He was old school all the way so decided we, the students, would replace the floor. It was a disaster. Despite our best efforts, the floor was not even close to level. We ripped it out, we tried again. We struggled and failed over and over again. We all wondered why he didn’t just hire it done. On the contrary, he took the opportunity to do further remodeling, more repairs, new paint and so on.
After five tries, the floor was level. Our new mats arrived: gorgeous green tatami ordered and delivered from France. We had a new tile floor in the back room where all the exercise equipment was, and our teacher even purchased a couple of new pieces of equipment for us. There was not a nail hole or crack that remained unfilled, sanded and painted. In fact, there was new paint throughout, the main practice room was a beautiful calming blue. It looked amazing! The dojo had been closed for a total of 3 months.
During that time about 1/2 of us students came to the dojo during regular class times (and more as we could). Of course, we didn't practice Judo. Instead we worked on the dojo. 1/2 of the other students took off and rented a place to practice Judo, but never helped with the dojo work. I had not been a student for long, only a couple years and I was worried my technique would have certainly deteriorated. My sensei, a man of few words said, "don't worry, just wait and see." When the dojo re-opened, everyone came back. We put on our uniforms and let it rip. To my utter surprise, my technique had improved exponentially. So it also was for each of us who worked on the dojo for those three months. You guessed it by now I'm certain. Those who trained but didn't work on the dojo themselves had deteriorated considerably. After a few weeks they left.
I have been thinking a lot about this experience over these past couple of weeks of teaching classes online. Like the termites did, this virus stopped our familiar patterns and ways of being in it tracks. In an instant our practice life, our entire life, is different. And yet, from my living room to yours, we are staying in our dojo and working. We are not "waiting" for “it” to be over and “go back to normal.” What we learn from making this conscious choice to stay with it, is profound. We learn how quickly we adapt and adjust. We find ways of continuing. We find how meaningful our practice and our practice friends are to us. We find the true dojo is not attached to a physical space. It is in us.
We are certainly learning this lesson throughout our lives right now. For us personally, in our communities and throughout our world we have this same choice. To adapt and stay or to leave and wait for “it” to be over. The benefit of adapting is immense creativity is unleashed. We learn about ourselves, each other and the world in ways we never saw coming. These are experiences that will stay with us, give us skills and benefit us and the world long past the time this pandemic has been written about in the history books. The problem with waiting is this: the dojo, our world, our life will never be the same. It will be completely transformed. When we return after “it” is over, looking for what was, it won’t be there. The new will already be in place. The remodeling this virus is forcing was not our choice, but here it is. If we stay on the training floor through it, wherever and whatever that training floor is to each of us, our skills will increase exponentially in ways we cannot yet know.