Permission

From Sensei to Student.

• You have permission to defend yourself.
• You have permission to be rude.
• You have permission to survive, no matter what it takes.
• You have permission to act when the scary man reaches for his belt. You do not need to wait until he draws the weapon or until he points it at your, or until he hurts you. You have permission to beat me, even it I wear a black belt.
• You have permission to become better than the best instructor you ever had.
• You have permission to invent something better than I ever taught you, permission to use it in my class, permission to use it to defeat me, and permission to teach it to your students.
• You have blanket permission to grow and live and survive and fight and run and scream and talk and play and laugh and learn and experiment and sing and dance. You have permission to win, and you have permission to decide what winning is.
• You have permission to act.
• You have permission to be amazing!

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Adapted from Rory Miller's Meditations on Violence: A comparison of Martial Arts Training & Real World Violence, 2008.