Teachers of Life

At Millennium Martial Arts, our instructors come from all walks of life – Finance, Sales, Speech Pathologist/Teachers, Technology, Real Estate, Business owners, and more. We have men, women, young adults, and each brings their own experiences and personalities to the karate dojo floor. This has the wonderful effect of exposing our students to different means to the same end. The Smithtown Martial Arts dojo is an innovative melting pot where the teachers learn from each other and from the students. The Japanese phrase “oni gai shimasu,” or “show me the way”, is said by the teacher to the students and by the students to the teachers to remind everyone that we are all at the dojo to learn and benefit from one another’s experiences.

A little while ago, a dojo family came back from vacation and presented us with the jar of rocks and sand (shown here) that they had collected while on vacation. Written on the top rock was the kanji for “Teachers of Life,” a phrase that this particular parent had used when describing the dojo in the past. This is a treasured object at the Smithtown Martial Arts dojo and it reminds us on a daily basis about how important and lasting our teaching can be when done right, and thus, how important it is to continue striving for perfection toward that end.