19/08/2021
What kind of relationship do you have with your teacher/coach/trainer? Is it a dog-like relationship or a cat-like relationship?
Some teachers prefer their students to behave more like dogs. Dogs are very dependent on their masters, both for attention and other life necessities.
They follow their masters around and tell them how awesome they are, while providing them with unconditional love.
When their master leaves, dogs sit at home in anticipation for the master to come back.
Dogs must be dominated after which they can be trained. Cats on the other hand, are more independent. They can be left alone and explore their environment on their own. When they need attention or anything else, they are not afraid to seek it out.
When their owner leaves, cats find ways to occupy themselves until their return. Cats view their owners more like equals rather than superiors.
Cats can be trained but never dominated. Of course there's nothing wrong with either of these styles of leading or following, different people have success with different methods. This is just a basic analogy to some of the patterns I have seen in the communities I have been a part of.
My personal preference is the cat relationship. I prefer help students become independent thinkers and be able to understand their own learning process.
Students are encouraged to seek out different teachers, but the true value is the self-exploration in developing the concepts they learned. I never try to put myself up on the pedestal, I am just as much a student as anyone who takes my class. I actually learn as
much from teaching a class as the participants do. Next time you're taking or teaching a class... remember the dog/ cat relationship and how it applies.
-Yuri Marmerstein
