What does this mean when one of my sensei in karate class smiled at me?

You see we were doing this punching in class.i keep screwing up and one of the senseis in that school smiled at me.I got back n keep punching the thing u use in training martial arts in da ground.so my question is,is he lyk thinking im doing the technique wrong?is he lyk gonna laugh?|||Well if you saw him smiling at you then you must have been looking at him right? And he was looking at you? Then it%26#039;s just a courtesy. Like nodding or bowing or waving. Just being nice, acknowledging you.|||Instructors do smile sometimes. If I had to walk around with a sour, serious look on my face all the time in class I daresay it would not be very enjoyable for my students. Perhaps he was noticing how hard you are working and trying. Good effort even if you are doing something not quite right is a good thing and that may have made him happy. Perhaps he was just smiling for other reasons.





I have seen some students be to serious and not have a healthy perspective on things. Then when something does not go quite like it should they have a harder time dealing with it. I currently have such a talented and gifted eight year old like that and when he does not do something to his satisfaction he gets upset and emotional. I have finally after six months got him to realize to try and keep things on a positive course. That among other things includes even laughing at yourself and your mistakes sometimes and resolving to get better and fix whatever it is you are not doing correctly but to keep his perspective emotionally. To get so emotionally upset will just make his study of martial arts very painful and even possibly make him quit.





So a smile or even a little humor in a martial arts class is not a bad thing as it can help make for a more enjoyable class and can even help students to work harder by giving them a little break and respite when they need it. It has to be carefully monitored by the instructor and at the proper time he/she will bring them back into a serious state to better focus and renew their efforts. |||as you say you %26quot;keep screwing up%26quot; he may have smiled in respect to your heart, you not giving up but rather doing your best. you might be surprised how many students make a mistake and say %26quot;I can%26#039;t%26quot; you did not do that from what we can read|||Probably %26quot;keep on practicing... you will eventually get the hang of it.%26quot;





Maybe even: %26quot;That%26#039;s just how I did it when I first started.%26quot;





A sensei is supposed to watch you, so don%26#039;t get paranoid.