OOT advice needed

[Al_Capone_Junior]

I chose my first dojo because I liked the sensei. I kept at it until I finally moved away.

When I got to my new location, the style was a little different, but basically it was the same stuff. I shopped around, not for dojos, but for senseis (the exact style wasn't that important to me, just the atmosphere of the dojo).

The first was was a real hardass who thought that broken bones and knockouts at the hands of a far more experienced fighter were "standard procedure." Most of his students were real badassess who should have learned a lot more about the true philosophy of martial arts, instead of just how to fight.

Another thought that while you should fight people who were better than you, that you shouldn't have to be subjected to unreasonable odds against you, unreasonable treatment, unreasonable physical danger, unreasonable physical stress or trauma, or anything at all unreasonable. Challenges, yes, but ridiculousness, no. It wasn't hard to choose. This guy's dojo totally kicked ass too.

Change NOW. You've earned the belt, it's yours. Search around for a new sensei and dojo. Any sensei that isn't willing to listen to an opinion or concern of a student is questionable as a sensei in the first place. My feeling is that martial arts are more about development of the whole person than just the physical skills of kicking someone's ass to make yourself feel like a big man.

al