Should you train when you're feeling under the weather?

This is actually a trick question. When I first began my training (the first 3 years) -- I would come down with the occassional cold, or feel extra tired one day, or have a fever, or feel sore, or [add what ever else you can think of as an excuse for not going to class].

I remember I would ask my Sensei if he thought I should still attend class. His answer was always the same. "I'm always in class. But it's up to you." I am a slow learner, and not a very good student -- so I obviously asked the question more than once. People often do this until they hear the answer they want to hear.

I understood from his asnwer -- that yes, I should be in class. The funny thing is that every time I was feeling under the weather for any reason -- and had to drag myself to class -- I always felt better during and afterwards -- fever or no fever. sprained ankle or no sprained ankle. Special things happen when you step into the dojo -- what ever was wrong kinda dissapears -- you have no choice but to train. Somehow your body understands that -- and puts everything in line. The lesson was to work through whatever was going on -- to learn to control your body and your mind.

The other lesson from his answer, that I didn't realize until many years later -- was that he was always in the dojo -- whether he was sick, injured, tired, whether the entire town was flooded and the roads closed, etc. He always showed up to teach us -- no excuses. no questions. If he was willing to do that for us -- we should be willing to show up to learn -- no matter what. You will always learn something if you are open -- even if the lesson is how to conserve your energy while training.

I recently had a new student ask me if they should show up for training after they had incurred a broken ankle (not a result of training). What do you think my answer was?

If you have a broken body part -- it doesn't mean you have to physically train, but you can always show up to take notes and watch -- you're still learning and training your mind.