I love the phrasing of it as a "thinking art!" I think I started thinking about this question because I wanted to know how I could become a better training partner (aside from just more time/knowledge/skill/etc.). I feel so lucky to have had so many awesome training partners, and I want to be able to be that for them and others. But the more I think about it and reading everyone's responses, it's really helpful for framing how to choose training partners, which is also something I need to be more intentional and improve on. 

I love when Thomas says "let's play." It's easy to get really serious when we are training to choke people lol. 

It definitely seems like trust is a part of everyone's answer in some way or another! I think it's so special to be able to practice trusting and building trust with people on such a consistent basis. There's not many other places/activities where we can do that. 

I love being able to have conversations too. Especially since half the time I'm not even focused on "getting better," I just feel lucky to be there that day getting to spend time with cool folks. I really admire the people who can sustain their motivation with just wanting to get better, but for me it's more often the cool people and trying something fun/silly/dumb that makes me able to "just keep showing up."

Being able to help me without making me feel stupid is a big one! There are lots of opportunities to be humble which is cool, but I learn so much more when I can salvage some confidence at the same time. 

It's always helpful to me when people have a submission like 80% there but they pause so I can try to escape. That way it's a lot less likely that I get hurt (or hurt my training partner) if I try to wiggle out of something the wrong way. And because it's funny to pause and appreciate the moment where my training partner could break/hurt/choke me lol but we just laugh instead.

I definitely have to say "I don't know what to do from here" more often! 

I really like the idea of give and take. I feel really grateful when I am learning and receiving so much from my training partners, and it's such a gift to have so many folks willing to help this way. But I will never forget the times and the people that I feel like I was able to give back to as well. I know so little, so even if it's just something I did unintentionally (or maybe sometimes people are just being nice lol), it feels really special and really sticks with me.