Nervous can not explain how I felt during my 3rd brown test.

No matter how much I learn and grow in my training, I always feel like I’m still at the beginning. Not in a negative down on myself way but rather an acknowledgement that I have so much more to learn.

I have been very fortunate to have been positioned at a dojo where the people I work with and have worked with; my fellow instructors and our students- have a real passion for learning martial-arts. That in and of itself is motivation to keep pushing on, inching ever closer to that coveted black belt. But I know in many ways black belt is the beginning of your training. At least that’s what have gathered from those around me who have earned theirs already.

I’ve seen only a handful of black belt tests at our schools. Two were instructors and one was a student. Material wise I’m almost there but I know within my heart of hearts that I’m not even close to being a black belt. In fact I choose to consider myself the forever white belt-that is until my instructor says that I’m ready to test.

Good for me that I have plenty of time.

Not only is there material that one needs but there is an understanding, mentally of what it means to be a black belt. It’s just as much a marker of ones maturity and growth in the martial-arts as it is physical ability and understanding and application of advanced techniques or the performing of kata. Speaking of kata, I’m having a blast with Skylight Staff, what an awesome kata. You really get how to actually use a staff in self-defense. Much more so than Darkroom Staff.

Of course I could be all wrong, I’m just an outside observer at this point. But seeing the other black belts around me and how they carry themselves and how they represent the art says a lot. It surely isn’t as simple as performing a bunch of arbitrary tasks that have little to nothing to do with martial-arts. And I certainly wouldn’t just go get a belt online or something like that (like some people I know of). It is something that you have work for. You may fool others by cheating, but you can’t fool yourself. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing I was faking it.

I draw a lot of inspiration from those who are lower ranking than I as well. After all, we’re all on the same team so we should all support each other. We travel along the same path, it’s just that I’m further up the road than they are, but I’ve been there. Therefore it is inherit upon me to make sure that I watch out for those coming up from where I’ve been. Plus it’s always good training to practice things you’ve already learned. Just because you’ve passed a belt doesn’t mean you stop practicing it. All those techniques are designed to be built upon. If you stop honing your basic and intermediate material, then what are you truly gaining? I’ve been training for only a few short years but even as far as I’ve come, I still go back and find things new that I didn’t think about before (or different contexts rather) that help me in teaching. By working with so many different people, it forces you to understand and explain things in a variety of ways because you have to be able to adapt to the ever changing nature of people.

Either way I’m having a blast. I don’t stress getting to my black belt because I’m having too much fun enjoying the ride there. It’s almost as if I don’t want to get there in some ways because there’s so much to learn right where I’m at. I liken it to your junior year of high school. You’re so close you can almost reach out and grab it, but you’re not a senior yet. I have a feeling that like being a senior, once you get there you see just how far you really were and just how far you’ve come.

Thanks for reading and have a blessed day.