Next week, I will be taking sixteen high school students with me to the Lake Tahoe area to conduct our school’s black belt test. Three of them are eligible for promotion; the others are there to participate alongside them in support while we embark on a grand training adventure together - we call it our Week Without Walls.
May 26th, 2012
Duty and Justice
During Epic’s recent week of black belt testing, I had many thoughtful conversations with my students on numerous subjects, ranging from personal reflections all the way to sensitive topics normally not reserved for polite conversation.
Throughout our discussions, I found myself in the position of serving as a model for open-mindedness and balanced perspectives as my students asserted themselves, often playing the role of devil’s advocate, mediator, and facilitator as they explored their gut feelings on various real-life issues in a remarkably mature and sophisticated debate.
April 10th, 2012
Breaking the Rules
Although I connect with friends, family, coworkers, and students on Facebook and other social media sites, my own news feed isn’t very social at all.
In many ways, it resembles an online learning center, customized with the various pages that I’ve “liked”, influential people whose work I follow, and the work of people that I respect and admire. My ‘voice’, both online and in-person, often takes on similar themes, as their ideas inevitably have an effect on my own; however, sometimes I encounter friends who feel that “I’m not using Facebook properly” - but it’s not that I’m really breaking the rules. I’m just not operating within their set of expectations.
I do the same thing with my martial arts practice.
March 19th, 2012
Living Symbols
As a young student in the arts, I practiced for hours and hours in order to have the privilege of having a piece of black electrical tape wrapped onto the end of my belt from my teacher.
It was the hardest I had ever worked for a piece of tape in my life, even harder than I worked for stickers and tickets in elementary school!
I remember eagerly walking up to the bulletin board at the studio the week after every test, where the results would be displayed and everyone would be able to see the carefully-typewritten names (remember typewriters?) of all the people who had been promoted to new ranks.
All of this for a piece of tape.
Of course, it was never about tape.
February 25th, 2012
Revision and Re-Visioning
The summer of 2012 will mark my 21st year as a teacher of the martial arts. As my 20th year begins to close, I find myself pausing to reflect on where I’ve been and where I’m going.
A lot of things can happen in 20 years.
And as I look back on where I’ve been and examine where I’m headed, I realize more and more that I am not the teacher that I thought I would be at this age.
December 28th, 2011
Taking Calculated Risks
I am a risk-taker.
I am comfortable with degrees of uncertainty that frighten most people.
I have faith that things will work out in the end.
I believe in my ability to find solutions and get things done.
I create certainties out of uncertainty by getting things done.
In my head, those certainties transform initial risk-fear into present-mindfulness.
If I seem fearless or impulsive, it isn’t recklessness.
It is the confidence produced by the unity of careful thought and action.
It is why I succeed where others fear to begin.
October 10th, 2011
Tell Your Story
Every black belt’s journey is a story.
So is the quest for mastery.
And the pursuit of a championship, or the reinvention of your life, or the search for deeper meaning, or building a tighter family, or seeking forgiveness and atonement… all stories too.
Every life is a story.
September 11th, 2011
The Opposite of Fear
Each of us hides a secret fear.
From this viewpoint, fear surrounds us. It is ever-present: a paralyzing force in some, an inhibiting force for others, an excuse for several, a reason for recklessness in a few - but a function of awareness for all.
Fear is a healthy thing to own. As Gavin de Becker would say, fear is a gift - the guardian that warns you of hazards and guides you through risky situations. It is the feeling that speaks to you during those times when you may be caught unprepared and off-guard.
Therefore, in order to counter it, in order to quell the fear and replace it with its traditional counterpart, courage - what we must do is PREPARE.
August 18th, 2011
Handling Nightmares
In my dreams, things don’t always work out quite right.
Sometimes an innocent, everyday situation goes horribly wrong. Other times, I make the wrong move, or say the wrong thing in a critical moment…and I must act.
July 6th, 2011
Immersion
If you’re going to learn how to swim, you need to get in the water.
The same idea applies to growth. If you want it, you must embrace it.
From the moment that I first joined the UBBT, I have strived to immerse myself into the process - a journey which has resulted in numerous personal and professional evolutions. Those milestones and personal victories, came about from a deep focus on improving the world, beginning with myself as the catalyst for change, and radiating outward to others through the strength of my convictions, the work I do with others, and the combined efforts of our collective work in the community in-person and digitally.
June 23rd, 2011
The Garage
One of my mentors, KJN Jim Buhisan, is fond of telling me stories about “the garage days” of the 70s, when he first began teaching. Shortly after the turn of the millennium, when I began following my own path in the arts, we sat down and talked about what I would do. While I might have the words mixed up, the main advice that I took away was to start small and work with people first and foremost, not numbers.
“Every master teacher goes through the garage phase,” I remember him saying with a smile, recalling faces and workouts from years past, “and if they’re fortunate enough to grow beyond it, they bring the best parts of those days with them.”
May 12th, 2011
May 10th, 2011
Death and Rebirth
Why am I dying to live, when I’m just living to die?
~Tupac Shakur
The dead walk among us. For a long time, I was one of them.
We walk hand-in-hand with death every day, advancing ever closer to the inevitable. That much is certain, but the real tragedy happens when you allow your spirit to die while we are still alive….
April 14th, 2011
Tom Callos: Black Belts Working in The Black Belt of Alabama (a Wrap-up and Thanks)
I recently returned from an amazing trip to Alabama with members of the UBBT and The 100, headed by my teacher, Tom Callos. Check out what he had to say about the work….I’m still speechless. :)
(And thank you, sir!)
Alabama Project Update / Wrap Up
In 2002 I read about a teacher, Samuel Mockbee, who was doing extraordinary things with —and through —his students. This interested me, as I too wanted to be a teacher who could do extraordinary things with —and through —his students.
It came to…
(Source: the100.us)
April 3rd, 2011
The Supererogatory Black Belt
As a member of The Ultimate Black Belt Test, my teammates and I are, in part, working to redefine the role and function of the martial artist in today’s world through our continued journeys towards mastery.
Some of this may be achieved through a greater depth of practice, beyond style, system, politics, and preconceived and/or ingrained ideas about what a black belt is and what we are supposed to do.
March 29th, 2011
Affirm A Firm Commitment
Do not mistake desire for commitment.
Desire whispers ‘I want’.
Commitment says ‘I will’.
Some people find commitment to be a frightening word, but they’re really just afraid of failure.
