Spirit At Choice

It's hearsay, to be honest. But right now there are only two black belts at our dojo (five if you count the three family members who own/run the school). I'll hazard a guess that there are 30 - 40 adults and teens enrolled. We have a whole slew of brown belts right now. I'll be interested to see how many of them actively train after they have the Holy Grail of Martial Arts wrapped around their waists.

A similar topic came up at the dojo last night. Our senseis try not to invite students to test unless they are confident the student is ready. But tests change how a student performs, just due to the nature of the testing situation, and some people underperform or just crumble emotionally. It's not just physical skill that gets tested. With each new rank, the test gets longer by about half an hour, so endurance can be tested as well. But also, the instructors get tougher and tougher. If they feel like a student (especially youngsters) are performing techniques well, and have good stamina, but aren't mature enough, they will lay it on in the stress department. I've seen some adults get emotional during testing. Any sort of defeatism ("I can't" "It's too hard" "I'm getting confused") will disqualify a student for that test. I don't object to kids getting black belts if they have the technique, endurance AND maturity. I know our ranking system is designed to help kids feel successful while giving them lots of time to grow up, too. If a kid started karate at age six, and tested (and passed) every three months (on average), she'd be 11 by the time she got her black belt. That would have to be one dedicated kid. It seems unlikely in the extreme. Especially since rank tests seem to have more and more time between them the higher you go. Here's our belts system. (I'm new at this, so I hope I've got this right...) Pre-Karate (3 - 5 yo) White belt with numerous stripes of the rainbow can be earned Kid's Karate (Under 13 yo) White White + 1 yellow stripe White + 2 yellow stripes Yellow Yellow +1 purple stripe Yellow + 2 purple stripes Purple Purple + 1 blue stripe Purple + 2 blue stripes Blue Blue + 1 green stripe Blue + 2 green stripes Green Green + 1 brown stripe Green + 2 brown stripes Brown Brown + 1 black stripe Brown + 2 black stripes Black Adult Karate uses the same stripe system, but has only White, Green, Brown, Black.

Oh, yeah... if they just switched shchools, is there any chance they just stopped feeling challenged at your dojang?

Did they quite the discipline, or did they just quit that school. Black belts are the highest drop-out rate of all ranks. For some people that bb is held as this magnificent goal, and when they get there they lose their drive because they feel like they've reached the pinnacle of the mountain. That's one reason why I try to look at every step of the journey. If I were to look at the black belt as being the end, the high point, there would be sort of a let down when I get there... like, what now??? I find it's better to train for the love of training and let my teachers worry about my rank.

Are you accusing our schools of sexism??? Surely not! I should have added that she reported the incident to our sensei (which is how I heard of it) and was told, "You go, girl." In a way I admire the girl, and in a way I have to wonder if physical force was reallly called for. I tend to wait until it's too late even when I get a hinky feeling off of someone (so I freely admit to having been victimized simply because I didn't follow my instincts and strike or run soon enough). But, since the boy had been being a jerk for quite a while, yet never laid a hand on her... I just wonder... What is a reasonable response to perceived threats? He waylayed her in a crowded lunchroom and goaded her to fight him, but he never touched her. In the adult world had a similar thing happened to me I would never have hit him. I'd have tried the cops or administration if it were work related. Is it really ok to hit someone for not letting you pass?

I'll agree that the public schools' "zero tolerance" policy makes it hard for students to defend themselves physically. There definitely needs to be an accounting when fists fly, but I don't think that all who fight should be automatically penalized. Nevertheless, one of the young teens in our dojo was being harrassed at school by a boy. He said he was going to beat her up. He would follow her and try to instigate a fight. Not long ago she solved it: He got in her face and said, "Fight me." She told him to back off. He didn't. She laid him out with a single backhand strike. The school never got involved, even though it happened at school. Not sure why it wasn't an issue. But, I'm glad she was able to solve her problem w/o some crazy administrative brouhaha.

I think some people are just attracted to fans. I am one of them. I like them because they are feminine, mysterious, and uncommon. Given a choice of weapon in a real fight, the fan would be mighty low on the list, but just as a way of keeping up an interesting, obscure art, I'm all in!

There's lots of good information of meditation out there. I'll shy away from the religious hair-splitting on this issue, but I truly believe that meditation is just another form of prayer and that chi/God/energy are simply different ways of understanding the same concept. Medical science has proven that prayer and meditation absolutely do impact your health and wellbeing. What you believe you can do, you most certainly can do. And whether you call that great power God, chi or any other name, it is available to you. A good resource on meditation is Ram Dass' book... the name escapes me now. But do not give up on prayer, in whatever form works for you. Prayer, yoga, chanting, mantras, breath work, walking, don jon... it's all a different means to the same end.

I've seen a couple of posts on fighting fans. I think the place that has the most selection is superiormartialarts.com. They have at least six or seven different fans to choose from, and they have four videos. One video is Dragon Form the others are Mu Lan. One of the Mu Lan videos is for double fan. I am intrigued by fans too. One of the senseis at the dojo occassionally pulls out her fans. It's fun to watch. All the best!

Welcome to you! My Italian is pretty bad. Ciao

Welcome to the forums. Glad to meet you.

A sucker punch is often executed when fighter A pretends that he is going to walk away from a fight, then when fighter B has let his guard down (believing there will be no blows) fighter A hauls off and hits fighter B anyway. It is indeed a cheap-shot.

Man thing, you need to let your doctor decide that. Heart disease can hit anyone. Just because you have a low risk factor does not make you immune. Maybe it *is* no big deal... maybe not. If you truly take care of yourself, then go see a doctor before you do anything else. You probably just had some little bug, but you really need to find out for sure. Please let us know how it goes.

There will always be people like that in the world. I think you are wise to recognize that it is *her* problem, and just leave her alone with it. My dojo is that way too. They will tell you please don't lean on the walls/targets/equipment, etc., but we have so much fun! My instructor is the owners' son and he is a natural teacher. He assigned 50 push ups to a boy for refusing to work with a girl, and he laughed with the kid because he said his dad made him do 50 pushups for the same reason when he was a kid. Everyone is totally at ease, but there is an acceptance of expected protocol too.

My first kata tournament! I will do Pinan/Heian One, since that is the most advanced form I know and I need to work it anyway. I did some reading around and learned some things that no one has mentioned to me in class. Like, that you should end up exactly where you began... 1) What else do judges look for? 2) When I am doing the center line of the "I" if I want to advance at a faster pace, do I have to hit the stance *perfectly* with toes inward slightly, or can I save myself the effort of pivoting my foot from inward facing to outward facing as I advance? I notice other (white belt) students don't keep their feet parallel to eachother when advancing quickly, but is that just laziness? (Did I explain that alright?) 3) Also, how can I make my stances longer? I'm always getting told my stances are too short. My problem is I am tall, and I can easily stretch into a long low stance-- ONCE-- but my thighs are weak, and an entire kata in long low stances could land me on my butt before I even finish! Any hints on how to tone up my thighs in four weeks' time. Even a little extra tone will improve my stances.

Hey there, and welcome! See you on the boards.

Thanks guys. I do feel loads better today. I had a good class last night. I'm puting a lot of energy into the upcoming kata tournament, and just in general trying to follow the advice I regularly dispense to others: just concentrate on yourself and be the best person you can be; let others do the same.

That is a passive-aggressive tactic. A mature, responsible, reasonable way to let some one know something is to TELL them. Not conspire and scheme to do something that will teach them a lesson. You're assuming that the girl will have one of two reactions. The reality is she can have an infinite number of reactions. One of them may be to claim harrassment or bullying or discrimination. Of course we go to class to have fun, etc. But some people do take their training more seriously than others. They are not wrong any more than the hobbyist martial artist is wrong. They are both legitimate approaches to the practice. I have had people try to run me over. I look them straight in the eye and say, "I will not let you run me over." It works much faster than shoving back or playing games, and completely defuses the situation. I had a problem with my ex-husband recently where he basically said I was going to give him a large chunk of money when I sell my house. I didn't play games with him, or try to teach him a lesson. I just said, "Sorry. No I'm not." He tried to send me on a guilt trip. Do I have to throw it back in his face in order to be strong? I really don't think so. I think I can just tell him No, and walk away. And I think that makes me strong. And I don't feel run over. What is lost by saying, "Oh. I see some people object to leaning against the walls. I choose to respect (or ignore) this objection."? How is the poster "run over?" If he feels like he was paid some discourtesy, the mature response is to deal with it on his own, or deal with it directly with the girl or her superior. I see no honor in messing with her head in the hope that she will see your point.

Sounds interesting! I am moving to an apartment complex with a weight room and would like to start working out with weights. Let me know how this works for you. I'll pick one up if it's any good.

I just came across a huge selection of MA movies at a local dollar store. I haven't sat down to watch them yet, but judging from the blurbs, they promise some laughs. (Jackie Chan's nude streak through the Istanbul Bazaar in Accidental Spy may well be the hardest I've ever laughed during a MA movie. He's got great showmanship, that guy.)

Nice to meet you. Best wishes on your path.

This is definitely one of those why-do-anything situations. The idea of waiting for her to slip up so you can correct her is a bit immature. Regardless of her motives or attitude, she gave you correct information. You could choose to be grateful for that. If your ire is up, you could work on humility. There is a lot you could take away from the situation that will serve you. I try to approach everything that happens in the dojo as a lesson, even if that's not how it was structured. It's not a bad way to approach life in and out of the dojo, but I'm just not quite that Zen yet.

I don't think it's about "not telling anyone" you do martial arts, I think it's about not telling EVERYONE you do martial arts. When I started, I was so excited; it's all I wanted to talk about. I sure got a mix of reactions. Enough to let me know that I don't tell people I study martial arts any more than I tell people I design web sites. If it comes up, it comes up. If it doesn't, I don't menion it.

Divorce stinks! I do not regret getting divorced; being divorced is better than being married, in this instance. But it still stinks. My ex-husband has always over-estimated how much money he is going to get, and under-estimated how much money he has to spend. But now he has assumed that I am giving him 50% of what I will make off the sale of my house. I agreed to pay some debts that had been accrued because of owning the house, even though I think he should stand up and be responsible for them. But, since he hasn't paid back a personal loan we took out for the down payment of the house nine years ago (not one cent in nine years!) I told him I would pay family back from the proceeds of the sale. He is treating me like I am cheating him. It makes me so sad. I feel like I am being not merely fair, but generous. But his logic has always eluded me. He told our kids that I am "losing it" because I take karate. He told them (my kids say) that I am paranoid because I got into karate for self-defense, and that I am a hypocrit because I say I believe tolerance and non-violent communication yet I am learning to fight. Nevermind that I have a very good reason for learning self-defense (namely a stalker-- who, thank God, seems to have lost interest in me. No sign of him for more than a month! Woohoo!!!) Any way... just a vent. I am sad today.

I started for self-defense, but have decided that MA balances out my life in a way. I stay because MA is a journey, and it's a journey that is in alignment with my personal path. My goal is to be fully present at each step of the journey. Here is what is currently right in front of me: 1) my first kata tournament 2) doing 30 on-my-toes push-ups 3) jogging 3 hilly miles in 30 minutes 4) next kyu test