"There is nothing outside of yourself that can ever enable you to get better, stronger, richer, quicker or smarter. Everything is within. Everything exists. Seek nothing outside yourself."
-Miyamoto Musashi.
This is an article which will explore a number of different experiences I have had while practicing.
When I normally strike I move at a rate of about five moves per second, usually with handwork. Here is a demonstration of that;
I can actually go faster. But to do that I have to concentrate very hard, and in a way, it takes a kind of concentration that I just can't normally do. I have to think in a certain way, and when I do this it is akin to 'unlocking' something. If we normally think of each strike as a count of 1 then 2 then 3 then 4, the process works to shorten how one thinks- effectively changing it. The 1 then 2 becomes just a count of one representing both strikes, and 3 and 4 become just 2. So the count while engaging goes from 1-4 to just 1-2, even though I am still doing just two strikes.
Our speed is limited foremost not by our body- but rather by our minds. When I strike faster than six in a second, if I do it for say ten seconds, my arms especially become inflamed and red. To put it plainly- one moves to fast that the muscles tear in the arm.
But that doesn't mean it is impossible to move that fast. Like I said, our thinking is what truly limits us, so if you collapse how you think, making your thought process faster, your ability for your body to follow what your mind instructs it to do also becomes faster. All too often martial artists believe it is their bodies inhibiting their ability, when it is really their mind doing so.
Likewise in a similar vein, the difference between a black belt and somebody who isn't is also mental. You can have all the techniques, even be able to do them perfectly, but that does not make a blackbelt. It is a state of mind, and it requires molding. I have only ever seen it achieved through tribulation. I received my 3rd dan around when I was 13 in WTF (Moo Duk Kwan) Tae Kwon Do. I had been practicing nearly ten years. I switched schools around then and it was only there I actually became a black belt. The first time I did a black belt test was to do all the forms, combinations and self-defense. That was enough to qualify me.
To become a black belt in Chung Do Kwan I had to do all that and more; I had to fight 1 on 1 for a minute, then 2 on 1, then 3 on 1, and then 4 on 1.
Actually here is the belt test from when I was fifteen. I know, I know I've posted it before, but it's the example I have of what I am talking about, and some people haven't seen the video;
This process of testing teaches something important; it instills an instinctive drive to endure and survive. In a way it kind of unlocks the animal within a person. You never win such an encounter; that's not the point of it. The point is partly to break your spirit and have you fight through that experience and become a stronger person as a martial artist. A side effect is it makes you stronger as a person overall. It instills confidence and a strong sense of how to persevere.
It reminds me of how someone creates a statue from stone; we do not necessarily build the statue- we break pieces off the crude rock until something considered art is created. Becoming a black belt is a similar process. You have to be broken to become something great.
And I see a vein of commonality between what I have to do to move at a certain heightened speed, and what I have to do to practice as a black belt. When I practice with someone who is an underbelt, I do not treat them as I would another black belt, or how I would expect another black belt to treat me. I have to actively switch my mode of thinking, and even though that is mostly a subconscious process now, it is still there and I recognize it.
That's something that I haven't seen many people address when teaching; to pay attention to how we think when we practice, given to each particular situation.
After all, you would not fight a white belt like you would a black belt. So what is it that makes the difference?
That frankly is for you to decide for yourself, be it stemming from a sense of understanding, pity or honor.
The only thing that is important is to understand what qualifies you to trigger how you approach a situation, so we can become better given each set of circumstances. What is it you as a martial artist do to unlock becoming better?
I'm not really looking for a response; I just think this is something all martial artists need to figure out for themselves.
Otherwise if this never happens you might wear a black belt, but by no means does that mean you actually are a black belt.
And all true black belts to me are warriors. Idealistic, sure, but it's just a fact as I know it.
"A black belt is nothing more than a belt that goes around your waste. Being a black belt is a state of mind and attitude."
-Rick English
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