I came to the martial arts relatively late in life, taking my first class on my 40th birthday. I recently had the honor of taking a portion of my red belt test. The rest of the test starts this week when I again begin taking classes as a white belt. I will then spend weeks to months at each belt, white through blue, being given the opportunity to look at the the curriculum for each rank through the eyes of an 8 year practitioner.



This blog will contain my reflections on the process.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

The beauty of simplicity

Today's general class felt much better than Thursday's. Three of us "do over" white belts were in attendance and we received just the right amount of teasing from our black belt and senior students--gentle ribbing with affectionate grins all around.

In class, after the white belt technique was called, I realized that I did not have to pay any more attention to what was said before the word "Go!" This was incredibly freeing and allowed me to just focus on whatever stance I was in. The simplicity of no more than one hand and foot technique together and usually only one was a gift.

Focusing on only a few simple things allows one to see the complexity in each technique, to explore where the power comes from, and which muscles are needed--and which ones are not.

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