Humility

Well, I've been obviously delinquent in writing here pretty much all summer. I suspect I am not the ONLY blogger ever to have started strong and then shown up with a "sorry I have not written in a while" post. :)
But I have had subjects for this blog rattling around in my head for a while. Here is one. Though I am now wearing my yellow belt, the idea for this post started as I was ending my time as a white belt for the 2nd time:

Humility

In our school as in others, the red belt represents fire. Personally, though it is clear to me that the element I channel best is earth, I have always been fascinated by fire. I know I am not alone in the being drawn to the duality of this element. Fire can injure but also can help avoid damage done by cold. It can be destructive and also beautiful. Fire is both feared and admired.

In our dojo, at red belt you are darn near the "top of the heap". You are encouraged to take control of your own training; you help run the school; you enter sparring class with the freedom to fight on your feet, on the ground and at any distance; and you take on the responsibility of ensuring that other students are ready for rank promotion. In short--you're a big shot and like fire are approached with both caution and admiration.

Putting on a white belt again changes that. While some of the teaching and assisting responsibilities remain, you return to the back of the room and no longer have many of the freedoms enjoyed at red belt. For me, this has allowed me to take another look at the duality of fire.

One slightly warm Seattle summer Sunday, several of us met to do forms in the park. One of my red/white belt training partners and I were the senior students in this informal class and after working the forms we knew, we worked with others on their forms-review, refining and teaching new material. I had the joy of working with a wonderful young man who is a blue belt (now high blue) who has been training longer than I have and was in Seattle on summer break from college. As I worked with Anwar, I was filled with a sense of humility. Though my academic knowledge of his rank form was more extensive than his, Anwar is physically my superior. He is a phenomenally strong man who has maintained a lot of flexibility through training more than half of his life. Here I was, wearing a white belt, showing this very advanced athlete what to do next.

In that moment, the verbiage of my teaching changed. Instead of "no, the chamber for that technique is this way" I said things like "when I do that move, I try to remember to chamber palm down". I started simultaneously looking for things to compliment as well as areas that needed improvement and was able to see that nearly every move had a little of each.

If we pass fire on to another person, we do not hand them a large burning log. Rather we pass along a small stick with a small flame, or even a gently burning ember. These smaller versions of fire still contain everything needed to build a large fire which can harm or protect. Yet it is in the passing of the smaller version that we set the recipients up for success and allow them to take the fire we give gently and build it in to their own.