Who is a Black Belt?
Black Belt.... The term evokes almost mythical feelings in beginning martial artists.
The truth is in many ways Black Belts are just like any other person. They are obviously still
human beings. They may or may not be in great physical condition (humans get older, they sustain injuries, they have bumps on the road of life). They may or may not be great fighters. However, by and large, they are all above average fighters.
Black Belts have earned that rank largely because they have demonstrated certain qualities.
Before Hapkido Online teachers will promote any individual to the respected level of Black Belt.
We look for these traits:
1. Martial Prowess
A black belt is expected to be somebody who can fight and take care of themselves in a violent encounter. This is as much about the mind as it is the body. Black Belts stay cool under fire. They still experience the same adrenalin dump and fight or flight response as any ordinary person but they have learned to harness that adrenalin and channel it in a responsible manner.
Sadly even black belts do not always win fights but they should be able to acquit themselves well should the circumstances arise. If a black belt can't win an engagement he will at least find a way to survive it and if he can't survive it he will make the attacker still regret attacking, even in victory. Black Belts are like porcupines, lots of animals can kill a porcupine but they ALL regret it afterwords.
2. Technical Proficiency
A black belt must be able to demonstrate the techniques that he has learned. When a black belt
does the techniques they should have nearly flawless execution, poise, balance,snap, power, and precision.
3. Teaching Ability
A black belt should also be able to convey the same techniques to others. When an instructor is looking at a high red belt and considering testing that person for black belt one of the foremost questions is, would I want this person as a martial arts teacher. Some students can do the techniques but they are impatient, rude, or worse cruel. These people would be a menace to a martial arts class and give the art a bad name. Such people should never be black belts. Black Belts should be an inspiration to others.
4. Judgment
Black Belts are just as prone to make mistakes as any other human. However they should
generally display maturity and good judgment. When they interact with others they should be fair and evenhanded. A black belt should avoid drunkenness or any other form of intoxication. A black belt does not surrender his good judgment to chemicals. A black belt is a skilled fighter, an intelligent weapon, if his judgment were to become impaired or if he displayed bad judgment he could hurt people seriously.
5. Restraint
A Black Belt shows restraint when dealing with foolish people. If he is attacked he neutralizes the attack in a responsible and sensible manner. He only physically harms another person when his bodily survival (or the survival of others) leaves no other course of action.
6. Honesty
Black belts try to be very genuine people. They should be honest and kind. Honest with themselves and honest with others for this is the path to true honor.
7. Humility
A Black Belt is not better than another person therefore they do not act as if they are better than another person. They also accept that they are not worse than another person. God created all men equal. It is well for a black belt to consider themselves a servant of others not a master. Humble in speech and manner they generally garner more respect in the long run. It is good to have confidence in ones abilities and oneself. However beware when confidence sours into cockiness or arrogance.
8. Patience
The best way to test patience is to make a student wait awhile to test for Black Belt and many teachers do this. It is often best to let a student gel for several months at red and high red. Often we make them teach lower level students. In this way they will really perfect what they have learned, the training will have time to become truly ingrained. We expect the training to be with a person for the rest of their life. We want it to be as natural to them as breathing.
Doing the same moves day in and day out for several months tests even the most patient of people. We have seen a number of promising students fall by the wayside at this point (the world has plenty of almost-black belts).
Everything was fine while they were progressing but when suddenly obvious progress seems to stop they get antsy, agitated, and start really wanting to advance. What most students don't
understand is that even if you feel like you are just doing the same moves over
and over you are in fact advancing, your body is learning things that your mind
doesn't even comprehend. Martial arts is a lifelong journey and no matter how high you go you will still routinely practice the very first things you learned on your first day. Be
Patient.....
The truth is in many ways Black Belts are just like any other person. They are obviously still
human beings. They may or may not be in great physical condition (humans get older, they sustain injuries, they have bumps on the road of life). They may or may not be great fighters. However, by and large, they are all above average fighters.
Black Belts have earned that rank largely because they have demonstrated certain qualities.
Before Hapkido Online teachers will promote any individual to the respected level of Black Belt.
We look for these traits:
1. Martial Prowess
A black belt is expected to be somebody who can fight and take care of themselves in a violent encounter. This is as much about the mind as it is the body. Black Belts stay cool under fire. They still experience the same adrenalin dump and fight or flight response as any ordinary person but they have learned to harness that adrenalin and channel it in a responsible manner.
Sadly even black belts do not always win fights but they should be able to acquit themselves well should the circumstances arise. If a black belt can't win an engagement he will at least find a way to survive it and if he can't survive it he will make the attacker still regret attacking, even in victory. Black Belts are like porcupines, lots of animals can kill a porcupine but they ALL regret it afterwords.
2. Technical Proficiency
A black belt must be able to demonstrate the techniques that he has learned. When a black belt
does the techniques they should have nearly flawless execution, poise, balance,snap, power, and precision.
3. Teaching Ability
A black belt should also be able to convey the same techniques to others. When an instructor is looking at a high red belt and considering testing that person for black belt one of the foremost questions is, would I want this person as a martial arts teacher. Some students can do the techniques but they are impatient, rude, or worse cruel. These people would be a menace to a martial arts class and give the art a bad name. Such people should never be black belts. Black Belts should be an inspiration to others.
4. Judgment
Black Belts are just as prone to make mistakes as any other human. However they should
generally display maturity and good judgment. When they interact with others they should be fair and evenhanded. A black belt should avoid drunkenness or any other form of intoxication. A black belt does not surrender his good judgment to chemicals. A black belt is a skilled fighter, an intelligent weapon, if his judgment were to become impaired or if he displayed bad judgment he could hurt people seriously.
5. Restraint
A Black Belt shows restraint when dealing with foolish people. If he is attacked he neutralizes the attack in a responsible and sensible manner. He only physically harms another person when his bodily survival (or the survival of others) leaves no other course of action.
6. Honesty
Black belts try to be very genuine people. They should be honest and kind. Honest with themselves and honest with others for this is the path to true honor.
7. Humility
A Black Belt is not better than another person therefore they do not act as if they are better than another person. They also accept that they are not worse than another person. God created all men equal. It is well for a black belt to consider themselves a servant of others not a master. Humble in speech and manner they generally garner more respect in the long run. It is good to have confidence in ones abilities and oneself. However beware when confidence sours into cockiness or arrogance.
8. Patience
The best way to test patience is to make a student wait awhile to test for Black Belt and many teachers do this. It is often best to let a student gel for several months at red and high red. Often we make them teach lower level students. In this way they will really perfect what they have learned, the training will have time to become truly ingrained. We expect the training to be with a person for the rest of their life. We want it to be as natural to them as breathing.
Doing the same moves day in and day out for several months tests even the most patient of people. We have seen a number of promising students fall by the wayside at this point (the world has plenty of almost-black belts).
Everything was fine while they were progressing but when suddenly obvious progress seems to stop they get antsy, agitated, and start really wanting to advance. What most students don't
understand is that even if you feel like you are just doing the same moves over
and over you are in fact advancing, your body is learning things that your mind
doesn't even comprehend. Martial arts is a lifelong journey and no matter how high you go you will still routinely practice the very first things you learned on your first day. Be
Patient.....
What makes a Black Belt different from ordinary people?
On the surface a black belt is just a person who has a certain skill set. However in our experience regular and prolonged martial arts training (years or even decades) does cause certain changes within a person. Many of the ideas presented here are hard to quantify or even explain in written form. Not all black belts have these same abilities or experiences, the journey is unique for each of us and increased abilities manifest differently in different people. People who do other types of activities besides martial arts also experience these things. There is nothing super human about these abilities. Any person can do this. Many of these 'abilities' are impossible to prove scientifically you may choose to believe or not. The author merely wants to relate his experiences.
Temporal Perception Distortion (Flow, or Quickening)
Temporal Perception Distortion is a fancy way of saying that time seems to speed up and slow down. Athletes call it flow. Master Feathers coined the term 'quickening'. We all experience this every day, it's nothing special. Attend a boring lecture, time seems to crawl. Spend the exact same amount of time in an amazing action movie and the time seems to fly. Time does not
change, our perception of time changes. It becomes particularly obvious in situations of extreme duress. Have you ever been in a car accident and everything seemed to happen in slow motion? Believe it or not this is part of your very human defense and survival mechanisms.
Let us consider slow motion photography. In order to shoot true slow motion photography you will need something called a 'high speed camera'. Simply put the high speed camera has an extremely high frame rate. That is it photographs several still images in the time it takes an ordinary camera to take one still image. String these still images together and you have a motion picture. If you have many more frames you will see everything happening in slow
motion.
The human mind works in a similar fashion we see the world at a certain frame rate. Depending on what our moods and mind is doing our frame rate speeds up and slows down. This alters our perception of time.
In the event of a crisis, such as a car accident, our bodies experience a massive physiological change. Adrenalin floods the system, digestion stops, and heart rate skyrockets. Often people lose control of their bowels and mess themselves. Our pupils dilate to allow
the maximum amount of information to the brain. Needless to say the body is doing
something very unique. Our minds frame rate increases to the point that we are literally seeing the event in slow motion and in great detail. This is all part of the fight or flight response....
For a martial artist, regular training can sometimes give them a measure of control over this fight or flight response. Some martial artists can go into a quickened state at will.
With sufficient training, a martial artist has also developed the increased speed and hand eye coordination to accomplish tasks in the quickened state.
To bystanders who witness this these martial artists seem to move so fast it's just a blur. Some even seem to move from one place to another instantly. They didn't do anything magical though, they just moved extremely fast (right at the limits of human potential) before bystanders realized they had moved. Because while time may seem to be moving in slow motion for the martial artist the bystanders are most likely distracted by their own individual dramas and time is flowing differently for them.
change, our perception of time changes. It becomes particularly obvious in situations of extreme duress. Have you ever been in a car accident and everything seemed to happen in slow motion? Believe it or not this is part of your very human defense and survival mechanisms.
Let us consider slow motion photography. In order to shoot true slow motion photography you will need something called a 'high speed camera'. Simply put the high speed camera has an extremely high frame rate. That is it photographs several still images in the time it takes an ordinary camera to take one still image. String these still images together and you have a motion picture. If you have many more frames you will see everything happening in slow
motion.
The human mind works in a similar fashion we see the world at a certain frame rate. Depending on what our moods and mind is doing our frame rate speeds up and slows down. This alters our perception of time.
In the event of a crisis, such as a car accident, our bodies experience a massive physiological change. Adrenalin floods the system, digestion stops, and heart rate skyrockets. Often people lose control of their bowels and mess themselves. Our pupils dilate to allow
the maximum amount of information to the brain. Needless to say the body is doing
something very unique. Our minds frame rate increases to the point that we are literally seeing the event in slow motion and in great detail. This is all part of the fight or flight response....
For a martial artist, regular training can sometimes give them a measure of control over this fight or flight response. Some martial artists can go into a quickened state at will.
With sufficient training, a martial artist has also developed the increased speed and hand eye coordination to accomplish tasks in the quickened state.
To bystanders who witness this these martial artists seem to move so fast it's just a blur. Some even seem to move from one place to another instantly. They didn't do anything magical though, they just moved extremely fast (right at the limits of human potential) before bystanders realized they had moved. Because while time may seem to be moving in slow motion for the martial artist the bystanders are most likely distracted by their own individual dramas and time is flowing differently for them.
Black Belt Brain Development
The brain is a muscle. If you exercise it, it gets stronger. Different exercises develop different
parts of the brain. For example a mathematician might have different parts of his brain developed than an artist. For the artist routinely exercises the visual and creative centers of his brain and the mathematician exercises the logical parts of his mind.
The study of martial arts also promotes mental development. In a recent study of
the brains of black belts by the Imperial College London and University College
London revealed distinctive features in the brain of Martial Artist of over a
decade of training. These black belt brains were compared to the brains of people who exercised regularly but did not have martial arts training.
"The brain scans showed that the microscopic structure of certain regions of the brain differed between the two groups. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) showed structural differences in the white matter - the bundles of fibers that carry signals from one region to another - of the cerebellum and the primary motor cortex, known to be involved in controlling movement.
The differences in the cerebellum correlated with how well the subjects' wrist and shoulder movements were synchronized when punching, with the age at which their karate experts began training and with their total experience of the discipline."
Author: Emma Woollacott
"The karate black belts were able to repeatedly coordinate their punching action with a level of coordination that novices can't produce," says Dr Ed Roberts of Imperial College.
"We think that ability might be related to fine tuning of neural connections in the cerebellum, allowing them to synchronize their arm and trunk movements very accurately."
Source:
http://www.tgdaily.com/general-sciences-features/65460-karate-black-belts-have-different-brains
Learn More about the brain and martial arts: http://stevekbs.tripod.com/id29.html
parts of the brain. For example a mathematician might have different parts of his brain developed than an artist. For the artist routinely exercises the visual and creative centers of his brain and the mathematician exercises the logical parts of his mind.
The study of martial arts also promotes mental development. In a recent study of
the brains of black belts by the Imperial College London and University College
London revealed distinctive features in the brain of Martial Artist of over a
decade of training. These black belt brains were compared to the brains of people who exercised regularly but did not have martial arts training.
"The brain scans showed that the microscopic structure of certain regions of the brain differed between the two groups. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) showed structural differences in the white matter - the bundles of fibers that carry signals from one region to another - of the cerebellum and the primary motor cortex, known to be involved in controlling movement.
The differences in the cerebellum correlated with how well the subjects' wrist and shoulder movements were synchronized when punching, with the age at which their karate experts began training and with their total experience of the discipline."
Author: Emma Woollacott
"The karate black belts were able to repeatedly coordinate their punching action with a level of coordination that novices can't produce," says Dr Ed Roberts of Imperial College.
"We think that ability might be related to fine tuning of neural connections in the cerebellum, allowing them to synchronize their arm and trunk movements very accurately."
Source:
http://www.tgdaily.com/general-sciences-features/65460-karate-black-belts-have-different-brains
Learn More about the brain and martial arts: http://stevekbs.tripod.com/id29.html
No Mind....wú xīn(Chinese) mu shin (Japanese) 무심 (Korean)
The distracted mind is prone to error and often makes dangerous mistakes. We often miss miracles while focusing on our own petty worries and concerns. Not to mention carrying around a lot of stress that burns out our body.
No Mind....
Our minds are very much like the surface of the pond. If the water is still you can see fish and the stones on the bottom. However if the water get's agitated the image is obscured and nothing can be seen beneath the waves.
"A modern analogy might be compared to the surface of an extremely clear large lake with several power boats zipping across. Our internally vocalized thoughts are like these boats. As we zip along, we are constantly being pulled in the direction of competing wakes from other
boats (thoughts). It is very distracting and requires constant correction to make any headway. Seeing the bottom of the lake for clarity is impossible.
Contrast that with the same lake devoid of power boat activity. A person can float on the surface and see clearly to the bottom of the lake. There are gentle sub-currents, but rarely do they disturb the surface of the lake, this allows complete clarity.
The power boats are our internal vocalized thoughts. They represent our focus upon our own selves and our ego driven needs. The gentle sub-currents represent a focused state of awareness devoid of surface distractions. It is not an emptiness, but rather a place of peaceful purpose devoid of self driven ego distractions."
Master Tim Feathers
We have a constant monolog of words and imagery flashing through our minds. For an
ordinary person in a fight, this mental clutter devolves into something akin to roomful of people screaming at each other. The result is a mind that is dulled and inefficient.
The concept of mental clarity is called no mind. It is not the absence of thought but rather the absence of mental clutter. It's a mind that is completely in tune with the moment and completely at peace. Martial arts training teaches one to reduce mental clutter. Eventually the mind can enter an almost meditative state that is completely without conscious thought. In this
state the perception of time and the world around us is greatly enhanced.
We think that in many ways mushin is tied to quickening. Because both states are essentially
happening in the mind. The increased perception that mushin affords makes it possible to sense blows that are at the edge of our vision and even detect attack from the sounds alone. Furthermore Mushin seems to create better pattern recognition which in a way can help a person see a couple of moves ahead of his enemy.
Our minds are very much like the surface of the pond. If the water is still you can see fish and the stones on the bottom. However if the water get's agitated the image is obscured and nothing can be seen beneath the waves.
"A modern analogy might be compared to the surface of an extremely clear large lake with several power boats zipping across. Our internally vocalized thoughts are like these boats. As we zip along, we are constantly being pulled in the direction of competing wakes from other
boats (thoughts). It is very distracting and requires constant correction to make any headway. Seeing the bottom of the lake for clarity is impossible.
Contrast that with the same lake devoid of power boat activity. A person can float on the surface and see clearly to the bottom of the lake. There are gentle sub-currents, but rarely do they disturb the surface of the lake, this allows complete clarity.
The power boats are our internal vocalized thoughts. They represent our focus upon our own selves and our ego driven needs. The gentle sub-currents represent a focused state of awareness devoid of surface distractions. It is not an emptiness, but rather a place of peaceful purpose devoid of self driven ego distractions."
Master Tim Feathers
We have a constant monolog of words and imagery flashing through our minds. For an
ordinary person in a fight, this mental clutter devolves into something akin to roomful of people screaming at each other. The result is a mind that is dulled and inefficient.
The concept of mental clarity is called no mind. It is not the absence of thought but rather the absence of mental clutter. It's a mind that is completely in tune with the moment and completely at peace. Martial arts training teaches one to reduce mental clutter. Eventually the mind can enter an almost meditative state that is completely without conscious thought. In this
state the perception of time and the world around us is greatly enhanced.
We think that in many ways mushin is tied to quickening. Because both states are essentially
happening in the mind. The increased perception that mushin affords makes it possible to sense blows that are at the edge of our vision and even detect attack from the sounds alone. Furthermore Mushin seems to create better pattern recognition which in a way can help a person see a couple of moves ahead of his enemy.