What does having a black belt mean? Undoubtedly it means something slightly different to every black belt that exists. To me, being a black belt is more of a state of mind than anything else. Being a black belt means having the confidence in yourself to know when to use your techniques, and when not to. I personally have a code that I live by to determine my actions as per martial arts, and I'll discuss that more later. Most of all, being a black belt means knowing what martial arts truly is. So what does it mean? Again, each person has to define it for themselves. Here is mine.
Let's start with the yin-yang symbol which I chose for my logo. Traditionally this symbolized the duality or "halving" of the universe into light and dark, male and female, heaven and earth, good and evil, and so on. Martial arts can also be divided into two different parts, even by the very words that define it.
"Martial" is a very yang or male word. It is the strong masculine side of martial arts. It is here that we would go to find the various striking techniques, pressure point jabs, kicking, punching, and other "hard" techniques. This part of martial arts is forceful, direct, and would tend to move in a straight line towards its intended target. Yang would rather block or counter than anything else, its application is that of force against force. Styles like Taekwondo and especially Karate exemplify this aspect of martial arts.
On the other hand, "Art" is a very yin or female word. (The words female and male are used here strictly in the connotative sense, as it would be ridiculous to infer that all artists are women). The art is the weaker female side of martial arts. Yet behind weakness can hide an immense power, for the object of the yin is more deceit than anything else. This is where we would go in martial arts to find the graceful moves, effortless throws, and simple joint lock manipulations of styles such as judo, akaido, and especially tai chi. Yin will flow around aggresion or a striking technique by moving in a circle rather than in a straight line. Yet ironically, in this circle, we find the most powerful known shape in the universe.
I am not for a moment suggesting that all of martial arts can be broken down into "strictly yin" or "strictly yang" categories. Kendo, for example, is a primarily striking martial arts that is practiced with the shinai (bamboo katana). However, it should be noted that there is tremendous emphasis on the strikes and blocks being done in a circular fashion. Thus we can see that all styles of martial arts each possess some qualities of yin and yang in varying degrees. Since as I have noted my style is particularly yang, I strive to cultivate the yin aspects of it to balance myself. That is the reason I work on entirely impractical things like flips, high spinning kicks, and so forth. These aspects of taekwondo I look at as more the artistic side of my style. I would hate to think that someone viewing this website might get the idea that these things are good self defense!
To some, martial arts is all about defending oneself. I think this is a valid viewpoint, and if one thinks this way, certainly practicing anything such as flipping would be out of the question. When I do practice self defense, it's all business. Swift joint lock manipulations, blocks, counters, and shin or knee kicks are my friends. (It's a common mistake, and one reinforced by countless martial arts movies, to think that a kick needs to be high in order to be effective. Actually a low kick will be much more effective as it will leave the kicker less off-balance.) Ultimately, I am discovering that one comes to martial arts in order to learn how to defend oneself and slowly realizes that in actuality there is nothing to defend.
