con.cen.tra.tion n.  exclusive attention to one object; close mental application.
– Dictionary.com

I don’t think there’s anyone who would argue that martial arts doesn’t take concentration. Forms, in particular, take concentration — to execute a form successfully, you need to focus on your movement, focus on your intent. When the masters my school speak of concentration, they’re talking this focus.

But there’s another usage of the word concentration – as in a concentrated liquid. To attain a concentrated substance, the water or solvent used to dilute it is removed, frequently by boiling, leaving behind a larger amount of the substance per unit of volume. Concentration can be done to make a substance more pure or, as with essential oils, more potent.

While we definitely need to focus on our training, at least while we’re on the mat, our workouts can cause us to become stronger. By concentrating on our practice, we cut the chatter in our minds that dilutes our abilities, making our intent and our wills — at least for the time we’re actively training — more potent and more pure. And each time we practice “boiling away” our distractions, we become better at it. We can take this new skill and apply it to the other areas of our lives, using it with our jobs, with our children, etc. I think that can’t but help us be better in our lives outside the dojang.

Related Posts:

• Black Belt Skill: Honor

hon.or n. honesty, fairness, or integrity in one’s beliefs and actions. v. 1. to hold in honor or high respect; revere. 2. to treat with honor. 3. to confer honor or a distinction upon. 4. to show a courteous regard for.

– Dictionary.com

Honor is an integral part of martial arts. We honor our school by bowing on entering and leaving. We honor our masters and instructors by bowing, listening and following their instructions. But martial arts promotes more than the outward show of honor.

As martial artists, we need to cultivate honor in ourselves. Our behavior inside and outside the school determines and demonstrates our honor. We can be considered honorable by keeping our word, by being truthful and by acting with integrity. (I discuss integrity in this blog post). When we confer honor on another, we show our own sense of honor.

As women, we’re very good at conferring honor on others. Where we tend to fall down is in honoring ourselves, particularly if we’re recovering from an abusive background. We need to remember that we, ourselves are worthy of honor

In the martial arts, a certain amount of honor comes your way simply from the color of your belt or years of experience. And most black belts and masters deserve this regard. However, I have known a few black belts who take their rank as a license to do what they please. Luckily, these are few and far between and while most students obey them on the mats, they do not honor them. To be treated with honor, we must act with honor.

Unless we are new beginners, we must remember there are students of lower experience and rank who look up to us and view us a role models. We should be conscious of this and conduct ourselves accordingly. Even at a lowly 7th gup (yellow belt with green stripe), I and everyone else at my rank provide role models for the yellow belts, white belts with yellow stripes, and white belts. We should model honor, both in our own behavior and in conferring it to those who deserve it. This becomes especially true if we take classes that have children in them.

Related posts:

• Black Belt Skill: Concentration
• Integrity