June 30, 2009

The Fastest Way to Brown Belt

I came home on Saturday night after promotions and knew I couldn't possibly wait until Sunday morning's final day of training to try it on. I tied it on right over my dress and felt like I could fly.

Receiving my promotion from Hanshi and Kyoshi Heilman.

I doubt there's a black belt out there who didn't do this after promotions.

It was when I took it off and put it in my training bag's special compartment for my obi that I saw my brown belt.

My brown belt and I have been long time friends. The little fuzzies on the belt are like an old blanket, comfortable and familiar. I've had that brown belt longer than I had any of my previous belts. It saw me train and get ready for my black belt, only to go on a long break when I tore my ACL. It waited patiently for me.

When I received my promotion to brown belt, I couldn't imagine ever feeling better about a promotion. When I had started taking karate, I thought it would be cool to someday be a green belt. Brown was completely unexpected and felt amazing.

Black belt feels that way too, but mulitiply it by about a million.

I knew I could take the brown belt out of my bag, but I didn't. I took it along with me for training on Sunday. I had this little nagging feeling in the back of my head that this wasn't for real, that Saturday night's promotions had been completely in my dreams.

I arrived at the dojo a little later than I had planned to after having to turn around and drive back home to grab my camera. In the locker room, I pulled it out and began tying it on. Kyoshi H was in the locker room and I said, "I guess I can take my brown belt out of my bag now." She laughed and said that I could. She also said what I've heard so many times at the dojo. "What's the fastest way to brown belt?" The answer is to screw up as a black belt.

I scurried upstairs so as not to miss the rei in and realized I had tied my belt wrong. My new black belt friend hurried me along and reviewed how to tie the belt the correct way. We have embroidering on both sides of the belt. One side says our style and the other side says our full name in Japanese kanji. You have to get them on the right sides. I tied it correctly and headed out onto the floor.

"Ax-Kick Eric" displaying the kanji on my obi.

As a brown belt at annual training, when it's time to line up, you hang out at the back of the floor and allow all the black belts to take their spots before you find your spot in the very back. There are usually only a handful of brown belts at training anyway. My friend and new Shodan Bob said "come on!" and quickly moved up far beyond where we've ever been able to stand. It felt completely surreal.

Hanshi made the announcements, congratulated the new promotee's and we were off to our first session. I had to keep pulling my belt tight. I forgot what it's like to have a new belt. It's been a while.

We had a great day of training. I spent the morning in Kyoshi Hayes' session and spent the second session spending some more time working on what I had just learned in Kyoshi Hayes' session. There's so much to take in and if you don't work on it right away, it tends to disappear.

Picture with two of my instructors: Hanshi and Kyoshi Heilman.

At the end of training, we took a ton of pictures and then I headed out. It had been an amazing weekend. I thought about this being my brown belt's final ride in my training bag; and then I made the decision to keep my brown belt in my bag after all. It's like an old friend and it is a strong reminder of where I've been and how hard I've had to work to come back post-injury.

Plus, the fastest way to brown belt. . .

You know the rest. Just in case.

***More pictures and VIDEO to come! Stay tuned!!!

***Thank you for ALL the amazing emails and comments. I want to print them out and carry them with me always.

***The deadline for the Summer Serenade Contest has been extended to July 15th. Come on people. Get your lip sync on!