Peace is More Important than Punches Flash Cards

This video shows a new handmade FLASH CARD series called PEACE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PUNCHES. It's a part of the TAKE 5 FOR EDUCATION series of products (5 minutes "POWER LESSONS" for kids --ages 6 to 60).

Take 5 for Education

The video here is a look at a new series of flash cards for teachers (martial arts or otherwise) to teach history --and to introduce role models / heroes --to kids. It's called TAKE 5 FOR EDUCATION --and it's about 5 minute "power" lessons for the end of classes.

How the UBBT Works

For Kelley, Kelly, Chan, Angelo, all Team 5 members, and to anyone interested…

You seek to be…
· Real / authentic
· Successful
· A good teacher
· A good student
· Effective
· Important
· Enlightened
· Productive
· Esteemed for your work
· Recognized for the value of what you do
· Efficient
· Wise
· A contributor
· A “Master” of your chosen profession/passion
· A mentor / role model
· Respected
· A good human being
· A smart business-person

You may relate to some of the above –and perhaps you could add a few of your own? Let’s just say that if the UBBT interests you enough to even read this, then you are a part of a group that seeks to improve, contribute, evolve, and BE / DO something different (or if not different, then at least “effective”).

I am a consultant to the martial arts industry. I have spent the last 15 years thinking about the “business” of the martial arts –and how to make it better (better for the student/customer, better for those that teach, better for the “industry”, and better for the world). I have produced seminars, reports, audio, and video on almost every aspect of the business of martial arts.

The UBBT has come out of all of my experience and ideas; it is my answer to some of the following questions:

· How do I make more money?
· How do I keep from getting burned out?
· How can I be a better teacher?
· What is a master?
· How do I effectively advertise my business?
· How do I motivate my students?
· How do I test my students?
· How do I produce better black belts?

The UBBT is not THE answer to all the questions a student, teacher, or school owner might ask –as there is no single source for all answers. The UBBT is my statement about how I believe you can make your practice, your business, and your life/motivation/mission/purpose more meaningful, more successful, and more satisfying.

The 28 tasks that make up the UBBT’s curriculum are built out of the raw material I believe a school owner/teacher should teach and promote to his or her students. If your school and/or “public offering” of martial arts lessons were a book, then the UBBT’s curriculum is what resides in-between the cover. The curriculum is the heart and soul of what you SELL. It is what has value. It is what people will pay for. It is what, in the end, lifts you above the status of “vendor” and makes what you teach, what you have spent your life studying, what you know and believe –something wise, of value, something you can give your life to –and not regret it.

The UBBT’s curriculum isn’t something you were given, something you bought, something you saw at a seminar, something you spent a weekend learning. The UBBT’s curriculum is something you live; and there is the key. You live what you teach –and by living it you become authentic, you become the student and the teacher as the same time, you reap the benefits of what you do and know, you teach by example, you learn through your own failure/success.

The UBBT is made up of things that make sense:

· You write your goals because writing your goals has power. You don’t teach your students to write their goals down by giving them long lectures; you write your own down and then show them how they work for you.

· You journal once a week NOT for yourself, but to show your students -in the here and now –what THE JOURNEY is really all about. You journal to show your students the POWER and PURPOSE of journaling. You don’t stand at the front of your class telling them about it; you DO IT –and you show your students what journaling is for.

· You document and seek to achieve 10 PERSONAL VICTORIES to show your students how you apply your training, your experience, and your wisdom to things outside of the realm of kicking and punching. You SAY to them, through your actions, that it is important to BE MORE THAN A FIGHTER or a “martial artist.” You show them the power that declaring goals, publicly, gives to the person doing it.

· You do 10 public performances to show what that kind of action does to the performer. You show your students how to improve, how to present, how to perform, and how to put “it” on the line for the sake of personal improvement and mentoring.

· You attend the UBBT’s events because you want your students to attend your events. You show them how you USE your own activities to evolve, grow, learn…

Are you getting the drift? Do you recognize that you DO what you teach? You DO what you think your students should be doing?

Things like:
· Writing down their goals
· Keeping a journal
· Mending their broken relationships
· Hanging out with people WORTH hanging out with (heroes)
· Exercising more; putting down the car keys and WALKING to see, to slow down, to experience, to put the breaks on the rush, rush, rush…
· Meditating (focusing on the now)
· Reading, seeking out wisdom
· Doing for others
· Caring for the environment
· Supporting teammates

In the UBBT you seek to LIVE the philosophy that you SELL. You say, “Here’s what I think is important –SO IMPORTANT, in fact, that I practice it. You have, effectively, turned the “talk” into action. YOU turn it into action in your own life –because you are going to ask your students to take action in their own lives…

The UBBT asks that you transcend the PACKAGING OF THE MARTIAL ARTS; that you go beyond the established “dialogue” of the martial arts business community; that you stop mindlessly repeating the sales talk that has been passed onto you from people who were trying to sell the martial arts to paying customers –but who didn’t have the resources that YOU have here, today –in the “right now.”

To make your “product” more valuable , more sellable, more appreciated, easier to “market”, better “understood” by the “general public” –then I suggest you try living it like an Olympic athlete prepares for the Olympics, like a triathlete prepares for the Ironman, like an award-winning novelist prepares his or her manuscript for a publisher.

My opinion is that if you actually LIVE the training –the philosophy –of the martial arts, if you put into action ideas that you can then help others put into action…then you are crafting a very, very valuable product/approach.

The UBBT asks you to take a heroic journey –something that makes you disconnect from the trivial, from the tabloid-culture, the media, the feeding frenzy of want, want, want and work just to supply the want. The program asks you to apply yourself at 1000 percent, so that you can talk like an expert to your students about living at 100 percent. It asks you to show your students how you can take the raw material of your life – and turn it into something magic.

· Push-ups and crunches are self-discipline
· Mending wrongs is humility and wisdom
· Reading is mind-exercise and respect for knowledge
· Walking is slowing down in a world of needless rush
· Acts of kindness is awareness and a spiritual practice
· Profiling living heroes is self-improvement
· Declaring that you won’t quit is courage

The UBBT Works by connecting you to a community of people who have grown out (or of the box, out of the history of our industry, out of the less-than-effective and/or useless rituals of MA business and advertising, out of the established “effectiveness” of what has worked, what usually works, and what’s working now . The UBBT works because it connects the participant’s growth to the student’s growth to the school’s growth –as they all co-exist. The UBBT works because it create authentic experience out of ideas. We used to sell ideas –now we sell experience.

The UBBT works because it asks its members to DO –and sometimes it’s DO THE IMPOSSIBLE. In DOING I believe the school owner and/or teacher creates a kind of “business” strategy that is impossible to beat. In DOING the teacher creates all of the raw materials of a magical, moving, authentic, experiential experience.

Beyond making a product to sell is spending time making a difference in the world. Beyond business is passion, purpose, mission, and meaning. The UBBT is built around the expansion of passion, purpose, mission, and meaning for the martial arts teacher/practitioner. The UBBT embraces the idea that there is more to the martial arts –to being a “martial artist” than is currently “celebrated” in the martial arts community.

When you join the UBBT, you seek to make this a reality –and by doing so you CREATE a better, more unique, more valuable, more relevant-to-today PRODUCT; Something really valuable to “sell.”

That’s how the UBBT works.

The Rock, The Pond, The Ripples

The ripples, those expanding circles caused by tossing a rock in a pond of water, represent something about becoming a master teacher of the martial arts.

You are the rock; your education is the pond. The point at which the rock enters the water is when you start learning and teaching –and each expanding circle represents a deeper understanding of the pond, which also represents life.

The first ripple happens at the rock’s entry point and then travels out from it. That’s what happens when you learn something; it starts within you; you immerse yourself in it, and then it moves out from you, expanding to include or affect a wider circle of people.

At first it includes people you know and interact with, but later it expands to include people you don’t know.

Beyond the people you don’t know are the people yet to be born.

POINT: At the highest level of teaching intent that I can conceive, the teacher is aware of herself, her students, and her effect on her community, the world, and the world of the future.

The Native American Indian tribe known as the Iroquois had a law that said, "In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."

This concept, I believe, represents the awareness that a martial arts master teacher —a real, genuine, evolved master –must operates from. He or she may have started training for self-centered reasons, but as the practitioner’s consciousness and awareness expands so does an understanding of what is most important to teach, take action upon, and then leave behind.

At the center of the circle a knife hand block and a vicious counter-punch might be all that is important. The circle that has traveled a foot from the center might represent personal energy, vitality, and stamina –which, in the context of a man or woman’s life, are all key ingredients to a good life. Farther out is the practitioner’s family, and he or she prays that they are gifted with health and happiness; somewhere beyond that comes community, state, nation, world, and all future generations.

Teaching for Seven Generations
When you next walk out on the mat to teach a class, think of what you can impart that will have value for the next seven generations. At the center of your consciousness are the benefits of the physical exercise you’re giving your students. Then, expanding out from those things that directly improve their bodies, think about what they might think –to be equally healthy of mind. Then, think about what you might inspire them to take action on –and how those things might directly improve their relationships. Expand that thinking to include ideas you can teach that reach out and make the world a better place, better for people living in it today –and for those who will occupy it tomorrow.

You might see your own martial arts education in the ripples made by a rock thrown in a pond –but it is not only YOUR education that is important, it is what happens at the farthest reach of your influence that take you from being a martial arts instructor –to a Master Teacher.

Take 5 for Education a product for teachers

Martial Arts Instruction and the Key to Being More Than a Luxury or

I speculate that a lot of current and potential clients of martial
arts schools view martial arts instruction as a luxury and/or
recreational activity paid for with "disposable income."


I propose that by expanding our thinking -and teaching the martial
arts from a broader, holistic, and more, I believe, authentic and
culturally relevant place, we can position ourselves as an
essential part of our individual community's educational services
-as opposed to a recreational, thus non-essential, activity.

The way some martial arts instructors teach their lessons minimize
the value of the martial arts, of the potential for the martial
arts to be meaningful and useful, and for the value of martial arts
instruction to be compared to, oh say, the value (in dollars and
esteem) of a college education.

These teachers don't do this on purpose, as I believe that most
serious, career martial arts teachers believe in the martial arts
-and see the long-term study of the martial arts as a life
changing, life-enhancing undertaking.


Many teachers have simply "grown up" in a martial arts educational
environment that overemphasized the physical aspects of the martial
arts, without an equal emphasis on aspects of "self-defense" that
transcend the physical realm. In addition, most instructors who,
from the mid-1980's to the present, have been involved with the
prominent educational/consulting groups in the martial arts
community, have been immersed in a culture whose primary focus is
to develop athletes into managers and/or business-people. While
business skills are vital to the school owner, the intentionally
myopic focus of the industry has not encouraged, with equal
emphasis, other educational concepts that aren't technique-based or
business or money related, but are just as essential for the
industry's health and future growth.


The problem, reiterated:


Talking the Talk
Martial arts teachers minimize the perceived value of the martial
arts by not knowing how to intelligently and effectively
communicate the core and peripheral benefits derived from the study
and practice of the martial arts.


Note that I write minimize, as I believe most teachers are
imparting valuable skills to their students, but I believe that
there is a sizable gap between the results we are getting -and the
results we could get with a revised approach.


Walking the Talk
In addition, and perhaps most importantly, most teachers are far
better at kicking, punching, and grappling than they are in seeing
the non-physical (philosophical) ideas and concepts practiced on
the mat, put into action in the world.


As an example of this, I site my own training; in the 37 years I
have been a martial artist, I have received a handful of lessons,
out of thousands, from martial arts teachers, that directly
suggested (and offered concrete examples) that behavior off the mat
was as much or more about the martial arts that the training on the
mat. I don't fault my teachers for this, but I am suggesting it is
time for us to take the martial arts out of the dojo -and into the
world.


An Incomplete Definition
Generally speaking, martial arts teachers define their brand of
martial arts and/or self-defense in a way that is limiting and
archaic.


Many teachers draw far too many imaginary lines between "what is
martial arts" and "what is life."


Most teachers can describe, in great detail, the technical
intricacies of their art, but can't offer an equally detailed
description of why the study of the martial arts is an essential
component to life, versus a non-essential one.


Part of the reason for this, is that many martial arts teachers
hold an incomplete -and almost crippling -definition of the martial
arts. They hold this viewpoint about what the martial arts "are" or
"are not" because they haven't, I believe, devised a way to
transcend the boundaries of their schools and the competitive arena
and, literally, take their martial arts training into the world.


The Solution, in part, in my opinion:


Think About Self-Defense from a New Perspective
In today's world, self defense is as much about kicks, punches, and
grappling as windshield wipers are about the performance of your
automobile. Wipers are a part of your car, an essential part in a
rain or snowstorm, but they aren't "the car."


Kicks, punches, grappling, and all the other physical
manifestations of martial arts practice are useful in the right
situation, maybe even essential, but they are not -by any stretch
of the imagination "self-defense" in its entirety.


According to the famous Mayo Clinic, the top killers of adult makes
are heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, stroke, chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia,
suicide, kidney disease, and Alzheimer's disease.


Now let me clarify this: We are (the martial arts industry)
supposed to OWN the "self-defense" market (they're not claiming to
teach self-defense in public schools, dance studios, football or
baseball programs, etc.), but we're not addressing -in our
classrooms, in our writing, in our advertising -the things that
actually hurt and kill people TODAY?


What kind of "self-defense" program is that? I'll answer that
question right here:


Outdated, incomplete, and inadequate.


In addition, while the list above is actually what is killing
people in developed countries, there are other issues that hurt,
maim, and kill; take conspicuous consumption or environmental
degradation or dependence on oil (and what it does to economies and
politics in oil-producing nations) or diet, apathy, ignorance,
indifference, prejudice, and anger.


I suggest that the war we are currently engaged in has already
maimed, killed, and/or physiologically damaged more people in the
last 12 months than any kick, punch, or arm-bar has in the last 100
years.


How we go about addressing any of these issues will be have to be
tackled in other essays -but the OPPORTUNITY for martial arts
teachers to redefine "what is self-defense" and to address subjects
that are relevant to the world today, and in doing so increasing
the relevance and value of the martial arts, is undeniable. The
opportunity to provide education that improves the quality of life
for people on the planet earth -and that actually saves lives -is
here. We simply must grow up and into the idea.


When You Redefine Self Defense, You Redefine the Martial Arts,
Which Means you Redefine the Curriculum, Which Means you Redefine
the Advertising, Which Means You Redefine the VALUE of the Study of
the Martial Arts

Teach trivial pursuits -be treated as a trivial pursuit.

Teach things that are absolutely indispensable for existence, for
happiness, for peace of mind, for a world that is sustainable and
at peace and with less fear -and you acquire a new value. You
also,then, trancend the "subject matter" and teach wisdom.

The good news is that we are, I believe, not incredibly far off the
mark. It's as if we were building a house and we had all the
materials, but had them delivered to the wrong jobsite.

If any of this intrigues you -and you'd like to talk solutions and
discuss how to DO SOMETHING about making your brand of martial arts
instruction more meaningful (you would, I think, have to believe
there is "room for improvement") contact me; I am looking deeply
into the nature of martial arts instruction and self-defense.


Tom Callos; tomcallos@gmail.com; 530-903-0286.

Tom-Cast to teams, Oct. 24, 2007

The Ability to Flip The Switch

You wake up in the morning, it’s dark, you slip out of your bed and work your way towards the bathroom. Your hand follows the wall feeling for the light switch you know is there; when you feel that familiar plastic protuberance you flip it to “on” and –suddenly –the room is transformed.

Everything is illuminated.

This is exactly the same skill you must learn to apply to your black belt test –and just about anything else you plan on truly committing yourself to.

Your plan is the hand on the switch, and once you flip it, you are committed –and everything changes.

As I write this, UBBT Team 1 member Peter Johnson is on a track somewhere in San Francisco running laps. He’ll be running for the next 24 hours. As I write this, UBBT 5 Team member Andy Mandell is walking, clicking off one at a time, the 1800 miles left in his 10,300 walk around the perimeter of the United States for Diabetes education. He has been walking for five years. As I write this, Team 1 member Rob Anctil is somewhere on the Appalachian Trail. Rob is the UBBT team member who carries the distinction of having run a marathon on every continent in the world. As I write this, UBBT Master’s Video-Diary Project member Chuck Jefferson is preparing himself for another day of judo training, as Chuck is committed to taking home a medal in the next Olympic Games.

At some point, each of these athletes flipped that switch. They woke up one day committed to a goal they had set, and from that day on nothing was the same.

They were driven towards a certain destination, an achievement, a goal. After they flipped the switch, their diet, their actions, their thinking, their focus, their habits, their everything changed.

This is the switch I expect you to throw when you commit yourself to the Ultimate Black Belt Test.

When you sign on, beginning that next day (and/or the moment you “get” your commitment and the power it holds for you), nothing is the same. Your diet, your thinking, your habits, your EVERYTHING changes; you are now “in training.”

Things you might do when you flip the switch:

· Stop eating sugar and/or refined foods.
· Start meditating, seriously and with focus (get help), every day.
· Start keeping a “food diary.”
· Give away your TV.
· Walk, run, or bike your way to your workouts and/or office.
· Train, in some way, five to six days a week.
· Read, study, and associate with others who have also flipped the switch (in any and every discipline).
· Tell everyone you know (knowing that they are a huge part of the village that supports your commitment and progress) about what you’re doing –and show them you’re really doing it.

Flip the switch, as there is no more powerful metaphor for the level of commitment a champion, in any field, applies to his or her quest.

Flip the switch and recognize, feel, believe, understand, and take action upon the idea that you are a man or woman on a mission.

Master the art of flipping the switch; use it to make change on a cellular level.

Train yourself to, when you are ready, flip the switch and know in your core, as if the room had been pitch black –and in the next moment illuminated, that you have the power to flip it on command.

Flip the switch and board a ship sailing out of port. There is no return until the adventure is lived. There is no turning around until the destination is reached. There may be storms, their might be danger, their might be struggle, but you are no longer sitting in your house waiting for something to happen –you’re on a journey; an undeniable, can’t-turn-back, here-we-go journey, OH MY GOD journey.

Flip the switch, now.

“Fear of commitment is perhaps the most deadly sin of all, because it's not simply your failure to commit to yourself, your dreams, your hopes. Underlying a lack of commitment is a low self-esteem. To be successful, you have to believe that you deserve success. You have to have an image of yourself so tangible that you can reach out and touch it” --Peller Marion

Ultimate Black Belt Test TomCast from Tom Callos UBBT

Here's my latest TOMCAST about the UBBT (Ultimate Black Belt Test) and the Master's Diary Project with Black Belt Magazine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPuOJla63I4

Welcome to the UBBT --HISTORY in the Making!

Hello to all new UBBT members, Team 5 and beyond.

I started the UBBT four years ago –and I can’t hardly tell you how many wonderful people we’ve met, trained with, built for and with, walked with, cleaned with, and, well, just plain been exposed to during this program.

One or all of the members of this team have had something to do and/or spent time with Frank Shamrock, Ernie Reyes, Sr. and Tony Thompson, Cecil Peoples, Jhoon Rhee, David Meyer and John Will, BJ Penn, Fariborz Azhakh, Mike Swain, Troy Dorsey, Dave Kovar, Dave McNeill, Tommy Lee, Lance Farrell, Chris Natzke, The West Coast Demo Team, Matt Thomas, Bill Kipp, Jason Scott Lee, John Bielenberg, Samuel Mockbee, Skip Ewing, Nancy Walzog, Angelou, Pam Dorr, Dan Millman, Thich Nhat Hahn, and a ton of other amazing folks who have, in one way or another, touched us and left us all with something memorable.

We have done a whole lot apart –and a whole lot together. We’ve rock-climbed at ZUMA Beach in Malibu while whales and dolphins played nearby; we’ve performed with the West Coast Demo Team, trained with Ernie Reyes, Sr. and Frank Shamrock, David Meyer, Troy Dorsey, BJ Penn. We’ve fire-walked, backpacked, built houses, fallen off roofs, walked in Martin Luther King’s footsteps, sat together in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama (four young girls died there September 15, 1963, victims of a bomb), toured and even worked on homes inspired by the late, great architect and teacher, Samuel Mockbee.

We’ve raised $100,000 to build or fix homes and help comrades. We’ve done at least two million push-ups as a team, paddled canoes on the ocean, hiked the Sierra’s, played in the waves at Waipio Beach on the Big Island, talked-story with Jason Scott Lee, visited people with almost nothing, who needed help –and others with almost nothing who wanted less. We’ve sat with monks, explored ideas, implemented new programs, hiked the Golden Gate Bridge, slept together, shared food, toothbrushes (forget it), shoes, and far too few late nights.

The names of the people, their determination, their dream and ambitions, their smiles…they all flash thru my head like a slide show: Mike Valentine, Karen, Pat Hoffman, Lance, Rob, Michael,

James, Stephen, Fari, Bryan, Alicia, Nancy, Claire, Jason, Rita, Ray, Garrett, and 100 others.

Their amazing forms, traditional and eclectic, their spirit, their words, their happy faces ready to help here, Do there, lift that, run there, carry, cook, hammer, listen (and listen and listen).

These people, each and every one of them, committed at every level, with years of martial arts experience or with just a couple of years under their belts, from near and far away (even Australia and New Zealand) –these people have helped to craft martial arts history.

It’s a fact that the UBBT has had (and is having) an effect on hundreds –and maybe thousands of schools around the world. Because of this work and all of these people, new ideas are being installed next to the old ones. People are, in the martial arts community, exploring kindness, empathy, activism, environmentalism, peace education, meditation, walking, simplicity, hero programs, anger management, personal victories, eco-adventures, mending wrongs and relationships, and at least 50 other ideas that have originated and/or been implemented by my UBBT classmates.

Because of the UBBT, at least in part, a new (old) kind of spirituality training is reemerging in martial arts schools around the world that didn’t, prior to this program, know exactly how to implement these concepts into their curriculum.

Now, with the UBBT 5, we are exploring the mobilization of our students. The new UBBT STUDENT PRORAM invites the students of UBBT members to join in and start taking unprecedented action in their lives, in their communities –and as a team. Business-wise, it’s probably not a winning formula, this inexpensive aspect of the UBBT (and I’ve even lowered the primary course tuition) –but it’s not a money issue, it’s the right thing to do.

The UBBT’s ideas, which are actually made up of other people’s ideas, from King to Rhee to Reyes to Lee to Uyeshiba to Kano to Homma to Hahn to (Name your favorite hero/thinker here), are meant to transcend the martial arts, the dojo, the style, the system, the country of origin, and anything that limits, constrains, or separa

tes.

I ask YOU, now, yes…you…to contribute your time and energy in this endeavor, this personal journey of yours. I ask you to invest in your training with rugged determination and unbelievable consistency.

I ask you to reach out to people you don’t know –so that you can teach your students how to reach out to people they DO know. I ask you, challenge you, to make your Ultimate Black Belt Test the most empowering experience of your adult life –by deciding you can do better, be more, do more –and by damn, making it happen.

Do it by making tomorrow count. Listen, read, learn, eat like a champion, engage each person as if he or she were THE MASTER (of all masters) –and shed some of the weight, the baggage, the anger, frustration, etc…you might be carrying around. Use the UBBT as a tool for personal transformation –and when you work on your self, it is reflected in everything around you –and it often becomes a tool for family, relationship, business, and community transformation.

Welcome to the Ultimate Black Belt Test, something on the Internet, something that only really exists in the minds of its participants. Something that isn’t meant to be just a brand name –but a revolution in thinking and action for a bunch of people who, in the past, have focused primarily on their own physical skills, competition, and business. All those things have their value, but the new mission is to take the martial arts “out of the dojo and into the world.” And, as Aikido Master Goku Homma pointed out, “My life is my dojo.”

In the coming UBBT we will show the marital arts world what a bunch of determined, focused, driven martial artists can do. It will be something that is pure, simple, natural, uncomplicated –but profound. Teamwork; small efforts leading to big accomplishments; environmental self defense; global self-defense; peace education; environmental self-defense; dietary self-defense; martial arts activists; anger management; and a sweeping away

of the invisible lines between martial arts, art, science, architecture, and all the other activities born of peace and kindness and wonder.

The UBBT is a rejection of the trivial, the dishonest or questionable, the insincere, anger, hatred, resentment, and all the other things that we REALLY need self-defense from. The UBBT project is mixed martial arts for living, fully.

Take it, run with it, make it your own.

Saving Trees, Saving Animals. Black Belt Stuff?

UBBT and 100 Teams,

(Response to UBBT'r who asked why we might add the following to the test)

The reason we would address an idea like "Save 1000 Trees" ---or "Save 1000 Animals" as a curriculum requirement of the UBBT isn't just about trees and animals, it's about consciousness.

It's about conscious consumption.




And consumption, what you and I consume, despite the fact that you and I might be totally and completely unaware and/or disconnected from it, has an effect on the world --and in a way that relates to personal self-defense.

The way I look at consumption is by bringing the world down to the size of my house. Imagine living in my house, with it's limited resources, with 10 other people. What if I consumed 80% of the food in it? How would that fare with the others when they were left with just 20% to pass among themselves?

How would I feel looking at them, face-to-face, after I'd used the majority of the hot water, the electricity, the food, the everything --leaving them, despite the fact that they have the same needs as I do, with so much less than I've had?

If we had to face the people in the world, face to face, people who do with so very much less than we have and use, we'd feel pretty weird. Maybe even ashamed. Would you throw away all the food you do in front of 20 starving children? Would you use things once and then just toss them in a trash can -in front of people whose every owned object is precious and useful --who would be shocked at the waste we generate?

So you think, as Americans, we were born with the right to use anything and everything we want, without any regards for others -or for where the stuff ends up, or what others have to do to give us what we want, feel we need, and want to use? When did that happen? When did it become OK to be so ambivalent about our abundance, our waste, our use of resources?

Well, it's a habit and a lifestyle and a privilege, isn't it? All the stuff we use, all the stuff that ends up in our mailbox, our trash can, our dumps and landfills.

It's our birthright as Americans to just use, use, use ---'cause it's never ending is it! It's NEVER going to end.

We can use a plastic bottle or cup 3 to 10 times a day, we can use it once and TOSS IT...because this is our right and it's the way of our people.

We can keep using trees, because they're a sustainable resource.

We can grow and harvest them in a way that we never, never, never have to even consider our usage. This is America anyway --and we're not altering our lifestyle for anything or anybody. It's our birthright! We consume without hardly a thought about it or a care for where it comes from or where it goes.

Conscious consumption is the master's way...this I have come to know. And it's easy, easy to talk about --but hard to do.

This is why we, as martial arts masters in the making -----in a program genuinely designed to investigate martial arts mastery -at the highest level, would entertain the idea of making the "saving of trees and animals" a part of it's curriculum. Our consumption in the world is an embarrassment. Our lack of awareness to it --is something we should look deeply at.

This is, in a deep and meaningful way, a form of self-defense...in my opinion.
Tom

THe UBBT and Whatever...

I am, along with many of you, participating in (living) a deep exploration of the martial arts and of life; seeking a place of perfect preparedness, a place where all of the training we have engaged in (or will engage in) is applied to something more than the block, the knife-hand, the choke.

On more than one occasion I have received letters from people who believe that the martial arts have nothing to do with enlightenment.

They tell me I am fooling myself, and others, to believe that the martial arts are good for anything other than a life and death struggle –and that spending time on anything else is a waste.

I understand this point of view, as there was a time when I felt exactly the same way.


But, then I got older; my father passed away in my arms; a long relationship ended for me/us, and I felt the sorrow of not having been at my best or cared for it (or for my father) as much during as I did after-the-fact. My son grew up, my daughter was born. My hips disintegrated and were replaced. Entire years slipped by that I could hardly remember. Friends and students died, some of natural causes, some thru self-destruction. I fell in love. I became engaged in the

struggle to make ends meet and to, at the same time, live an illuminated, meaningful life.

All these things and a thousand others have resulted in a belief that each and everything we do, whether it’s martial arts, art, or urinating, each and everything is best done with an appreciation for it, in the here and now –with a certain mindfulness.

For me, now, coming upon 48 years of age, with almost 37 years of practicing the martial arts, and, somehow, in a position of leadership in my community (the martial arts community), a person looked upon, by some, with some measure of respect –I have to tell you that I have lost the ability to distinguish between what is the practice of martial arts and what is the practice of being a human being (fully engaged, compassionate, at peace). It’s come to my attention that most, if not all, of the things that have attacked me, hurt me, wounded me, disabled me, crippled me, and caused me any sort of pain or sorrow, have had nothing, nothing at all to do with any stance, kick, hand position, duck, slip, throw, arm bar, choke, kata, or sparring session.

Not once, not ever.

Holding onto anger; that has hurt me often. Being resentful and jealous; that’s been a killer. Being selfish and self-centered; that’s been kicking my behind for years. Not feeling compassion for others; that’s just about too painful to discuss. Oh, and the worst of the worse: Letting minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years slip by, unaware of the gifts around me; living too often in the future or reliving the past and not having hardly any awareness of now --which is a most ignorant and painful way to live.

This thing, the UBBT, is a tool I have created to teach and to practice. It’s one way we can be involved, together, and practice those things, those actions, that are manifestations of our beliefs and our ambitions. There are many other ways to do what we’re doing without a brand name attached to them, but the UBBT is the one I’ve made (with all of your help) , and it’s the one some of us are using at the moment.

However, the deepest work we’re doing has nothing to do with the name UBBT.

How to Begin the Ultimate Black Belt Test

OK, you've already signed on, so here’s how to get started.

First, start training.
Your transformation begins physically. Your goal is to be lean, muscular, healthy, and incredibly skilled at the end of this test. Walk, ride, do your form (3 times a day), spar and grapple (or hit the bag), sit-ups and push-ups, etc.

Second, eat like a champion.
There is no excuse for you to consume more than you need –or to eat in a way that does not bring you health and fitness. Radically alter your diet, eliminating all junk-food, excessive sugar, and processed foods. Need help? Ask.

Third, become a part of the team.
The test isn't just about you. If you can train and eat like a black belt, can you be a black belt team member? Can you give in a way that shows who you are on the inside?

Fourth, get the people around you involved.
It takes a village to make you a master teacher, so get your village involved. Every student, friend, and family member plays a role in your training. They hold you accountable to your promise, they train with you, they grow with you, they support you when you need it. If you don’t tell people what you’re doing, you won’t lose face when you feel like quitting (and you will feel like quitting at some point).
People who don’t have their students holding them accountable to the UBBT, cut their success rate by 80%.

Fifth, tune in with Tom –and other Team Members to help you.
Coach Tom can and will help you with your training, your business, or whatever else you might need (within reason!). There is someone on the UBBT team, past or present, who can help you –if you need it, and if you’ll ask for it. Don’t try to be the Lone Ranger –and reach out for assistance BEFORE you’re desperate.

Sixth, plan to attend the events (long before they happen).
You have months to plan, raise money for, and prepare for our events. PPPPP = Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance (and it prevents you from missing out on some of the best times of your test).

Seventh, journal, every week, like you were writing a book (your book), and like you are a teacher to 1000’s.
Journaling is the key to connecting with your community, with our community, with your coaches, and with the program. Call Tom for journaling instructions (how to do it).

Eighth, develop and maintain an attitude of mastery, peace, compassion, and a resolve to persevere and solve ANY problem that arises.
There is no problem so great, no obstacle so huge, nothing, nothing, nothing that can make you quit or develop a bad attitude about your test or anyone involved with it. Develop a bad attitude and not only do you reveal the limit of your intelligence, but you embarrass yourself, the team, and your teacher (is that clear enough?). Of course, you won't --as you understood the commitment before you enrolled.

Thank you!

Video on Anger Mangament and...

Take the best qualities of the best/greatest people you can think of…

Take the best qualities of the best/greatest people you can think of…

And embody them.

Take the qualities you know, in your heart of hearts, are destructive, like…

Greed; envy; arrogance; apathy; negative pre-judgment; and hate…

And make a conscious decision not to let them work thru you in your life.

Forgive. Forget. Offer kindness even in the face of anger and confusion.

These ideas reflect the kind of martial arts “master” worth knowing (and that we strive to be).

The purely physical is the box of cake mix.

Making the cake is your training. Sitting down to eat it is part of the reward.

Eating it with a complete awareness of the fragility of life, so that when you’re sharing it with your daughter, you are completely aware of the fact that you are there, alive, and so is she…eating it with awe for what it is and what’s brought you to that place.

Well now, THAT is something so big, so valuable, so enchanted that it is borders on the sacred.

Going to your dojo today, is the cake mix.

Doing your work and workout is making the cake. Teaching is part of your reward.

Teaching people to become better, more cognizant, participative, more empathetic, more here and now and happy for it, that is the sacred.

That’s something those folks you admire might have admired themselves.

New Instructions for People Starting the Ultimate Black Belt Test

August 28, 2007, by team coach Tom Callos

Note: Some of the following instructions have been written, in one form or another, elsewhere, while some of this is all-new.

The UBBT and Your Role as a Teacher
As a member of the UBBT, you are not just a participant; you are a teacher to hundreds and probably thousands of other people. They are watching you on the website –and learning vicariously through your experience(s). A number of prominent martial arts teachers have told me that they read the UBBT’s journals first thing every morning. I’m going to guess that a lot of other people check them regularly too. So, remember, you are teaching –and there are things you do for other people’s sake when you’re a teacher, that you might not do if the process were only for yourself.

The point here is, to realize your role, and play it out as if we were making history.

The UBBT and Whining/Complaining
The UBBT is a no whining, no complaining zone. You just don’t do it. As a mature, accomplished black belt in the martial arts, you should know all too well the power one’s viewpoint holds in thought, attitude, and outcome. You don’t complain, you fix. You don’t gossip, you encourage. You don’t whine, you take action.

Most of all, you commit yourself to either having or developing an exceptional attitude about success, defeat, obstacles, people, and situations.

What happens to you is up to you. What you make of your test doesn’t belong in my hands –or in anyone’s hands –but your own. If you can’t embrace this notion with 1000% of your heart and soul, then don’t join the program until you can.

I welcome any and all conflict we have between us during this process, because when it surfaces, we will find out what is truly beneath our shells.

Passing the Test
In all likelihood, you will not earn new belt rank in the UBBT. If your participation is contingent upon earning a new level of rank, then it’s best not to be involved. To earn rank in this program you have to actually DO the agreed-upon curriculum –and you have to do it with style and something more, something that’s hard to pin down in words, but what I expect of an immensely resourceful, self-disciplined martial artist. People have earned new rank in the program, but many have not. Most people engage in the program because it speaks to them, not because they get to put a new stripe on their black belt.

Engaging with Your Fellow Testers
As a part of this team, know now, right up front, that you are expected to act (towards your fellow members) the way YOU would want your own students to act among themselves if they were testing for THEIR black belts under you.

Don’t be one of these selfish, self-centered, too busy to engage, every excuse under the sun, including “it’s hard for me”, kind of teammates who can’t seem to find the 10 minutes once-a-day to engage with people who are all supposed to be working towards THE ULTIMATE black belt test.

Act the way you would act if you knew that you were going to be teaching people all over the word WHAT TEAM IS ALL ABOUT.

Yes, I know it’s a lot to ask, but then, this is the UBBT. Begin with the end in mind.

The UBBT Journals
The journaling in the UBBT is meant to be a chronicle, a diary, of your journey. It’s not where you complain about your lack of commitment or enthusiasm, it’s where you teach and document your progress. If you suffer from low motivation, if you have “dirty laundry” you feel compelled to air, if you can’t think of something positive to say –well, you might want to picture the most spiritually evolved being you can imagine –and do what She would do.

However, you are who you are, and it’s a difficult thing to hide for very long. Journal what’s in your heart and on your mind, but JOURNAL once a week; it’s about self-discipline and doing what you committed yourself to doing. If you miss a journal, make it up.

The UBBT: A Method of Attacking the Idea –and Why

There are some things that probably ought to be done without fanfare, without announcement, without publicity.

The UBBT isn’t one of them –and let me tell you why:

We are teachers; teachers do for others. Now, of course, there are plenty of reasons that teachers teach that could be considered selfish, as there are certainly benefits teachers derive from practicing their craft; but, for the most part, teachers give (and give and give), unselfishly and unconditionally.

At least the best teachers do.

This is what the UBBT is about. The program may, at first glance, seem like an ambitious self-improvement program, and it is –but only in part. The UBBT serves you best when you recognize it as a teaching tool. Telling people about the UBBT is telling them about the potential people have (you have, they have) to use daily life, ambitions, goals, and practices, (the struggle!) to REALLY LIVE. And to be fit, to be aware, to be participative, to make it a habit to grow, learn, and evolve.

Doing the UBBT is a way to teach others, to SHOW THEM they can do more; you show them by your example; and not to guilt them into improvement, but to just simply show them how they can apply themselves to their life in a way that is immensely rewarding (although it requires self-discipline).

Do you recognize how SHOWING someone is so much more powerful than just telling them?

But wait! How powerful would it be to just decide you are going to live as an example of “mastery” –separate from any UBBT, event, or whatever? That is, I think, the amazing thing that some ordinary people do –that eventually makes them shine.

Jhoon Rhee’s like that, as is Ernie Reyes, Sr. I think Dan Inosanto embraces the idea, as does Thich Nhat Hahn, Julia Hill, and add the name of your favorite hero right here ______.

Whoa! Wait again! Don’t we want our students, our “black belt candidates” to USE their black belt test (or any test) as a reason to transform and improve? Could we ask for more?

So, let’s teach them a lesson about how to use one’s “black belt test” as a vehicle for improvement. Let’s show them how it’s done. Do it right, do it thoroughly with discipline and focus, and you’ll teach 1000 lessons.

Two or three times during the UBBT I’ve had someone tell me they’re not writing down their ACTS OF KINDNESS because they want to engage in kindness separate from recognition and/or reward.

And that’s noble –except that is, in my opinion, not the point of the exercise.

We record 1000 acts of kindness, and we do it publicly and with declaration, because we are teachers. Every acts of kindness is a lesson in the extraordinary, in self-discipline, in determination, and in commitment. If it were just for our own spiritual health, then yes, it would be a good thing just to DO them...but this isn't about you --it's about people you have the opportunity to teach (young and old alike).

So is it with the entire UBBT process. Doing the UBBT is an act by a martial arts activist. It is you doing something overtly public –to serve as a role model for others.

Julia Butterfly Hill sat up in Luna, the old growth redwood tree, not just to save a single tree or patch of forest, but as a declaration of the need to take action on issues that you feel strongly about. It was to show how one person can make a difference.

In my “perfect world” scenario, people who do the UBBT do it because they CAN –and because they believe that it’s their responsibility (and/or opportunity) to teach others they can also do more, be more, change, and improve. Of course, some people will not understand...but that's not going to stop us from turning the key in the lock of our classroom --and opening the door. It's our job.

Start the UBBT with the mindset of a teacher (which is the mindset of a student).

On the UBBT's Eco-Adventure

(Each year I take the members of the Ultimate Black Belt Test on a 3 or 4 day Eco-Adventure on the Pacific Crest Trail outside of Lake Tahoe, CA)

We are going into the Sierra’s for a number of reasons…and I promote this event purposely and with intent (not because it’s easy or convenient or because “we have to do something”).

I truly believe that being close to nature, connecting, turning off the virtual world, and being close to the earth, to trees, and sleeping under the stars is something we need to stay sane. If you could “get” the value of these things, you would, I believe, be that much better of a teacher, leader, and inspiration to others.

The chance to do these things and create the time to talk with you, to give you the opportunity to mix and connect –and to do it all without the wiz and hum of cell-phones, air conditioners, i-pods, car stereos, servants, TV’s, bars, convention center lighting, gift shops, slot machines, and on and on –it’s perfect.

If I somehow motivated you to take your students, periodically, into the outdoors…that you would somehow tie in a “martial arts education” to connecting, at least occasionally, with nature…well, then what a feather in my cap! What a gift that would be.

That’s part of what I’m doing. I’m showing you what I think is important ---and I’m hoping you say to yourself, “yeah, this is good” ---and then implement it as a part of the education you provide for all of those people who so look up to you.

Simplicity is a common theme in my writing and work ---but how to practice it? How do we get in touch with it? How do we let go, even just for a day or two, with all of the crud we have encumbered ourselves with?

This trip does some of that –and a bonus is that we’re not trekking across Death Valley…this area we go to is beautiful ---and still looks like America looked when your father’s great-great grandfather was working on his methods for making a living on the planet.

We have, some of us, forgotten the power of nature to clear the slate and clean the soul.

Forget "Karate", MMA is The Ultimate!

Forget your karate, your taekwondo, your aikido, your gung fu, your jiu-jitsu, your kenpo; mixed martial arts is the ULTIMATE!

Mixed Martial Arts –In Perspective

By Tom Callos

Mixed martial arts is the perfect art for the space it occupies. I mean, why not use what works when it’s needed? Why not forget a style’s country of origin, it’s founder, it’s history, it’s lineage? Who really cares what art a technique is from?

Hey, if the kick works, if the choke chokes, if the punch lands, who could ask for more? When you’re in the octagon or any fighting ring, you’re on the spot -there’s no time for history or philosophy, there’s only time to do what you’ve come to do.

I love mixed martial arts for its efficiency, for its no-nonsense approach, for its adaptability, and for its lack of baggage. It is the ultimate martial art for the 625-square-feet of space that makes up a 25’ x 25’ ring.

The only thing is, and it’s worthy to note: Life does not take place in the octagon. The rules of MMA practice and fighting, the whole UFC fight thing, well…it’s made for the ring.

Life is, yeah, BIGGER! Life is...

Life is REALLY BIG!

The rules that work so well in the octagon or in ANY ring, don't apply to the big ol' world. No, for the world, to live here in peace, to let our children grow up and love, live, reach, enjoy, and prosper, there are lots, and lots, and lots of other things they need to know.

This then, all you "karate teachers" (replace "karate with your style, system, method, etc.), is a wake up call (if you need one).

If you're going to define your art with "fighting" in the first paragraph of your description of what you do, then you have limited your overall value (to the tune of about 625 square feet).

If you realize YOUR playing field in the world (read: large!) --and teach accordingly, then your style will go on, will prosper, will have value, and will make a difference (in a much larger and, dare I say, more relevant way).

If your primary focus is kicking, punching, grappling, etc. -well, it's your choice isn't it? It doesn't make you bad or weak or anything, that is except less valuable to the world.

Teach more than fighting; redefine your mission; create a new INTENT.