Your Students Become Limited By Your Limits

On the whole –and I speak for myself here too, we ask very little of ourselves. We do very little for our fellow man. We are absorbed in our business, in our things, in our personal drama, and in our desire (conscious or unconscious) to conform.

As “martial arts masters” –and in general, there is absolutely NO CALL to rise, no call to perform, no call to unite or make change or DO ANYTHING.

Our profession asks very, very little of us.

We have no physical “standards” of performance.

We have no reading or educational requirements.

We have no expectations of activism, involvement, and/or anything that borders on “work for humanity.”

There is no martial arts master-teacher’s journal or magazine speaking out against violence or war or consumerism –or for peace or social consciousness or advanced education or even higher standards of performance.

I think that our “industry” –that is, the business entities that survive on our commerce, the business entities that provide most of us with the tools we think we need to achieve “success,” --promotes a superficial, politically inoffensive, dumbed-down set of standards for martial arts teachers.











For the most part, the men and women who seem to be leading the “martial arts industry” are cemented into a 20th Century definition of success –the success of hoarding wealth, of driving it, of living in it, of wearing it on your wrist, of shopping for it, and of using it as a measure of achievement and quality of life.





Personally, every hero I look up to in my life, both living and no longer living, have asked me in one way or another to refocus my thinking from accumulating overt wealth to accumulating the tools to make a difference for my fellow man.

The more deeply I look at my practice the more simple my needs become.

SO, let this note be a call to you.

Are you a teacher? Are you on a path seeking some sort of “mastery?”

Are you willing to step up, this year, now, and fix that which needs to be fixed?

Will you explore with me, for the coming year, a new definition of “martial artist?”

Of “master teacher?”

I am calling you to be a part of a revolution in thinking and action. I am looking for 50 teachers who are willing to ask more of themselves ---so much more of themselves that they risk inspiring the next generation of martial arts teachers. I’m looking for 50 teachers who would be willing to bring along 20 students each –so that we collect 1000 men and women for a one-year action-oriented exploration of a new kind of martial arts –for a new world.

We will get fit; we will do more than one-million acts of kindness; we will do 1000 community-based projects; we will simplify; use less –and enjoy MORE. We will connect with people who don’t live near us physically, but who we join with emotionally –and in recognition of our collective influence.

For the Ultimate Black Belt Test 6 I’m looking for 50 teachers who will “Proceed and BE Bold” with nothing more than a connection to the Internet –and the willingness to take LOTS of action, personally, with and for others, for the “martial arts industry,” and for the world.

I’m calling you out –to join one of the few, if not the only, martial arts movement of its kind in the world. With your help, we can establish a new set of standards for what it to be –and live as –a black belt and a master teacher in today’s world.

Tom Callos 530-903-0286