UBBT Coach Tom Callos training in Bangkok

Here is my ultimate black belt test coach, Tom Callos' first training session in Bangkok! Go Tom...Go Tom...Go Tom!!!
http://www.tomcallos.com/

For Mount Laurel Martial Artist ONLY - This Morning I Am Doing What You Must Do, Too

This morning I am engaged in something you must do, can do, should do, every so often --if not every day...

And that is I am redefining what MY black belt test is about --what it's for --why and how I make my idea of it a reality ---and how I use the test, all of it, every single ingredient of it, to make change, to evolve, to improve, and to inspire.


By redefining my black belt test, don't I automatically redefine all the time that passes BEFORE the test itself? Yes, I must do that, as it's not the day of the test that creates a black belt, or can I say represents my very best work, but the PROCESS of how I get to that day.

Allow me to explain my black belt test, which is called The Ultimate Black Belt Test (UBBT).

My UBBT is a 1-year (or longer) trial by fire, a 1 year test involving daily activities, "tasks," that are, in part, designed by my instructor Master Michael Dinoto, my coach (and creator of the original UBBT) Tom Callos --and in part designed specifically by me.

My UBBT requires DAILY activity, daily practice, and no small amount of self-dicipline. To earn my new rank with the UBBT process, I must fulfill 80% to 100% of all pre-determined tasks.

By the time I finally "test" for my 5th Dan, I want to have used my experience, my understanding of the martial arts world, my energy, my influence, my education, and everything I am, currently, as a result of my journey, to bring something remarkable (and indicative of the rank) to the martial arts community in Mount Laurel NJ --and the world.

I want my "test" to serve as one fine example, if not the best example, of what a 5th dan test could and should be/do. I want my "test" to inspire other martial arts teachers / practitioners to raise the bar on their own testing requirements. I want my personal test to affect the lives of as many people as I am humanly capable of affecting.

My UBBT is my answer to "What did you do to earn your 5th dan?" And I want the answer to be, "I changed the perception of what it is to live and train for black belt mastery --and for the better."

So, This morning I am engaged in something you must do, can do, should do, every so often --if not every day...if you are a martial artist committed to black belt excellence and personal mastery.

I am redefining my mission, beginning anew, starting the process as if today were, again, the first day. You may see the work I am doing for my UBBT at http://www.peterliciaga.org/.

Action Plan Suggestions (for those of you interested in creating your own Ultimate Black Belt Test)

1. What is the test you're currently living? And how does it manifest itself in any sort of daily practice? Think about this, make notes, and start to DO something. Understand that at some level, this is the base "stock" of the soup that is your answer to the question, "What did you do to earn your black belt?" The better you understand and daily live your "test", the more value it brings to your black belt ---and YOU as a martial artist. The better you are, on all levels, the better your family, martial arts school/instructor and community will be.
2. Make "your test" a public spectacle. Why? If your test is hidden from view, how can it inspire and affect others? * (see note, below) A private test is a practice in narcissism and self-absorbtion. A public test is an opportunity to inspire and affect the world. A private test is a bit scary, but a public test, where people actually SEE what's going on, is VERY scary, as showing what's going on, genuinely, exposes the truth of what is --or is not --taking place.

* The "new" black belt test is NOT about "the tester." It is about everyone in the tester's "sphere of influence." Anyone can change themselves, but making that change a catalyst for change in the world? That is the mark of the kind of black belt I aspire to be (and create).

And, from a "telling a story" perspective, I ask you to appreciate and recognize the value of a training process that isn't focused on one person, but on everyone in that one person's "sphere." Show me a "black belt test" that transforms (for the better) a family, an organization, and a community, and you're showing me a black belt test of a genuine, authentic MASTER of something that might just transcend the label and idea of a "martial artist."

This blog is part of the Ultimate Black Belt Test Program (http://www.ultimateblackbelttest.com/), which is an undertaking of The 100. (http://www.the100.us/), and a part of the American Black Belt (http://www.americanblackbelts.com/) experience.

Intelligent Curriculum in Mount Laurel Martial Arts School

Martial Arts Master Instructor and Education Activist Peter Liciaga is involved in a rather revolutionary project involving a change in the what, when, why, and how of teaching people of all ages about self-defense. The project has been launched by his ultimate black belt test coach Tom Callos's association, The One Hundred (The 100), and involves a concept coined Intelligent Curriculum.

Intelligent Curriculum is a process where web-technology is applied to teaching people about the depth and scope of self-defense as it applies to today’s world. For example, there isn’t a kick, punch, block, arm-bar, leg lock, or other martial arts maneuver on or anywhere close to a list of top 10 killers of men, women, or children in the Western world. But heart disease is on the list.

With Intelligent Curriculum the martial arts teacher brings a heart disease primer into his or her curriculum, using the Internet, so that the student doesn’t go through years of “self-defense” training without addressing the topic. That’s an intelligent direction for the way we should be addressing self-defense in a world where heart disease affects more than 40% of all deaths in America.

Master Liciaga helping build a home with Ms. Georgia in rural Alabama.

Some of the other issues Intelligent Curriculum is seeking to address include the media; diabetes; anger; emergency situations; diet; care for the environment; and community involvement. While all of these issues may not, at first glance, obviously relate to self-defense, they will in martial arts schools of the future.

From a teacher’s perspective and from someone who has more than just a passing interest in self-defense, I find the approach to be refreshing and valuable. For more information on how we're implementing Intelligent Curriculum in our school and in our community, contact me here: Dinoto Karate Center, 856-235-0414, email me: masterliciaga@dinotokarate.com.

Peter Liciaga
Master Instructor and Education Activist

PS...Be sure to ask me about our adult martial arts classes and our new Zumba Classes!

The Power of the Moment

Anger management, environmental self-defense, dietary self-defense, community involvement, meditation, empathy training, and sustainable living represent a part of the new kind of “self-defense lessons” taught in schools that recognize what I call the power of the moment.

That moment is the opening that comes every so often; that moment when the young and impressionable student is listening to his or her martial arts teacher like only a child can –with that wide-eyed acceptance, that fully open mind, ready to grow, instantly absorbing, and highly impressionable.

It is at that moment that we want our hero at the front of the class to speak not about defeating an opponent or striking another human being or winning a tournament; we want to hear words and ideas that inspire compassion, awareness, respect for self, for family, for the community, for the global community, and for the planet.

We want a seed planted and/or watered at that moment; something that has the potential to sprout into a kind of wisdom and happiness that is uncommon, but the deepest wish of every mother and father.

When that moment comes, as I have seen it come so many times, trust that your teacher is fully aware and recognizes what power his or her words, influence, actions, and position wields.

This is the kind of martial arts I am coaching your teacher to practice (and if they have sent this letter to you, then you can assume that he or she is a good student! Note: The best teachers are almost always good students themselves).

My clients are the kinds of teachers who are acutely aware of the power of the moment; they live to create those moments –so that they might make a true contribution to a better and more peaceful world.

We consider this “our business.”

We spend only the smallest amount of time necessary working on how to run our businesses so that we can pay the bills and have money left over (like all business owners); we spend the majority of our energy on coming up with the most innovative, creative, interesting, and powerful ways to create moments of deep learning, constructive and useful attitudes, and the kind of awareness that promotes peace of mind –and peace in action.

To be a part of my programs, your teacher must transform himself (or herself) into someone who makes the pursuit of genuine martial arts mastery a deep, personal and spiritual daily practice.

You can recognize my students because they are training to be in the best shape of their lives; they are eating and living with full consciousness of what they consume; they define and engage their heroes; they practice meditation; they read; and they take on projects with their students that benefit their respective communities; projects that show, firsthand, how to apply their training principles to life —on and off of the mat.

My members are grounded, real –and exuberant people.

Among our ranks is an Academy Award winning filmmaker; there are songwriters, environmental and civil engineers, artists, authors, attorneys, world champions, school teachers, counselors, journalists, grandfathers, grandmothers, fathers, mothers—and all of them are martial artists with a desire to make a difference, here and now, through what they teach and how they teach it.

That is the mission of this work, which is now made up of my work and the work of your teacher.

Find out what your instructor is doing by visiting him at www.PeterLiciaga.org

Martial Arts Lessons: It’s Not About Violence

Just the other day a parent asked me if she thought my classes promoted violent behavior in young boys. She was inquiring about lessons for her son and was concerned that he and his friends might take what they’re learning and use it inappropriately.

I thought it was a fine question.

Yes, there have been a few cases (very few) of students “playing martial arts” with friends, the same way they play as their favorite superheroes, but I’ve never heard of the play being malicious or hurtful. I do, however, hear many stories of my young students using the kind of restraint we talk about in almost every class. I hear many stories of the young people in my program --and other martial arts schools --avoiding violence, avoiding conflict, and staying out of trouble as a result of their training.

A good martial arts teacher adds instructions and advice about how NOT to use martial arts, as often as he or she teaches the technical aspects of the arts.

“The ‘cake’ that is what a martial arts teacher offers his or her students,” says Tom Callos (www.tomcallos.com), the National Director of The One Hundred (www.flavors.me/masterteachers), an association made up of martial arts instructors who embrace education over the more media-prevalent aspects of martial arts instruction, “is made up of blocks, punches, kicks, and other maneuvers, But the real “flour” of the recipe is in the restraint, the self-control, and the attitude of self-discipline that makes up the best-of-the-best the martial arts has to offer.”

And by way of an offer, any reader of this piece that would like to “taste” the cake we produce at our school, need only contact me, Peter Liciaga, Instructor at Dinoto Karate Center to receive a free private or group trial class (no strings attached, no sales pitches, nothing but a genuine “try us”).

And no, it is not about violence or aggression or hurting people. The martial arts are about grown-up adults mentoring young people in the ways of non-violence, self-control, and contribution.

Children’s Classes in Martial Arts, What to Expect

Expect there to be one or more experienced teachers on the floor in your child’s class. Expect the teacher to, at times, appear to have the patience of Job. Expect a bit more, Oh how shall we say it? ENERGY, every so often. Expect the teacher, whether gently guiding everyone along or cranking up the troops, to wear a smile (a happy one!).

Expect a lot of talk about respect, about leadership, about good manners, about anger, about a whole bunch of things just about any parent would love to hear some OTHER adult talking to them about. That’s the way we do it.

“I haven’t been a ‘karate kid’ for some time, like decades, but the experience is still in my mind like it happened yesterday. Parents, enroll your child in a good martial arts school. You’ll never regret it --and your children will never forget it.” -- Tom Callos, http://www.tomcallos.com/

Expect a lot of good-sleep-inducing exercise. And expect some special events, as one of our primary goals is to teach our students to take what they practice on the mat and apply it to other things (like school, like work, like fun, and like --to the community).

Expect to look back on your son or daughters martial arts lessons with great pleasure and fond memories. Expect, genuinely, some very good times.

For a free class (and mark my words here, there’s no “hook” or sales pitch in this offer. This is simply a way for you to try our school, before ever THINKING about enrollment. Click here or contact us at: 856-235-0414