my welcome letter

This is not my first blog, but the first time I will be dedicating a blog to my black belt journey. I have been studying a style known as Koro Ken (mind/spirit fist) that was created by Sensei Richard Morallo (koroken.com). It's origins lie in Goju Ryu and is a very beautiful, yet deadly, form of martial arts. My sensei, Sensei Jon Bottomms, is an incredible man who leads his students on this amazing journey. We talk about moving from hara, about kimei, about fajing. Never before have I gained so much insight into myself and what I was capable of doing with my body, mind and spirit. Now I am reaching the first end to this long journey with the training for my black belt. The shiai will be on August 22 and I'm definitely scared, definitely feeling that I won't be prepared, but am definitely, absolutely excited. Martial arts is my life, it's how I live my life, how I interact with people, how I do my job (massage therapy). If any of you who read this have any wisdom on black belt training, please feel free to comment. One of the obstacles, which occurs at the very end of the shiai, is doing 100 pushups. Not a huge hurdle, but one that will be difficult after performing for almost two hours straight. We do a lot of sparring, a lot of kehones, holding horse stance for five minutes of more, a lot of kata and bunkai. I will not be the only one testing, which is a good thing. Another woman and maybe two or three other young martial artists (middle teens) will be testing as well. The more the merrier. This test is not closed to the public, so there will be an audience. Oh, I'm so excited and the whole day I have been thinking how I can step up the training. I also have a husband and a two year old son, so making the time isn't always an option. I often find myself kicking up and down my driveway and doing kata on the grass as my son plays around me. He will often join me in his own way, which is so incredibly cute. Any other karate parents out there? How do you fit your martial arts training in with young children and spouses who do not do karate? My husband often just doesn't understand that I need to participate in more classes, but we're working on that....selfish me...