20 years since shodan - reflections on gradings, mastery and imposter syndrome
Today (5th August 2021) marks twenty years since I first graded to shodan (the first black belt grade) in a martial art. It might come as a surprise to many non martial artists that there are multiple black belt grades, and that a black belt does not represent the end of a journey but more […]
Fear is the Path to the Dark Side
When I was in primary school we had some swimming lessons, and at one point someone asked us to swim a length to decide which "stream" we would be in. At this stage I enjoyed swimming and was reasonably OK as a swimmer. I was so determined to get in the better stream that I […]
Grading in the Martial Arts
Last week Donal and I got involved in answering some questions about grading from folks in our aikido club. I thought I would put some of my thoughts here. Other people's thoughts will vary and I'd welcome other perspectives in the comments. These are perspectives on grading in Japanese martial arts, but particularly aikido. They […]