Reframing the wheel

Total 360 Karate Blog Jan 2026

Reframing the wheel

We define ourselves through how we see the world. We compete in tournaments and challenges to understand our progress; some play for a trophy, but there is a deeper value. This blog will discuss how reframing your mindset about competition can help you grow and better yourself as a person.  

Think about the movies that have been shown where there is a karate tournament or martial arts tournament, and there’s someone who always seems to do dishonorable things.  There’s always a gray, and then someone who tries to remain true.  Let’s focus on the remaining truth.  The goal in entering a tournament should not be to win a trophy or medal but to see how your training works.  This is the most effective way to test your system.  It’s a live area, with people you don’t know or haven’t seen.  You have to use a strategy, react, and adapt.  This is ultimately the goal of karate: to learn.  

Reframing means taking the ideas of what society says we have to do or is expected and making them your own.  Being a black belt does not mean you know how to “beat people up.” Being a black belt is an honor, a show of dedication in time, heart, and soul to commit to something bigger than yourself.  Along the way, you may have learned how to defend yourself. We all know the stories of a kid who doesn’t want to fight, and other kids call him names or taunt him endlessly. If that kid is a martial artist, then recognize that they don’t have to prove themselves to anyone else. Karate is about defending yourself or others.  There are tournaments and sparring matches where you can test your skills.  The taunted kid is labeled as afraid or weak. This is where reframing can come in.  The martial artist knows what they can do; they’ve come to the dojo thousands of times.  They have nothing to prove to the world, only to themselves.  Our success is in not getting into a fight.  To that kid, I say you have proven yourself.  

You are in control of reframing.  What does your dojo stand for? Where do you want to be in society? What is going to take to get there?  These are all questions you can ask yourself.  Your reframing may change.  Know this, you have everything within you to make the decisions and changes.  You can forgive yourself for buying into the delusions of what society says or expects.  There are rules in place that counter exist to martial artists.  Long ago, if you were in a fight and you defended yourself, you were not suspended; it was the person who started it or the primary aggressor. Now most schools have shifted to the idea that regardless of the circumstances, both students are suspended for fighting.  What does that teach the person who was trying to defend themselves?  To reclaim the values of Okinawa and Japan, we must adhere to the current rules to achieve this goal.  Martial arts should continue to defend themselves and make sure they state why they did what they did.  They need to tell their parents, Sensei’s and friends why. 

Look around at what’s around you. Think for yourself and define what you want to be through the eyes of martial arts. Society's expectations and rules change, and we can affect that change by changing how we think.  We look forward to seeing you in 2026.