Black Belt Blog - Mas Quinn

Winter has come. The days are short and dark. The trees have shed their leaves and are focusing their energy on deepening their roots, hidden from view. This is a time of inward growth and preparation for the future. 

We too are in a season of winter. It is a dark and cold time for our nation. Our democracy is under threat and we, the roots, are called to grow stronger. We must deepen our commitment to our training, our community, and our hope. 

Through training we strengthen our bodies, learn how to protect ourselves and those we love. 

Throughout history, those who loved to fight were destroyed. But those who could not fight were also destroyed. Strength and virtue, such alone lasts and can lead others aright. During this winter we will train together and develop our strength and virtue so that we may last and lead.

During the winter people come together in community to share food and celebrate together. This is because during the winter we need community. This has never been more true for us. We must stand together, support each other, protect and feed those who are oppressed. We, as a community, need to remind each other that love will triumph.

Hope is a hollow word if we do not fill it with our grief and anger and sorrow and forge it into something new. When you scoop up the sands of loss, you will feel the texture of hope. Let us share hope this winter by training together, by working hard, by seeking joy even when she is hidden deep in the winter shadows. Hope leaves open the possibility of blossoms defying the rules of winter and breaking through the frosted earth.

I was walking with Mas Guru Agung in the winter darkness, and she stopped to smell a small flower blossoming by the road. “Here” she said and picked the bud, “put this in your car, it smells so good.” I stood under the moon and breathed deeply. The smell was so sweet, it filled me with images of spring. “It is the middle of winter, and it is still blooming.”  

Training is the soil that nourishes us to grow into more than we imagined possible, training brings us together, in training, we can feel the hope that will lift us like winds under the crane’s wings, it brings us the power of the tiger, the ferocity and playfulness of the monkey and the quiet, observant wisdom of the snake.

And, I now know, that if we pay attention and breathe, sometimes we can bloom in the middle of winter. 

Mas Quinn, 2/3/25