january is white belt month

In January, all WMAC students return to the beginning, and become white belts. This is a perfect time to read or review the chapter in the Beginner's Handbook titled The Meaning Of The HapKiDo WhiteBelt.

Here is the first paragraph in the chapter:

The white belt symbolizes emptiness, openness, clarity, potential and purity. In ancient times, The Master, and or temple, would only accept you as a student or disciple if you had most of these qualities. Today we give most people the opportunity to strive and possess them through the beginner's training. To be a great white belt, you must be like an empty cup. You must possess a pure spirit - just as a spirit devoid of a physical form or as a newborn without judgment or a belief system. Anything else could be an obstacle for the teachings you are about to receive. If you come with your cup half full, the other half that you will receive will not be what the Master intended. This is because the second half would be polluted by what was already there. A cup that is full may have some value depending on what it is full of. A cup is only useful when it is clean and empty. This is ideal for the beginner's mind.