Deshi:  Sensei, you often speak of having one's training mature.  Is there a sign I can use, a marker by which I can determine if my training has matured or has at least began this process?

Sensei:  Yes.  When life's rites of passage can occur within your practice and not against it, your training will have matured.  When the ins and outs of life can find place to set foot within your practice, as opposed to finding a place for training to rest within your life's ins and outs, then your training will have matured - so too will the spirit that is at the heart of that training.