Thursday, May 29, 2008

Making Jung SuWon Basics Exciting

Many times students want to learn the real fancy kicks and advanced movements. But sometimes, the most exciting revelations can come from studying your basics. Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim told stories about how she used to just have students do middle punch for an hour. They learned the traditional way and became strong. The newer generations, seem to have less patience, and want to rush ahead to advanced techniques. Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim emphasized that we have to modify our teaching techniques to adapt to the times.

When students focus on basic techniques, the secrets to the martial arts are closer to being discovered. I found that the more I focused on basics, the more I learned about myself and my power. Each time I attended a class where we focused on basics, I learned something new. I started to have revelations about my power, energy, timing, and breathing.

How to stand, how to breathe, and to generate and control energy. The more I focused on basics, the more advanced techniques I learned. It worked the opposite that one would expect. That is why the secrets of the martial arts are hard to discover. Martial arts requires patience, and dedication. Jung SuWon - Focusing Body, Mind, and Spirit. Jung Su!

Saturday, May 10, 2008

One of the first things I learned, was that I had to rise to a higher level of responsibility. I had to stop thinking about just me. I had to realize that in order to be a good teacher, I had to rise above my day to day feelings. Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim taught me that I had to have a larger view about society and my role in society. My job was to energize and help people everyday. This taught me to put petty issues aside, and focus on generating a positive mental attitude. Like we say at Jung SuWon Academy, "He can do. She can do. Why not me!"