I can understand and appreciate that. I urge you to stick with your training, it will profit you greatly as the years go by in ways that you cannot see yet. The greater the effort required, the richer the reward when it finally arrives. As you go on, the techniques get more challenging and thus take more time to learn well. I hope your instructor has done well, though we do not test until we know that you are ready and will certainly pass the testing. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! The judging panel in ITF takes 6 months to decide whether you have passed your black belt testings or not, though it comes right away for the lower belts. It costs a lot more too, but there is a panel of 7 high ranking black belts that do the judging with the Grand Master in the middle so it is justified. Then it will either be "decided" or "recommended". Decided is better. If I had not made that 7 board break after 3 tries and had to remove a board, if I had injured one of the children I had to spar with, blown a pattern or something along those lines I would have gotten a "recommended" 6 months later, but I would have been expecting it. I would then retake the test after another 6 months to try and get that "decided". Part of TKD practice is patience and they do not quit teaching you that lesson. :huh: The real benefits come after many years of practice. It changes your lifestyle and almost seems to give one superpowers. The GM moves like a teenage athelete - extremely fast and flawlessly accurate. While he is in his 70's he looks my age or younger. He is one of the most wonderful and impressive persons I have ever met, it was an honour to spend a month and a half with him every weekday. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Like I said earlier - I am still thinking about that a lot and it has been several months now since.
So you had to spar with one of the children without injuring them? That is brilliant and it makes perfect sense. There are twice as many kids as there are adults in my classes. A taekwondo master really should have that much control over their muscles. It would go to the point that martial arts is not just brute strength, but is also about control. Maybe that's why I'm drawn to Taekwondo and not Fusion(mixed martial arts). I really don't want to learn how to rip someone's eyeball out in a street fight or inflict terrible damage. Olympic style sparring, WTF, is perfectly for my needs. Good cardio/physical training. And I need to learn patience. I also like the Oriental mysticism that surrounds marital arts, but is absent from mixed martial arts.
Stonphi, I was thinking about how you said you were a Buddhist. When I do meditate after class or after working out or working on a form, I do find that meditation seems to help learn the form.
Yes, I have found that meditation helps me in many ways. I routinely use it to 'get in the zone' for anything that requires some extraordinary effort. I used it to make a 7 board break with a flying side kick. I blew the first 2 tries, knew I had only 1 more try before they pulled a board so it was time to make the grade or fail. I closed my eyes and went to my quiet place. (I know this is a little weird, but please bear with me here Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ) Just 'around the corner' from my quiet place I found a door. Behind that door is where I keep my anger. I opened the door and there on the far wall was a big red knife switch that turned on my anger. I pulled that switch and opened my eyes. What I saw was a red tunnel with the boards at the very end. I didn't see anything else, I heard nothing (we were being watched by a crowd of about 200 people in an auditorium). The next thing I knew I was standing in the middle of a bunch of broken board pieces and the holders were sitting on the floor with surprised looks on their faces. My training partner told me that I performed the technique flawlessly and the boards just seemed to explode when I hit them, like a grenade had gone off right there. Everything and everybody went flying. It was only afterwards that I realized that I now knew how to access my rage and turn it on or off. Another step towards self control, which is part of what Buddhism is about. My best form performances are done with an empty mind, going with the flow of the pattern, concentrating on breathing and feeling the flow. I am told that it is very surprising to watch me perform my kata as I do not look like I can move like I do. I had to spar with several children for each of my black belt testings. You are correct, it is all about self control. It is harder to 'pull' a technique than to 'follow through', but equally important. I agree with you on the draw of the esoteric aspect of the martial arts versus the street brawl aspects of MMA and the like. While I deeply appreciate the veracity of ring fighting, have done that a lot myself and have judged many of those contests, I very much prefer the transcendental nature of TKD. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! This is a Korean Buddhist Taekwondo monk demonstrating what that combination can do. I can do that double front kick, but not as far off the ground or as limber as this young man does. Photo from Black Belt magazine.
