Hwal = Vitality

Moo Do Creed (Moo Duk Kwan Hun Jang)

The purpose of Moo Do is Hwal -               to cultivate ourselves.

Moo Do does not end in offense or defense.

It is one step further, the purpose is life itself.

Even facing the enemy, our goal is to save them.


The principles of Moo Do are the principles of Nature.

 

Guided by Moo Do we may achieve the goal of Hwal in the principles of Nature

 

To do so we must concentrate, stress the beauty, line and speed, and study scientifically
To provide all this is our creed.
                                                                         - Hwang Kee

Lets not forget the philosophical part of the art!

Master Bogdanski
 

Know When to Hold Them

The Kenny Rogers song comes to mind.

"Know when to hold them, know when to fold them"

We all have a tendency to push all day every day, that is what helped make us Black Belts and successful in life.

Know when to take a break.


Sleep;

• Keeps you heart healthy
• Reduces stress
• Reduces inflammation
• Increases alertness
• Helps your body and mind recover

Sleep is when your body repairs itself.
I love to sleep and hate to sleep.  Sleep feels so good but keeps you from being active.  Yes we need it.

Age 62 and Training Hard

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At age 62 I know I need to keep up my fitness.   With significant cartilage loss in my knees I can't jog anywhere.  I would be a limping mess.  A few years ago I rediscovered bike riding as a way to keep my legs strong and get some good cardio.

Yesterday I did a 16 mile hill course.  It took one hour and fourty four minutes.  I sweat, my heart pounded and my legs burned.  It was challenging and fun and I got to see lots of beautiful views of NE Connecticut.

One day you will wake up and you will feel like you are aging.  I read you will begin to feel old when you turn 58.  Don't let it happen!

P.S. - Today I sparred 6 rounds and felt fantastic.

24 Hours

KJN

Whenever you celebrate a victory, savor it for 24 hours and then move on.  It's time to set up the next one.  Take what you learned, make it a little better and get to it.

Lets do this on the loss side too.  When something goes wrong and it will, give it 24 hours and move on.  It's not a roadblock, just a detour.  We learn from our failures.

Tang Soo Do Hyung Introspective

The forms (hyung) used by Tang Soo Do are believed to be the intermediate forms between Okinawa and Japan. These include Kee Cho Hyung Il Bu, Ee Bu, and Sam Bu. These are similar to Taikyoku Shodan, Nidan and Sandan.

 

 Next are the Pyung Ahn (Okinawan: Pinan; Japanese: Heian) Cho Dan, Ee Dan, Sam Dan, Sa Dan and Oh Dan.

External (Hard Style), influenced by Southern Chinese Schools, These belong to the We Ga Ryu (Chinese: Wai Chia) They are characterized by aggressiveness, dynamic action and spontaneity.

Basai Dae is the Tang Soo Do version of Bassai Dai. Next is Passi So (Passai or Bassai Sho). Following these is jin Do (Chinto or Gankaku). The twelfth form is O Sip Sa Bo (U Sei Shi Ho; Gojushiho), followed by Wang Shu (Wansu; Empi/Embi). Tjin is the Tang Soo Do version of Ji-in.

So Rim Jang Kwon and Dam Toi are unique to Tang Soo Do. Hyung seventeen and eighteen are Kong Sang Koon Dae and Kong Sang Koon So (Kusanku Dai and Sho; Kanku Dai and Sho). Tang Soo Do has three Rohaee (Rohai) hyung: Chodan, Ee dan and Sam dan.

The last two are Eesip Sa (Nijushiho) and Woon Shu (Unsu).

The Ne Ga Ryu (Chinese: Nei Chia) Internal (Soft [Kung] Style) use forms influenced by the northern Chinese Schools. These forms display deliberateness, stability, fluid motion and slow, quiet power.

These forms include Tsan Tjin (Sanchin), Jun Jang, Ssi San, Ssi Boai (Saifa; Saipa), Bae Rin Bba, SsanSsi Bbai, Sei San (Seisan; Hangetsu), Sai Hoo Ah, Goo Reung Hoo Ah (Kururunfa), Jin Toi, Ji-on, Tae Kuk Kwon, and Ne Bboo Jin (Naihanji; Naihanchi; Tekki) Cho Dan, Ee Dan and Sam Dan.

The Choong Ga Ryu

Chil sung Hyung and Yuk Ro Hyung.

 Yuk Ro Chodan - Du Mun (Great Gate)

Yuk Ro Ee Dan - Jung Jol (Cutting the Middle)

Yuk Ro Sam Dan -  Po Wol embrace the moon

Sal Chu - Killing Hammer

Choong Ro - Seize and Capture

Yuk ro Hyung

The Kwon Bup [fist fighting method] section of the Moo Yei Do Bo Tong Ji describes the most effective techniques for empty hand combat that were known up to the time (aproximately 1790). These were interpreted by Kwan Jang Nim Hwang Kee and he created the six Yuk Ro Hyungs from them.The name Yuk Ro comes from the MooYei Do Bo Tong Ji. Yuk Ro, which means "Six Paths" are meant to strengthen a practitioner's bones and make them very hard for sustaining very little injury in the event of an attack and then inflicting greater injury to an adversary in battle.

The Six-Fold Path is related to the Chil Sung Hyung in its intent of development. Chil Sung Hyung are intended to develop the artist as a person and Yuk Ro Hyung are intended to develop the artist as a warrior.

1- Yuk Ro Cho Dan or Du Mun which means (enter) Top or Great Gate.  As a martial artist, you must open your mind to information. Indeed, the gateway to the mind if often the   most difficult to open, and why it is known as the Great Gate.

2- Yuk Ro Ee Dan or Joong Jul which means Cutting the Middle. As a martial artist, much of the information that passes through the Great Gate will be either useful information that is obscured by fluff and is just pure useful knowledge.

3- Yuk Ro Sam Dan or Po Wol which means Embracing the Moon. When you've cut through the middle and sorted what has passed through the Great Gate, embrace the information you've discovered.

4- Yuk Ro Sa Dan or Yang Pyun which means high whip.  You will come to a point where your martial art skill will be at its highest, and as a warrior, like a lone person, high atop a hill, wielding a whip, and no one will be able to touch you.

5- Yuk Ro O Dan or Sahl Chu which means Killing Mace. With experience, you will have much knowledge and power and be able to kill with one blow, like a heavy hammer against your enemy

6- Yuk Ro Yuk Dan or Choong Ro which means Jumping, Capturing.  You will realize that with all your knowledge, it is not being untouchable or being able to kill with one blow that makes you a skilled martial artist, but being able to capture your enemy WITHOUT causing injury.
 By practicing the Yuk Ro, you walk the path to becoming a great, trusted and noble warrior

Breaking The Freeze

Before the first punch is thrown in a fight, several things happen.

When an opponent begins his "interview" they will posture and verbalize agressively to test your sense of courage and self defense potential.  Remember they probably chose you as a target already because you may have been giving off signs of vulnerabilty.

At first you may feel like this is incredulous.  Your brain asks this question; Is this aggressiveness really happening to me or am I mistaken?   Being the do-gooder, a well mannered person and a person that learned fighting is wrong, you can't believe that people could be so mean [silly you].

After almost a decade bouncing in bars I learned to tune myself into the concept that I could be attacked anytime, anywhere and always had my mindset tuned that way.

In previous years I had been a victim of the "freeze" when a confrontation started and also felt this a few times in tournament sparring.  It's like your computer is stuck and needs a reboot!

In behavioral biology there are three responses to extreme stress:

1. Fight
2. Flight
3. Freeze

The fight response won't be pretty like we practice in the school.  It will be a gut wrenching, wild flurry, off balance, heart pounding whirlpool of physical mayhem.  Go all out aggressive to survive.

The flight response is just- run!  Adrenaline will rush through your body and this action may seem like the best one.  Because you are adrenalized your balance will be off.  You may fall or bump into things because you are in tunnel vision mode.

Freezing may be due to a few things.   One, you don't have built in response to turn to.  Your body survival mechanism says staying still may allow the predator to ignore you [so hide in plain site]. 

The Tactical Freeze - You have chosen to freeze.  Your mind thinks "this will give them a chance to calm down".

 The Physiological freeze - Your body makes the shift from; It's the regular me, to the fighter me".  You are experiencing an adrenaline dump.  Now is the time to take action and break the freeze.  Move and scan to find a way to escape while planning to get down and dirty.  This is not time to spar, grapple or name call.  You need a savage, explosive attack to eyes, throat, groin and shin [ETGS also stands for escape to gain safety]