In simple terms, training in martial arts is essentially being in a constant state of comparing your skills to your instructor and your peers, and eventually your students. You are constantly striving to match your instructor, be better than your fellow students (or at least their equal) and stay one Continue Reading
Philosophy
Bad or Just “Not for Me”?
If you don’t like something, it isn’t necessarily “bad”. I recently finished watching a movie on Netflix, and at the end of the film, it asked me to review it. I was presented with three options: “Like it”, “Love it” and “Not for Me”. This struck me as the word Continue Reading
The Meaning of Cha Ryut
One of the first commands we learn in any traditional martial arts is the command to come to attention. In Tang Soo Do and other Korean martial arts, it is “Cha-Ryut” (or Ryot), and it is one of those commands that is not only instantly recognizable, but quintessentially Korean. In Continue Reading
Where the Head Goes, the Body Follows
A strategy of certain techniques in martial arts is getting your opponent off balance so your technique has a greater chance of success. Once someone’s center of gravity is disrupted, their instincts will be focused on getting their stability back; since they’re distracted and at a positional disadvantage, it leaves Continue Reading
Time to Give and Time to Receive
When it comes to deciding whether to attend an event or participate in an activity, we can fall into the trap of asking ourselves, “What am I going to get out of this?” Or “What’s in it for me?” When deciding how to spend our finite amount of time, These Continue Reading
The Meaning of Bo
In my association, there is a rank called “Cho Dan Bo”, which translates to “black belt candidate”. It is a solid blue belt, and it is the rank that you receive prior to testing for your black belt. I discussed what “Dan” meant in this article, so this one will Continue Reading
Different Seasons in Life and Training
We all go through different phases of life, and with each different phase of life comes different priorities. In David Brooks’ How to Know a Person, he describes these as different “Life Tasks”. One of the key things to really seeing and understanding someone is to understand where they are Continue Reading
Martial Arts is About Socializing
For those who read the headline and your first instinct is to comment that I’m wrong, hear me out first. People who have trained for years tend to hyper-focus on getting the right technique, or executing the correct sequence of moves in their form, or dive into the applications of Continue Reading
Make the Effort to Understand Those That are Different From You
For the entirety of my career as a chief instructor, I have mainly worked with college aged students at a university. As I am currently only 25 years old as of the writing of this article. That means I have always worked with those of a similar age demographic and Continue Reading
How Do You React to Adversity/Discouragement?
Just like the ups and downs of life, there will always be a balance in how people treat you. The reality is, you could be the nicest person in the world and there will still be someone out there who doesn’t like you. Therefore it’s important to not live your Continue Reading