Today, in Haidong Gumdo training, we covered several ways to practise and refine a single (diagonal) sword cut. After that, in Taekwondo class, we got to spend most of our time on practising a single kick. I loved it. Time flew by. Focus. Depth. Concentration. Action. Observation. Feedback. Adaptation. Re-focus. The power of Repetition. Of… Read More Focused Training
Happy New Year! To continue the theme 🙂 Here are my Martial Arts goals for 2019: Continue enjoying classes twice a week for Haidong Gumdo and Taekwondo whenever I can. Practise hosinsul/self defense skills – the most challenging part of TKD training for me! Work on my flexibility. Stay loose! 🙂 Brush up on my… Read More Martial Arts Goals – Happy New Year!
Happy Christmas! The first Monday in months for me without Martial Arts classes, so I’ll be kicking around the Christmas Tree tonight 🙂 I bumped into this informative link today about how Christmas is celebrated in South Korea. Random Geekery Diving further into Korea-facts, I read that both the Crane and Hibiscus (H. Syriacus, Korea’s national flower… Read More Christmas, Cranes and Poetry
If there is one thing that I love about Martial Arts (if I had to choose) it would be that the learning never stops. It’s not supposed to. This might sound cliché, but most probably that’s simply because it’s true. What makes it even better is that the learnings seem to transfer to other (life!)… Read More Perpetual Learning
Practising with a blindfold. During a weekend seminar for Haidong Gumdo this November, a few of the exercises we did were executed with our eyes closed/blindfolded, to help sharpen our senses. It was an interesting and enriching experience. Removing sight from the equation tells you exactly where you are ‘at’, training-wise. It slows you right… Read More Sharpening the Senses
In Haidong Gumdo (Korean Sword Art), most of the training is done with a Mok Gum, a double handed hard wood sword – like Spot and Freckles – our practise swords, the ones you can see in the picture below. Mok Gum are used for: practising basic cuts (Begi) and stances (Se) two-handed sword forms (Ssang-Soo Gumbub)… Read More Meet Spot and Freckles
Jong-I Begi, or paper cutting, is one of the main testing (and competition) disciplines of Haidong Gumdo (Korean Sword Art). It may seem simple, but it takes skill, mental discipline and practise to achieve a clean, even and precise cut across the full width of the paper at each attempt. Paper cutting is used to measure… Read More Meet Paper Cut
This weekend Mr E and I were lucky enough to participate in our very first Haidong Gumdo (Korean Sword Art) Geup/Kup (Coloured Belt) test, held in Cologne, Germany. It was an interesting, tiring, yet uplifting, exciting and deeply enriching day. The testing itself was preceded by an in-depth 3-hour seminar by ‘our’ GrandMaster Seung-Eun Chae. We… Read More The Way of the Sword
Speed, Precision, Control. These are the 3 key elements of practising Haidong Gumdo, or Korean Sword Art. At the heart of each sword movement, all 3 need to be in balance to work well. Which – in a way – translates to the skills of life itself. What good is moving fast if you don’t… Read More Cutting the Maple Leaves
Forms (also called ‘poomsae’) are one of my most beloved parts of Taekwondo. To me, forms very closely connect to dance, and to dance practise, combining body, mind and soul in one movement focus. At the moment we are learning Taeguk Pal-jang (8th form), which corresponds to the 1.st Kup (red-black) belt. For inspiration, here are my… Read More Taekwondo Forms