Friday, October 31, 2014

Chon-Ji - Strong Foundations

I mentioned in one of my first posts that I think Chon-Ji is a great beginner's form.  In this post, I'd like to look a little deeper at that and also take a look at how it compares to some of the basic forms of Tang Soo Do, Shotokan and WTF Taekwondo.

Chon-ji is translated to mean heaven and earth.  This is fitting as the form has two very distinct parts.  The form is cross shaped, putting it on a short list of Chang-Hon forms with a truly unique layout.

The first half of Chon-Ji consists of down block in a front stance followed by stepping forward straight punch.  The second half of the form consists of inner forearm blocks in a back stance followed by stepping forward straight punch. The form ends with two punches forward and two punches moving backwards.

The techniques of the form are not that notable in and of their selves, but rather, become very interesting when looking at them on the turns of the form.  The downward block in a front stance and the inner forearm block in a back stance coming off of 180 degree turns allow a new student to practice getting their hips involved in the execution of their techniques.  It is my opinion that down block and inner forearm block are two of the best blocks for a student to practice putting their hips (and thus the whole power of their upper body) behind a technique.  While turning, a student's hips should be opened up a bit in advance because of the turn -- this helps to show the proper torque of the hips that should be present on all blocks.  Downward block - because it chambers much higher than its terminus gives a student ample time to turn the hip.  The same is true about inner block - whether you chamber the block with your arms parallel or perpendicular to the ground, the 180 degree turn allows for plenty of time to position your hips back and land with timing of foot, hip and hand.

Early emphasis of the proper turn of the hips is essential in building a good martial artist.  Not everyone is strong in the arms, so that hip turn is essential for those people to generate the kind of power it takes to make techniques hurt their opponents (where necessary).  Conversely it is important for people who are upper body strong to develop the hip turn to attain maximum potential damage in their techniques.

As a form on its own, I think Chon-Ji is the perfect beginner form.  When I look at other first forms (Pyung Ahn Cho Dan, Taegeuk Il Jang and Palgwe 1) the first thing I notice is that Chon-Ji is a much more simple form.  Chonji has three techniques in it, where Pyung ahn cho dan has seven, TaeGuek Il Jang has five and Palgwe 1 has six.  The other beginner forms are all similarly shaped with each other, as well as the forms that proceed them in their various systems.  This is also a place where Chon-ji varies - being cross shaped it is wholly unique in the 24 Chang-Hon form sets.  To me, Chon-Ji has a very simple and stated objective - proper hip turn during execution of techniques from the two main stances of the art.  It does not act as an "introduction" to the rest of the Chang-Hon set but rather has its own goal and sticks to it.  The other first forms all seem to be formulaic to what will proceed them.  I don't think there is a problem with this - but I do like the approach that Chon-Ji takes.

I can't make an unbiased judgement of the first forms.  I've done Chon-Ji, by default more than I have done any other form in the Chang-Hon set and I have never learned any of the other first forms.  I like the simplicity of Chon-Ji and that it seems to be more about creating a strong foundation rather than being an opportunity to expose students to new techniques or to what is to come.  My wife, who studied Moo Duk Kwan Tae Kwon Do for a while and knew both Palgwe 1 and Pyung Ahn Cho Dan finds the Chang-Hon significantly harder to learn.  She cites that the different shape and lack of shape consistency was very challenging for her in her transition from her old forms to her new Chang-Hon forms.  I don't get it, but I am native to the Chang-Hon, so I can't be unbiased.  I am always curious what others think - please feel free to comment.  


Thursday, October 16, 2014

Se-Jong: The Odd Form

Se-Jong is named after the great King Se-Jong.  He oversaw the creation of Hangul, the Korean alphabet, and instituted many scientific policies in Korea.  The form has 24 movements, one for each letter of the Korean alphabet.

I call Se-Jong the odd form for two main reasons.  First, the architecture of the form is totally unique in the Chang-Hon pattern set.  It is the only form that has absolutely no repeating moves.  Although you do technically throw three punches, they are all different types of punch (high section, tension-mid and horizontal reverse).  Because of the 24 individual techniques, some students struggle to learn this form.  Where as many if not all of the forms are somewhat symmetrical, Se-jong can't be.  The form itself follows a symetrical pattern, but since none of the techniques repeat you cannot call it symmetrical. This is little comfort for people who need symmetry to aid in learning a form.  This first reason for my title of the "odd" form plays into the second reason -- namely the placement of the form in various schools and organizations around the world.  

It may shock some of my readers to learn that my federation of schools has Se-Jong as a 2nd to 3rd dan required form, and not in it's traditionally placed 5th to 6th dan position.  This gets to the crux of why this is my second reason for calling it an odd form.  Depending on your point of view, the difficulty of this form may, or may not warrant such a high placement.  I'll do my best to draw an objective argument and let you decide where the form should rest.  Along with the placement of Eui-Am, Se-Jong, is well off the mark compared to my ITF brothers and sisters. 

As I have stated in the past, when I think of difficult forms, I take several things into consideration.  First, the physical aspect of the form -- the movements, and their transitions, and the toll they take on the practitioner.  Hand in hand with the physical is the mental aspect of the form -- how much repetition and how much symmetry is present in the form.  Typically a form with a lot of symmetry and a lot of repetition is not going to rank very high on my difficulty scale, of course there are exceptions like Moon-Moo where the difficulty is maxed via the physical side of my equation.  Se-Jong is hard to pin point though. 

While not containing many physically demanding techniques, Se-Jong asks for quite a lot of precision.  This is best demonstrated on the main line returning to the starting point in the back half of the form.  From a horse stance we launch a left round kick and on the re-chamber of the kick we move forward into an X stance.  This requires a great deal of body control, and the case can be made that a 3rd dan candidate might not have the necessary skill set developed to land such a precise movement.  Following this we see a rare diagonal stance -- or a horse stance with one foot slightly in front of the other.  To make matters worse you step into it while moving horizontally from another X stance. That subtlety trips up our candidates testing for 3rd and often times that subtlety isn't mastered until well past the 3rd dan level.  This form is also (in our configuration) the first time a student has to land from a one legged stance while executing a two handed technique in real speed.  Landing the reverse pressing block is a place where many a candidate's timing is slightly off. 

Although the form requires a great deal of subtle body control, the form is only 24 movements - making it as short as To-San, a yellow belt form.  Because of these two conflicting areas: the lack of physically demanding techniques, but the overwhelming need for excellent precision, I find it hard to accept it's placement as either a 5th to 6th dan form or as a 2nd to 3rd dan form.  It is also because of this "oddness" that Se-Jong is one of my favorite forms.  It is a monument to the subtle lessons built into all forms that don't reveal themselves until you've practiced it many times.    What do you think of the form, if you know it? 


Monday, October 6, 2014

Insecurity

 "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better... "

When I was a lot more malleable I trained in a place with this famous portion of Teddy Roosevelt's Citizens in a Republic speech mounted on the wall.  I thought I understood the mounted portion and I thought that I was living under it like a secret 6th tenant of TKD.  I haven't been though - I've participated in conversations both in person and on the internet that is in fact the opposite of what this portion of the speech tries to instill.

We're all too critical in the martial arts.  In almost every class, students come to me looking for the "right" way to do something.  This is an art though, so what is "right" for one person is not going to be "right" for another.  You have to pay attention and focus on the correctness at times, but being a martial artist is a never ending journey in which the milestones are reached at different times for travelers. 

I see students shaking their head, or even worse, cursing under their breath when they know they make mistakes - completely forgetting that regular class is exactly the place they SHOULD be making mistakes.  A mistake in the real world, in a self defense scenario is dangerous -- a mistake in class is not, so long as the student understands the mistake and makes an effort to remedy it.  After years of being way too hard on myself as a practitioner I am now trying to keep my students from being so hard on themselves when they make mistakes.  Rome wasn't built in a day, the saying goes, and neither were any good martial artists.

"...The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming"

It goes a lot further.  If self criticism wasn't bad enough, martial artists also love to criticize anyone they see as inferior to themselves.  I see it all the time on the internet.  A "funny meme"  or a video of really bad martial artists at a test or tournament gets posted and suddenly everyone commenting becomes a critic.  This one boggles my mind - for a lot of reasons.  First off I wonder why so many people passionately bash other practitioners when they are absolutely no threat to the bash-er in any way.  Of course the rational answer to that is "a defense of the 'integrity' of the art".  This one always makes me laugh out loud.  If a handful of bad places could spoil the integrity of an entire subject matter we wouldn't have a used car industry. This is insecurity coupled with the incessant need for self validation that seems to me, sadly, to be a factor of human nature.  If there is a bad school, putting out bad martial artists, that problem is going to resolve itself.  My other problem with disparaging other artists is that if you look hard enough, you can find someone better than you at any given thing.  There's only so many people who are truly elite at what they do.  I am not sure where people get off thinking that they made it over the baseline of "acceptable" and based on the bravado I see in these discussions (both virtual and in person) I feel comfortable saying that a lot of people think they are a lot better at their art than they are.  Sadly these conversations are not exclusive to the internet.  Too many of these conversations have happened to me and I'm sorry that I ever took part in them.  

"...who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

I don't think any of my non martial arts friends read this blog, so it is safe to say that if you are reading this, you are a martial artist.  Take pride in the fact that you are not with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat!  Stop caring and stop carrying baggage about the arts in regards to what other people are doing.  Did you get into your art to  gossip or to pass judgement?  Do you get a special belt if you can prove that you are better than one of your classmates?   

When you let that weight go, you'll find yourself in a remarkable place.  I've only recently, through the writing of this post, come to a place that I feel is worthy of the term: epiphany.  I carried that two ton monkey that is insecurity on my back for too long. My story of insecurity is complicated.  One aspect of it though revolved around my test for third dan.  A few weeks before my test it got back to me that some of my peers and superiors felt that I didn't deserve to be testing and that I shouldn't be testing.  In searching for advice and dealing with an overwhelming amount of insecurity I asked a master I had been training under in college what he thought of these rumors  He asked me "did your instructor say it was your time to test".  Of course I answered yes, as I can't just show up to black belt testing and proclaim my intent to test.  Without hesitation upon hearing me say "yes", he replied "then it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks". 

It took me too many years to fully appreciate this - but I finally do. When I let that insecurity go, I found that my propensity to enjoy the art like I did in my early 20s was still there.  If you cast off your insecurity and your need for validation; if you trust the instructors around you and understand that you are practicing a living art - not a science experiment, then you will find that you can accomplish more than you might have thought possible.  I've watched insecurity hold back too many people including myself.  That ended for me a few weeks ago when I started the draft of this post.  I hope it will end for you too.