Monday, July 17, 2017

Back to Basics: Having Fun

After my sixth dan test, I fell into a lull and contracted a bit of "whatsnextitis".  The lack of new forms to learn, and no more built in carrots to grab because we have no more physical testing past 6th left me feeling very empty.  I carried this for months until just recently and let myself go a bit. I'm not all about the rank or anything, (as I am not officially a sixth dan yet, and won't be for a few months), but I lost the love for competition long ago, and proving myself to myself at a test became an easy goal to drive my motivation to improve. 

During the Chin Mu Kwan national test and tournament, I had the honor of co-teaching a morning workout / warmup.  While an old friend and mentor was doing his portion, he had the group of students do Dan-Gun a bunch of times, each time working on a different aspect of forms execution.  His last rep though he called for the group to do the form for fun.  A bit of a lightbulb went off inside my head, and I realized that for a very long time, I had forgotten how fun Taekwon-do is...just to do.  I had been spending so much time and energy analyzing TKD that I forgot to have fun along the way. 

I once knew what having fun meant in regards to Taekwon-do.  For me, it started with Friday night sparring classes with the legendary black belts of the past when I was a red belt.  It was doing forms in my yard, sometimes barefoot in the snow, because why?  Because Taekwon-do, that's why.  It was visiting other schools or hosting people from other schools, long late night discussions about how awesome this master's form was, or that master's fighting.  It was laughing at the absurdity of the arts, and marveling at their beauty with good friends.  It was board breaking, or brick breaking, sometimes in the parking lot, um...without your instructor's knowledge.  It was tough competition, and having people around you to push you to your limits and holding you there and sometimes it was absolutely insane multi hour training sessions with your best TKD friends, crashing on their couch, and waking up the next day to do it all again!   

I went to nationals, an event I don't usually attend (mainly because of the cost of travel) because my instructor was being promoted to ninth dan by our grand master.  I expected to just be helpful in whatever way I could, thinking, I'll teach a class, judge the low rank testing, ref at the tournament and then witness history and go home.  Instead, I had a "ghost of Christmas past" kind of experience by hanging out with old friends and meeting new ones.  I got in touch with a part of me that had been lying dormant for so long, but was starting to stir.  Tonight though, I realized what it was.   

I'll never stop being analytical, I'm too into that aspect of the art, and in a lot of ways that too is fun for me.  I have a million ideas sloshing around in my brain, books that I want to write, podcasts that I want to record and videos I'd love to make.  Hopefully by having some fun again, the motivation to reach for these goals will follow.  I started to think about what forms I find the most fun just to do and decided to share my list of my favorite forms and why I rank them this way.  If you know me on Facebook, I'd love to discuss with you, even if you don't know all of the forms on my list - because, well, talking forms is the natural extension of thinking about forms - which I am usually doing all the time anyway.  Plus people love lists!  They say they don't, but they always read them :) So here we go!

10.  Moon-Moo - This form is awesome and shows the sheer power and magnitude of what TKD can do.  It is by far and away the hardest of all the TKD forms (including Juche, sorry ITFers) and for that reason it needs to be on this list.  I'm ranking this at the bottom though, because only the extremely gifted can do this form the way it is meant to be done.  It needs to be on here, but it is not in any way what I would call an accessible form.

9.  Ko-Dang - I love Ko-Dang because the form spends a lot of its time going backwards.  For us, this form falls in the testing to attain master, and I think it silently and subtly tells you something about yourself in that regard.  It is a challenging and unique form, that is the perfect length.  When I finish Ko-Dang, I know I did a form, but I don't feel like I ran a marathon (I'm looking at you So-San).

8. Se-Jong - 24 distinct movements, named after one of, if not the greatest Korean king.  It is a very unique form, and I find the architecture of the form so fascinating.  The back half of the form, from the round kick to the end are some of the coolest technique strings we do in all of the 24 forms.

7. So-San - Sometimes you just want to climb the tallest mountain, or run a marathon.  For this, there is So-San.  An upper body technician's dream, So-San is long and dynamic.  One of the many lessons learned here is that you don't have to be crazy physically improbable (I'm looking at you Moon-Moo) to be extremely challenging.  One of the greatest forms to demonstrate the raw power of TKD, So-San is 72 movements of non-fluff, basic techniques that demand to be done strong from start to finish.  It comes with the added bonus, that save for Moon-Moo,  you'll never think any of the other 23 forms are too long after you learn So-San.   

6. Yoo-Sin - I could gush all day about Yoo-Sin.  A real, tradional feeling form that borrows generously from several Japanese forms, Yoo-Sin is chock full of nuance and great TKD techniques.  It is an amazing tournament form when practiced by someone who really cares to master the form and is a hallmark of what a good TKD form should look like.

5. Sam-Il - I love Sam-Il, and have since I learned it.  Another very dynamic form, it has what I call flashes of brilliance (sequences like the U blocks and the waving kick, and the standing in place side kicks) but has some repetition that really doesn't make that much sense (mainly in the middle portion of the form).  I still think very highly of this form, but feel like for a few movements, they architects were phoning it in. 

4.  Gae-Baek - For a very, very long time, this was my favorite form.  One of the most, if not the most dynamic of all the TKD forms.  The variation of techniques, the lack of repetition and the turning in place aspect of the form give it a feel (when doing it) that you are actually fighting (especially, if you know what all the moves are, or could be doing).  A absolutely incredible tournament form, Gae-Baek is one everyone should look out for once they hit black belt.

3. Tong-Il - there is a bit of mysticism surrounding the last form on the board, especially when that form is universally the last form.  While many Chang-Hon practicing orgs will often times tweak the order of the 24 they are doing, I can't say that I have ever seen Tong-Il not be the last the form.  The form is incredibly well crafted, and features several movements that have their own meaning inside the greater context of the meaning of the form (See Stuart Anslow's book, From Creation to Unification to learn more).  Tong-Il features slow movements mixed with fast movements and really has a very unique feel to it.  It's a very fun form to do.

2. Chon-Ji - Simply stated, no single form has taught me more about Taekwon-Do than this one.  Its simplistic moves give insight to the foundational skills that hold all of TKD together.  After 23 some odd years, and with 6 degrees of black belt, I am still learning things about myself when I practice this form.  If you aren't - might I suggest you do Chon-Ji some more?

1. Yon-Gae - I love this form.  There is something so fun about executing a flying knife hand strike in the air, with the timing at the height of your jump as opposed to on a landing.  The opening sequence of this beautiful form makes me feel like one of the legendary fighters in a Shaw Brother's film (I may have practiced this form once or twice, or maybe more than that while making Saturday morning Kung Fu movie sounds).  The form which in my mind has two very distinct parts show a Yin and Yang nature of the art, featuring slow and methodically strong movements, through the hook kicks, giving way to fast and frantic turns, blocks, and strikes culminating with a double jump back side kick, one on each side!  It is an amazing crescendo ending that really makes this form great.

What are your favorite forms?  Drop some words in the comments, or hit me up on Facebook.