I've spent a couple hours every week for the past two years practicing the art of Tae Kwon Do.
When I was a child I was enrolled in a TKD class from ages nine to thirteen. However, I wasn't really practicing the art of Tae Kwon Do. Most weeks I hated going because it was a bit of a popularity contest and I was always the loser.
As an adult, though, paying with my own hard-earned money, spending a significant number of the precious evening hours I receive every weekday, choosing to drive myself over there when I could just as easily sit and play video games or watch TV, it's become something quite different.
Not only that, but I've applied myself a lot more this time around. Hell, I made black belt in two-and-a-half years, and despite the rather dubious reputation of many TKD gyms, and the ease in which so many doofuses earn their First Dan (or ninth!) - comparable to the Internet University fad of the 1990s - my gym is not like that. My rank as an assistant instructor was paid with sweat and blood. And the journey ahead is even longer and more challenging.
I've learned that practicing martial arts are really about just one thing. It's not about the exercise. It's not about meeting people. It's not about getting a cultural experience or getting your kids out of the house for a bit. It's not even about perfecting forms, learning to defend yourself, or competing in tournaments.
Tae Kwon Do is about mastering the evil inside you. And I suspect all martial arts, at their heart, are no different.
Fear. Pride. Envy. Impatience. Anger. Selfishness. Tae Kwon Do has helped me become a better person. I suppose someone could use just about any activity and any sport to work on their virtues at the expense of their vices. However, the philosophy of Tae Kwon Do, enshrined through symbol by the Buddhist monks who crafted the art, focuses on transcendence, finding peace with yourself and your surrounding, and achieving true happiness. TKD was created for precisely that purpose. And everyone knows the right tool is the tool that was made for the job.
Maintaining a healthy body through rigorous exercise and demanding kicks is part of that, to be sure. As is competition, self-defense, and so on. However, the point of all that is philosophical at its core. To ignore that is to fail to ever understand the art as a holistic response to the need of a deeper connection with your inner self.
Keep reading.
When I was a child I was enrolled in a TKD class from ages nine to thirteen. However, I wasn't really practicing the art of Tae Kwon Do. Most weeks I hated going because it was a bit of a popularity contest and I was always the loser.
As an adult, though, paying with my own hard-earned money, spending a significant number of the precious evening hours I receive every weekday, choosing to drive myself over there when I could just as easily sit and play video games or watch TV, it's become something quite different.
Not only that, but I've applied myself a lot more this time around. Hell, I made black belt in two-and-a-half years, and despite the rather dubious reputation of many TKD gyms, and the ease in which so many doofuses earn their First Dan (or ninth!) - comparable to the Internet University fad of the 1990s - my gym is not like that. My rank as an assistant instructor was paid with sweat and blood. And the journey ahead is even longer and more challenging.
I've learned that practicing martial arts are really about just one thing. It's not about the exercise. It's not about meeting people. It's not about getting a cultural experience or getting your kids out of the house for a bit. It's not even about perfecting forms, learning to defend yourself, or competing in tournaments.
Tae Kwon Do is about mastering the evil inside you. And I suspect all martial arts, at their heart, are no different.
Fear. Pride. Envy. Impatience. Anger. Selfishness. Tae Kwon Do has helped me become a better person. I suppose someone could use just about any activity and any sport to work on their virtues at the expense of their vices. However, the philosophy of Tae Kwon Do, enshrined through symbol by the Buddhist monks who crafted the art, focuses on transcendence, finding peace with yourself and your surrounding, and achieving true happiness. TKD was created for precisely that purpose. And everyone knows the right tool is the tool that was made for the job.
Maintaining a healthy body through rigorous exercise and demanding kicks is part of that, to be sure. As is competition, self-defense, and so on. However, the point of all that is philosophical at its core. To ignore that is to fail to ever understand the art as a holistic response to the need of a deeper connection with your inner self.
Keep reading.
Wow. This is really inspiring. I've been looking into various physical disciplines to get into as an attempt to move toward total (mental/emotional, spiritual, and physical) discipline and this sounds right along the lines of what I'm looking for.
ReplyDeleteDo you know if there are Tae Kwon Do chapters specifically for adult beginners?
Thanks for message, WhyIt! From what I've seen, most TKD gyms cater to children, because that's where the money is. You might just Google [your city's name] + adult +tkd and see what you find. Alternately pay a visit to the nearest gym and see if they know a gym that might suit you.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, it's not a bad thing to be involved in a mixed children-adult group, as long as the kids are inspired to take the discipline more seriously (and not the other way around!). Good luck, friend.