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Martial Arts of Westchester

Springfield Class 4/27/2011

Hot and sweaty class today with 12-14 people.

I did warmups and KJN gave me some great corrections. I will describe how warmup should be done as I understand it:

1. formal recognition of senior members and instructor ( I need to get clarification on bowing protocol )
2. start from Choonbee to formally start
3. Before each exercise/stretch describe how to start and which direction
4. The first exercise should be a warmup which is SBD related such as hopping as switching your feet, etc.
5. Do your stretches describing direct, etc.
6. At end finish in Choonbee
7. bow out to senior members and instructor

We focused on Expansion, Contraction and finishing moves fully.
- basics - some motions get a little extra wind up such as retreating double hand middle block ( I need to create or find type in form manual a SBD english dictionary )
- Hyungs - I worked on Chil Sung O Ro and well I need to re-learn it :)
        - down the center when doing the hugal stances with a low and back high soo do block before the in/out kick
                - The kick, allow the body to naturally twist as it would doing basics so the left shoulder will rotate forward (I found if you get someone to stand directly in front of you that I could do this kick much better since it forces you to bring your leg out to the side so you do not hit the person standing in front of you. thanks Eric)
                - When you finish the kick it should come down with force like it should when doing it during basics with the hip forward. This should feel natural and allow you to connect to the motion.
                - When you in/out kick has fully finished you will do the reverse punch and finish is a proper front stance and pause to enjoy the completion of the punch.
                - a little extra wind up by extending the punching arm a little bit more before the twisting into the double (not remembering Korean for this motion) sideways back fist for lack of a better term :(


We did 3 step sparring
- back stance right foot forward left hand high to meet attacking punch right foot and hip forward left hand low
- sliding back doing double open hand shoulder height block right foot forward, sacrorip jassi
- sliding back pulling right hip back, hugal stance right foot forward doing a reverse high block with left arm
- grabbing punching arm, pulling your left hip back not moving left foot at all while doing a right hand upper cut to attacker
- follow up with short right front kick.

2011/03/18-19 TAC Tour

My son Ian and I attended the weekend clinic and had a great time.

Friday:
Turn out was great. We must have had over 70 people easy. The room was packed even after the Ko Dan Ja went up stairs with KJN.
I think we had 4 rows of 14 people left in our room after 2 rows + of Ko Dan Ja left.

We worked on

Sat Morning:
There was a good number of people which changed but the total number was about the same as Friday night.



Sat Afternoon:




Ian had not trained since UT, so over a year and he did a great job. Some rusty moments but quickly picked it back up. I have recently reviewed Chil Sung Sam Ro with Ian and my daughter Jasmin. I only wish that I could re-learn these things so quickly.

2011/03/15 Springfield Class Moo Pahl Dan Khum #1

Moo Pahl Dan Khum #1 - breathing exercise
Start position:
Feet in ready stance (chuom bee jasie ), arms relaxed at your side with palms facing you. Your hands are in front of your body and open.
http://soobahkdo.editme.com/files/MooPahlDanKhum/Moo_Pahl_Dan_Khum-Thai.pdf

1. interlock the fingers of the hands with the palm facing to the ground
   • at this time focus on your connection to the earth
2. slight contraction in the tong jung which should naturally cause the hand to move slightly down and in following the hip. the upper body will very slightly lean forward.
3. Inhale while expanding and bringing the hands above the head looking to the sky. The expansion will cause the center/tung jung to move slightly forward and the back is slightly arched. You are reaching towards the sky connecting to it through your hands which have remained locked.
4. Hold this position and breath for 10-30 seconds.
5. To release, you internally will move your breath and energy back down towards the earth causing your hands, shoulder, and chest too settle toward the earth.
6. Let your hands separate and stretch out in a wide circle, fingers pointing towards the sky until your arms are too low.
7. Once your arms are low enough the circle up to the hips but no tension in the shoulder or raising of. As you push your hand down and forward in front of you hips your air and energy lead.
8. Your breath is still being held. Let your hips push forward with your open hands fingers pointing to the Earth, arms straight, the arms will naturally fall behind your hips.
9. Again push your energy and breath to the earth pulling your hips back ( this is not an exaggerated move but more subtle ) and the hands move forward again releasing your breath.
10. Repeat the last motion with breath this time inhaling as the hips push forward and exhaling as they move back.

Focus on Mediation in motion during 1 steps We practiced doing our one steps while maintaing a meditative sate. This is much more difficult than it sound and has been an on going process I have been trying to achieve for years and have many more to go. There are the occasional moments of triumph and my goal is have these moments occur more frequently over time.


Soo Bahk Do - in the park
Get english dic of Soo Bahk Do words created or find.

11/3/8 Springfield Class

Sung Soo Cap Quan
- prep:
        - With Left foot forward and left had forward
        - do not over do the arms meaning keep them still more like un-bendable as you step forward to allow for the flow of energy.
        - Let them cross naturally in front of the body with the left arm going low.
        - the arms do not cross low at the wrists as many people do but are crossed between the elbow and writs.
- the Motion:
        - twist the body the opposite direction to “wind up” or “tension the spring”, in this situation we will step forward preping for the right hip to twist to the right or clock-wise but before this clockwise twist starts a sight twist counter clockwise is made to “wind up”.
        - again the arms are only following the hip not leading as the hip unwinds in a clockwise direction
        - as you move the body forward the hips start to unwind brining the arms with them
        - I feel most of the power in the strike which is behind me, left hand, where the front fist is more of a getting into position motion

- Final position:
        - left hand behind, right in front, hips sideways facing
        - I received corrections to the final position of my hip. I had it too far forward when it was supposed to be facing more to the side with a slight angle to the front.

Up Chagee, Sung Soo Cap Quan
- The trick here is to ensure the kick is fully returned back, full balance
- before moving forward get that winding of the spring in the hip by twisting in a bit

Duro Chagie, Sung Soo Cap Quan
- Same as above, just tricking figuring out which was to wind up the hip for the strike.

Advance Giecho basics

soo do middle, left hand
right hand on left scooping, breathing motion
*** Hands drop straight back down on sides (like a pendulum ) too behind the hips where they are then gather by the kidnies and push forward following the hip.

12/28 Springfield Class

KJN taught class tonight. It was as always a fantastic class.
I personally had connection / concentration issue. It seemed to come and go for me.
There were times where I was immersed in the moment and then lost as to where I was going and what motion was next.

There was some talk by KJN about taking more time at home to practice. This I must admit has been slipping as of late for me.

Thursday is our last class of the year and KJN wants a nice big class to close it out. So come one come all :)

See you Thursday I hope.

Patent Pending Soo Bahk Do, Kyo Sa Approved Snow Shoveling Technique

Just kidding no patent pending but I do approve of my method ;)


Having our first big snow of the season I rediscovered my Soo Bahk Do inspired snow shoveling move.

1. Load up the shovel with snow.
2. Left hand about middle of shovel handle, Right hand at end.
3. Left leg is forward Right is behind.
4. Push your hip forward moving your right leg forward pushing the thigh against the shovel handle at about mid point between your two hands.
5. As soon as your thigh hits the handle push down with your Right (rear) hand making your thigh the pivot point while your hip and leg continue to push forward and up.
6. Use your Left hand to guide the shovel and snow to its destination.

No back bend or back muscle should be used for this technique. Very lows stress and relatively easy to shovel the heavy snow of the East Coast without getting a sore back or over stressing yourself.

Let it snow!