Friday, October 09, 2009
This is not tae kwon do
There are few things, both in life and in martial arts, as simple as a punch. But "simple" does not mean "easy." In fact, I think the simple things are often the hardest simply because we impose complexities on everything by the very nature of how we look at the world. So things or situations that are complicated are often, at least for me, easier to grasp because they are inherently more in sync with the reflexive perspective of every day life.
I was at tae kwon do earlier this week and the class was smaller than expected, so the instructor decided to have us work on some more basic techniques. He turned to punching and, specifically, how to punch with power. Power, in terms of the force you a) generate through the natural physics of your body movement and b) how and where you focus it, is one of the primary interests of the tae kwon do master who founded the school (which is part of a local chain). As such, it's a topic that the instructors at the individual schools often revisit.
The instructor, who is very good at what he does, just came over from Korea. He isn't fluent in English and so relies a good deal on miming. At one point in the discussion of punching, he let his eyes droop and his face go slack and he threw a few sloppy, listless punches.
"This is not tae kwon do," he said.
He then snapped off a few, powerful punches, and looked at me and the other two guys in the class.
"This is tae kwon do."
He reverted to his slack face and listless punching.
"Sometimes, people come in, and they are like this. They are tired from work. But this is not how you learn. This is not tae kwon do."
And this is the point in the post where I tie an individual experience to some sort of larger scheme or motif. I know you, dear reader, are very excited about this upcoming event.
So here it is: what the instructor said about focus, specifically about how you need to bring focus to every day in order to really learn and really get good at something, is applicable to work, to dating, to interacting with other people, to cleaning one's apartment or house, whatever. I think it's impossible for most people to maintain that focus every day. Hell, I have a problem just maintaining focus for 30 minutes. But what we can do is make an effort to stop sleepwalking through every day. No, not "we." "Me."
I was at tae kwon do earlier this week and the class was smaller than expected, so the instructor decided to have us work on some more basic techniques. He turned to punching and, specifically, how to punch with power. Power, in terms of the force you a) generate through the natural physics of your body movement and b) how and where you focus it, is one of the primary interests of the tae kwon do master who founded the school (which is part of a local chain). As such, it's a topic that the instructors at the individual schools often revisit.
The instructor, who is very good at what he does, just came over from Korea. He isn't fluent in English and so relies a good deal on miming. At one point in the discussion of punching, he let his eyes droop and his face go slack and he threw a few sloppy, listless punches.
"This is not tae kwon do," he said.
He then snapped off a few, powerful punches, and looked at me and the other two guys in the class.
"This is tae kwon do."
He reverted to his slack face and listless punching.
"Sometimes, people come in, and they are like this. They are tired from work. But this is not how you learn. This is not tae kwon do."
And this is the point in the post where I tie an individual experience to some sort of larger scheme or motif. I know you, dear reader, are very excited about this upcoming event.
So here it is: what the instructor said about focus, specifically about how you need to bring focus to every day in order to really learn and really get good at something, is applicable to work, to dating, to interacting with other people, to cleaning one's apartment or house, whatever. I think it's impossible for most people to maintain that focus every day. Hell, I have a problem just maintaining focus for 30 minutes. But what we can do is make an effort to stop sleepwalking through every day. No, not "we." "Me."
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