Up and coming students in Hwa Rang Do

[lulflo]

Thank you Shesulsa.

I too call In Hyung, etc. a long form. I am referring to the short forms (I believe they are the kwon bop #5 and #6 for half black with a jump spin and low spin at the end?). I am not sure, as I have not achieved that level yet

I can actually do them individually somewhat okay, it is just that during the testing, with all the added stress and the fact that I have do do them two times on each side for each short form, I tend to get quite winded. I will definitely talk with my instructor about breathing patterns and a physician about the possiblity of lung issues - Thanks again.

As far as photos go, I do have some digital pics and also a video of the whole thing. Please let me know how you would like to receive them, it would be my pleasure.

Also FYI, if you speak with KJN Corona, I passed on a VHS tape of a Kama form - that's me, it is horrible, but any criticism is expected, I mean welcome, ma'am. I put some more stuff on tape tonight to review for my own criticism and well, I still have some polishing to do to say the least, and those seven kicks in three seconds are UGLY. I will do my best though and I'm sure to be in contact with you soon on those pics.

Farang - Larry

 

[lulflo]

I am hoping to find some students in Hwa Rang Do so I can compare and talk about criteria, etc.


Anyone else out there, please let me know.

Farang - Larry

 

[glad2bhere]

To anyone who might be interested......

There is a discussion going on the AIKIDO JOURNAL Net regarding breathing. If anyone has any in-put regarding the breathing drills or techniques they use in HwaRang, I would love to hear your thoughts. I am most intersted in where you think your traditions came from, what the execution is, how many variations you have and so forth. Anyone?

BTW: If folks are skittish about talking about things in the open, I understand. I don't want anyone getting into hot water for spilling technique information if you are not suppose to. On the other hand, if you want to, but just would rather not do it publicly you can PM or email me and it will stay confidential.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

 

[shesulsa]

Larry, may I ask who is your instructor?

 

[lulflo]

Hello Shesulsa,

I think it wise to ask them for permission to place their names on a public forum prior to posting it, but I sent you a private message as I am familiar with you. I will ask them if they are okay with that and place the answer if anyone else is interested

Hope to talk to you and others soon.

Farang - Larry

 

[shesulsa]

I am hoping to find some students in Hwa Rang Do so I can compare and talk about criteria, etc.


Anyone else out there, please let me know.

Farang - Larry

Larry, please feel free to PM me for discussion of this material. Thanks.

JKN Ketchmark

 

[lulflo]

Thank you JKN.

I will definetely take you up on that. I hope to get to talk to you in person some day as well. Have a great day!

Farang - Larry

 

[lulflo]

Four more days to train for my red belt test. I am really nervous. If anyone has any thoughts on a training regimen that I can use to make sure that I am not too sore or tired for the test on Saturday, my ears are wide open. Diet, exercise, anything please, stress has taken over and I am almost ready to ask to test at a later date.

I don't know what else to post, but please, anyone who reads this before Friday, Hwarang Do or not, please help.

Thank you,

Farang - Larry.

 

[shesulsa]

Larry, I'm so sorry. I guess I was waiting for you to post again on your doctor visit.

I sent you a PM with my suggestions and I do hope they help.

Please post back and BEST OF LUCK!

 

[lulflo]

Thank you JKN.


I will heed your words and let you know how it works out after I get back. Thank you for putting the time into helping me, I didn't visit the doctor, so I hadn't been able to respond in that respect, however, I have been doing a more rigerous workout that has seemed to expand my lung capacity and I have not been nearly as tired/winded recently. I will do my best and move through it!

Thank you again.

Farang - Larry

 

[Kuk Sa Nim]

Hello Larry,

I meant to write you earlier, but have not been able to, for this I apologize. What I wanted to offer in terms of some simple advice is: (and forgive me if this seems too simplistic or you've not had success with this before)...

-Try to maintain a calm mind and controlled breathing. This means to go thru your forms and techniques slowly with a calm/focused mind and very relaxed breathing pattern. Then add intensity to your movements, while trying to keep the same measure of control.

I know that once you get a real intense pace, the slow and relaxed breathing will seem impossible, but it is not. Here is where your breath control from meditation and breath control while standing/moving/in-action must come together. This is the "moving meditation" portion of the training.

Remember to unite Mind-Body-Spirit. The body is a mere servant of the mind. What the mind says to do, the body responds. The mind is controlled by the spirit (Ie: breathing). Think of someone who is really stressed or in some state of panic. What is their breathing like? What is their decision making like? Compared to say, a chess player. His breathing is quite relaxed and under control. His mind is capable of making many complicated decisions. And finally, the Spirit is literally controlled by the body. The body regulates the breathing patterns that will ultimately affect the mind, etc. It is all connected you see. Strong Mind, Strong Body, Strong Spirit!

With this method you will learn to become "one with yourself". One of the greatest aspects of meditation. Develop the “Wae-Yu-Nae-Gong” (Outside – Soft – Inside Hard) philosophy. This applies to all areas of your person. True balance my friend.

Try to remember that once you are testing, (or competing, fighting, etc), to maintain the degrees of controlled breathing and stillness of mind that you use in the less stressful training sessions. Keep that perspective, and use it during your test. Treat it like another workout. Use strategically placed strong, loud, Ki-Haps!...Remember, this is an expression of your spirit. Your teacher, and judges will take note. Block out all the distractions and “do your thing". Even if this means your pace may seem slower. It always does in your minds eye. To the outside viewer, this may not be the case. Trust me, your teacher would rather see you go through your routines and self defense sets with focus and control, rather than very fast, and unfocused.

Don't let anyone, nor anything get between you and your dreams. They must therefore be very clear to you. Put that goal in the front of your mind and daily routines, until it is accomplished. Some goals are a lifelong process (as they should be), while others need to be smaller and more readily accomplishable...Have a plan, if not, MAKE a plan, and stick to it.

Anyway, some food for thought for you. I hope it helps. Good luck to you.

Farang!
With brotherhood,
Grand Master De Alba

 

[glad2bhere]

"....Treat it like another workout...."

Boy, is THAT good advice!! 'Cause if you are real honest with yourself thats all it really is. Don't tell me you have never worked out on the mat while some visitor was watching your moves intently, right? So you are doing a class with people watching and unless you are The Deity you are not going to know or be able to change what they think of your performance no matter WHAT you do. You're gonna do another class and their gonna watch and thats the way the evening will be. Listen to that advice.

oh, and best of luck...

Best Wishes,

Bruce

 

[lulflo]

Thank you for your advice Sir(s),

I have noticed that when I am calm and relaxed while going through my forms and techniques that my breathing is also calm and my mind is focused. It is when my mind is racing that my breathing is fast and my body fatigued. I will remember that and practice. I have noticed however, that occasionally a mental distraction occurs and I have an extremely hard time re-focusing my breath and slowing down my thoughts. It is this issue that I have problems with and have not been able to remedy in the past. In regards to the people that watch, I have way too much on my mind to pay much attention, I just want to honor my art (I need to train harder

). I will report back after the test to let you all know how it went.

Again I thank you all for taking time out to help me and if there are further thoughts about this, I am VERY interested in hearing them.

Farang - Larry

 

[Kuk Sa Nim]

...I have noticed that when I am calm and relaxed while going through my forms and techniques that my breathing is also calm and my mind is focused. ....
It is when my mind is racing that my breathing is fast and my body fatigued. I will remember that and practice. I have noticed however, that occasionally a mental distraction occurs and I have an extremely hard time re-focusing my breath and slowing down my thoughts. It is this issue that I have problems with and have not been able to remedy in the past.

Hello Larry,

I think we've hit on something here. You quite the mind, by calming your breathing (not the other way around). When your body is fatigued, your breathing will suffer, affecting the mind, etc. Remember, they are connected. Mind-Body-Spirit, They help one another just as much as they hurt one another in reverse order. This is in line with the Asian healing arts philosophy of the 5 elements concept: Fire, Water, Wood, Steel and Earth. They can support one another or work against one another.

I have two more suggestions: Lots of Meditation to learn to control your mind and breathing, and lots of focused, and varied speeds of running, which helps in all categories. I'm talking about quality running, not just jogging, or sprinting. Remember to have a purpose.

Second is to not get overwhelmed with our forms and technique sets. It's a kind of like "not seeing the forest for the trees" type of situation.

Short forms are relatively easy, right? They run about 10 - 20 moves. Long forms contain much more steps. But if you break them down into several short forms, it's just a matter of then connecting those pieces.

Also, don't let all the hundreds and even thousands of techniques scare you. If you think that you can not know more than a few hundred things (ie: techniques), just think of how many things you actually do in your daily life (daily tasks). Compound that by a week, month, year, etc. We're talking thousands upon thousands of tasks. Sure most are repetitious, but guess what?...so are the techniques.

Don't focus on the techniques as an end, but merely as an example of a concept, that in turn leads to many, many “ends”. Find the concept in your techniques and the techniques of your concepts. So, for example, if you are grabbed by the wrist, you can defend with this “series of locks that follow this energy flow” (such as an inside wrist lock connects with a straight arm bar, to a lever, etc), and these others that follow another energy flow. All things are based on energy and controlled by a philosophical concept. It's just a matter of adding and subtracting, or adapting to a different philosophy or strategy. Don’t limit yourself to only a few hundred or thousand possibilities. And don’t short change yourself. Remember, there are only 8 notes in music, yet how many melodies can there be? Some (same songs) interpreted in a completely different fashion.

There are only so many ways to kick, punch, lock joints, throw, etc. There are only so many pressure points on the body. All humans contain the same basic components. It's really NOT that hard. I know you're probably thinking, "that's easy for me to say", and it is easy to say, but once you understand the concepts behind things, you open up a myriad of opportunities. Your creativity and determination are the only things holding you back.

This is why our art is truly "The Art of Endless Options"...

Farang!

With brotherhood,
Grand Master De Alba

 

[kwanjang]

Boy, I hope folks know how lucky they are to get such great info from GM DeAlba. Great stuff KSN I hope we can get together again real soon. I can bring some of those hard to get cigars for you lol.

 

[lulflo]

You are much appreciated KSN De Alba.

I absolutely realize that you are taking time out for me on this thread. With that being said, I am very happy to have such a vast amount of techniques to learn and it is not so bad for me on the memorization, the tough part for me is that I don't have any partners to do the follow up/through with. I train once a week in my teachers house and his shoulder is bad, the other higher level student that goes there with me has a fractured wrist that he has had for 6 months and has not been able to help me out. The other students that I train with are not at the level yet to go full out on my techniques. So I am okay with the beginning of the techniques and I have gone over the ending of them in slow motion, but when it comes to the test, I will be showing the full technique at full speed and with someone who I have only been able to work with for that morning. Hopefully it will work out.
I can almost put my mind around the comments on energy, I get the concept, but to put it into my reality will definitely require your suggested meditation exercises (being a married man with two kids, it is hard to find any peace

). I did recently start running and walking on a treadmill and that has helped me tremendously with my lungs.

I hope to get more into "following the energy flow" in the future and it sounds like that is a major key to my success in techniques.

This was all AWESOME information KSN, Kam sa hap ni da!

If anyone else has information, great or small, I am certainly listening...Thank you.

Farang - Larry

 

[shesulsa]

Larry, who will be on your panel? Is the test at KJN's school?

I wish I'd known about your partner situation earlier. It's time to start hooking up with other students and working out with them as much as possible - especially now that the next test after this one will be your black belt test. I would approach SBN Bailey about the situation and ask him how he would like for you to handle this on your test.

Use your visualization in meditation and the breathing pattern and by all means follow GM DeAlba's suggestions. You'll do fine.

Heh. We'll be seeing a BB test thread for you soon enough!

Farang!

 

[Kuk Sa Nim]

Boy, I hope folks know how lucky they are to get such great info from GM DeAlba. Great stuff KSN I hope we can get together again real soon. I can bring some of those hard to get cigars for you lol.

You are too kind Sa Ja Nim. Thank you very much. I miss you too, and would LOVE to do another "Cubanski"...ha.ha.

It is my pleasure to try and offer what help I can. And Larry, you have a standing invitation to visit us in SF or any of my seminars, so we can explain in greater detail some of these concepts.

Brother Rudy, we MUST hook up this year. The sooner, the better. Hopefully you can make it to our tournament in May?....That would be awesome! We are also having our annual Black Belt Camp on the following day (IE: Sunday), I would love to have you join us. Remember, you are family here! There will be TONS of my FMS black belts in town, some flying in from NY, Washington, LA, Puerto Rico and maybe from Europe too. It would be my honor for them to meet and train with YOU.

I also would like to pursue getting some swords from your student...I believe in the Portland area?...

So, OK, we'll talk some more.
With brotherhood,
Grand Master De Alba

 

[shesulsa]

Two days left, Larry! How's it goin'?

 

[lulflo]

What, me stressed, not at all, cool as a cucumber. And if you believe that, I have some great ocean front property right here in AZ that is for sale. But seriously, I have finally overcome a difficult situation with my sabersword form so I am feeling a little better about that. I went to class tonight and was able to calm my breathing somewhat, but I hope it is enough for the higher elevation in Payson. The dynamic duo (a couple of students at the dojang in Payson) will not be testing this weekend due to an unfortunate accident - all are okay, just unable to test for a month or less, so it will be a bit shorter of a test and less time to catch my breath between each of the criteria of the test, so I guess that can be a plus or a minus. The plus is that it will be over faster, the minus of course was already mentioned. The panel will include SBN Bailey and KJN Rotroff as far as I know. I am feeling a little bit more confident on the whole thing, I could have postponed it due to the misfortune of my fellow brother, but decided to face it now as it has already been put into motion. I wish I had more time, but then again, I can't wait to begin. Thanks for the inquiry.

Much appreciation to all for your support.

Farang - Larry