Chris from CT

If you are able to make it, it would be well worth the trip. GMaster West puts on one hell of a seminar! Good times will be had. I haven't been able to make it down there since about 2002. Long over due, huh? When you see Master West, ask him if he still has the wooden sign I made for him that says, "Not My Student." Aslo, please say "Hi" for me. Take care and have a blast!

No need for the apologies sir. I wish I knew someone in that area for you. The closest I know would be London. Which I believe is not that close at all. Take care.

Years ago I had a "horse shoe" tear of the medial meniscus. This is where one half separates from the bone and flips over. The doctor said, I've got good news and bad news." That always gets me nervous when I hear that! The good news: It was torn clean so it could be reattached. Benefit = "shock absorber" in the knee would still be effective. The bad news: Instead of being up on my feet within a couple of days of a scope I was in bed for a couple of weeks because the slow healing process of cartilage from the lack of blood circulation it gets in general. Years later my knee is doing great. Did the rehab, and glad I did. Keeping any area strong will help prevent injuries. When an injury does come along, without a major trauma, we see where our weaker areas are and can look to improve them in the future. Wishing you the best in the future Akaratechick. Take care.

Which Manchester area are you refering to? Great Britain or the US? If it's the US... what state? Take care

I practice Hapkido here in Connecticut. Training in Korea is different in different dojangs. It's very much like here in the States. One guy emphasizes big falls, another on high kicking and another on balance breaking, etc. Where I train in Korea, we focus more on balance breaking and being able to drop a stronger, resistant person, which is great on a person who may not know how to fall. Don't get me wrong, we all need to know how to breakfall and all, but the focus is not on the airfalls. I love it there. They train us hard, but treat us well. If anyone is around Daegu, stop into the Jung Ki Kwan. GM Lim is a great guy and very welcoming to anyone who has a humble attitude and a sincere yearning to learn the principles of Hapkido. Take care

Congrats on deciding on a career. I did the same thing except it took me a lot longer to figure that was what I wanted to do. I had a "pre-midlife crisis" at 25 and was like... "What am I doing, where am I going...." I knew I didn't want a "job,” I wanted a "Career." I wanted something I could be proud of and pumped about doing for years to come. I wasn't interested in a dead-end job that I would end up hating with no where to go. So I did some soul searching and thought about all the things I enjoyed doing. I trained in Martial Arts since I was little, I enjoy working with people, helping people... and like you, I didn't feel western medicine was where I should be whole heartedly. Put all that together, and I came up with... "Acupuncture." Once I decided on doing it I had to go back to college and do some pre-requisite classes in order to apply to acupuncture school. Most schools in the US require 60 hours of college credit plus certain classes in Anatomy & Physiology and certain other bio-sciences prior to entry into their acupuncture programs. Now-a days many schools offer an accredited Masters degree (M.S.) program. So don’t think that you are skipping out of college. I have been out for a few years and I love it. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. Good luck and if I can ever be of help just let me know. Take care.

Mike, it's a must! It's a blast Bro. Good people, good training and good food. At first you may think... Oh, I have to get down to Mississippi, rent a hotel room, blah, blah, blah, BUT once you go, you'll say to yourself, " what was I worrying about" because it's so worth it. Take care.

Traditional styles of Hapkido, such as Jung Ki Hapkido, are not very flashy and are actually quite different than what people tend to see today. Hapkido (Yawara, Yusul, Hapkiyusul, etc - whatever you want to call it) as taught by the founder, Choi, Yong-Sul had 10 basic kicks and the majority of them were to the waist and below. Even the takedowns weren't as flashy. They were more immediate takedowns that could be done on resistant people who did not know how to fall or roll. Of course throws are hard not to look flashy when you have the opponent's entire body in the air. I hope this helped. Take care.

I missed it this year, but Master West throws one of the best International Hapkido Seminars here in the states. He gets top notch instructors from all over to come and share at his event. Master Geoff Booth from Australia, Master Timmerman from Canada just to name a couple. Even Dr. He Young Kimm stops in. It’s three days of great training, food and friends. NO attitude, all training. One of the things that I loved about it was each class (or time slot) was about an hour or so and during each time slot he had 4 different teachers teaching different classes during the same time so you always had a choice of what to take. And what made it even cooler was the fact that you really had to choose wisely because there were great classes going on all the time. I’m looking forward to getting back down there next year. Take care

Congratulations! One thing we do at our school for all ranks is go down to one knee when putting on (and taking off) our belts. This is out of respect for the knowledge and what we put into earning that belt. As a black belt, while on one knee, I will touch my folded belt to my head and say to myself, "Proper Mind" then to my lips and say, "Proper Speech" and finally to my chest and say, "Proper Heart." By doing this, I remind myself every time I put on my belt how to be a worthy Yudanja and not let it "go to my head." Congrats again and I hope this helped. Take care

Here is a Hapkido clip from the Jung Ki Kwan. http://user.chol.com/%7Ejungki74/hapki/hap01.asf This is a very traditional style of Hapkido. There isn't a lot of flashy moves, but these guys are grabbing "Full on." Enjoy it.

Sounds like a place I would like to work. One of the big problems in the Hapkido community is petty bickering. It is nice to see so many Masters working together in one way or another. Take care.

Good question... As you are aware of, there are many styles of Hapkido around today, each with their own spin on things. When I say, "Traditional Hapkido," I am refering to the style and principles that were taught by the founder, Choi, Yong-Sul. Is that what the article said? Because that is one of the most rediculous things I have ever heard. Nothing but the lies of marketing propaganda. Just a couple of points to back that up... One of the biggest promoters of Hapkido in the world is GM Ji, Han-Jae, which he came over to the United States in 1984. Which is when John Pellegrini was still doing TKD in Florida. The late Master Mike Wollmershauser (head of the American Hapkido Association and who gave Pellegrini his 1st dan) was studying hapkido since the 1970's and was doing international seminars quite often. Master J.R West (one of the first Americans to teach Hapkido in the States and Head of the United States Korean Martial Arts Federation) has been teaching since 1970 and has one of the largest Hapkido organizations in the USA. Master West also hosts an International Hapkido seminar twice a year in Jackson Mississippi. The list can go on and on... Pellegrini is great at marketing and advertising. He promotes himself, not Hapkido. For those people that have spent the time on the mat training and learning about what Hapkido is, it's disappointing to have people think that CHKD is what we do. I feel the exact same way. I am a martial arts junky. My girlfriend is getting used to the fact that I stop into martial art schools to train while we are on vacation. She's alright! I have said this before on other sites, but I have no problem with people in the ICHF and I will continue to enjoy training along side them. My issue is with Peligrini and his false marketing. If I can ever be of help to you, just let me know. Take care.

Now I can’t speak for Allen (KoreanTiger30), but in general, these are some of the most common issues Hapkido practitioners have with John Pellegrini and his Combat Hapkido… 1) John Pellegrini received his first dan in Hapkido from the late Master Michael Wollmershauser in 1989-90 and then by 1992 he was an 8th dan and had created his own system of Hapkido. 2) Pellegrini has said he has taken out what is unnecessary for self-defense application. On the other side of the coin, it has also been said that it is questionable that he even knew the applicability of what “he never added” to his style and thereby never possessing some of what makes Hapkido, Hapkido. 3) Pellegrini tagged his system with the term “Hapkido.” If he named it something else without the term Hapkido in it, he would probably have a few less naysayers within the Hapkido community given the previous two problems. My issue is about Pellegrini using "Hapkido as its base" is that Pellegrini spent far more time training in TKD that he did in Hapkido. I have seen the vids and trained with his people, but what they were shown were just joint locks. Is Hapkido just a bunch of joint locks? Of course not. Besides the joint locks, everything else that is in the Combat Hapkido curriculum is added from other styles. The problem for many traditional Hapkidoin is, now considering the Combat Hapkido curriculum only teaches joint locks from Hapkido, but everything else is from other arts, "why should it be called Hapkido?" His big advertisement is that “his style” has only taken the “combat applicable” material from traditional Hapkido. That is a bunch of garbage. One of the key things that is missing from the Combat Hapkido curriculum is manipulating a person's center to off-balance them. This is why a smaller weaker person can do these techniques on a larger, stronger opponent. This is not done by "faking" or "striking." Now tell me that this is not combat applicable?! The problem is that it takes time to teach and should be taught in the beginning. Test this out… have a person grab you strong, and then consider this person grabbing you is someone you can’t hit (i.e. it’s a family member, someone younger, you’re a cop and this is a perp who is resisting, but not yet violent). Then try to apply any of the techniques learned without striking. Did you have to “muscle it?” That technique would not have worked if the person were stronger. In Hapkido we cannot rely on being the stronger person. And what about the “fake?“ Ok, what if the fake doesn’t work? What do you do then? With the body manipulation off balancing it doesn’t matter because it works as long as the person has a pulse. It doesn’t matter how smart they are or how strong they are. It works on natural laws that apply to everyone on this earth. This body manipulation off balancing is just one of the things that keeps traditional Hapkido from being “just a bunch of joint locks.” I have to admit I get a little frustrated when I hear people talk about Hapkido and it is considered just a bunch of joint locks. Many styles incorporate joint locks and do the same thing of using “fakes and strikes,” and all these styles are good, but they are not Hapkido. I have seen good and bad Combat Hapkido practitioners just as I have seen good and bad traditional Hapkidoin. It’s really what “you” make of it. Just be honest with yourself about what you what to get out of it. The style is good for what it is… a “Self-defense System.” If that is what you want then that’s fantastic. No one can take that away from you. No matter what…enjoy what you do. Take care

It is quite easy to tell the difference between a whole boiled cat and a whole boiled chicken. Take care.

Well, it was some piece of plump poultry and it was mighty tasty! Take care

Well, it's been a while, but I was able to get some more of my trip down on the computer. If I could get some time in the future I'll edit this whole thread and do up an article for the site. Right now, I'm lucky to get to make it a regular post. Looking back on my notes from the trip is making me want to go back again. OK, here's some more info on the trip... Monday, September 15, 2003 Being really excited to be in Korea, I woke up around 4:00am and got ready for our first class at 6:00am. Frank and I walked through the streets of Daegu to the Jung Ki Kwan. Master Kim, Mon-Su, taught the early morning class. Master Kim is a 72-year-old man with a small frame, but oh my god, he was spry as anyone I ever met. Originally, around thirty years ago, Dojunim Choi, Yong-Sul refused to teach Kim, Mon Su because he was very sickly and frail. Master Kim even had a hard time walking up the three or four flights of stairs to get to the dojang (school). Dojunim Choi thought he would get broken from the hard training they were doing. Master Kim kept coming anyway and lasted all those years. I had a hard time believing the story from the way Master Kim was able to move, apply techniques and the shear strength coming from his tiny frame. It was a fantastic class and a great way to start off our training in Korea. The next class was all Hapkido too. I got to work with Master Kong, Won-Gee and Trevor. We went over basic techniques and seeing them done with such precision was an eye opener. Everyone is expected to grab on hard when doing any “Son Mok Su” (wrist technique). The techniques were so powerful, and yet so subtle. With the way we were getting thrown around by Master Kong you would think he was using all is strength. But when I saw the same technique applied to Trevor you could see that there was little effort applied with the same effect. “It’s all technique, very little strength.” The great thing about the training was that even though you are getting tossed around like a rag doll and experiencing some exquisite pain, it was never done maliciously. Everyone there had a great heart and was sincerely caring about everyone’s well being. Our Doboks (uniforms) drenched in sweat, we broke for lunch and “the US contingency” went out for samgaetang again after getting changed. This time we met Peter who is a fellow student at the Jung Ki Kwan and works at the restaurant. And once again the soup was delicious. Our afternoon class consisted of Kumdo and Kahapdo. The Kumdo half of the class was taught by Master Kim, Kyung-Hwan. We did a lot of footwork and striking with footwork. Then Master Kim “suited up” in the Kumdo armor in which he then instructed us in drills where we would be passing by and striking him. I have to admit that was pretty fun! The second half of the class was Kahapdo. Kahapdo (also known as Kuhapdo or Gahapdo) is a sword style developed by Grandmaster Lim, which appear to have similarities to Japanese Iaido. For next three hours I worked on a single cut and learned how much I could mess up that one cut! It was great! We were all dripping with sweat again after that class. Later that night, Master Lee, Jae-Il stopped by our hotel and invited us out for a drink and some appetizers. Master Lee is one of the main interpreters at the Jung Ki Kwan along with Kim, In Sam. I wish my Korean could be half as good as Master Lee’s English. We had a couple of pitchers of beer and quite an assortment of appetizers. One that I will never forget was the Silkworm pupa. It came out and you could tell that they were some sort of larva/pupa thing. All the guys were eyeing me because I never had it before. I figured it wouldn’t be so bad because it looked like it had some crushed garlic with it and that would mask any taste that could have been less than delicious. Well, that was either not garlic or extremely weak because garlic is not what I tasted. It wasn’t terrible, but I definitely enjoyed the chicken tenders and beer much more. More to come…

I would agree that it is a good self defense system, but unfortunately the above statement is only marketing. Combat Hapkido does not contain the off-balancing that traditional forms of Hapkido has. For example, have a person grab you strong and see if you can do the technique without using a fake or a distraction. This is one of the main concepts that makes Hapkido, Hapkido. This is also why it is great for a smaller person because they don't have to "muscle" a technique on a larger, stronger person. The down side is that it takes time to be able to use off-balancing effectively. This is only one of the two major reasons why you do not see this concept taught in Combat Hapkido. Take care

That's cool. Who is the teacher? I'm not familiar with southern Jersey. So your enjoying Hapkido?

Sorynn, where do you train in NJ? Take care

So I wake up around 9:00am on Saturday and considering the time changes and traveling I felt surprisingly good. Todd and I went downstairs to the front desk of the hotel and we ran into Kim, In-Sam. (Our savior upon arriving in Daegu) The three of us took a walk and he showed us around the immediate area around the hotel. Just a couple of blocks down the street was “Iljyong Golmok” (sp), the medicinal herb center of Daegu. The entire street is dedicated for just eastern medicine, mostly herbs. You could smell the ginseng from quite some distance. I would have loved to have taken some home, but I was unsure on customs so I played it safe. Also there was Moxa galore there. Moxa is a type of medicinal herb consisting of a type of mugwort that is burned on the body to stimulate acu-points. (More on that later) Kim, In-Sam also showed us where his last academy of English was on Iljyong Golmok and eventually had to depart for a previous engagement. Todd continued the tour and we went to the Jung Ki Kwan. I was surprised how close it was, perhaps a 10-15 minute walk, not thinking about doing this everyday after training. At 3:00 Todd, Frank, Trevor and I met up once again at the Jung Ki Kwan to see Grandmaster Lim and everyone else. Among the people there to greet us were Master Chae, Hung-Joon (Hwejangnim), Master Shin, Dong-Won, Master Kong, Won-Gee and Kim, In-Sam. GM Lim said it was good to see us. He also asked how we were and all the families and while Kim, In-Sam was there to help translate their English was very good. While we were there we asked about the many calligraphies that were hanging in the dojang so Master Chae and Kim, In-Sam took us on a small tour and explained each one of them. Among them were sayings such as, “Hwa, Won, Yu” which reminds us of the three principles of Hapkido, “The Essence of the Martial Spirit” and another of how continuously practicing can lead to unbeatable ability. If I’m not mistaken, Master Chae actually did the calligraphy and has quite a skill. Master Chae is a remarkable man. He is around 70 years old and was one of Dojunim Choi’s 8th dan students and quite the swordsman. I spent an afternoon with him working on one of the Kahapdo forms and even though he spoke very little English, he helped me immensely with working with the sword. After our meeting we ate samgaetang (sp), or in other words, chicken soup. It was fantastic! To start off, they gave us some small bowls of white radish. One was plain and the other was hot and spicy. I was told there are many types of kimchi and that was one of them. The main course came out and they gave us a bowl of broth with a chicken that was stuffed with rice. Inside the rice was ginseng and I believe a date or fig. There was also a small bowl of salt on the table to add to your liking. It was some of the best soup I had ever had. (Second to only mom) After the meal, we were given a cup of what seemed to be apple cider with cinnamon. Again I was informed that apples are a major trademark of Daegu. We had a couple of long hard weeks ahead of us, but we were all pumped to start training. Todd said, “rest while you can.” And even though they were empty words at that moment, we would all understand the deep meaningful truth later on in the week. More to come…

Do you think it would be appropriate for that section? Take care.

No, I haven't seen Hon Sang Mu Sa Hapkido in action, but I do have a basic understanding of Hapkido and Kosho Ryu Kempo. Both rely on natural laws and principles to manipulate an attacker. Granted, in certain areas they go about it differently, but similar none-the-less and effective. I feel it would be very cool to see in action. Is it traditional form of Hapkido? No, it's not. Take care

Thanks. I made it back in one piece!!!! Now that my make-up work for acupuncture school is out of the way, I'm gonna be able to post some info about the trip. We were leaving to go to Korea on September 11th from Logan Airport in Boston, MA. I caught a lot of flack for the fact of 9/11 and that being the same airport one of the flights flew out of. But I figured, “It’s not too often lightning strikes the same place twice.” Also my girlfriend’s mother, who is a travel agent, said that Logan would probably be the safest airport to fly out of on that day. So anyway, “If you’re gonna go, you’re gonna go.” I stayed at Master Todd Miller and his wife’s home for the night and in the morning we would meet the others to leave for Logan Airport in Boston. Our flight left around 6:00am so we woke around 2:00am because of the travel time to Logan and it being an international flight. Didn’t seem so bad. The flights went well. Even though I couldn’t sleep and everyone else passed out for about 18 hours, I was happy that the airline showed quite a few movies (X-Men 2, Bruce Almighty, etc.) and handed out a bunch of meals. We even had our own movie screens installed in the back of the seats in front of us. Ok, so I’m easy to please! Also, I was seated next to some very friendly Koreans who helped me with my phrasing and pronunciation of Korean. They did their best! Once at Inchon Airport in Seoul, South Korea we were supposed to take a bus to Gimpo Airport and connect with a short 45-minute (if that) flight to Daegu International Airport. Well let me tell you that didn’t happen! We kept trying to get tickets for it, but everyone we talked to made this “X” sign with their fingers indicating, “no fight to where you want to go.” We were just finding out about the Typhoon that hit lower South Korea. So our 45-minute plane ride now turns into a 5-hour bus excursion through the Typhoon. It’s dark and wet navigating though a major typhoon and people still drive like nut-jobs. I believe we got into Daegu around 2:00am, their time, and we could see some of the damage that was caused; trees turned up, roads were flooded, business signs ripped down by the tremendous wind and rain. I have to say one of the streets where the bus station was, was flooded and torn up, but the rescue workers in the orange jumpsuits had most of the immediate area cleaned up before our ride had arrived. Considering what they had to work with, that’s some job! We were greeted in the rain by a loud, “Masta Todd, how is everyone?!” That was Kim, In-Sam, who also trains at the Jung Ki Kwan and runs his own English academy in Daegu. Between the fights, the layover in San Francisco, the confusion /waiting at Inchon and the bus trip that felt like a water ride at a theme park, our trip was approximately 30 hours. It was good to know we are almost home. (at least for the next few weeks). More to come…

I believe Hon Sang Mu Sa Hapkido is a cross between Kosho Ryu Kempo and Hapkido. Hon Sang Mu Sa Hapkido generally means Old Pine Tree School Hapkido. It was founded by the Peaceful Warriors Institute in Canada and I believe they are the only school that is teaching it as of right now. That's about all I knows. Take care