Bluetulipx

I received my blue belt in ITF TKD recently and I was happy with it. However, I wondered why it took so long for me to get this. I then started to think about the journey that I have had through Tae Kwon Do. My first school was in Rockville, MD, USA, in a side room (like a garage) in a gym with a very nice instructor. I was able to get to yellow belt before the instructor had to close the school because he was having back surgery and the building was torn down. I then moved to a different school in Rockville, MD and started again. I then managed to grade up to green belt and then moved to England. I then tried a few schools and finally settled on one in Long Eaton, between Nottingham & Derby, England. However, because I had previously been training in WTF and this was ITF, I then had to start again. As I have stated previously, I now have my blue belt and am happy with it. Would I change anything about my journey so far? I guess not.

Interesting. In my experience, one of the best things that I have learned from Aikido, is tai sabaki (the ability to turn swiftly out of the way of danger). There are two things that immediately spring to mind when I think about what I learn in Aikido. 1. On one occasion when I was in Kick Boxing, one of the students went to punch me. Without thinking I moved out of the way, by turning around in tai sabaki. The student told me that I was cheating. I did not think that because I had moved out of the way, that it was not an option, that in fact I should have blocked the blow from the punch. I guess it is what a martial artist has experience with. 2. My understanding of the human body and how to move the attacker, is greatly enhanced. In my tae kwon do class, my instructor (very nice person) will frequently tell me to be slow with my techniques for self defence because it is very noticeable the difference between my knowledge and the other students. I guess the self defence I learn in tae kwon do is more forceful. I find that Aikido is a very useful martial art and that there are many lessons to learn.

Well shucks ... I train in 3 martial arts ... Why do I do this? As mentioned previously by other people, I think it very much depends on your reason for attending the clubs. I admit that my progress will be slowed down considerably but that is absolutely fine with me as I am hoping the martial arts will be a lifetime achievement. I train in Aikido, Tae Kwon Do and Kick Boxing. Yes it would be nice to have a new belt colour from time to time, but what are the main reasons for me attending different clubs? For me, Aikido has many life lessons, and provides stress relief, confidence, great socializing, etc. It addresses how to use energy 'ki' effectively. When I discovered the concept of ki, the implications on my life were impressive. I find this a fascinating concept and look forward to each lesson to learn how this can be most effectively utilized. Tae Kwon Do, brings out a different part of my personality, and the forms are a great opportunity for focus so that if I am struggling with other issues, I can stop thinking about them and turn my attention to the forms and provide my full focus. Also I find the kicking and punching to be interesting. The Kick boxing class is women only (Aikido & Tae Kwon Do are mixed). This allows me to refine my defensive techniques and have a more cardio workout while having the opportunity to hit and kick pads a lot. I also struggle to go to anything more than twice a week as I do not retain the interest. This of course doesn't mean that other people have the same reaction to anything that I do, because as martial artists know, each martial artist must find their own way. Anyway, it is the best choice for me and I think it is great.

I am involved in Aikido, Tae Kwon Do and Kickboxing. I think all three of them are very effective but I do see a lot of differences. In some ways, I find that Tae Kwon Do and Kickboxing are similar - with the kicking and punching, but on the other hand, one uses Korean words, has forms and the other is American and has no forms, so in those respects they are different. However, for Aikido, I find that it is the Ying to the Yang of Tae Kwon Do and Kickboxing for me. (I will not state that this would be the same for everyone of course.) To learn the flow of energy so that you can use your opponents strength against them is very inspiring. I find it fascinating how it is possible to tilt a person and they will be off balance, by moving a hand or a forearm, or by moving out of the way and it definitely is something that I plan to study for a long time. I think for each person they will find their way in the martial arts, with their own unique abilities. However, I do think that in some instances Aikido can be beneficial and certainly, the higher in the rank the person is (I am only an orange belt) then the more effective they will be. I find that when I am doing self defence techniques in Tae Kwon Do, my experience in Aikido is very helpful.

Throwdown, I do not rush through the belts either. I keep telling everyone that the higher the belt, the higher the expectation and I am very happy with the belts that I have. Currently in ITF TKD I am a blue tag and I will take my blue belt exam this year. I originally started with one Tae Kwon Do instructor, very nice person, and he had to have back sugery and the building was torn down. I then went to another club (both in America) and was lucky to have another great instructor. I then moved to England, and after looking at a few different clubs, found one in Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire area. For each of the three clubs, I had to start at the beginning of the belt rankings again and now, looking back, I'm glad that I did. I find that there is much to learn at each belt level and only when I think I am comfortable with that level will I think about grading for the next one. Currently I am thinking about grading once a year. The instructor sometimes asks me if I will work with some of the beginners to show them techniques, but that's about as close as I get to training people. The reality for me is that I have what I'm looking for and that to me is the most important thing.

This comment may seem obvious to most, but I have been training for a few years and I completely missed the plot on this one until the other day when I was sitting watching a sparring strategy class. (My hands had split open because of the cold weather, so I had to watch instead of taking part!) I do TaeKwonDo and Kickboxing and my sparring is weak. While I am quite happy to start punching and then keep attacking and punching, until sometimes I have backed the opponent into the corner, I realized I needed to have more to my techniques. In Kickboxing, I practice their many standard boxing drills but when it comes to sparring, they don't work for me. In this particular class, after the sparring strategy had been demonstrated, the message was: each person is unique, all of the standard drills are demonstrations (as well as necessary to learn for gradings), but I needed to listen to my body and decide what was comfortable for me. What drills would be effective from a left hand? right hand? left leg? right leg? While some people maybe good with hook kicks, my power is better with front, side and roundhouse kicks. What combination of four would work best for me? 'Listen to my own body to find the right drills'. How long have I been doing this? Suddenly my sparring will be getting much better. Anyway, just thought I would share with you, the mental blocks that I've been having.

Dazed and Confused - I think it depends on what you are looking for. Last year was my first time. Saturday had most of the people there and trying to use the restaurant was difficult. I had a great time both days though because on Saturday my 3 TKD instructors were there so we wandered around together, then later I saw ladies from my kickboxing class and 1 of my instructors. However, the events did not seem to flow as smoothly as Sunday. Sunday, I was there by myself, but there were a lot less people and the demonstrations ran continuously all day long. The day went by so quickly and was great. I am going again this year.

Just finished reading 'Altered Carbon' by Richard Morgan - sci fi (a person can change bodies by implanting their 'stack' at the back of the neck, which is what makes them a human being, into different bodies so you never really know who is who) ... now reading 'State of Fear' by Michael Crichton.

I have spent most of my life travelling around including 10 moves and 13 contract jobs in the last 3 years as I moved back to England. Now that the moving is finally over, I have had a chance to try out some home projects for the first time. I am finding it quite interesting. My first room to tackle was the bathroom with new shower curtain, new towel rail, new bathmat, new towels, etc. It took me 2 days on and off, plus giving it a good clean of course. I'm very happy with it now. The next room to address will be my office ... (a lot of sorting out to do in this one).

I went last year and spent the weekend. Had a great time. Saw 3 of my TKD instructors and 2 of my Kick Boxing instructors. Have booked in hotel and will spend the weekend there again in 2007. Looking forward to it.

MizuRyu - Good post. Everything we see around us is only our human interpretation of it at this current moment in time. I find that sometimes people have tunnel vision or are blinkered to other things around them. I guess it's just the way we are as humans, but, if we can't prove what something is - how can we say with absolutely certainty that it isn't like something else. Especially if it's a concept.

... and not knowing what it actually is, makes it very exciting (to me at least) 100 years ago if you asked someone about home pcs they would have thought you were nuts. Now it's a common household item. 500 years from now, who knows, maybe we will have defined ki - and (this is just a bluetulipx concept not anything official - and it is not intended to be disrespectful): We could have ki clinics. A person might say to their friend, "I'm not feeling very well to day, I think my ki is not good ... let me go to the ki clinic to sort it out." Or as someone has suggested, it might be focus and we might be able to take tablets to make our ki better? Or put special glasses on to see another person's ki? Or it could be something different again and still in 500 years we haven't defined it. Please note the comments stated above, are just concepts of possibilities. My idea being, you just never know what we might discover.

I forgot myself for a moment. I have been taken back to a memory of sitting in a pub on Capitol Hill talking to a guy from NASA about physics. The guy was nice, talked to me in even though I only had a basic understanding of the principles, but then when I moved this slightly away from the exact science, our conversation changed ... and ... when we talked about metaphysics our conversation stopped dead. LOL I take back my comment. I will change this to reflect Bluetulipx concepts instead: I was basically stating (and don't forget it's only Bluetulipx concepts so not anything official!): The universe is created by particles and particles vibrate. All things in the universe have particles. Ki could flow through particles in a similar way (concept wise only don't forget) that electro magnetics do or other things do. So, not particle physics anymore!

Best of luck with your grading

I was drawn to Aikido because of ki. I had been reading books and travelling and chatting with people at airports (all kinds of interesting conversations there) and I realized that I wasn't using my energy properly (although I am sure I didn't use those words at the time). Parkerlineage, you have stated: People have said that ki is like energy. What if it is also like air? Who created air? Is it good or bad? We know that we need it to be able to function and you might have problems if you don't have enough air. We can't see air, but we know it is there and people are very comfortable with the idea. From my understanding, ki is focused around the gut area and sometimes people might refer to a gut feeling when perhaps they are having a ki feeling. I don't know if they quite relate but I think might be a connection. Also, I have learned to have a positive energy feeling from my gut area and also a positive energy leave my finger tips. To me, this is ki and if I put my hands over my stomach area I can create a ki ball. It is difficult to describe the sensations accurately, but sometimes I feel energy around my hands when I move them. Also, if you have a basic understanding of particle physics, I think that helps to describe how the energy moves around. These are just my observations on it though.