Kuk Sool Won

[taiji fajin]

Training with KJN Simms would be awesome. While I am against the idea of people getting injured in a class as being ok or expected to happen occasionally, I dislike how easily training can become an "armchair" art, or worse, how paper tigers get produced.

You've trained with KJN Simms? I'm curious, do you know what his views are on internal energy work / meditation / etc? Possibly even what type he does, if he does do it?

Thanks.

[SBN Doug]

I have not had te opportunity to be taught internal techniques by KJN, but I know he does train in them.

He mentioned one time in Korea when Kuk Sa Nim had him meditating in an icy stream, clothless.

He was also explaining how when your two staffs are crossed at the beginning to part four of staff sparring, than you can feel your opponent's ki and heartbeat.

It was my unfortunate timing that when I moved to CT, he moved back South. So, I only got to train with him when he came back up for weekend long workshops.

[JKN Dean]

Nice link , it saved me from having to put up a video of myself doing the form.

I have two problems when I see most people do this form (no offense to anyone).

The first is that the strikes are not at the other person, but at their staff. Many times in the form you will see an "attack" that would simply go by in the air if the defender had not put out his staff. Why bother blocking if it's not going to hit you?

The other is that people put their staff out to block long before the attack comes. Not only does this look aesthetically displeasing, but it's impractical. If a person had the block waiting out there, I would just strike somewhere else.

I love doing staff sparring with one particular JGN in my class, who is actually my roommate. We've been doing it together for long enough that when we do the form, we are actually trying to hit each other. Literally. We don't hold back our swings (which occasionally results in a broken staff), because we know the other person will be able to block it (or had better block it!) In our last demo, at one point my roommate did a side strike to my head, which I blocked, but it was a strong enough attack that his staff bent around mine and brushed my hair.

Let me tell you, doing this form when the other person is actually aiming for you, not holding back, and not letting you get your defense in place before they swing keeps you on your toes!

I think the aesthetics part of staff sparring comes down to how much practice you've had with your partner and how much you trust them. It takes LOTS of practice with a partner to learn their rythm and tendencies. Heck, even professional stunt artists need camera angles and other wizardry to make their stunts look "real". The first time I ever visited Universal Studios and saw an action performance, I was mildly disappointed at how "contrived" it all looked.

All in all, I think the particpants in the video were pretty good with the only glaring "oops" being near the beginning when the one defender in the foreground is expecting an overhead strike, but his attacker momentarily loses his grip on his staff, causing the defender to be stuck in his "pose" for an extra second.

[taiji fajin]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, but at least you still train with him some.

It's always interesting to see the different mentalities for meditation. Some, like the icy stream incident you talked of or when Kuk Sa Nim brought the monk, seem more intent on meditating through unpleasant circumstances, they to me are about learning how to focus through distraction. Others are about building your internal energy. They disagree with the "no pain no gain" philosophy and instead seek to nurture the body and enhancing the mind-body connection.

Just my take on it, one sec while I put on some body armor against the responses .

As for the last post, I agree that trust and practice with a certain partner are needed before you can go at full speed without fear of hurting the other person. However, I don't think that people should be striking the air instead of the head/body/etc. Even if you do not know your partner, you should aim for the correct spot. Just be sure to not go all out and are able to pull back/stop if they do not get their defenses in place.

[SBN Doug]

All in all, I think the particpants in the video were pretty good with the only glaring "oops" being near the beginning when the one defender in the foreground is expecting an overhead strike, but his attacker momentarily loses his grip on his staff, causing the defender to be stuck in his "pose" for an extra second.

It's also tough to do ANYTHING well on those mats.

[taiji fajin]

It's also tough to do ANYTHING well on those mats.

What do you mean by this?

[SBN Doug]

I don't know what your dojang's floor is made of, but we are on carpet with a thin pad. I also practice in shoes outside and we test on the concrete floor of a gymnasium.

Trying to perform hyung on those thick falling mats is difficult, due to how you sink into them, they can slide a little, and they give differently in different areas because of inconsistant wear.

Just making an allowance for the "oops" we saw.

[PrideampPoise]

KSN Doug, my instructor, KJN Saidi just came back from some training in Texas. I haven't had a chance to ask him about it yet, but just curious if you happened to be involved in the same training, or perhaps met him?

[SBN Doug]

Unfortunately no. That training was out at headquarters and was for school owners and advanced instructors only.

KJN Harmon was there for the weekend as well, as was a PSBN that started at our dojang and recently opened her own school a few miles away.

[PrideampPoise]

Ah, ok. Like I said, just curious. Thanks...