This is to the newest members of the World Hapkido Association. Congratulations and Welcome! We all look forward to many years of training and collaboration.

Master Kent Johnston

Ojai, CA.

News & Events

Korea Summer Camp – July 2 thru July 9 – 2006!

Summer Camp specifics have been finalized! The fee for the camp will be $1900 and include airfare, lodging at 4-star hotels, all food, gratuities and training expenses. This is a great chance to see and train in the homeland of Hapkido’s birthplace. Deposits due as soon as possible. Contact Mr. Dan Piller for pricing and payment specifics. He can be reached through the World Hapkido Association website or at http://www.kimartialarts.com

**!!! Update: 3 Spots left. A few individuals had to pull-out of their registration and opened up a few

spots. If you have been considering going, now is the time.

Northwest Regional Hapkido Seminar with Master Tae Jung

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Location: Northwest Mudo College, Hillsboro, OR.

Time: 10 – 1:30 pm

Cost: $55 for WHA Members / $65 for Non-WHA Members

Co-sponsored by Mr. Jeff Hindley of Northwest Mudo College and Mr. Al Kamara of FamII Hapkido and Personal Training in Washington. Come join us for a chance to share the mat with one of Hapkido’s greatest masters.

Contact Mr. Hindley at www.northwestbudo.com or by personal e-mail at firstpe315@aol.com for detailed information!! Registration form available soon on the WHA website!!

Announcements

1. There is now a "Links" button on the World Hapkido Association homepage. Master Jung would like all Charter members who have their own website to be included on it with their link. However, you must have the WHA logo on your homepage and an "indication of affiliation" with the WHA.

The Sunbi Spirit

By: Jeff Hindley

Sport vs. Reality

An interesting argument rages within martial-arts circles regarding "sport" martial arts and "reality-based" fighting systems. So much so, that these days, many a school use some of these buzz words to describe their school as an effort to distance themselves from more standard systems. On the other side of the coin, many schools, especially Taekwondo schools, advertise "Olympic Style Sparring" to connote the difference between their school and others. Make no mistake, the different ways of approaching one’s training or how one promotes their style/school to others is based on a philosophical approach or belief system that encapsulates everything that they do.

Nothing wrong with that of course, as long as the consumer knows what they are getting and the school honestly portrays what they do with integrity and honesty!

The argument these days seem to be that some martial arts are not as good as others because they are "sportized" and thus are not true self-defense arts. I have my own politically incorrect belief that there are indeed superior martial arts in comparison to others. However, I also believe that superior martial-artists always trump superior martial arts. I do have a strong belief in the importance of a true self-defense art being important in the world we live in…but what is a true self-defense art. I started thinking about this a lot recently. But that’s a slight digression so to put a face on the argument as is often used today, specifically; Judo and Gumdo are perfect examples of this controversy. More or less, both are considered "sports" and are often thought of as inferior to their predecessors Ju-jitsu and Haedong Kumdo. Both of these sister arts are considered more complete and "realistic" due to the fact that they are more all encompassing, fighting oriented or they use "real" blades. Another prevailing belief these days is that if something becomes the focus of tournaments, it is not a self-defense art. "Therefore, Judo and Gumdo (as well as TKD and Karate) are often relegated to this stature and find themselves on the loosing end of this argument. After all, it makes sense…doesn’t it? If this is indeed our benchmark, then MMA in its current incarnation would also be considered "unrealistic". During it’s early years, it may have been closer to a street fight as groin shots, head butts and other such techniques were allowed. But that is now illegal in MMA sanctioned events and thus sport rules have reared their head. Does that make MMA training non-effective or impractical?

Granted, many of these arts do not practice against multiple opponents, or defense against weapons or such and I agree this may be the line of demarcation between the better-rounded systems of self-defense and other systems. However, to say that these other arts that may be slightly less well rounded are not true self-defense systems, would be incorrect and fly in the face of centuries of contradictory evidence. Before I continue I do want to draw a parallel that there are indeed schools and arts that, from their own admission, are not self-defense oriented (despite the possibility that they could be used in such a situation) and would perhaps not fare too well against even a somewhat eager street fighter. These also may indeed be the norm, rather than the exception but I am not talking about such schools for the sake of this column.

Let’s examine one in more detail…and I must admit…I do have a dog in this particular hunt.

Gumdo, like it’s sister Art Kendo in Japan, is very popular in Korea. It is the thing of tournaments and once one moves past a certain level, most rank promotion comes from tournament success, experience and teaching requirements. The "basics" of this art are quite simple and there is not a lot of "foundation" prior to one’s sparring. There are only a few strikes, drills and movement exercises taught and the rest of one’s career in Gumdo is on increasing dueling proficiency and mastering the finer movements of the basic techniques (the latter of which is true of all martial arts), of which, again, there are not many. If one spends time on certain sites devoted to these topics, one will indeed find the argument entirely against Gumdo when one talks about its Korean cousin, Haedong Kumdo. From the outside, Haedong Kumdo indeed appears to be more inclusive as it combines step drills, step sparring, bamboo cutting, forms, moving and seated meditation and some sparring. However, much of its tactics revolve around battlefield tactics and an emphasis on drawing and sheathing. Haedong Kumdo is a powerful art and uses large movements and the later training does involve real swords. In a time when assassination abound and your enemy could very well have been in your own dojo, seated next to or in front of you, the importance of quick drawing the sword is obvious. However, the advent of formalized customs and rituals within the dojo largely did away with this need. As I mentioned earlier, the inclusion of these things within an art does not mean it is not a legitimate self-defense art, or sword art for that matter. I do a variety of traditional, seemingly innocuous things in my Hapkido class (but they really are only innocuous to the outside observer) but they have a purpose. Therefore, in my opinion, the absence of some of these aspects does not make Gumdo any less realistic than Haedong Kumdo. The sparring of Gumdo would not differ at all whether one was using the Juhk-do (bamboo sword) or a real sword. In fact, it is the most functional and realistic form of sword fighting possible. It is quick, precise and really follows a one-hit, one-kill philosophy. That is the truest essence of sword fighting…and is it so different from barehanded fighting?

Judo has long been considered a sport martial art much like Gumdo. It was perhaps Jigoro Kano’s fault, where as an educator and having a desire to popularize Judo, dispensed with many of Jiu-jutsu’s techniques and codified them into the 7 Kata’s of Judo…little practiced today except for the more traditional schools. Embodied within them is the use of strikes and kicks, defenses against kicking, punching, knives, sticks and swords as well as techniques from standing and kneeling positions. If one were to study Judo in it’s entirety, it is a well-established, and as effective of a style of self-defense as any other art. Even for the schools of Judo who do not practice from this better-rounded curriculum of techniques, the art and the techniques they practice are applicable against many individuals in a variety of situations. Their conditioning, confidence and competitive fire make them as formidable as any martial-artist and I would argue, superior to most in this capacity as hard-training and mental toughness is a regular part of practice where for many others, that part of training is the exception and many individuals are still unproven in this area, despite their martial skill.

Food for thought!

Training Tips

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Internet Book

Stretching & Flexibility

When done properly, stretching can do more than just increase flexibility. According to M. Alter, benefits of stretching include:

Enhanced physical fitness, enhanced ability to learn and perform skilled movements, increased mental and physical relaxation, enhanced development of body awareness, reduced risk of injury to joints, muscles, and tendons, reduced muscular soreness, reduced muscular tension, increased suppleness due to stimulation of the production of chemicals which lubricate connective tissues.

Unfortunately, even those who stretch do not always stretch properly and hence do not reap some or all of these benefits. Some of the most common mistakes made when stretching are:

Improper warm-up, inadequate rest between workouts, overstretching, performing the wrong exercises, performing exercises in the wrong (or sub-optimal) sequence

Warming – Up!

Stretching is not warming up! It is, however, a very important part of warming up. Warming up is quite literally the process of "warming up" (i.e., raising your core body temperature). A proper warm-up should raise your body temperature by one or two degrees Celsius (1.4 to 2.8 degrees Fahrenheit) and is divided into three phases:

1. General warm-up
2. Stretching
3. Sport-specific activity

It is very important that you perform the general warm-up before you stretch. It is not a good idea to attempt to stretch before your muscles are warm (something which the general warm-up accomplishes).

Warming up can do more than just loosen stiff muscles; when done properly, it can actually improve performance. On the other hand, an improper warm-up, or no warm-up at all, can greatly increase your risk of injury from engaging in athletic activities.

• It is important to note that active stretches and isometric stretches should not be part of your warm-up because they are often counterproductive. The goals of the warm-up are "an increased awareness, improved coordination, improved elasticity and contractibility of muscles, and a greater efficiency of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems." (Kurz) Active stretches and isometric stretches do not help achieve these goals because they are likely to cause the stretched muscles to be too tired to properly perform the athletic activity for which you are preparing your body.

The general warm-up is divided into two parts:

1. Joint rotations
2. Aerobic activity

Joint Rotations

The general warm-up should begin with joint-rotations, starting either from your toes and working your way up, or from your fingers and working your way down. This facilitates joint motion by lubricating the entire joint with Synovial Fluid. Such lubrication permits your joints to function more easily when called upon to participate in your athletic activity. You should perform slow circular movements, both clockwise and counter-clockwise, until the joint seems to move smoothly.

Aerobic Activity

After you have performed the joint rotations, you should engage in at least five minutes of aerobic activity such as jogging, jumping rope, or any other activity that will cause a similar increase in your cardiovascular output (i.e., get your blood pumping). The purpose of this is to raise your core body temperature and get your blood flowing. Increased blood flow in the muscles improves muscle performance and flexibility and reduces the likelihood of injury.

Thus ends the Warm-Up Stage. Next month, the first 3 types of stretching, what to avoid, and what to build into your program for optimum efficiency. – Ed.

Quote of the Month

This is an excerpt from the book, The Life Giving Sword – by Yagyu Munenori (Translated by William Scott Wilson)

In ancient times it was said,

Weapons are instruments of ill men. The Way of Heaven finds them repugnant. The Way of Heaven is to use

them only when necessary.

If you would ask why this is so, it can be said that bows and arrows, swords and halberds are called weapons, and further that these instruments of bad fortune and ill omen. The reason for this is that the Way of Heaven is a Way that brings life, while instruments that kill are, on the contrary, truly ill-omened. Thus they are considered repugnant because they are contrary to the Way of Heaven.

Nevertheless, it goes on to say that using weapons and killing people when this cannot be avoided is also the Way of Heaven. If you would ask what this means, it is that flowers bloom and greenery accompanies them in the spring breezes, but the leaves fall and trees wither when the autumn frost arrives. This is the judgment of the Way of Heaven.

There is a reason in striking down something that is replete. A man may ride his good fortune and commit evil, but you strike him down when that evil is replete. Thus, it may be said that using weapons is also the Way of Heaven. There are times when ten thousand people suffer because of the evil of one man. Therefore, in killing one man’s evil you give ten thousand people life. In such ways, truly, the sword that kills one man will be the blade that gives others life.

NEXT MONTH – Continuing out 3-month examination into stretching, flexibility and physiology in the Monthly Guest Column!!

COMING SOON – Look for a new Newsletter format! Should be cool…of course!