Lifestyle Social Solutions - 10 Ways to Make a Difference

The LifeStyle

Training and dedicating your life to martial arts can have long lasting positive influences.  I’ve seen it happen.  But, it is always a balance of the student finding the right teacher at the right time.  A good teacher will have skill sets and an approach that enables him or her to meet the needs of diverse students, but it is not always going to be an optimal fit.  Timing, and all the factors associated with it, can also be factors.

Once you have come to a stable place and found the right facility and instructor, there are several things you as parents can do to help solidify martial arts as a part of your child’s lifestyle.  

You’ve been taking incremental steps in committing to the lifestyle, starting with when you first accepted the notion that martial arts is a reasonable solution to whatever it is that has brought you to the search for a school.  Now, its time to transition to a role of support that will leave little room for error or misinterpretation.  As the leaders of your respective families, your child will follow the example you set, and the stronger your message of support and encouragement comes across, they more they will want to model the behaviors to which you've assigned positive value.

The Social Connection

All humans are social animals, and our kids are no exception.  Even shy and withdrawn children need to have social interactions.  We all feed off of them.  In the martial arts school, the master or head instructor dictates the culture, which ideally is one of respect and acceptance that encourages everyone, especially the withdrawn, to comfortably share and interact.  In the home, it is the parents who lead and set the tone.  The statements you make and actions you take relay messages to your child all the time.  Positively engaging and seeking out means of being involved with martial arts alongside your child sends a message of support that will only lift up your child and edify your position of authority in the home. 

When your child starts martial arts, so do you.  You do not have to attend class with them, going rep for rep, to be involved and engaged.   However, it can mean more than just asking questions about class on the car ride home.  While this certainly serves as low level engagement, it is not the pinion that will secure your child’s interest and long term participation in martial arts.   The rule in martial arts is simple...the longer an you train, the more you grow.  There is no end to the path of martial arts.  Certainly, there are peaks, valleys, and plateaus along the course, but the trek is always forward into new horizons and levels of achievement.  

Imagine the likelihood of your child becoming a black belt, a Master, or even a Grand Master, and...

How awesome would that be? 

They need to have a strong foundational support network, including engaged support, from their top level influencers, their parents.  

10 Support Solutions

I’m not here to just dance around concepts though.  Sure, supportive engagement is the center of the thought cloud, but as parents, where you take the idea will reflect your family's specific nature.  To get things started and spark some ideas of your own, immediately or after you’ve tried some of the following, this list includes ten different means of showing support that may match an interest or active dynamic in your household.

1. Travel: Make a Trial lesson at a studio part of any travel plans to a new city

• You can usually get these for free and they show the breadth of what is available in the arts and how they are taught.

2. Movie or Game Fans: Schedule a Martial Arts movie or Gaming Night

• There is no shortage of content in either one of these categories!

3. Cooking: Prepare a meal from the country of origin for your child's art

• There are picky eaters in every culture...you can find a recipe (or mod one) to fit the bill

4. Bibliophiles: Read a book together

• Again, there are works of fiction and non-fiction aplenty on the arts

5. Handy: Build a piece of training equipment or accessory

• Consult a few martial arts supplier sites or catalog and match their offering with your skill sets!

6. Crafty: Tailor their uniform

• The way in which uniforms are sized is...lets just go with singular...hem the sleeves or legs, or take in/let out the jacket

7. Musically inclined: Put their material to music

• Encourage them to practice while you improve or perform a piece 

8. Artistic: Paint their picture

• Use a favorite photo from classes and training and use your preferred media to bring the image to life  

9  Photography: Create a photo collage or slide show. 

• Use motion capture style to make a short film, or create a photo-biography of their career to date 

10. Techy: Build a website or blog

• Show the path of his or her training career to date, or share your own thoughts and reflections on how MA has influenced and positively impacted their lives

Any way you can invest your time and talents into growing along what is perhaps not necessarily a shared path, but certainly a parallel one, will give boat loads of affirmation.  Your child will see that their participation has value to you that at least matches that of the existing passion you pair it with.  Bringing these two elements together combines their effective influence in a dialectic fashion where the whole is far more than its respective parts.

Try to stay away from a one-and-done mentality with this type of encouragement.  How it grows and matures in your home will depend on you and your family, but continuing to show support and your own engagement as something aside from just the chauffeur to classes will only aid in your child's long term success in martial arts and, in turn, in life.

5 Hacks to Surviving a Knife Attack

5 Hacks To Survive A Knife Attack

    

    You’re walking home on an otherwise nice brisk evening with your family or loved one when, out of nowhere, you are surrounded by aggressive and intimidating people that want to harm you. They may just yell and/or push at first. They may grab you, or swing or threaten you with a gun or a knife. What would you do? Would you know what to do to protect yourself and your family? How would you feel? How would you react? 

    Any of these scenarios are scary at best and deadly at worst. Over 1500 people die from injuries involving knife attacks each year; 5 times as many as those killed by rifles. Statistics aside, the brutal reality is that knives are prevalent and dangerous, knife wounds are nasty and becoming a victim is totally preventable. It is wise to train to defend against threats and attacks with knives, and the best time to think about this is not when the attack is imminent and real. I highly recommend that every reader get some training. For the purposes of this article, I will address 5 hacks that could save your life in a knife attack scenario.

=======================================

 1.  Understand the Threat 

    Knives are a real threat! They are common, easy to carry and conceal, and can inflict severe wounds and damage, up to and including death. I really don’t think that most people understand how nasty slashes and stabs of the knife upon human flesh can be. This is a mistake. Awareness of the seriousness of the threat is an important step in preparing to deal with it. Awareness can also help you to pay attention, noticing who around is carrying a knife well before any threat exists. 

    On the other hand, it’s very important to know that it’s very possible to survive an attack if you know how to. In the best case, of course, you have trained in advance. The time to condition to react correctly is when the threat isn’t real; I often remind my students that, “it’s a good thing to get stabbed with a rubber knife all day long”. What can be a painful or deadly mistake in real life is, in training, only feedback. 

    With or without training, it is important to understand that fighting back aggressively will more likely improve your situation. We know from the defensive wounds of attack crime reports that the victim will not often be killed by the first, second or even first several attacks. Most attackers are not trained knife fighters, but rather an angry person attacking viciously with an overhand (ice-pick) stab, underhand upward vertical strike, stabbing or slashing, and probably repeatedly, but probably with more aggressiveness than accuracy. It is for this reason that actively defending is so important, and this leads us to knife hack number two.

 =======================================

2. Aggressive Counterattack

    

    As I alluded to in number one, the victim that tries to defend without fighting back is the most likely to be killed by a knife attack. Of course, if the scum bag threatening you with a knife just wants your money, you should give him your money because, as I have also already suggested, a knife fight situation is not something that you really want to get into. The variables are many and the stakes are high; so, if he wants something that you can easily replace, the right play is to give it.

    My teacher once told me, though, that when you are dealing with a terrorist, you should consider yourself already dead, and that any move that you make to improve your situation improves your situation. While I am certainly not saying that every knife attacker is a terrorist, I am saying that not everyone with a knife will leave you alone just because you give them what they want. You will have to make the call of which one you are dealing with and act accordingly.

    This decision only applies to a knife threat, of course. Once the knife is in motion towards you, your decision time has been ended. This is the time when, as I say, you must deal aggressively with the problem. In my system, Hap Ki Do, we will use a block and a simultaneous counterattack. While the block will hopefully stop the first attack and, if not the first then the second; the aggressive counterattacks address the problem. The problem isn't the knife but rather is the attacker wielding the knife, and that problem must be dealt with aggressively.

 =======================================

3. Control The Weapon

    As soon as we block and counterattack, we should also attempt to control the weapon. The exception to this rule would be wherein we counterattack strongly enough that we make enough distance to completely disengage and get away so quickly that we don't have to, which is even better. In close proximity to the attacker, however, by necessity or because we can’t move quickly enough, we must control the weapon hand as soon as possible, stopping its ability to continue cycling the attack. We need to control long enough and well enough to affect knife hack number four.

 =======================================

4. Disengage or Neutralize

    As stated in number 3, making distance and getting away from the attacker and attack is the best case of all. The disengagement can happen directly after the initial defense and counterattack, if you made sufficient distance to escape and are fast enough to do so; or it could be after you entered and controlled the weapon, have already struck multiple times in the correct areas to slow down the attacker and then you disengage and exit the area while scanning for more attackers. Still other times, the situation may dictate that you can’t leave the scene; perhaps a small child or elderly parent keeps you from the ability to flee quickly. In this case, one must be able to neutralize the threat to ensure that he’ll be able to get his family home safely.

 =======================================

5. Prepare Today

    At the risk of being redundant, the very best thing that you can do to survive a violent knife attack is to start preparing for that scenario today. Be aware, of your own abilities and limitations, and also of your surroundings, including where you are, with whom and who else is in the area. Practice doing this always. At first it will feel funny, or even awkward; but like all new skills, awareness will become natural when practiced over time. If you can, get some training from an experienced instructor trained in a reality based martial art including knife defense. If you already train, practice seriously. I believe every Hap Ki Do student should have their own training knife and training gun. The combination of proper instruction on how to best defend yourself, with significant repetition and practice under stress, is the very best way to prepare today to defend tomorrow.

    I hope that nobody reading this ever has to defend themselves against a knife attack. In the best case, should you decide to take my advice and get some training, all the preparation will be only insurance. In a great school, the training will come with some bonuses including fun, fitness, friends and family, as well as the confidence to walk in peace. I pray every day that none of my students ever has to use the self-defense that I teach them because, by definition, somethings gone really bad and someone’s going to get really hurt. The only thing worse than having to defend, though, would be to have to and not be prepared for it. This is why we pray for the best, but train for the worst today.

 =======================================

Looking for a Way to Prepare?

WHEN:  Saturday, May 19th from 4:30PM - 6:30PM.

Register Here: http://member-site.net/?EV-mpHBix-gJhhi

ONLY 20 Spots Available!

NO Experience Necessary ** OPEN TO THE PUBLIC ** Participants 18yrs and older are welcome

Early Registration Discounts Available:

5/1 - 5/7 = $31.20 (20% OFF)

5/8 - 5/14 = $33.15 (15% OFF)

5/15 - 5/19 = $39.00 (Full Price) 

LEARN 2 COntrol the Outcome

Join Master Jared E Circle for Session 2 of our Combative Hapkido Skills seminars

As he takes you through an introduction to BASIC

• Safe Falling,
• Stepping,
• Catching,
• Locking, 
• and Finishing Moves

=============================

Contact us for information on trying a class.

Phone - 614-899-9033

Email: koguryomartialarts.hq@gmail.com

Web: http://www.koguryoma.com/

When No One is Looking

It’s time for class.  Tom walks into the KMA gym and notices that Mary and Matt are already there. There are about six minutes before class starts.  Mary and Matt notice Tom come in and yell over to him, “Come on Tom, come get us”.  All three of them begin running around doing rolls, pretending to spar each other, or playing tag.  However there is one student standing calmly in the middle of the room.  He wears a focused look on this face while he analyzes his moves in the mirror.  Gracefully, he slides one foot in front of him, bending his knee as he lowers himself into a nice low forward stance.  He looks back and checks to make sure that his back leg is straight, while slightly bent and that his foot is angled 45 degrees.  Mary, Matt, and Tom continue to scurry around him, but he does not even pause to notice them.

“Hey, who’s that?” Mary asks as she and Matt stop to catch their breath.

“Oh, that’s Jason” says Tom as he falls to the ground, exhausted from chasing Mary and Matt around the gym.  “He was in the beginner’s class but he just got promoted to green belt a few weeks ago.  Master Circle gave him the student of the month award because he did his whole test without making one mistake.  He was really good and boy can he kick high”.

“Why don’t you ask him if he wants to play with us?” asked Matt as he wipes the sweat from his forehead.

Tom closed his eyes and shook his head.  “Nah, he won’t.  Jason is always practicing his form or his kicks or working on his stances.  He’s nice to talk to but when he starts working on something he doesn’t let anything distract him. Jason even won the focus contest during the warriors challenge a few months ago.  Even Master Circle couldn’t make him laugh or move or anything”.

Master Circle begins class and let’s everyone know that he will be pre-testing those that have met their attendance requirement.  The students work hard and at the end of class, Master Circle calls Tom and Mary up to receive their stripe for passing their pre-test.  Matt hangs his head and kicks the ground with the ball of his foot.  Master Circle told him that he needed to work on his form a little more.  After class, all of the students run to the dressing room to get on their clothes.  As Mary and Matt walk out, they noticed that Jason is still in the gym.  He is standing in front of the mirrors practicing the new part of his Pyang Sah-dan form that Master Circle just taught him. 

Matt sighs deeply, “Geez, Master Circle just taught Jason that part of the form and he already does it better than me”. 

“Well, maybe if you ask him he can help you too.  Jason helped me with my hand and foot basic last week.  He showed me a trick for how to remember the combination for number one and two.  Now I can remember it really well”, replied Mary as she walked with Matt towards the door.

Matt just closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. “Ah, that’s okay.  I’ll figure it out some other time.  Hey, guess what?  Tag…you’re it”.

The best and most respected people in the martial art world are the ones that practice excellence.  Some of us only practice when we are told to do it or when someone is watching us. The best students are the ones that are willing to train when there is no belt to test for or prize to win.  It is only through constant hard-work and focus that you can improve your skills and continue to advance.  The next time you are wondering which of your fellow students will do the best at their test, win the trophy at the tournament, or become the next master, just look around the room.  It will be the person that is standing off in the corner or in the room practicing their art, when no one is looking.

Author:  Semi-Master Chris Higdon, 2009

Are Your Kids Too Busy With Activities

Most people look at extracurricular activities in a good light, as they have the benefit of teaching children something new even once the school day is over. However, it is possible to overdo it on the after-school activities. If you’re wondering if your children are too busy because of their clubs and other activities, here’s what you should consider before you make any changes to their schedule.

The Many Benefits of Extracurricular Activities

There are clearly benefits for kids who join clubs, sports, and other activities outside of the school day. First, they can explore their interests, which will let them discover which activities they truly enjoy—and which ones they don’t like. All the while, they’re boosting their self-esteem as they discover where their talents lie.

Involvement in after-school activities can also teach kids responsibility and time management skills, since they have to juggle their activities and their homework during the school year. Plus, for older children, getting involved in activities can improve their chances of being accepted to college, especially when they excel at some of those activities. Finally, some studies show that extracurricular activities can improve a student’s grades and behavior at school. Knowing all this, it’s clear why so many parents prefer to keep their kids busy after school. But like anything, there may be some downsides to this decision.

The Problem With Being Too Involved

The concept of “too much of a good thing” applies to extracurricular activities because it turns out many kids these days are overscheduled. Some parents simply assume that if a couple of activities have been good for their kids, then even more will be better. While some kids do thrive on staying busy, not all can take the pressure that comes with having too many activities to do. Some might start exhibiting signs of anxiety, and some simply don’t get enough sleep because they’re too busy. And not enough sleep can lead to poor grades.

Many experts say children these days don’t have enough free time to play or just be a kid. Children shouldn’t have every minute of their day accounted for. They should have some time to relax, use their imagination, or just sleep in on a weekend morning. Otherwise, they could end up feeling overwhelmed by, and even resentful of, their outside activities.

Finding Balance

One rule of thumb to consider is that if you’re stressed from getting your kids to their extracurricular activities, your kids probably are too. Additionally, if it always seems like going to their practices, games, or rehearsals is a chore for them—and they rarely smile or laugh during these activities—then it’s time to reevaluate what they’re involved in.

Maybe it’s clear your children are stressed-out by their extracurricular activities, but they claim to love all of them and don’t want to give them up. That’s when you have to take control of the situation and let them know they need to make some decisions. This might mean limiting your kids to one or two activities at a time. And note that, according to one study, kids who had 20 hours or more per week of extracurricular activities started to have health problems such as stress and loss of sleep.

It’s up to you to decide how many activities your children can realistically handle. For some families, it’s one per child, and for others, it’s a few. But as you figure out how to balance it all, be sure to stay organized with a calendar that has everyone’s activities recorded. You might also find out if you can carpool with other families, which would at least cut down on your stress.

And remember to set aside time for your family to be together without any activities as well as time for your kids to just be kids!

by Learning Liftoff  Nov 6, 2017   Education Issues, Extracurricular, Sports

Turning Fear into Fire

You know the feeling.  At first it starts to feel like some someone is playing a game of paddle ball with your heart.  It beats so fast that you start to think it is going to grow legs and come racing out of your chest like a thoroughbred horse coming out of the starting gates at a race track in the Kentucky Derby.  Next, your palms begin to sweat and shake despite how many times you wipe your hands off on your pants and clench your fists to make the tremors stop.  It’s the feeling you get when it’s your turn to perform your form during the belt test, or when your name gets called to spar against someone that is bigger, stronger, and a higher rank than you.  It’s the same sensation that you get when you have to give a presentation at work for the first time in front of your peers, the first day of school when you are asked to introduce yourself to your class, or even when it’s finally your turn to ride the biggest roller coaster at the amusement park and everyone is watch.  You know the feeling.  It’s FEAR.

Most people would define fear as something that is bad or considered a weakness.  However, what most people don’t know is that anyone can turn their fear into FIRE.  When you get scared or nervous, your body releases chemicals into your system that make you faster, stronger, and more alert.  When you feel your heart racing, palms sweating, and your mind is running at a hundred miles an hour, it is actually your body’s way of letting you know that all the fuel you need to be SUPER CHARGED is right there waiting for you.  

It’s just like when a race car driver revs up the engine in the car just before speeding off.  The car starts to shake, rattle, and smoke.  When most people see their car do that they starting making an appointment for the repair shop, but when a race car driver feels that it just lets him know that his car is ready to race and win.

Turning FEAR into FIRE is all about focus.  When I had to compete against eight other black belts and masters at the NAFMA National Tournament in Atlantic City, NJ, I was really nervous.  Master Circle and I practiced our forms at least 80 times in class and probably 20 more times just before the competition.  Even though I knew my form, I was more worried about how I would do against so many other great competitors, including my teacher.  Even though I was nervous about doing my best, when I stepped into that ring, made my announcement and stepped back, everything changed.  As I took a deep breath in, I looked out past where the judges where sitting and stared intensely at nothing.  I focused so hard on not focusing on anything that I went into a mode where nothing existed but me as if someone hit the pause button for the world.  

Even though I looked in all directions, I could not see or hear the crowd, the judges, or anyone.  It was just me and my form.  I let my instincts and hard work take over.  When the form was over, it was like someone pressed play and everything started moving again.  A wave of relief came over me and finally I could breathe easy.  Much to my surprise, when the announcements were made, I was awarded first place in the forms competition. 

The secret to turning FEAR into FIRE is knowing yourself.   The only reason that I could have done so well is because of all the practice that I did in preparation for the competition.  I went over my form so many times that I didn’t have to think about it during a time when I was scared.  When you prepare yourself to face the thing that you fear the most, that fear becomes a tool that you can use and control.  If you are nervous about giving a presentation at work, all you have to do is memorize your material so well that when it comes time to do it you don’t have to think about it.  If you know that you will have to tell the kids in your school about yourself on the first day, then think of something a few days before you go so that when the time comes, you already know what you’re going to say.  When you have to spar someone that you’re afraid of, fear can help you to react faster, endure hard hits, and go longer without feeling tired.  

So the next time you are feeling nervous or scared, just remember, that’s your body’s engine revving up and getting ready to race, so hold on tight and focus on the finish line.

AUTHOR: Instructor Chris Higdon, 2009

How Much Activity Do Adults Need to Be Healthy?

To stay healthy or improve health, adults need to do two types of physical activity each week: aerobic and strength exercises.

To stay healthy, adults should try to be active daily and should do:

at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity such as cycling or brisk walking every week, and   strength exercises on two or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms).   

75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity, such as running or a game of singles tennis every week, and strength exercises on two or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms) . 

A mix of moderate and vigorous aerobic activity every week. For example, two 30-minute runs plus 30 minutes of brisk walking equates to 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity, and strength exercises on two or more days a week that work all the major muscles (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms).   

A good rule is that one minute of vigorous activity provides the same health benefits as two minutes of moderate activity.

One training program that's been around for 2000 years (must be good) Is martial arts.   Martial Arts combines flexibility, aerobic training and strength training.   2 - 3 classes a week will provide a moderate workout for beginners and a vigorous workout for intermediate and advanced students.    But there are bonuses.   You will be part of a great supportive community and have the benefits of self-defense.   And, perhaps the best part, martial arts is constantly changing.  As your fitness and skills improve, training changes to become more challenging, stimulating, and the rewards keep coming.

No more "Hamster Wheel" treadmill or stationary bike exercises, forget about box gyms full of equipment no one wants to show you how to use properly!  Our adult classes are personal (less than 5 students per instructor), supportive, and offer workouts that can be scaled to reflect your fitness level and goals.

Give us a call (614-899-9033) or check our Facebook Page for more information and to schedule your first class!

https://www.facebook.com/KoguryoMartialArts/

A Doctor's Journey - Reshaping Mind & Body

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind.  To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again.  To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.

                                                                            -Henry David Thoreau

NAME:  Jason McCray, PHD

LEVEL:  Semi-Master

RANK:  3rd Degree Blackbelt, Koguryo T'ang Soo Do   1st Degree Blackbelt Hapkido

The martial arts path is one of repetition and focus.  We do not practice our forms one, or ten times or one hundred times but thousands of times.  We do not throw a single punch or a solitary kick.  We do it again and again and again.  Modern neuroscience has discovered that these elements (focus, movement and repetition) are very literally the way that the structure and function of our brains are changed.  If you are interested in the science behind this you can pick up Norman Doidge’s excellent book “The Brain that Changes Itself”.  When we walk the martial path we are reshaping our brains and lives with each step that we take.

With this in mind, it may be a good idea to reflect on what exactly it is we are practicing.  Each one of us are responsible for our own journey and development.  Our Masters and Instructors can show us the path and encourage our growth but they cannot practice for us.  They cannot ensure that we get better.  Each of us must do that for ourselves.  As I reflect on the twelve plus years I have trained at Koguryo (and my six years of training before that) several things come to mind but what my thoughts keep returning to are perseverance, endurance and an absence of fear. 

On a purely physical level martial arts training is difficult.  We throw punches and kicks until we feel like we can do no more then we do even more.  We do push ups, flutter kicks and haunch jumps.  It is trying and our muscles ache.  Sometimes they even give out and we fall down.  Then we get up.  Perseverance and it's fruit (endurance) come from the getting up.  From the wanting to stop, longing to give up and decidedly choosing to do otherwise.  This choice shapes not only our bodies (by growing stronger) but much more importantly it shapes our character.   When we do it again and again we change ourselves into something stronger and better than how we began.

Training tests our limits both physically and mentally.  By coming into contact with these limits we grow in many ways.  Perhaps the most important way we grow is by learning that there is nothing to fear.  Maybe we will fall down.  That is OK, we can get up.  Maybe getting punched or kicked will hurt.  Maybe even a lot.  That is OK it won’t break us.  We will heal and over time we block the punch or kick, better yet over time we learn to not be there when the strike arrives!  Slowly as we train that fear recedes becoming less and less important.  The result of this is self-confidence.  This does not mean knowing that I will prevail in any fight- it means knowing that I have prepared myself and have nothing to fear.  Even if I am bested it is an opportunity to learn more about my weaknesses so I can correct them.

As each of us intentionally practices our shared art we reshape our brains and our lives.  This is a weighty idea and one completely grounded in modern science.  What are you practicing?  Is it your best effort?  Is it pushing your limits? Is it half heartedly throwing a “kind of punch”?  Is it being fearful?  Trust in our master and our system.  Engage with your training no one else can do it for you.  Your training shapes you, but only in so far as you put you into your training.  Jeong Shim!

JASON MCCRAY, PHD