Emotions running high…and low

This will be a very personal entry to my blog, but I think it’s worth sharing.

I’ve gone through an emotional rollercoaster over the past couple of weeks, with the (anti-)climax occurring on Friday night. I’ll spare you the details, but needless to say it involves the opposite sex, a friend I hold in very high regards. I wanted more than the friendship and she (dealing with the situation extremely maturely, which I thank her for) explained to me that she just didn’t see us working out as a couple. Now despite the fact that I kind of expected this outcome (I chose to close my eyes at the obvious, I always do that and hope for the best), I was still devastated and am currently going through the phase of what another friend of mine referred to as the “emotional shock”. It will take a bit of time, but eventually I will bounce back…

Now what does this have to do with TKD, you might ask. To me TKD is the trampoline that allows me to bounce back. Whenever I’ve had problems in the past year or so since starting to train, TKD helped me a lot in re-focusing my mind. Training to me is a great way to take my thoughts away from the things that trouble me in my life, be it work, family issues or (as it is in this case) heartache.
Usually when I have a major problem in my life, it engulfs me entirely, I struggle to deal with other things, I loose concentration and can be a real pain in the a** to my friends. But whenever I train, I seem to be able to shut out everything else entirely and just focus on the moment. It helps me clear my mind and reset, it allows me to look at things in perspective.
What’s curious is the fact that during these times I seem to really make good progress (or at least I think I do). I feel motivated to push myself harder than usual and surprise myself as to what I’m capable of achieving.

So here is a call to those few people who actually read my blog. Do you have similar experiences when you train? Is TKD, or whatever style you train in, a way for you to escape your everyday life for a few hours? Share your thoughts!

How (not) to hurt yourself

Last night’s training session had a lot of diversity, none of which contributed to my wellbeing. Quite the opposite actually, I’ve bruised pretty much everything from my lower shins up to my head…

Starting at the bottom, we first did an application of the hardan marki (lower block) against forward kicks. The aim was to evade and block the oncoming kick and trap it by using the folding motion of the block and then taking down the opponent with the opening motion. I found this to be a very interesting application, as it allowed a number of small variations, targeting different areas of the body to be attacked. Our instructor showed us a number of ways to really work the opponents trapped leg, with me as the guinea pig. Hence I’ve got some nice bruises on my shins and my quads are quite sore from an overenthusiastic elbow strike. But as they say, no pain, no gain…

Next up I got a bit more practice on my forward roll, which was working remarkably well. That is, if we ignore the inevitable bump on the head (it was quite a good one actually) on my first attempt.
Going on from this, my instructor thought it would be a good idea, if I learned the forward break fall at this stage as well. It’s not part of my grading requirements, but fits in nicely with the forward roll. So I struggled my way through that as well. It turns out that it’s actually a lot easier, with some external assistance providing you with the spinning force. I need to remember to keep my left leg straight though, when I roll over the right shoulder. I got that wrong a few times and when actually doing the break fall in earnest, this can lead to a world of trouble if done incorrectly.

Finally the low point of the session, as my instructor asked me to perform Do-san, the kata for my current belt rank. I really struggled remembering all the steps and made some serious errors, as I haven’t practiced the form for a few weeks. Taken that my instructor wants to grade us in a month’s time, I really have to put some time back to practice. The way it’s looking at the moment I’ll not only fail the grading, but will make a huge fool of myself as well. I should also revisit Chon-ji and Dan-gun, as I’ve become a bit rusty with these katas as well.