Kuk Sool Won of St Paul | Twin Cities Martial Arts with Classes for Kids, Adults, Families, and Workouts

We’ve opened a new class day and time for our youngest (and cutest) students.  Our Pre-Martial Arts class is specifically designed for children ages 4-6 years — those who are curious and enthusiastic about martial arts but too young for the Kuk Sool white belt (beginning) curriculum.  We’ve been offering a class on Fridays at 5pm for nearly 2 years now, and that class stays consistently full.  So, we’ve opened a second class time on Tuesdays at 5pm.  Class will last anywhere from 30-50 minutes, depending upon the age and experience level of your child.  Please call 612-578-5797 if you have questions, or feel free to just show up with your child, ready to try our Pre-Martial Arts class.

Our third annual Kuk Sool Olympics (the event formally known as “In-School Tournament”) is coming up.  Students, please turn in your registration forms and fees as soon as possible.  Parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors — you’re all invited to come and see our students, youngest to oldest, beginners to experienced, enjoy a day of friendly competition, great community, and outstanding martial arts.  Please join us Saturday, February 27 from 11 AM to about 5 PM.

Kuk Sool Won of St. Paul is hosting its annual Open House this Saturday, September 26 from 11am to 3pm.  We’ll be offering free mini-classes, playing games, and showing off some of the best martial arts in the Twin Cities.  Come meet our instructors and current students, try out some new moves, and get your questions answered about our school and the martial arts system of Kuk Sool Won.

I love open houses.  I love the idea that we open our homes (or businesses) to the public, invite folks in, let them look around, share a snack or a meal together, and share a little bit about who we are and what we do.Here at Kuk Sool Won of St. Paul, we’re having an open house on Saturday, September 26 from 11am to 3pm.  Yes, anyone is welcome.  Yes, you can look around, yes, there will be treats and snacks.  And the best part is you can come in and not just see what we do, but try it out yourself. Already a student?  Come in and play a game with us, maybe try a mini-class and review an old skill or learn a new one.  And watch a demonstration by our most advanced students and instructors and get an idea of the amazing things that can be done by any student who puts in the time and training.  Not yet a student?  Come and tour our school, meet our instructors and current students, learn a little bit, play a little bit, and get all your questions answered in person about our school and the system of martial arts called Kuk Sool Won.  Everyone is welcome.  Our “house” will be open, so come see for yourself some of the best martial arts in the Twin Cities.

Have you noticed a young woman in classes taking pictures recently?  Julia has been visiting Kuk Sool Won of St. Paul taking pictures for the University Avenue Project.  Photographer Wing Young Huie, in collaboration with Public Art St. Paul and with funding from the Joyce Foundation, is creating a six-mile gallery of 360 photographs in 2010 along University Ave.  The photographs, including those taken at our dojang of our students and facility, will be projected on store windows and building surfaces along University Ave. at night, and large photographs will be displayed on building and windows that can be seen by day. 

If you’re curious about the project, check out Wing Young Huie’s website at http://www.wingyounghuie.com/.  Or check out a Minnesota Public Radio article on the project here.

* The Video includes all quotes, but we also typed them out below because they scroll a little fast. Enjoy the great advice from Sun Im Kwan Jang Nim.

Kuk Sool Won Practice Basics:

• Memory
• Strength
• Stretch
• Center Balance
• Stamina
• Power
• Connection
• Meditation
• Speed

Kuk Sool Won Practice Principles:

• Stop Leads the Hyung
• Low Stance
• Power Hands
• Look Straight Ahead or At Your Hands
• No Emotion
• No Expectation

Punch is always lower than shoulder. Thumb stays on the outside. Stance is always 90 degrees. Balance is always center. Eye contact is always straight ahead or at your hands.Keep your head level when you connect stance to stance. Your head should remain at the same height, or level.One who connects the stance fast without power looks sloppy, and will have poor results.Practicing with stops refines your power. One who goes fast, and the form still looks good, has been practicing correctly.Without thinking about the principles and technical details during practice, you may have a fun and a good workout, but you will never understand martial art.Stop longer is correct practice. Concentrate on every basic principle and technique and eventually get there fast.Trying not to waste time is trying hard. Concentrate hard so people can feel the beauty. Concentrate on your hands and absorb yourself in your art. Artist concentrate on giving their soul into their art.After your strikes and between each stance, let the connecting movement go. Like dropping a coin from your hand.Do not practice with emotion. People feel your emotion. Lead your hyung technically, following basic principles.Save your emotion for self-defense.Your opponents should feel your stance hard like a rock, and they should be afraid from your force.Because attacking offense has emotion and powerful preperation, if you wait until someone attacks you, you will be in trouble from the force against you. So if you want to defend yourself against that kind of power, you should prepare twice that strength against your opponent.Self-practice and self-motivation is difficult. Think light and try to begin easily without pressure. Then you can practice continuously and consistently. Begin lightly and get going as you sweat. Starting your practice is everything. Without starting, you go nowhere.Before practice, do not make too many plans. If you have too many expectations, you will burn out before you even start. Just think about every stop. Think about principles and techniques. Then you will enjoy practice and time goes fast.Everyone should practice a lot. It is difficult to learn correctly as a white belt because there is not enough muscle memory and mental experience. If you have been practicing for a while in regular class, then Kwan Jang Nim can correct easily.Once you practice over and over again you will feel the difference. Even if you do not have abilities at first, you will find out you do have confidence. As long as you practice with proper techniques and quality principles, you will reach your goals. Everybody has the same chance. As long as you practice correctly, you could be the best.Hard practice surpasses the need to work on patience. You pass patience and are able to forgive anything. You can pass through anything that stresses you. Because you can taste dying, you can forgive anything.With hard practice, you will have a positive, kind mind. You can solve problems. If you have negative mind, practice harder. Practice for dying.

I’m thankful that I co-own a martial arts school and don’t have to have a real job.

I’m thankful for every student who walks through those doors. 

I’m thankful for a family that loves and supports me, even if they can’t remember the name of whatever it is that I do all the time.

I’m thankful to work with other instructors who share a love of Kuk Sool and who make me laugh, inspire me, and add to the enjoyment of what I do every day.

I’m thankful to work under an instructor whose talent, energy, and ambition have made this school so successful in so many ways.

I’m thankful that what I wear to work is so darn comfy.

I’m thankful that I get to wear other, more flattering clothes too sometimes.

I’m thankful to have so many friends that I love and am loved by. 

I’m thankful for every day I live without pain.

I’m thankful that I get to spend my days with my children.  I’m thankful that I get a break from them sometimes, too.

I’m thankful that I live a life of abundance, without fear, surrounded by love, and full of joy.  I hope the same for all of you. 

Steffen PSBN and I were talking business the other day — an activity that we call a “meeting” and that usually involves large quantities of bubble tea.  We were talking about demographics:  who is our market?  what are they like?  what DO they like?  how do we reach them most efficiently?  And we stumbled upon a great truth:  martial artists read.  Looking at our current student population, former students and instructors, we determined that Kuk Sool apparently appeals to bookish word nerds, ourselves included.  (Yes.  It’s a fact.  Any conclusion reached under the influence of a strawberry kumquat black tea with pearls is an idea of great wisdom and undoubtedly true.)  So we decided to make our upcoming Open House that much more fun by sharing some of our favorite martial arts books with our students and guests.  We’re going through the bookshelves and hauling out, among others, The Art of War, The Art of Peace, Varjak Paw,  and The Miracle of Mindfulness.  We’ll set them out on tables, give folks a chance to see some of our recommendations for good martial arts reads, and, we hope, learn about some new titles to go check out ourselves.  Do you have recommendations?  Throw your comments out there — we’d love to hear what you think of as a good book about or relating to martial arts.   And if you’re in the area, come by and visit:  Saturday, September 13 from 11am to 3pm.  In addition to the books, you’ll find us playing games, teaching mini-classes, and eating treats.  Nothing like books, martial arts, and cookies for a good time.

Thanks to Scott Wood Hohng Di for forwarding a link to this site.  Here are some fun facts about Mr. Norris.

• When the Boogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris.
• Chuck Norris doesn’t read books. He stares them down until he gets the information he wants.
• There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.
• Outer space exists because it’s afraid to be on the same planet with Chuck Norris.
• Chuck Norris does not sleep. He waits.
• Chuck Norris is currently suing NBC, claiming Law and Order are trademarked names for his left and right legs.
• Chuck Norris is the reason why Waldo is hiding.
• Chuck Norris counted to infinity - twice.
• There is no chin behind Chuck Norris’ beard. There is only another fist.
• When Chuck Norris does a pushup, he isn’t lifting himself up, he’s pushing the Earth down.

Oh, there’s more.  Go to the site and read. I must confess that my personal current fantasy about the Republican National Convention coming to town does involve “accidentally” meeting Chuck Norris.  Is he coming to Saint Paul, MN for the convention — who knows?  Would he actually ask me to dinner to discuss our differing political views and mutual love of martial arts?  Well, duh.  So if you see me hanging around Rice Park in my do-bahk looking cute and approachable, yet with that indefinable air of “I have a black belt and I know how to use it,” please don’t come over and ruin it by jumping out at me and making me scream like a girl.  Mr. Norris might be watching.

A very special welcome to a guest blogger, Mel Martin Jo Kyo Nim.  Some of you may remember Mel JKN as the woman who beat the snot out of her would-be mugger a couple of Thanksgivings ago.  Well, she is currently recovering from knee surgery, and, given her history, my money is on Mel JKN — that gimpy knee doesn’t stand a chance.  Take it away, ma’am!

Mel JKN writes:  On Tuesday I had knee surgery to repair my left ACL which I completely blew out a couple of weeks ago doing an off-the-wall jump roundhouse. And while I intend to write more later about having a major injury and staying with Kuk Sool, I wanted to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to Kuk Sool and all it has given me to help me get through this time in my life.

Dear Kuk Sool,

I am lying on my couch as I write this. My leg is strapped into an immobilizing brace and I can’t get around without the use of crutches. And while you are the cause of this injury and the reason why I am trapped here, I wanted to thank you for a few small things that you have given me that make this experience bearable.

Thank you for giving me a high pain tolerance.

Thank you for teaching me how to balance and use my hands while standing on only on one leg.

Thank you for giving me flexibility so I can still do things like put on socks and paint my toenails.

Thank you for bringing me friends who set me up with entertaining DVDs and who keep me connected with the world through amusing emails and internet chats.

Thank you for giving me a strong body that heals quickly.

Thank you for teaching me that worthwhile things often take longer than we want them too and you can’t rush the process.

Thank you for giving me 350+ techniques to go over in my head when I get bored.

Thank you for teaching me patience.

Those are just a few of the things that I have learned during our 7 years together that I am drawing on now. And don’t worry, I’m healing quickly and we’ll be seeing each other soon.

Your friend,

Mel JKN