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

All registered students are reminded of our Jool Bong workshop on Sunday, May 16 from 3-5pm.  If you’ve taken a workshop before, please bring your weapon — if this will be your first, we’ll have a jool bong for you.  See you there!

All right, it’s not a Korean stylist, but this was too much fun to pass up.

Special thanks to Ken Schalk Pu Sa Bum Nim for forwarding this one!

Once again, our guest blogger, Mel Martin Jo Kyo Nim: 

Two weeks after surgery I finally returned to Kuk Sool classes. It was great to be back in the dojang and to see everyone, but at the same time it was very frustrating. For the next five months I am prohibited from running, jumping, bending, or twisting. So I took a deep breath and told myself that this is the perfect time to work on my weapons skills. When I got home I started doing the math and I figured out that I only have to worry about being benched for about 50-60 classes, and really that’s not that bad. I smiled and thought to myself, “Now that’s the right attitude to have.” And that phrase, right attitude, brought me up short. I thought about it for a moment and I realized that I am back on the path that initially led me to black belt. The first week of my recovery was about fitness. Not in the way we normally think of fitness, pushing our bodies to make them stronger, but rather resting and getting out of my body’s way so it could work and heal itself. Once I was off crutches it was on to concentration. I had to focus on relocating my sense of balance, relearning my limits, listening very carefully to my body when it told me what it could and could not do. And now here I am, once again, at right attitude.

Once we reach black belt we tend to forget about the path the colored belts follow. We are more than happy to shepherd others along their way, but we forget how the path continues to apply to us. But then, like in the childhood game of Chutes and Ladders, something unexpected can happen that will knock us back to an earlier place on the path. So we stand up, dust ourselves off, and start moving forward again, learning even more than we did the first time we walked the road. I don’t think any of us, black belts or not, ever truly reach the end of the path. There are always setbacks, physical or mental, that send us back to an earlier place. The key is to never stop when that happens. Don’t stop learning and don’t stop moving. Each journey along the path is different. It may take a few moments or a few months but if we follow the route we know the end result is the same, we end up better than we were when we started.

I find great comfort in knowing the road that is before me. In my case, it’s going to be a long one. And that’s ok. My jool bong needs work anyway.

Kwan Jang Nim Alex has recently had a professional Video made to promote his 2 new schools down in Texas. Fortunately for everyone else he offers the video to help other schools who would like to use it. So all we had to do was put our school Contact Information on the end and drop it on our Homepage. Click the image below to go to our homepage to watch it.

Awesome Video explaining the significance of our Martial Arts history of Open Hand Techniques, Fan Techniques, Cane Techniques, and Korean Rope Techniques.

* You gotta love the “Supermanesque” Music they have going on in this movie.

Staff Form is the first weapons form we all learn in Kuk Sool Won. We will all practice it countless times throughout our career. Here is a quick video of myself doing Joong Bong Il Hyung at the St.Louis Tournament and some quick tips below:

1. Balance

Especially at the beginning you need to demonstrate good balance with all the spinning techniques. If you do not show proper balance, especially at a tournament, it is immediately known to everyone watching that you have not practiced the form enough.

2. Good Stances

Just because you have a staff in your hands does not mean you get to neglect your stances. Stances will not be as low as empty hand forms because you need some clearance to spin your staff but they should still be proper and low enough to show you actually are a Martial Artist.

3. Power and Precision

This form must be controlled, powerful, and precise. Each movement and strike with the staff must be made with purpose and direction. Practice, Practice, Practice. Especially practice the spins on your own. Don’t just do the form over and over again do the set of 15 spins to get the basics down and sharpened from time to time.

Sometimes hindsight is just 20/20. The Houston World Championships this year looked awesome and I wish I could have went. For all of you in the same boat and maybe for some of you who want to see the demos again. Here is an excellent video of all the parts of the Masters Demo:

Awesome video showcasing the next leaders of Kuk Sool from Kuk Sa Nim’s Family. Even some footage of a never before seen Kuk Sool Sword Form.

I would love to have seen Master Alex and Master Sung Jin doing a demo together. It seems like the European Championships always have an awesome demo portion of their tournament. Maybe one day I’ll be able to make it over there and join you all.

I am very happy to feature this video from Kuk Sool Won of Meyerland here on the Blog because Sa Bum Nim Mike Nebgen has been helping us out a lot up here in Minnesota and it’s nice to see both him and his students doing so well. This video was just released this week and features these Kuk Sool celebs:

• Chong Kwan Jang Nim Lee
• Kwan Jang Nim Choon ok Harmon
• Kwan Jang Nim Alex Suh
• Kwan Jang Nim Jolly
•  Sa bum Nim Mike & Kaori Nebgen
• Pu Sa Bum Nim David Aue

This video features Sword Sparring Techniques, Cane Techniques, Breaking, Palm Strike Techniques, Long vs. Short Sword Sparring Form, Staff Sparring Form (Bong Dae Ryun), Fan Techniques, and more.