Heart to Heart

Welcome to this blog!

Here, I will share the teachings of my favorite teacher, Martial Arts Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim. They are tidbits of her great wisdom and my hope is that they will help you as much as they have helped me.

Have a wonderful time reading!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Kicking at Jung SuWon - it's not just in the legs!




Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim explains why kicks aren't just for our legs...

As martial artists, we all know about how powerful correctly executed kicks are and how beautiful and graceful they can be. They combine power, speed, and beauty into true works of art. They are effective tools not only in self defense, and self expression, but they also tone your body in many ways.

But at the same time, they are so much more. They are tools for visualization, for achieving goals, for making your dreams a reality. How so?

One of my students was severely overweight when she started training. In fact she was so overweight she didn’t even want to start until she lost some weight! Finally she did, but while everybody participated with gusto, she would stand off to the side. When others shouted “He Can Do, She Can Do, Why not ME” she would say to herself, why not me? Because I am fat, that’s why!

Soon she started to come around. I explained to her the power of visualization. Every time she was doing a punch, or kick, she was now visualizing kicking away her fat, her temptations, and all the cakes, cookies and donuts she loved so much and that kept tempting her into sneaking those foods. Every time she was punching and kicking the bags, she wasn’t seeing the bag! She was seeing a giant donut, or a big piece of cake! You wouldn’t believe how hard she was able to kick, all of a sudden. Through visualization she not only gained strength and power, she also lost about 150 lbs, and has the most beautiful, graceful kicks as well! Her natural flexibility started to come through, and her confidence rose.

She had learned that visualization is not just idle daydreaming or wishful thinking. It is focused imagining, with the power of your will and persistence behind it. It is an immaterial activity that takes form first as a mental image, then as a material image.

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