Kyosa Nim Tried to Kill Us Today

Sometimes class feels like boot camp, and today was one of them. It started when he put his wife at the front of class in the middle of our stretching warm up and she made us jump up and down for a couple minutes. Jumping is incredibly difficult for me (and my husband admitted it was really tough for him too). Then when the instructor was back in front he had us stretching again. I could barely breathe and having done yoga on and off for 9 years I knew I needed to calm my breathing in order to get a good stretch.

The next thing I knew we had our legs spread wide and he wanted us to do excruciatingly slow push ups. The fact that I could do a couple made me feel really good but my muscles started screaming so loud. If I did another one something would snap! "You shouldn't be on the ground right now!" he instructed and I tried again but the pain held me back. Luckily he didn't single me out but frustration filled me because he always notices. I want him to notice that I'm doing push ups every day...not that I still can't keep up. Later I spoke with my husband and he admitted that he couldn't do them all either. This from a man who can do 50 push ups in one session. After that I felt like a little less of a wimp.

We followed that up with squatting all the way down, touching the floor, coming up for a front snap kick (ahp chagi) with the right leg, going all the way back down and coming into a left front snap kick. That was ONE count. I think we did 1o, I lost count about the same time that my legs tried to stop working. My brain would say "Okay, legs, stand up," and they wouldn't move. I wanted to do it so badly but my body just wouldn't concentrate. I finally manged to move in some kind of corny slow motion but I refused to quit!

Despite the fact that I was unable to keep up with the physical exertion, later I marveled at my body's ability to recover. Even though I doubted my ability to move my legs after that, we went right into practicing other kicks and by the time we got to the jumping front snap kick, my legs were back to business!

The day was capped off with a little bit of sparring. I faced off against a skinny tall 12 year old orange belt. I thought I could get him but his technique has improved considerably in the past few months. He got me with a kick right on my temple, I'm still not sure why I couldn't block it. I got in a couple punches to the face (we don't make contact, of course).

My son did a lot better in this class as well. We were threatening to pull him out because he hasn't been practicing or applying himself but today he got two compliments from the instructor and his performance seemed better overall.

Mama Ninja

My entire life I had been regarded as clumsy. My mother used to jokingly call me "grace." As a kid I spent a lot of time tripping and falling. So I never considered myself as someone who could one day master the jump spinning hook kick.

A few years ago, I joined a gym to get in shape. I had gained a lot of weight from having children and working a sedentary job for four years. There I discovered an amazing class called Nia, a blend of martial arts, dance, and yoga. First off it was fun and the instructor was very patient with my two left feet. So I began attending the class once or twice a week. I gradually found my balance, using my breath and energy to allow my body to move gracefully and powerfully. I knew I wanted my son, who also had a reputation of being clumsy, to take a martial arts class.

Martial Arts classes tend to be expensive so I procrastinated for a while until we found a school near our house that had very affordable prices. It happened to be Tang Soo Do, which I had never heard of before despite its apparent popularity. When I learned that the instructor was also passionate about wilderness survival I knew this was the class for our entire family. But first my son started January 2008. Then in spring my husband started.

It was an exciting day when they had their first belt test, my son got his advanced white belt and my husband, who had worked so hard and practiced every day skipped a rank and was honored with an orange belt.

I observed the class frequently and learned a few tidbits from my husband and son, but I finally joined the class September 11, 2008. The instructor is patient enough to allow my 4 year old daughter to run around while the rest of us are in class. I hope she will join in soon but right now she just doesn't have the attention span for 1.5 hours of class.

Why martial arts? These are my goals:

1. Strengthen and tone my body, increase balance and coordination


2. Hone my mental awareness and concentration


3. Strive for spiritual stillness and enhance my connection to the divine


4. Learn from nature and to live in harmony with it