Why Hapkido?
It may be fairly stated that the majority of those who join a Martial Art school do so initially for the wrong reasons. The greatest wish of many young men and women, attracted by the myth of the invincible Martial Art expert who takes on and defeats all-comers and smashes bricks and wood with ease is to wear the magical black belt and then become invincible themselves.
But what is not appreciated is the degree of discomfort, the amount of sweat and the years of dedication the young man or woman will have to survive before he or she has the skill necessary to make either objective feasible. Yes, Hapkido techniques can be used to smash objects and defeat opponents; but if this is the chief objective -- or rather, if this remains the chief objective then that student would be well advised to go and buy a shotgun, which certainly would ensure his success in combat.
Hapkido is not a sport, nor is it just a system of self-defense; these are merely facets of a multi-sided diamond, the heart of which is the rough, rugged painstaking quest for the answer to the meaning of existence, undertaken by a master and his pupils in their dojang. To understand this point is to make a great step forward, and to ensure clarification of many of the problems that may arise during the course of training. If his Subum is Korean, or thoroughly trained in the Korean spirit, the student may sometimes feel he is being selected for harsh treatment, that the instructor is not being 'fair' to him, all he ever seems to do is criticize. In fact, the student should welcome this; the Subum is now showing that he has accepted him as a serious student and therefore worthy of criticism. Sometimes the Subum will test the student's spirit by pressing him to his limits and beyond in stamina, courage and willpower. The exhausted pupil should notice, however, that severe though the Subum has been, he has also been totally impersonal; and is just as demanding with every other student. Clearly, the master can have no friends in the dojang; by not offering the 'prop' of friendship he forces the student to rely solely upon himself.
The student must cultivate the ability to see things in their true perspective and to be completely honest with themselves. This means never making excuses for a bad performance, nor being content with 'coasting along' in training. Eventually he will be led to understand that it is just as egotistical to be concerned overmuch with defeat as it is to rejoice in victory. It helps to understand that during such a period the body is actually assimilating the new knowledge gained from the training. It will reveal itself eventually and the student will suddenly find that things begin to go right. This plateau effect will pass, it will also return, though of course each time the effect is maintained at a higher skill level.
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