Good morning! Hope we are amazingly great on this wonderful Friday!
Well unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances I did not make it to class last night, however I will still go further into the Poomse as I said I would. One great piece of news however is my instructor called me late last night and asked if I would accompany him to the airport to pick up my Grandmaster and have lunch with them, so I am very excited! Now on to the Poomse!
Poomse, as I have said previously, are set patterns of movements, attacks and such. they go from the very simple to the very difficult and can contain anywhere from 16 to more then 60 individual moves. In my school we have 9 forms leading to black belt and then there are at least 10 black belt forms (my instructor is testing for his 4th Dan, Master level, so he is the highest we have). The forms are as follows:
Ki Bon 1
Tae Guek Il Jang
Tae Guek Ee Jang
Tae Guek Sam Jang
Tae Guek Sa Jang
Tae Guek Oh Jang
Tae Guek Yok Jang
Tae Guek Chil Cang
Tae Guek Pal Cang
Then we move to the Black belt forms, these Im not going to really cover as I am not yet high enough to have learned them and so I don't yet understand them! If you would like to see these forms, and I have posted this link previously, see http://www.natkd.com/tkd_forms.htm We also use two other forms sparingly for low end, usually younger children, those fall into line with Ki Bon as 2 and 3. On the website these are listed as Kicho forms. (I have mentioned this before, but repetition is good for the memory)
Each Tae Guek form is representative of not only fighting, but they hold a meaning.
Il - Heaven
Ee - Joy
Sam - Fire
Sa - Thunder
Oh - Wind
Yok - Water
Chil - Mountain
Pal - Earth
These meanings are not only representative of the forms, but there is always a hidden meaning that can only come with practice and feeling.
Il Jang is represented by Heaven. Since it is the beginning of you true training, you have left White belt and began that life long process that will shape you and mold you as you gain more and more knowledge.
Ee Jang is Joy. This is the inner firmness that one gets when joyfully pressed and the outer softness that one expresses when happy. It is moving on, growth even. If you don't have joy by now in your training, then the next months and years will be a wear on your soul.
Sa Jang is fire. or that hot, bright inner drive that moves one on. This is the beginning of where you start to be broken from your old self, old knowledge and start to rebuild into what will one day be a powerful inner spirit.
Sam Jang is represented by the power of Thunder. This is a great symbol at this level. This is where either one moves on and creates that power and dignity that allows lower belts to start to look up to oneself and shows your instructor that you are starting to gain insight to what Tae Kwon Do really is.
Oh Jang's wind shows us a mighty calmness. This represents might of spirit and body with the calmness that comes with confidence as you move on.
Yok Jang is the water. Water is soft enough to be flexible, moving, yet hard enough to cut stone. This is the uninterrupted flow and softness that can create the Grand canyon and move mountains.
Chil Cang represents the mountains. The strength, the firmness. It is that thing that starts to bring out the philosopher in us all, pondering on our TKD life cycle. This is a huge step forward toward our Black belt.
Pal Jang is the earth. Firm, rooted in greatness. This is the beginning of life, and where the end is. The beginning of Black belt training and the end of being a child if TKD. This is where one either ends their training, or chooses to move on to Black belt and grow, or end the process and stop here. I have seen many that get here and cant handle the next steps required. These include the actual testing which can be 8-10 hours and the dedication that being a Black belt requires, it is a whole new level of learning, training usually changes at this point, less and less physical needs and more and more mental hardening.
This is enough info for today. Tonight we don't have regular class as my Grandmaster is teaching a sword seminar. Tomorrow is the big day, I most likely wont be online this weekend to report back. So I will defer to Monday and hope that you are enjoying this! This next post will be the last in the Testing blog, so we will have to decide what to talk on next week, till then you stay classy Fubar!
