All's well that ends well. Right? Wrong. The more I train with the best athletes in my region, the more I realize this: they love TKD, they like to train, they want to compete. But they find it so hard to enjoy it when they do it. This is true for both fighters and poomsae specialists, but it's the latter the most vulnerables. Poomsae training doesn't leave much room for improvisation. Routines are repetitive, as the focus is on correcting mistakes. Competitions, on their side, can keep you waiting a whole day to eliminate you in a minute. Sure, if everything goes right, you'll eventually smile at the end. But how long can you bear with this? Hard training, strong pressure... only for a feeble chance of bliss at the end of it all? Just think a minute. This is nonsense. You're getting burnt out, only you don't know it yet.
Martial arts are not strictly about "having fun", but no passion can do without some kind of pleasure. Poomsae are not about playing over and over some record in your mind. *You* are that form. You are the tradition, revived each time you blow your fists. Feel the energy flowing all through your limbs. Enjoy the wide stances and the statuary kicks. You are the swift body of a mute dance that echoes wars from an ancient past. This is art. Don't carry out. Perform. Don't play it. Live it.
So when you train with your friends or enter a competition venue, don't let the hard feelings overcome you. It's not fear the reason you're here. It's joy. Right from the very start.
"You are the swift body of a mute dance that echoes wars from an ancient past"
ReplyDeleteWe have a poet, here.