NEWS AND ARTICLES

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Modesty generally refers to being without conceit or arrogance and displays an

unassuming behavior. It is typically marked by a humble attitude and a desire to show

kindness towards others. You can become more modest by having a realistic

impression of yourself, being open to constructive criticism for self-improvement,

resisting the urge to brag on yourself, accepting compliments gracefully, striving for

selflessness and using positive language.

A healthy, realistic impression of yourself, begins with how you see yourself and how

others may see you. Acknowledge your good qualities and your positive

accomplishments, but don't let these things inflate your ego.

A modest person is defined by his or her humility. You may need advice and guidance

from others, and constructive criticism should be sought to further improve ourselves.

Live modestly and accept the fact that you do not know everything about yourself.

Modest people do not brag about their wealth or accomplishments, and they don't let

these things define them. Also, a modest person does let compliments go to their head.

You can accept a compliment graciously, but you should not let it feed into your ego or

make you think that you're better than others.

A modest person is considerate of other and puts the needs of others ahead of his or

her own needs, and a modest person should strive to use positive language and be a

role model to others.

Maintaining these traits in modesty will assist with building positive relationships in all

aspects of daily life.

- Cara Hamra, Orange Belt

One-step sparring is another part of our martial arts training that puts our basics into motion.  The foundations that are established first in basics and then in poomse can be built upon while practicing one-step sparring. In addition to developing speed on your techniques, there are a few additional benefits since you are training with a partner.  Timing (can you hit your stance and block just as the attacker throws theirs?), judgment of distance (can you throw your blocks, kicks and strikes with a precise distance to your partner?) and precision (can you throw your moves to the correct target position?) are three of the benefits that one-steps help a student develop. 

Be sure to practice your one-steps in walking drills too.  They will help you memorize the moves, perfect the technique and stances, and help you develop speed for each one-step.  Don’t forget there are one step walking drill defenses (start with your left leg back on the first side) and one-step walking drill attacks (start with your right leg back on the first side).

The MTI Student Manual lists 12 One-Step Sparring rules. Four of these rules mirror other rules of Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo training:

1. Kihap - there are actually two one-step sparring rules that correlate with kihaps. One is for both the attacker and defender to go into their respective ready stance with a loud and clear kihap. The second is for the defender to kihap on their last counter attack.  
2. Eye contact - it’s sort of a no-brainer that there is a one-step rule about eye contact. In order to practice awareness in a self-defense situation, and to have the best possible balance, eye contact is a must!
3. Start slowly - this rule is similar to the poomse rule. When a student is first learning a one-step, they should perform it slowly and make each block, kick, punch and stance accurate and awesome. After a few hundred repetitions they can speed it up.
4. Correct stance and posture - since our power comes from being grounded to the earth, it is most important that each stance is correct and that our balance and posture is the best it can be. 

 Modesty: To be proud of yourself while not thinking you’re the best. You can and should be modest while: play sports like soccer, baseball, tennis, or ect. , while helping someone do school work while doing a martial arts class, and so much more. Modesty is so important for our daily lives. 

Modesty helps us to be capable to be proud of ourselves and others while not being braggy or showing off too much. Modesty is not just being proud of yourselves it is being proud of others too. When you are being modest you can think “wow I did well that round” or “that was a great kick”, but you can’t think things like “that was the better play than person 1 will ever do”, or “I’m the best kicker in the whole USA.” When you think modest thoughts and speak modest words your daily life will be filled with joy. The joy of making people confident and the joy of making yourself self-assured.

It is important not to boast about what you are good at because what you say doesn’t just affect your mood or attitude it affects other people's attitudes too. When you say something to other people about how much better you are than them you can make them sad, mad, and not confident. When you boast you are being arrogant. Arrogance is when you think you are better than everyone else. Arrogance is the antonym of modesty. You can be proud of your accomplishments just don’t inflate your ego.

I thought of a story about an arrogant boy who learned about the importance of hard work and modesty. Once there was a boy who won a few sparring matches and started thinking he was the best. He stopped working as hard, but he still seemed to win all his matches. He won sparring match after sparring match. The person of this story thought he was the best in all of the state of Missouri, and that no one could beat him. He soon was arrogant. Until he had a sparring match with a girl that had lost to him already. He thought that he already won the match. Until the girl worked harder than him and at the last second she won the match. The girl instead of bragging as the boy would she said a good job to him and other participants. That day the boy learned to be modest even if he wins a few sparing matches. Ever since the boy taught others to work hard and to be modest

In your daily life, you should be modest. 

Modesty brings joy to you and the people around you. Every day you should try and be a little more modest and a little less arrogant. It is important to have modesty in your daily life. 

- JoJo Isbell, White Belt

 At the Missouri Taekwondo Institute, we train in Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo, which also includes some Moo Sul Kwan Hapkido training. Both Taekwondo and Hapkido are martial arts that are thousands of years old, initially developed for people to learn to defend themselves, from both other people and wild animals. 

Moo Sul Kwan classes include lots of exercise to get our bodies and mind into shape, but they also include learning self-defense techniques. Hopefully they will never be needed, but learning this self-defense can have the real world consequences.  In the event of finding yourself in danger in your day to day life, self-defense is a very necessary skill to have in order to keep yourself safe.  Although the possibility of having to use your self defense in your everyday life is very slim, it is still important to practice your self defense techniques in case the situation arises that you would need to use them.  

Just as it is important to practice some of the more complicated or difficult areas of our Moo Sul Kwan training like basic techniques or poomse (patterned movements), one should not forget to practice their one-step sparring and self-defense skills and techniques.  Being able to properly defend yourself is a highly prized skill in ones daily life. A martial artists should also take time to practice all of their self defense and understand how the techniques work on the body and how to properly execute them.  In the event of a dangerous situation, it would be very harmful of one had to stop and think about what they had to do. To truly improve one's self defense skills, you should be able to not only perform the appropriate technique, but execute it without having to actively think about it. This will be very beneficial in the event of an actual dangerous situation. It would be very valuable to incorporate self-defense training into ones ongoing training.  Even though some of the techniques are less complicated that other areas of our Moo Sul Kwan training, one's self defense can always be improved upon just like any other branch of our Taekwondo. 

Remember, in class as well as outside of class, make sure to practice effectively but safely.  Self-defense training is meant to be very effective and can be harmful if used improperly. Training in self defense is just a small, but very important part of our Moo Sul Kwan discipline, but must also be maintained to ensure that it is ready should the need ever arise.    

The first time I read the Aims of Moo Sul Kwan Martial Arts, written by Great Grandmaster Lee H. Park, I was a new white belt student studying the CTI Student Manual in preparation for my yellow belt written test. The second aim reads: “Help students in identifying and accomplishing appropriate goals, developing a sense of self-esteem and confidence, in encouraging their desire for self-directed learning, and in expressing themselves as thoughtful individuals.” As a white belt, my goals were pretty simple: lose weight, get through all of the jumping jacks at the beginning of class without needing to rest, be able to touch my toes during stretches, and get the foot movement correct on Taegeuk Il Chang. I didn’t really understand how martial arts could bring me better self-esteem and confidence, but I was hoping that was true, because I needed it. Going to class was intimidating. Being the only white belt, and the newcomer who didn’t know anyone, was a little bit scary. Looking back on it, I can see that most of these feelings were due to my own self-esteem and confidence issues outside of the dojang.

Reading that second aim struck a chord, and I hoped that some of it would prove to be true for me.  It wasn’t long after I was promoted to yellow belt that I started to settle in to my place in class. My instructor had always been wonderful and supportive, but I was starting to develop a camaraderie with other students in my class too. A couple of the black and red belts had taken me under their wing so to speak, and were encouraging and friendly, helping to guide me in my training. It felt like I was starting to get some people in my corner. I didn’t have to motivate myself to go to class anymore- I wanted to be there. I was happier when I was there, and I was definitely less stressed when I left. I was starting to notice small strides toward my first goals of physical fitness, which motivated me even more to keep at it. I even broke my first wooden board, which was something I didn’t think I’d ever be capable of doing. That feeling when my foot went through that board for the first time was amazing.

Around the orange and green belt level, I had become 100% committed. Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo had become my passion. Suddenly my goals had developed from small strides in physical fitness to big “pie-in-the-sky” goals. Sure, I still had short term goals. Like fixing my front kick foot position, getting the pivot correct in my side kick, reaching my next belt. But I had bigger dreams too. Like getting to the purple belt level so I could start going to upper belt training on Saturdays, join LeAD team, be on the demo team, make it to black belt, be able to travel with the Black Belt Team during a World Tour, become an instructor and have my own students. I knew in order to reach these goals, I needed to keep at it. I needed to push myself harder than I ever had, and not waste any opportunities for training. So that’s what I did. I never missed an event, and it was very rare that I missed a class. I was more driven toward these goals than I had ever been before. And somewhere along the way, I needed to go down a size in my dobok pants.

I realized recently, a little more than three years since I first bowed in to class, that many of these “pie-in-the-sky” goals have either become reality, or are now within my reach. My self-esteem, confidence, and physical fitness are like night and day from where I was in 2016. I’m in the best physical health of my adult life, and am happier than I have been in a very long time. I used to be the new white belt who didn’t know anyone. Now I’ve been fortunate enough to have met some of the very best friends I have ever had through the CTI. The first time I read that second aim of MSK martial arts, I admit I had some doubts on whether or not any of that would ever hold true for me. Not only has it held true, but it’s gone above and beyond anything that I thought would be possible. My instructor, Grandmaster James Sautel, will ask us on occasion to think of where we could be in a year if we keep pushing as hard as we can every class. It only occurred to me recently that he is referring to Aim #2. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.

-Amy Krupp, red belt 

(Now Mrs. Krupp, 1st Dan)

Perseverance is one of the tenets of Taekwondo that we study and learn about during our training. Many of us understand the importance of perseverance but at times we may forget when it is needed the most. The definition of perseverance is persistence in performing a task or attaining a goal despite difficulty or resistance. Perseverance is probably the most applicable tenet of Taekwondo as many of us have needed to use perseverance at school or work but, none can compare to our training here at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute (CTI). The road to black belt, and beyond, is long and tedious and requires much dedication, work, and commitment. At times we may want to give up and stop trying, but at that moment is the time when a student in the CTI needs to understand the importance of perseverance and apply it.

            Perseverance is used every day in small doses and you may not even know that you are showing perseverance. Most of us had a paper in school or a project at work that we thought could wait and we wanted to procrastinate. However, Taekwondo training at the CTI helps us understand that instead of procrastinating, we should take advantage of the time we have now and at least start those projects. Starting or completing a task instead of waiting and putting off that project is an example of us using perseverance. An example of this in MSK Taekwondo would be studying for a written test or doing your monthly excellence sheet. These things maybe aren’t the biggest priorities in our everyday lives but in order to further enhance our Moo Sul Kwan training, these activities are essential. And if we as students let ourselves procrastinate and put off these items then we are not bettering ourselves, but taking steps backwards. Every class we do basics and are reminded that if we aren’t pushing 100% every class and strive to take steps forward, then we are actually taking steps backwards. That concept still applies to homework, written tests, and articles. These tasks require perseverance and we may not think of needing it with these tasks but in order to attain a black belt, students must learn to have perseverance, in any task, either physical or mental.

Not only do we need to work hard and have perseverance in our classes and training, but we also need to set a black belt example outside of the school. One of the hardest parts of training at CTI is understanding that the behavior that we are required to follow in the school is the same type of behavior that we need to exhibit in life. Perseverance is essential to do this. There are many times in life that will test this training and we may be tempted to break that training. A true Moo Sul Kwan black belt has to understand that the behavior exhibited in classes and around other students, instructors and assistant instructors is the same behavior that needs to be shown to co-workers, classmates, and any stranger. Although this may be tough, it will help your training and the road to become a black belt will be a little easier. Applying this skill to life will also help you become a better person. Although many students know the definition of perseverance, we may not know how to apply it to our martial arts training and our lives but the quicker you learn how to do that, the better off you will be in your MSK Taekwondo training and school or work.