Jointlock
24-Oct-2003, 08:41 AM
Ki-Maek translated to English is: secret mutual understanding, communication, or connection. In better terms relating to martial arts we explain it as projecting attitude or influencing through facial expressions and breathing.
Just like my signature states, at our school we train as we would fight and fight as we train. Which means that when confronted in a self-defense situation you are most likely to act or defend yourself the same way that you train to react and defend yourself. So, needless to say we train with a serious attitude, preparing us for the possibilities of a life or death confrontation.
When you were a child did you ever walk into the house and sense that your mother was angry before even seeing her, maybe just a gut feeling or a sense of tension in the air. This is a form of ki-maek. You yourself may have used Ki-maek without even realizing it. If you have ever owned a dog that did something to make you upset, just giving the dog a menacing look can get the point across that you’re upset. The expression on your face not only displays your mood to other people, but can also have an effect on your mood. Sometimes smiling for no reason can instantly change your mood and bring about happy thoughts, adversely frowning and having your head down all of the time can make you feel worse.
Ki-Maek related to martial arts is not far from these examples. When we train in class we always try to keep a serious attitude and a sense of determination. We project this attitude through our facial expression and loud excited yells and breathing. Instead of going through our training like martial arts robots just doing technique after technique without feeling or a sense of urgency, we animate ourselves and move with conviction and confidence. Doing this makes the workouts more exciting and instead of a feeling of fatigue after class it has a way of energizing the body and the mind.
If the Hapkidoist is faced with a self defense situation they must be maintain a serious attitude of self-confidence, not cockiness mind you. If at all possible a confrontation should be avoided, but if you must defend yourself have the attitude that you will do what is necessary to survive and keep yourself from getting hard. If you are tired or injured the expression on your face can also work against you. If your opponent sees that you are getting winded, or the last time he hit you hurt you really bad it has the possibility of lifting his spirits and making him think that he is winning. While not showing fatigue and/or pain can destroy the confidence of your attacker. We often train ourselves past our physical limit in class to force us to rely on our Ki-Maek to get us through the training.
This was basically an informative post on our school’s theories of Ki-Maek. If you practice something similar or have any different ways of training to strengthen this facet of martial arts I would like to hear from you.
Just like my signature states, at our school we train as we would fight and fight as we train. Which means that when confronted in a self-defense situation you are most likely to act or defend yourself the same way that you train to react and defend yourself. So, needless to say we train with a serious attitude, preparing us for the possibilities of a life or death confrontation.
When you were a child did you ever walk into the house and sense that your mother was angry before even seeing her, maybe just a gut feeling or a sense of tension in the air. This is a form of ki-maek. You yourself may have used Ki-maek without even realizing it. If you have ever owned a dog that did something to make you upset, just giving the dog a menacing look can get the point across that you’re upset. The expression on your face not only displays your mood to other people, but can also have an effect on your mood. Sometimes smiling for no reason can instantly change your mood and bring about happy thoughts, adversely frowning and having your head down all of the time can make you feel worse.
Ki-Maek related to martial arts is not far from these examples. When we train in class we always try to keep a serious attitude and a sense of determination. We project this attitude through our facial expression and loud excited yells and breathing. Instead of going through our training like martial arts robots just doing technique after technique without feeling or a sense of urgency, we animate ourselves and move with conviction and confidence. Doing this makes the workouts more exciting and instead of a feeling of fatigue after class it has a way of energizing the body and the mind.
If the Hapkidoist is faced with a self defense situation they must be maintain a serious attitude of self-confidence, not cockiness mind you. If at all possible a confrontation should be avoided, but if you must defend yourself have the attitude that you will do what is necessary to survive and keep yourself from getting hard. If you are tired or injured the expression on your face can also work against you. If your opponent sees that you are getting winded, or the last time he hit you hurt you really bad it has the possibility of lifting his spirits and making him think that he is winning. While not showing fatigue and/or pain can destroy the confidence of your attacker. We often train ourselves past our physical limit in class to force us to rely on our Ki-Maek to get us through the training.
This was basically an informative post on our school’s theories of Ki-Maek. If you practice something similar or have any different ways of training to strengthen this facet of martial arts I would like to hear from you.