Internal Arts in TKD ?

Hello all, in case we havent met, my name is Mr. Jones. Im 15, about 5'2, and about 145 lbs....Im incredibly interested in starting an MA. The martial art that I am going to take is TKD. Im also going to take some weapons classes. I will probably start training very soon after Christmas. My question is, does anyone know if there is any meditation in TKD? I know theres some philosophy, but I would really like to have some meditation with my art. Everytime I search on Google, I cant never find anything thats of any use. Anyway , TKD is what Im gonna do. I'll be sure to tell everyone about it when i start. Please offer any answers or suggestions you have with my training....Also, one more thing, I saw a question on here earlier about stretching, since I will be off for Christmas break, would it help if I did stretching exercises while off to get me ready for my TKD? thanks ppl! Until next time, I remain ------



Mr. Jones

 

meditation is part of martial arts some teacher teaches n some don't. i hav learnt some form of meditation from my teacher, but i prefer my own methods which i hav been doing it for 9-10 yrs..
-TkdWarrior-

 

Yes stretching now would be very helpful. Front splits, side splits, flamingo, calf strectches, butterfly and other stretches...

 

Thanks guys! Im not sure about the splits thing....but i will try.lol. The butterfly and the flamingo stretches i can do, no problem. Any more comments ppl ? Feel free to post! Every little bit helps!

 

ok, this obviously isn't true for all practitioners and schools, but TKD has a reputation for being extremely straightforward and sporty. it's probably among the least internal of all martial arts.

if you googled it and found no aid, it's probably because there are virtually no webpages that ever put the words "tae kwon do" and "internal" or "meditation" together in any meaningful sense.

you know the difference between internal and external arts, right?

not to sound condescending or anything...

i'm just afraid that you have a misconception that martial arts are all spiritual and follow the "way" and have high-falootin' philosophies...that's something i thought when i first got into this mess, but luckily i didn't make any bad choices

 

Oh no God, i dont think that all ma's follow the way at all. I fully understand that there are some that are external and some internal. The school where im thinking of training at has 2 martial arts. It has Tae Kwon Do and I think its BJJ. The woman i talked to on the phone said it was Ju-Jitsu, the grappling kind, i assumed it was BJJ. She said it was sort of like wrestling. Now, I know what Bjj is, and what TKD is, but I am not really interested in BJJ , so I will probably take TKD, they also have weapons classes which I might take. As for the sport tkd, i dunno if this is sport or traditional, i think its alot more towards traditional , isnt it possible that the head instructor may know some type of internal art and could teach me ?

 

yes it's possible

i'm just saying, in my experience both TKD and BJJ have been the most straightforward, least philosophical (next to something like boxing).

actually, if i'm not mistaken, BJJ was designed SPECIFICALLY to be methodic, anti-traditional, self-motivated, and sport-like. it would be very ironic that it would be juxtaposed with a style that's sporty in most locations, but taught traditionally in that one.

of course, you can meditate on your own, too. the difference between being taught to meditate and learning to meditate from a book is very small, much smaller than in MA. if you really like the school, just buy a really good book on meditation and do it on your own....assuming your teacher won't help you out.

 

Well, God, in your opinion,is TKD a good fighting art? And yes i know that every ma board on the internet gets this " is this art effective " question just about everyday....but i mean, in your opinion, is it any good? I know some of the kicks you would probably not use in a real street fight, but in just a regular ol fight wouldnt u think that it WOULD be effective? I disagree with everyone saying that street situations always go to the ground, i dont think thats true, at least not in the lil ol country town that i live in.

 

well the fights themselves dont' always go to the ground, but in an unbridled fight basically someone has to end up on the ground eventually...i think that's the theory behind it.

the short answer to your question is no, but don't ask me! i've only taken a little TKD. the fine-tuning of the straight-forward basics that TKD has achieved makes it integral to learn no matter what you're style, IMO, but other than that, it's effectiveness is questionable.

its emphasis on kicks is bad. i can only think of two kicks that i could ever use: flying side kick and and a low side snapkick to an oustretched knee cap. the reason for that is, how do you stop 200+ lbs. flying through the air, poised to destroy? and furthermore, how are you going to stop something so far away from you? in BJJ even they teach you to kick your farthest ranging weapon (your foot) to the opponents closest effective target (kneecap) to keep the distance and provide a pot-shot. sort of like using a bow and arrow in midevil combat....or being a yeoman.....

but kicks in general, especially ones that go above the waist and are fancy, are REALLY slow!!! that's not to say that you can't MAKE them fast, but when other arts have effective techniques where they can successfully intercept oncoming PUNCHES after changing their footwork twice in preparation, whipping your foot around in a giant circle seems silly and just way too slow....and besides, they'll still pale in comparison the speed of an elbow or punch no matter how much you work on it.

 

Well, i forgot to mention this earlier, at least not in this thread, but the lady on the phone said that they incorporate some Hapkido into their teachings, which makes it seem to me, that this school actually teach some worth while self-defense techniques, i totally agree with you on the kicking subject. But, since they teach BJJ, and incorporate some Hapkido into both those arts, I would say this is a good school. But, im no expert. What I might do is take some TKD for awhile, just by itself, then later start attending some weapons and BJJ classes. That way I would have some arts to complement the other. Does that sound like a plan to you?

 

As for internal concepts in TKD..............i never experienced any when i use to do it.

TKD is good at what it does but in my opinion there are other styles more suited to combat not sport.
BUt it all depends on the instructor and wether the art is good fro you.

As for the hapkido be wary.......... you get alot of TKD dan grades learning some hapkido and not fully understanding the concepts behind it. Or so i am told.

 

Yes, yes....all very interesting. thanks to everyone who has contributed! Until next time ---- Mr. Jones

 

If you want meditation why not look at other MA's. Why does it have to be TKD?

Follow your heart. If you want meditation in your MA, find an art where it is central.

 

just had to add my two cents

i did taekwondo for about 11 years, traditional, then trained in sport when i was in the varsity in the university. while most people belittle taek as a sporty martial art totally useless in streetfights, i'll have to disagree. it all depends on how you are trained. i can personally state that i wouldn't be around if it weren't for taekwondo. things get very violent here in the third world, so i've seen more than my share of streetfights. taught correctly, taekwondo kicks, both high and low, are effective, provided u know when and how to use them.

while sport taekwondo is totally devoid of the hand techniques taught in the traditional style, it should provide you with fast AND powerful kicks. i'm talking about kicks that break ribs. i'd like to say that i make these claims from personal experience.

 

there is one big flaw in kicks no matter how fast or good you are. You're a fixed state, in the sense that you are unable to move around. that is one hell of a tactical disadvantage.

 

Mr Jones,
Look at the 2nd Dan Poomse (form) and tell me that is not moving meditation or any of the poomse for that matter. Meditation is not just sitting or chanting a mantra. I will grant you TKD is very sport oriented but some people have definately entered the meditation zone through forms and even sparring.
Eric

 

But just doing a form slowly or with focused breath does not make it internal. Internal supposes 'letting go' of the body enough, being 'soft' enough, so that no part of the body can move without the whole body moving, without the whole energy system of the body changing. Put simply, internal supposes a way of moving, not merely a mental attitude, a la 'meditation.'

 

TKD doesn't have IMA aspects unless a teacher puts it in there as an addition to the syllabus. TKD is a decent striking art. After a while you'll find that there are only so many ways to hit someone, so the art you're studying doesn't really make a difference when it comes to striking (the effort you put in is way more important). Add a grappling and a striking art together and train against a resisting opponent and you've got yourself the most street(tm) worthy combination there is (short of going out, picking fights and learning dirty tricks, which I'd not suggest).

i.e. TKD + BJJ = A-OK!

 

You can't just add 'internal aspects' to an art like Taekwondo, not without changing things significantly. Taekwondo's way of moving is very external. BJJ is not internal either.

 

Some teachers do in fact change the entire structure of moves so it's not really TKD any more, it's a genuine internal technique. It's pretty rare though, and only cross-trained instructors do it.

I'd say there's no point when it comes to EMA, they're designed to operate without the internal part, so if you mess around with them it's like fixing something that isn't broken.