Hapkido1 - Page: 68 of 68

by Tammy Parlour, Combat Magazine, March 2008
Each of us has incredible potential within. Through Hapkido training we learn to tap into that potential and can develop amazing power.

To varying degrees and sometimes at an unconscious level though, everyone feels nervous or afraid of something: it might be sparring, falling, breaking wood, testing for a new level, not being perfect etc.

For some that fear is irrelevant. For others it creates a state of paralysis.

One has power. The other has helplessness.

Sometimes people come in to my Hapkido School in London with a big ego. Maybe they have to prove that they are better than me or my students, I really don’t know.

When someone has a big ego though it often means that they are living within a state of fear. They need to be better than others; in other words they are depending on external circumstances for their survival. Externally they appear to have a hard shell, but if circumstances aren’t kind they will feel helpless, depressed and paralyzed.

True power has nothing to do with anyone or anything else. The real power developed through Hapkido is power within the self. What this means is that you have power over how you react within your life. It isn’t the ability to control another; but the ability to control oneself.

When we blame others or a situation for what is happening within our lives we give up that power and replace it with helplessness.

With taking responsibility for our lives comes power. This type of power is freedom.

We might have fear; that’s fine. But more importantly we have the ability to choose how we react to that fear. Putting blame elsewhere just makes us impotent.

With this mind, the fact that we have fear becomes irrelevant.

Any instructor can look at your kick and know if it is any good; we don’t have to make you break a board to find that out. Sparring, falling or breaking wood for example, aren’t tests of your body. Everything is ultimately a test of your mind.

ChangsHapkidoAcademy.co.uk © 2008