Sirs & Ma’ams -

Here are the themes for the week.

Sunday: Blocks, Forms, Group Work
Monday: Hapkido, Advanced Kicks with Targets
Tuesday: Color Belt Combos, 3s & 1s, Kicks with Targets
Thursday: Lateral Step Exercises, Jumping kicks

Focus: Awareness. Many of us walk through our day with blinders on. We’re so focused on the task at hand, or perhaps on our own feelings, that we forget about everyone and everything around us. Sometime during the day, take a second to stop and remind yourself to expand your awareness and take in all that the day has to offer. There’s always a lot more there than you’d think.

Hello Sirs, Ma’ams, and students,

Sunday: Basic kicks with targets, Forms, Free sparring – 1,2,3+ techniques in a row
Monday: Jump kicks with targets, Hapkido, Free sparring – speed/quickness
Tuesday: 3′s and 1′s, Free sparring – controlling level of contact
Thursday: Blocking combos, Free sparring – lateral step

Mental Focus: Identifying areas of stress in your life. With the demands of a life full of classes, work, family, and community, we often go through much of our daily life with our bodies and mind under stress. It may even be so common that it feels like your “normal” state. Check in with how relaxed or stressed you feel right now. On a scale of 1-10 what do you feel? This week, take notice of times when something causes you to become more or less stressed. Identify those actions or events that cause you to get worked up. Conversely, what relaxes you (slows down your heart rate, breathing, etc)? What is the your balance between these two states of being? Explore these ideas without judging what you learn as good or bad. Take this week to understand.

Have a great week!
Alexa

Good Morning

Themes for this week are:

Sunday: isometric kicks, lateral step kicks
Monday: adv. kicks with targets, lateral step exercises
Tuesday: forms, free sparring
Thursday: New student kick-off class

Wednesday: Student Activities Fair
Friday: social event TBD

Mental Focus: Happiness
Are you a happy person? This is a simple question but how comfortable are you with taking time to consider this question?

Hello Everyone,

Here are the themes for this week.

Sunday: Kicks w/ Targets, Punching Exercises
Monday: Combination Blocks – Focusing on hip movement for power
Tuesday: Forms, 3′s and 1′s, Group Work
Thursday: Jumping/Flying Kicks w/ Targets, Free Sparring

Mental Focus: Starting Over – not necessarily changing or abandoning duties or activities, but changing your pre-concieved notions or mindsets you have developed over time. Look at things from a different perspective, or in a new light. Refresh the mundane or the familiar. Reflect on the what your previous mindset had, both positive and negatively, on your activities, duties, or situations – and what effect your ‘mental reset’ has on those same activities, duties, or situations.

Have a great week.

Jeff

Dear Sirs, Ma’ams, and TKD,

Weekly Themes:
Sun: kicking combos, forms
Mon: promotion results, new techniques
Tues: blocks, 3′s and 1′s, free sparring
Thurs: conditioning, partner stretches, basic kicks with targets

Mental Focus: Perseverance

What goes through our minds when we experience higher levels of physical and mental stress? Whether we are preparing for an exam, trying to meet a project deadline, putting in extra hours at work, or trying to stay focused during a long stretch of kicking combinations, it is common to want to “check out” when we begin to experience discomfort. One technique that helps me in moments such as this is to focus on the reasons why I am doing something. We may be working extra hard at work or on a project in order to provide and care for family, pushing through physical fatigue to give a boost to others during conditioning exercises in TKD, or we may be doing something important for ourselves. Whatever your core reasons for doing something, keeping them close can help you push through the difficult moments.

Reminder: Promotion results class is tomorrow, so please try to attend if you can.

Tom

Mental Focus: Reflection

The semester is coming to an end and the belt test has just passed.
Each of us have had goals we wanted to achieve this past semester,
some of them successfully achieved and others not so. Reflect back on
what made us set these goals in the first place, where we were hoping
to go when we first set out, and what these smaller goals contributed
to in the long run. There will always be things that we want to do,
but it is best not to forget the things that we have done. Otherwise
one might forget the bigger picture of our life and all the people in
it.

Monday: Advanced kicks with targets, free sparring
Tuesday: Forms, 3s and 1s, and blocks
Thursday: Jumping kicks with targets, group work

Dear Sirs, Ma’ams, and TKD,

Weekly Themes:
Sun: kicking combos, 3′s and 1′s
Mon: high forms, hapkido, hammerfist
Tues: basic kicks with targets, forms
Thurs: blocks, group work

Mental Focus: Compassion. When we think of compassion, the focus is normally on caring for those less fortunate than ourselves. While it is important to have compassion towards others, we often neglect to have compassion for ourselves, which can be equally important and linked to how we show compassion for others. There is a teaching that says: “If we find ourselves unworkable and give up on ourselves, then we’ll find others unworkable and give up on them. What we hate in ourselves, we’ll hate in others. To the degree that we have compassion for ourselves, we will also have compassion for others. Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves, all those imperfections that we don’t even want to look at.” Take some time to look at the imperfections that you see in yourself and to have compassion for them. Avoid blaming yourself or someone else for some unwanted part of yourself and try to simply be there with that part.

Have a great week and see you at the belt test on Saturday!
Tom

Dear Sirs, Ma’ams, and TKD,

Weekly Themes:
Sun: group work, color belt techniques
Mon: high forms, kicking combos
Tues: blocking combos, 3′s and 1′s
Thurs: No class, Happy Thanksgiving!

Mental Focus: Give thanks. This week, try to feel the appreciation and gratitude you have for the people and simple things in your life. Try to recognize areas of your life that sometimes might get overlooked in the day-to-day. One example of this that I feel is very relevant for tae kwon do is the ability to move to whatever extent you can.

Have a wonderful week and Thanksgiving,
Amy F.

Sirs & Ma’ams -

Here are the themes for the week:

Sunday: 3s & 1s, kicks with targets, group work
Monday: Advanced forms, high kicks, target work
Tuesday: Blocks, forms, free sparring
Thursday: Group work, jump kicks, blocking combos

Theme: Celebrate yourself

This week is a chance to celebrate who you are, and what you’ve done so far. What’s shaped you along the way? Who do you have to thank for who you are today? Celebrate this.

-Ty