My teacher, Grand Master Bermas Kim taught me this many years ago:
The Korean martial art, Hapkido, started 2500 years ago. Hapkido was
developed inside the Kingdom to protect the King.
Korean culture is 5000 years old. Korea has many different martial
arts, but only two are well known, Hapkido and Taekwondo.
There are 3600 techniques in Hapkido. Our schools teach about 1500 of
these techniques.
Hapkido is used worldwide by government agencies, military Special
Forces and law enforcement agencies.
Hapkido teaches that you must have only one thing in your mind when in
a situation where defending yourself is imminent; protect yourself.
Hapkido techniques are for individuals for survival.
Hapkido uses internal power plus external power combined to create more
powerful techniques.
Hap means collect.
Ki means power.
Su means technique.
Do means way.
Ancient Hapkido was sometimes known as Hapkisu, but is now known by
this translation; the way (do) of coordinated (hap) power (ki).
Hapkido is not about sparring or being in a competition with an
opponent. Hapkido is knowing a secret technique to allow you to quickly
overcome your opponent. If my opponent is bigger, I am too small for
competition. If my opponent is younger, I am too old for competition. So I want
to make it simple for myself.
This is what makes Hapkido unique. We don’t need patterns or fancy
stances etc. Our Hapkido doesn’t practice patterns. We simply practice, one at
a time, over and over, our techniques to improve our skill level. Always
improving our ability to protect ourselves, to survive.
We don’t want big egos, we don’t want to show off, we don’t use our art
to make trouble. We just practice every day to be able to protect ourselves,
our family and our friends.
Many people misunderstand this and teach fighting, we don’t want that.
We just practice Hapkido for ourselves.
Hapkido teaches attacking techniques such as striking, kicking,
throwing etc. This is because sometimes direct attack is the best form of
defence.
Hapkido is not just blocking, hitting and locking, sometimes direct
attack, i.e. striking or kicking, is needed. Attack first.
We don’t want to go to the ground either, so we have to attack first.
To protect ourselves.
Hapkido is a form of study, not just physical training.
Hapkido has a locking system too. This means if you are smaller, or not
as strong as your attacker, you can break their arm easily, once the correct
angles have been studied and practiced.
We study pressure points to break our attacker’s power. If our
attackers grip is too strong we use pressure point techniques to allow us to
gain control as it weakens the attackers hold.
We also study how to use our opponent’s power against them. We don’t
meet force with force, instead we evade and deflect and allow their energy to
flow. We then direct that energy where we can use it to our advantage, for
locking, striking, throwing etc.
Hapkido is not difficult to learn, in fact it is very easy. The key to
this is constant practice. Don’t try to remember everything you learn. Instead
practice over and over again until the technique becomes a body habit.
That is why basics are so important. A baby can’t run before it can
crawl. So you have to learn the basics first. Don’t be in too much of a hurry
to get to the advanced techniques.
This forms the basis for our teaching at Hapkido Brisbane, www.steveshapkido.com.au & www.HapkidoBrisbane.com.au
