When I was a white belt, one of my greatest Tae Kwon Do
teachers, Master Moon, taught the most basic front punch. We all threw our arms
in the air as fast as possible in a futile attempt to impress him.
Observing the spectacle, he decided to take out a piece of
wood and asked everyone, one by one, to break the board with their punch. Shamefully,
not one succeeded. In fact, a few walked away with bloody knuckles.
After a long, painful strategic pause, he yelled “No more power – only technique!”
His instruction was to go as slow as possible, perfecting
our torque as our inverted hand twisted toward an assailants solar plexus. We had to do it a
thousand times and again, day after day for weeks.
Then came the day. We
each lined up for our next attempt to break the board, this time reluctant and
somewhat ashamed of our last trial. Surprised as I was, my board broke with one
punch. And much the same for the rest of the class.
Master Moon started with the most basic technique. Once the
class became experts at the punch, we added power, and everyone was able
to succeed.
Small steps lead to big goals.
~Julie
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