Former 2nd Dan Black Belt Tae Kwon Do Instructor
Personal Background
As an impressionable teenager, the stories and publicity surrounding Kickboxers and "Karate Experts" held a special attraction for me I thought I was a tough guy, prepared to prove the point to anyone game enough to have me on, but I wanted and needed to be tougher. A newspaper story promoting an instructor and his style of Martial Arts set me on the path.
Training Development
The techniques practiced by senior students and the instructors left me with no doubt that Tae Kwon-Do was the ultimate thing in life. Head high kicks, spinning back kicks, multiple board-breaking and devastating power all serve to convince me that my future lay in Martial Arts. The instructor was a god to be idolised and feared but ALWAYS obeyed.
The training etiquette also included such rituals as bowing not only to the training hall itself, but to the instructor and other students before and after practicing techniques with them. It was explained that this ritual of bowing was a mark of respect to the hall and the other members of the class and their ranking. These rankings started with White Belt progressing through various "colours" to the ultimate - Black Belt, and from there the various rankings of Black Belt. Whilst the style I was involved in practiced no foreign language as most other forms do, it did practice the power of "Ki". Ki is said to develop extra power from the stomach if shouted whilst punching or gives power to a Kata if shouted at the completion of the Kata. (A Kata or pattern is a set of pre-determined movements designed to improve technique, Co-ordination, and timing etc.).
Lifestyle Influences
The influence of Tae Kwon-Do spread to all aspects of my life. My friends and associates were all involved in Tae Kwon-Do, weekends were spent training and travelling to various venues throughout Victoria, N.S.W. and A.C.T. to give demonstrationS, gradings or special training seminars. Tae Kwon-Do influenced my diet, my social life and was reaching into my worklife. If it wasn’t good for training I didn’t eat it, if it used training time it was wasted time and I was considering giving up work to enable me to train full-time.
Deeper Involvement
After almost three years of training my development reached its peak - I was graded to the level of Black Belt. Not only did I reach this level but I also found myself in the position of Instructor. It still wasn’t enough. I needed more. Meditation promised more, it promised to make me better at my Art. his taught to students that correct breathing techniques will give you more speed and power, meditation was the logical choice to develop this.
Full-contact sparring and competitions were enticing, although I never did manage to compete in a Full-contact tournament; though hard-contact sparring with other senior students was a normal occurrence. At this stage I began to move towards a career involving Tae Kwon-Do - I commenced work as a bouncer in a local hotel. I saw this as a method of teaching me how to "deal" with people and develop my reactions to violent situations.
Personal Consequences
Imagine always being on guard, always alert for a fight, always looking for the person who was "out of line". This situation brings no joy or happiness, it doesn’t make smiling easy - it was the cloud under which I was living at the time. I knew that my students and lower grades idolised me and aspired to be as good as me, therefore I had to set an example, that example was what I imagined an instructor to be: strong with no emotions and certainly no love or kindness to be shown to anyone. People were afraid of me and that is exactly what I wished for. It was a drug of violence, the desire to hurt others gave me satisfaction.
God’s Intervention
I moved to Sydney and was about to achieve a very high ranking in Tae Kwon-Do. Even though I was a Christian as a young lad, I had fallen away during adolescence, but my mother was set to rekindle my Christian beliefs through an invitation to attend church with her. Six months later I was still attending church regularly but I felt lost, God’s presence was not there for me and the meetings held little interest. I ceased attending church with the frustration that maybe there wasn’t even a God. It was to be two years before I commenced attending church again.
During this period, I was training and preparing for competition when a book given to me regarding the demonic origins and the pagan gods of Martial Arts stirred a reaction of anger towards the Christian owner of the book and his beliefs. it also sowed the seed that possibly the book was correct in stating those involved in Martial Arts would need deliverance including myself. My church attendances re-commenced.
Counselling sessions followed. with deliverance breaking the bondages that had held me, I was free from the influence of Tae Kwon-Do. The Tae Kwon-Do uniforms, books and anything at all associated with my Martial Arts training were burnt.
