New Forms

This past week Master Holloway started introducing a new set of forms, the TaeGeuk forms, to the class.    We began learning TaeGeuk 1 last night.  For the last five years (more for my higher ranked friends) we have been learning the Chang Hon forms and with a red belt, know nine of them now.  And since Jonathan and I tested this past winter we have started to go through the process of getting our forms checked off by Master Holloway in preparation for our black belt test.  Each form must be performed with proper hand, foot and body position, with power and rhythm, and must begin and end at the same spot.  Working on perfecting the forms has been interesting, giving me a whole new level of challenge for body awareness and movement memory.  It elevates you to a level of performance such that you begin to feel more confident when you help a fellow student to learn their form.

And then last night we started with TaeGeuk 1.  My mind was taking over.  Would I be able to learn that many more forms?  Would I be able to master them?  What about the last nine forms we have spent so long trying to learn?  Do we need to remember these too?  What about when we compete?  Would we be expected to perform these new ones?  And what about our tests?  Well, as you can see, there were too many thoughts cluttering up my head, and that tends to make things seem difficult.

So I made my mind stop and began to feel the new form, what was different, how the body had to adjust, and just like the first nine, this one began to gel.   I watched my fellow classmates learn it along side me and I felt us all getting it at once.  And I started to think how it would be cool to know the old ones AND the new ones.  I wondered how many students out there knew both.  I found myself welcoming the challenge and enjoying this journey that always seems to offer something new when you least expect it.

Dana and Riley - Team Forms