Animal class

Tonight was another great class.  We went over the elements of Tang Soo Do on Tuesday, so tonight, we covered the animals of Tang Soo Do.  In Korea, there are five creatures: Snake, Leopard, Tiger, Crane and Dragon.  Each of the forms that we do can be equated to one of these animals.  Similarly, each of the forms can be equated to Earth, Air (wind), Fire, Water or Metal, which was the subject of Tuesday's class.  

So, keeping that in mind, Ms. S tonight had us do Ahp Chagis (front snap kicks) and visualize specific animals.  When she told us to think of a Tiger, there was a noticeable change in the energy of the room.  It makes you think when you're performing the forms with an animal in mind.  

We also took the animal theme one step further and put them to use in forms.  We took our lowest form (Kichyo Hyung Il Bu) and performed it thinking of a snake, then a leopard, then a tiger, etc.  If you visualize the animal as you're doing the form, you start to feel more power/speed, etc.  When I did a form as a snake, I found myself improving my C-step and working harder to move as if I was truly a snake.  With the tiger, I found myself stepping out harder, trying to put more power into it, as if I was springing out on an unsuspecting prey.   A dragon was a bit harder to do, especially since nobody's really seen a dragon!

After forms, we moved on to the other room and worked on falls.  I didn't participate in that as I'm not cleared by my chiropractor yet.  I got a lot of good notes and pointers on falls from Master M and Ms. S.  Whenever my neck and shoulder are back to "normal", then I'll start working on falls agin.