Poomsae. What is it good for? It’s easy to think of poomsae as just a series of blocks and strikes we need to remember for grading, but it’s so much more than that. Poomsae is a way of teaching, learning and practising valuable self defence techniques.
Last Friday night (01/03/19) instructor Tripharn Teki ran the second Introduction to Self Defence workshop for Sangrok students and their friends and family. These workshops focus on the practical application of poomsae from a self defence perspective. The class started with a short theory lesson about power, force and proprioception (a fancy word meaning awareness of the position and movement of our body) before practicing blocks and strikes with our partners.
After our forearms were nice and sore Tripharn demonstrated how the steps in Sa Jang, Chil Jang and Koryo can be used as blocks, strikes and even arm bars against an attacker. We practiced these with our partners and many laughs and bruises were shared.
The workshop was enjoyed by all the participants who said they liked putting the poomsae skills they have learnt into practice and are looking forward to attending more self defence workshops. Hopefully the bruises have faded by now!
Have you ever thought about the benefits of self defence? Apart from learning to defend yourself against a threat, self defence can improve balance, confidence, reflexes and physical conditioning, as well as improving your understanding of poomsae. Self defence (hoshinsul) is one of the core components of the new Sangrok curriculum so it is important to have a good grasp of self defence for gradings.
Another Introduction to Self Defence workshop will be held in Term 2. These workshops are recommended for all belt colours and experience levels and are also open to friends and family. An intermediate self defence workshop will be held later in the year to build on the skills developed by students who have attended the introductory workshops. For more information and to register for future workshops, head to the Sangrok website.
