Working our physical bodies is an important aspect of finding balance in our lives. This Gym was setup to help people reconnect to their body using protocols from the martial arts. I’ve trained with Grand Master James Lo for 10 years, obtaining a 3rd Dan Black belt in Tae Kwon Do and I also ran my own school for several years. I will be recording warm up exercises, stretching protocols and other techniques that I’ve learned in the martial arts to help students should they be interested in exploring this aspect of life. Martial Arts have been practiced by artists for thousands of years and the knowledge has been handed down from generation to generation. It has also benefited from modern advancements as well. I won’t share the art of war here, but I will explore how we can connect with our bodies using the techniques I learned.
As I say to all new students, take it easy. Listen to your body and don’t try to keep up with the black belts. I don’t want anybody to get hurt and it will take weeks or even months to start conditioning your body so that it can start working out harder, faster and stronger. Ego often results in people getting hurt as they think they can perform like a black belt. It often results in injury and having to withdraw from training. When your body starts to reach the point of proper conditioning to train, we can then slowly push the body, stretch it and teach it how to exceed the capabilities we think it has and find the limits it actually has. This takes years of training. It is a slow process and requires patience, dedication and commitment.
The video was recorded in 2007 when I was testing for my 3rd Dan Black belt. We don’t have new students doing this for several reasons. Firstly, their body has not been trained and conditioned, much like what I just shared with you. The second is even more critical in that the mind has not been trained either. Doubt, fear and anxiety prevent us from achieving these types of results, even though our bodies are capable of performing far beyond what we think it can. Our minds are often the barriers that we have to overcome. This applies to the Martial Arts as much as the Pacem Arts. It is my hope that we can help that process here in the Pacem Arts by using some techniques from the Martial Arts to overcome these self limiting beliefs.
Also note that I’m not there to watch, observe or correct you. So this still requires that you take full responsibility for your training and do your best to be consciously aware of what I’m sharing. It is no replacement for having an instructor or trainer in the room there with you as they can see things you cannot. As such, the gym is setup to be an introduction and I encourage people to go out and find an instructor near you to help. It does not matter if it is Tae Kwon Do, other martial arts, yoga or sports in general. The goal is to get out and move our bodies, connect with them and explore what they are actually capable of performing while we also discipline the mind at the same time.
