Discovering Up in Martial Arts

I began martial arts in fourth grade and can't seem to stay away from it. At first, I was absolutely embarrassed about it and refused to tell anyone about my participation in what I thought was such a strange sport, and I would have died of social suicide had anyone seen me in my gee. My mom tried to post pictures on Facebook, and I think it was that day in fifth grade when I experienced my first mini heart attack. Yet, as I grew older and attempted to explore other avenues of physical activity, some intangible force kept pulling me back in.

It wasn't until my freshman year of high school that I realized how heavily martial arts had shaped me, bothy physically, mentally, and emotionally. It was then that I realized my passion for, not punching and kicking, but rather for the other spiritual elements that came along with it. It was then that I realized how vital martial arts was to heightening my ability to see the world from new heights and perspectives. And lastly, it was then that I realized that I didn't want to just take the classes but rather I wanted to make martial arts a life style and learn from other practices as well.

When I came to Chapman, I had to stop training, seeing as there were none of my schools in California. I thought this would hinder my ability to live in suit of my practice but rather it allowed me to open myself up to new sorts of martial arts, bringing me to my topic for the final. I decided I wanted to focus on Pakua and Taekwondo and compare the two and how each of them contribute to the concept of up in the school, practice, and execution.

Pakua

Taekwondo

I am going to take photos from my current Pakua sessions as well as conduct research on the two and how each form of martial art was founded and how various things such as order of lining up, position of the body in sparring, form of sparring, and ideologies share varied connotations of the term up. For my interview, I plan to interview the head master at the Pakua studio who I have yet to meet. And for my final project, I will either form a demonstration which encompasses both teachings or I will instruct the class in a form which mixes the two.