Understanding Shapes (Poomsae)

The understanding of forms (Poomsae).

A few years ago I wrote this article for a foreign martial arts magazine. This is my understanding of how to practice and connect our Self with Poomsae…

In training forms, one of the biggest difficulties is not expressing the connection between our gestures and the communication of our emotions. Every martial training involves effort, sweat, perseverance and pain. A DO to discover every day the already revealed secrets of the art we have formed. But this martial DO is intrinsically allied to SELF-DO.

What we get every time we train are new insights into ourselves, into the way we think and move. In basic training sessions where Tchaguis predominate, there is an increase in adrenaline, the exchange is exciting, but the degree of concentration is low, so the risk is greater in the ratio between acquired practice and trained practice.

In Poomsae’s study the opposite is noted. When we assume the position of Kibon Tchumbi Sogui the noise stops and we enter an almost meditative state. Every time we dedicate ourselves to the study of Poomsae it is inevitable to create this meditative environment. There is so much concentration on the act that it ends up becoming an act in itself. This is one of the main resources that are acquired by studying and practicing Poomsae.

But there are others… As I have already mentioned, concentration is the first quality we can acquire. This focus starts to feel physical as we try to position our movements around our axis. This is perhaps best explained by taking, for example, the earth (motion) and the sun (axis). The earth, when it rotates around the sun, adheres to its central axis for its own rotation, just as the expressive movements of our body adhere to the center of our body.

If our movements are performed attracted by the energy that develops in Danjun, then we notice how the arms and legs move through a central point, which is located in the center of our back.

The discovery of this inner world from which our expressive movements emerge makes us more aware of our foundations, both physical and psychological. Feeling centered and attached to your body in every movement provides greater ability to concentrate and renewed self-confidence. In forms, balance is not only assessed by the ability to remain balanced on one leg, but also by the art of establishing an internal relationship between all the points of the body, of which we are able to be aware.

When I perform a Poomsae I try to maintain the various positions for several seconds, focusing on the limbs that move to perform the techniques, I place my attention on the extended limbs as if they were floating on the water, relating them to the movement of the entire body. Posture is the way in which the various parts of our body combine with each other, the synchronized way between agonist and antagonist muscles alternate and how we deal with the weight of gravity. But just as important as this previous symbiosis is the way in which our physique expresses our emotional state.

We shouldn’t be afraid to self-evaluate and correct our posture. Straightening the shoulders, relaxing the neck, rebalancing the position of the pelvis, are some examples of the corrections we can make. With this you will probably discover that practicing the posture is certainly an opportunity to renew and improve our physical and emotional state.

When training Poomsae, one of the biggest difficulties is not expressing the connection between our gestures and the communication of our emotions. Take for example. If we have to perform an Ap Tchagui we raise the leg and stretch it forward. But this in itself is not an Ap Tchagui. An Ap Tchagui must at least break down a door, so Ap Tchagui’s gesture lacks all our muscular concentration and strength of emotional expression.

For me, the best method to study this part of the Poomsae is to analyze the emotional meaning of each gesture. Poomsae itself, starting from a simple sequence of movements, becomes a realistic manifestation of ourselves in movement. With this we discover that we feel more capable psychologically and physically in performing some gestures, and at the same time stuck with others. And these are the ones we need to work on the most. We must take responsibility for our gestures, and then, by giving them life with our emotions, we will discover how to be protagonists of our own expressions.

All of the above steps help you perform Poomsae not only as a sequence of techniques against an imaginary opponent, but also as a note in a piece of music, passing it through your instrument – our body – and then bringing it back as a musical composition.

Therefore, on its own, each Poomsae becomes individual, with its own sound, and can be interpreted using a specific rhythm, a tempo, a combination of our gestures that give harmony to the whole sonata. This is the special feeling of becoming conductors of our own orchestra, made by the various parts of our body combining into a melody that expresses our mood, our thoughts, our whole C.

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