Fun

Do you ever catch yourself being a little too serious? With the various stresses of life on your shoulders, it’s not that difficult to forget to have fun. Here are a few ways we can start having more fun in our daily life.

What’s Your Fun?
Define what fun is for you. It’s different for everyone. Been awhile? Think about the last time you felt real joy when doing something. Do that. Still struggling? Try going for a bike ride, throw or kick a ball with the kids, play hide and seek, play tag, play a video game with your kids, build a fort, go for a scavenger hunt.

Make the Time
If you are all dried up in the fun department, you’re going to need to be creative and make the time. Make it apart of your daily goals. The crazy thing is that fun will start becoming one of your positive daily habits.

This is your journey. Get out there and discover what is fun for you. Be creative and make time for your peace of mind. Ready, set, time to have fun!

How’s Your Posture?

Outside of Tang Soo Do, I enjoy quite a few other activities to help me stay healthy. One of them happens to be ELDOA. It’s a wonderful activity for improving flexibility and body awareness. Proper posture is everything in this activity.

In our society, many of us our spending countless hours on our mobile devices and computers. As a result, many of us are suffering from poor postures.

Here are a few simple things that you can do to help you not end up like the Hunchback of Notre Dame.

When you sit:

  • Sit up straight and tall
  • Relax your shoulders
  • Take brief walks
  • Keep your elbows in close to your body

When you stand:

  • Stand up straight and tall
  • Pull your shoulders back
  • Bring your stomach in
  • Keep your head level
  • Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart

As you know, gravity is already working against us. Fight with everything you’ve got, and work on having better posture.

Belt Promotions

Students that recently tested will be promoted this Wed., March 3rd or Thurs., March 4th at the beginning of class. Following the brief promotion, we will have our normal class.

Congratulations Everyone! Tang Soo!!!

ITF Event in Louisiana – April 10th

We are excited to announce that Central Karate (Louisiana) will be hosting the next Masters/Black Belt examination along with Masters, Black Belt, and Gup Seminars. The event will be held on Saturday, April 10th at the the Life Tabernacle Church Gym (9323 Hooper Rd, BR, LA 70818). If interested, please see us for registration forms and fees.

Event Schedule
Check in 8:00 am – 8:15 am
Opening Ceremony 8:15 am – 8:30 am
Masters Seminar 8:30 am – 10:00 am
Masters Test/Recert 10:00 am – 11:30 am
Lunch Break 11:30 am – 12:00 pm
White, Yellow, & Orange 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
All Green Belts 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Red & Cho Dan Bo 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Judge/ Referee Seminar 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm
All Black Belts 5:30pm – 7:00 pm
Black Belt Test/Recert 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

I was afraid of…

One of my biggest fears as a child was dogs. I love dogs now, but when I was knee high to a grasshopper I would stay away from dogs like the plague. 

My fear stemmed from a horrible experience when I was 3. While petting a poodle, I was bitten. From that day on, man’s best friend turned into man’s worst enemy. My fear kept me from enjoying the connection with these lovable animals. 

Finally, my parents helped me overcome my fear by getting me my own puppy. I realized that the situation I experienced was not going to be the same with every dog. Through time, I understood how to read and interact properly with them. My greatest fear and anxiety turned into a wonderful source of joy and connection.

Do you have a fear that’s stopping you from enjoying life? A lot of times, fear stems from the unknown. Replace the unknown with facts and knowledge. You may not entirely overcome it at first, but you begin to develop respect and understanding. 

When you overcome your fear, you will have a new sense of confidence. It will open up new doors of opportunity and growth. Don’t let life pass you by because of fear. Franklin Roosevelt sums it up perfectly when he said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

Perseverance

Life is beautiful, but can also be really tough. Developing perseverance is an essential part of personal progression. In our instant society, it can be difficult to have the patience to keep going during tough times. Here a few simple tips to help improve your perseverance.

Start With the Little Things Try going a little further in your workout or holding a challenging stance in class. To make the break through, we have to endure. It might just be one more time or doing something for a few more seconds than before. Small consistent gains = big rewards.  

Attitude Makes All the Difference To push through personal barriers, we have to have the correct attitude. Having a positive attitude will take you a lot further than a negative one. Start with I Can and I Will. Believe and achieve.  

Know Your Why When you hit the proverbial wall, return to your purpose to help you move forward. This will provide you with inspiration and a source of needed strength.   Life is an adventure, and is full of beauty and challenges. To not give up, we must endure. Progress yourself further in life by starting with the little things, having a great attitude and knowing your purpose.  

Best wishes in your pursuit of being the best version of yourself!

New Class Schedule!

We are excited to announce our new class schedule beings Mon., Feb 15. Our big adjustment is with the Orange Belts & higher. We have been trying to balance safety with numbers, time and efficiency with the classes. It’s not been an easy task, and we appreciate your patience.

As you can see, we are combining Orange & Green Belts and Blue & Black Belts. We feel this new schedule will help provide a better service for our students.

New to the schedule is Private Lessons. They are offered on Tuesday & Thursday by appointment only. 25 minute session is $50.

Testing is Here!

Our first belt testing of 2021 is here! For those that qualified at Pre-Testing, you will receive an email with a link for your test registration. Tigers will receive their test registration form in person.

Feb 10Tiny Tiger Belt Test
Students that have earned all 5 belt stripes will be eligible to test during their class. Students that have not eligible to test yet are encouraged to stay at home on this day.

Feb 12After School Children’s Prgm Belt Test
White & Yellow Belts – 2:45pm
Orange & Green Belts – 3:30pm
Red & Blue Belt Test – 4:30pm

Feb 13Traditional Prgm Belt Test
White, Yellow, Orange Belts – 9am
Green Belts – 10:30am
Red & Blue Belt Test – 12pm

Got Courage???

Can you remember the last time you needed to use courage to accomplish something? As a Tang Soo Do student, you use courage every week.

For some, just getting on the floor is a big deal. While others may battle with overcoming negative thoughts about being able to do a skill. Sometimes it’s mustering up the courage to break the board in front of you.

Is there something new that you want to achieve this year? Are your inner fears holding you back? What obstacles do you have to overcome to turn your dream into a reality? Below are a few ways to help.

Face Your Fears – fear is the one thing to stop you from progress and achievement. Take small steps toward overcoming your fears. Little by little, you will overcome if you have a strong enough desire.

Stand on the Shoulders of Giants – whatever you are trying to accomplish, somebody out there has done it. Seek out how the experts have been successful. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Finding the path already cleared will help you to have courage to do it too.

Where focus goes, energy flows – your inner thoughts about your performance are very powerful. Start telling yourself that you can do it, and take the necessary steps to have more courage.

You don’t have to be a super hero to have courage. Remember, courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality.

Healing

I’ll never forget the time I had to get stitches under my nose. The memory is very vivid. The year was 1979 and I was waiting in the car with my dad at the doctor’s office.

My mother, who was pregnant with my sister, was inside for a checkup. I needed to go inside and use the restroom. My Dad gave some sound advice, “Don’t run.” All I heard was run. As I ran toward the doctor’s office, I tripped and fell face first on the brick steps. Ouch!

With blood everywhere, they sent me to the ER to get sewn up. There were three stitches to be exact. How do I remember this detail you ask? Since it itched so bad, I removed them myself three days later. My poor parents.

Everything healed up fine and I have a few small scars under my nose as a reminder. We all have some type of scar tissue from previous incidents. Sometimes, it’s the ones that are on the inside that hurt the most. Allowing a healing process for our wounds both inside and out is so important for moving forward. It simply takes time.

Once healed we have our scars to remind us that we are human and what to do in the future. In this time of our history, I feel we all need a time of healing. So much turmoil has transpired in our world. Like you, I’m ready for healing. I’m ready for our nation to be better.

We don’t have to agree with each other on all topics. However, can we listen to each other without judgement? Can we seek peace and unity vs being right? Healing takes time and effort. Let’s start today with a commitment to be better. I’m ready…are you?