I have a Tae Kwon Do exam coming up in January. Part of the exam is learning the fundamental moves of the form or poomse we are learning. A form is a combination of moves, both hand/arm movements, steps, and kicks. Put all together, you have a wonderful choreography that when performed with rhythm and power, is quite spectacular. Before you learn your form, you have to master it’s fundamental moves, the parts, and the names of the parts, that make up the whole.
I was thinking that, like a lot of things in my martial arts world, the fundamental moves of the form are kind of like the basic tools of life. You need to master certain parts so that the whole comes out looking and feeling a certain way. When you struggle with the parts, the whole feels fragmented, and difficult. It is a matter of practice. And I was wondering if I had to make up a list of the Fundamental Moves Of Life, what that list would be.
I have been learning this particular new form called Choong-Jang over the last several months and it is a long one, the longest I have learned so far at 52 moves. Because it is a long form, I am having to learn more fundamental moves than I have in the past, and I am struggling. Like in life, if you don’t practice something every day, it is harder to make that move automatic. Just when I thought I had mastered every fundamental move there was, here were ten more to learn. And like life, if you think you know it all, and that there is nothing more to learn, you are mistaken.
So if I had to list some of the fundamental moves of my life, the list would look something like this:
1. Love – have you mastered the move of love, allowing yourself to give and receive it, to get messy and teary eyed and vulnerable? Have you loved something or someone so much you thought your heart would burst? Have you felt the difference between attachment and unconditional love? Do you love yourself just as much as any soul you have met on this journey?
2. Awareness – have you sat still long enough to be inside your body, to feel the messages coming from your cells? Have you breathed into the core of your being to listen to the answers it is giving you? Have you quieted your mind long enough to connect with your intuition? Are you awake for the stuff of your life?
3. Expression – do you feel that your message, divinely inspired and inside of you, is worth sharing? Do you share your gifts with those around you out of the sheer passion you feel? Do you feel in your bones the magnificence that is there, in whatever form it takes, and let others in on your light? Are you shining bright for the world to see?
4. Perseverance – do you get up one more time after falling 99 times? Do you see your failures as part of your success? Can you give yourself permission to make mistakes, and try again, knowing that perfection is an unattainable goal, and that your mistakes are the stones on your path? Can you see the path before you is different than everyone else’s and avoid the comparisons that will shut you down?
5. Forgiveness – are you able to feel compassion for others and especially for yourself? Can you let go of the tightness, pain and emotions that get stuck in the crevices and limit your being? Are you able to stay in the moment, or do you dwell in the moments of your past, with regret and perseveration? Are you seeking to transform your old beliefs or are you stuck in what you think is right?
6. Courage – do you feel through your fear and take a step forward anyway? Do you recognize your power and worth and stand up for yourself, and others? Do you stay brave when all Hell breaks loose, and every doubt and shame come in to flood your mind? Are you brave enough to show your vulnerability, or to express your anger in a way that honors what you feel?
There are probably many more fundamental moves in life. Moves you have had to master, lessons you have had to learn…what are some of the fundamental moves of your own life? What do you know you have to do well, to make the big picture look and feel good? Does it need rhythm? Or power? Even when you master the moves, and they are memorized, you must string them together and create the whole that you desire. This act, of putting all the moves together, moment by moment, in an order, with the right timing, rhythm and power, is a lifelong practice. Even when we perfect one form, there is a never ending list ahead of us of combinations of moves to learn, dances to try.
When we consciously practice the fundamental moves, we help ourselves with a stronger form. The moves cross over to all the other forms, so as we learn them, we are helping ourselves with the next form. But there are always new fundamental moves, endless combinations, with endless unique moments to use them in. If you look at that big picture, you might decide that it is overwhelming, without end, no final goal to attain. And that is the point.
Will you be okay with the lifelong practice, wherever you are at, with whatever combinations you have learned, failing a thousand times, and getting up again? Will you enjoy the journey, realizing that the fundamental moves are what matter, not the prize we might get for the perfect form? Will you give your form rhythm and power on a regular basis, recognizing the spectacular performance of your dance is due to the unique expression you, and only you, give it?
Show me your moves!
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