You Won Hwa – From theory to practice.

I was in a weird situation recently and didn’t realize until later that I had used Kuk Sool Won™ to defend myself.

Without going into unnecessary detail, I was attacked verbally by someone in a position of authority. It did not go well at first. I was completely unprepared for an attack, verbal or otherwise. I felt safe. When the incident happened, the first “push” as they say, I reacted from instinct and pushed back.

As it happened (and as rarely happens in a physical altercation) there was a small gap, a space of a minute or two that allowed me to calm down and collect my thoughts. I was shaken and didn’t really have time to assess the situation fully or plan any sort of defense other than to be true to myself and completely honest.

You Won Hwa is an expression of a theory in Kuk Sool Won™ that describes how our martial art works. In brief:

• You — Fluid motion, like water flowing downhill.
• Won — Circular movement magnifies force.
• Hwa — Work with your opponent in harmony rather than against him in discord.

After the gap, the person pushed verbally again. Hard.

Rather than pushing back, I instinctively pulled. I explained that I didn’t understand why the attack was happening nor even what this person’s original intent was. I circled the argument back and returned it to him in such a way that there was nothing left to attack.

Now, did I purposely think of using martial art tactics to defend myself? No. I’m not that quick. I’m actually rather slow, verbally, which probably contributed to things getting so quickly out of hand. It didn’t strike me until about a week later that it was an example of martial art theory in practice.

But, it worked. That’s the bottom line. And it’s not the only time I’ve used You Won Hwa verbally.

Do I always remember?

No. I’m kind of slow, remember?

But, I’m going to try to remember more in the future. Maybe you will too.

If you’ve ever used this or some other martial art strategy either physically or verbally, let me know in the comments section.