CEP Musings

I just spent a long weekend in the company of some of the best people on the planet. Here, with no particular emphasis are my thoughts on what I experienced and thought about the 2016 World Kuk Sool Association Continuing Education Program.

• Talking to a camera gets easier with practice.
• Sunscreen is sometimes a necessary evil.
• You can never have too much practice or too much instruction.
• You can never hear the same lecture twice.
• It’s time to buy a cutting sword.
• Eighteen hours is a long freaking time in the car.
• If you want to jump high, you need to be able to squat low.
• The more aesthetically pleasing a hyung is, the more likely it is to be correct.
• Conscious eating makes training easier and more enjoyable.
• I hope we someday have a worldwide CEP.
• I need to visit more WKSA schools.
• If Kuk Sool is like a treasure chest, good instruction is the map to find it. Practice is the key to unlocking it.
• Ego has no place in the dojang.
• Instructors need time to socialize during CEP outside of formal training and other “together” times.
• Application of instruction needs to be a conscious choice.
• Proper form is independent of style, opinion, or instruction.

CEP is a great resource for WKSA instructors and school owners. It allows us to work together, celebrate milestones and victories, and commiserate over losses. We’ve gotten to know each other outside of the testing and tournament geographical boundaries that used to constrain us. Of course, Facebook, email, and other social media allow us to keep in touch, but time together has brought us closer. I’m grateful to the Association for instituting the training and for continuing to be invited every year.