Transcript:

Welcome to the podcast, it’s Matt and Dennis from Senior TaeKwonDo.

Hey.

This week we’re talking about how we got started, and what Senior TaeKwonDo is. We’re circling back and talking about our origin story because a lot of you have been asking.

Yeah, what happened with me was when I joined the Asian Arts Center I was 49 years old, and I did TaeKwonDo for 18 years, and then I retired from my job, and I moved away. So, my school is here in Ohio, I moved to North Carolina. You know, I was not really interested in finding a new school, but I did want to continue my training.

So, certainly, I can train on my own, but part of the idea for the community, in this case, was establishing a way that we could keep in touch, that we could communicate with each other, not only by voice or by email, but also by video in real time. We could train together still. We could examine each other’s forms and that sort of thing.

But it also, in the process, began to educate us into a new way of practicing martial arts, which is by community, and the community via the internet, and via the digital world. So that’s kind of how the idea of our community evolved.

And I just wanted to add that for me, as Dennis was retiring working from here, it was a way for me to keep that relationship that we had, which was one of mentorship, where I learned so much from Dennis in a professional way, in the way of how to work with people, and how to manage people, and how to talk to people. And so, that was really important to me, but I also wanted to have that relationship for the other adult students that we had at the time, and then that I knew would come over time.

The coolest thing is now that we have this virtual dojo, this online community, it really has become about how we support each other. We’re all doing the same thing. I think I say honestly, and I know I’m not a … that Dennis is a little bit older than me, but I don’t feel that much older than I did 20 years ago. I-

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean, and I think that the idea of getting older that I saw growing up, in that people slowed down, and their body was kind of used up, and they didn’t do a lot of the things that we’re doing. And I feel like healthcare is better, we move in smarter ways, exercise science is so much better. The way we train is smarter.

As we age, physically age, I think we’re getting younger in certain ways because we’re learning so many new things with the internet, and so much new information at our fingertips. I’m learning so much, I’m eating better, paying more attention to the proper nutrients and the things that I need as I age and continue to do specific types of exercises.

And I think that’s also one of the things that we want to do with Senior TaeKwonDo is share those things. What are the things that I’m doing that can help somebody else? What are the things that you’re doing that can help me? Because we’re … and we’re all learning from each other this way. To me, that’s one of the coolest things that we’ve seen develop.

But this idea that … you know, I just don’t feel that much older, and I don’t know how you feel about it.

Well, you know, I think that, first of all, the whole idea of community. And I think age … I’ve discovered that … I used to think age was a state of mind, but I was corrected on that by a gentleman who is much older than me who said, “No, no, it’s not a state of mind, it is a way of thinking.”

Because as you get older I think it’s inevitable that you have more aches and pains. I mean, that’s what happens. It’s entropy, you know. But the whole idea of the community is that you can not only continue to bring along people who are in the same age category, the same physical health category, the same capabilities that you have, you can bring them along, but you can also tap into the people who are, let’s say, younger than you in years.

It brings vital thinking into the mix, it brings perspective into the mix, and it brings wisdom into the mix. And it can come from either end of the spectrum, but the idea, again, of community, is that you are able to maintain contact, and you are able to continue to grow in that knowledge.

And some of it is the physical. And I think it’s helpful … I know it’s helpful to me to have models that I can watch, and models that I can listen to, and models who are as old as I am in years, because I think we have a unique perspective that you can’t get unless you live the years and pay your dues. So that’s part of it.

But there’s a lot of energy in people who are a little younger. There’s a lot of encouragement in people who are a little younger. And I enjoy going to, let’s say, kickboxing class, where everybody in there is younger than me. And they kind of … you know, they understand why I’m there. They enjoy having me there. I bring something extra to the class. We are a community now.

And so, this whole idea of community, I think, is really a central to the whole Senior TaeKwonDo concept.

You know, one thing that I’ll throw in on that is, because you mentioned it when you talk about other people in the group who can do this, and they might be the same age or a little bit older, and I like the idea … I’ve always lived by this idea that if somebody else can do it, and they look even remotely a little bit like me, I can do it. Even if they don’t look anything like me, somebody else can do it, then I can do it.

I think that’s so powerful, because we see it now in this new digital age, in video, and in pictures. And so, it’s not just hearing about somebody who might be able to do something, and can I do that? But when you actually see, with your own eyes, you watch somebody doing something and you realize they’re the same age, and they could even be 20, 30 years older, but because they have the right thinking, which is what you said, the right thinking allows them to go for it, allows them to learn, and grow, and try. And if they can try, I can try. To me, that’s very powerful.

Right, and I think the gateway … You know, there’s a lot of different possible gateways into this continual growth, and this continual expansion of consciousness, and wisdom, and this expanding curiosity. There’s a lot of gateways into that, martial arts being one of them.

And I think it’s helpful for us to make sure that people understand that by having martial arts as our gateway, it doesn’t necessarily restrict people to what some of the preconceived notions about martial arts are. Martial arts can be adapted to a number of situations in terms of age, in terms of social circumstances, in terms of physical location, in terms of physical capabilities.

There’s such a vast possibility there that I think that the idea of martial arts community is a melding of those, too. We don’t want people to not consider becoming part of the community because they’re afraid of martial arts, or they have some preconceived notion about martial arts that we can dispel with some exposure to the people who are in, and part of, our community.

Yeah, and even to the extent that they don’t even have to ever do martial arts, which is to say that you might be attracted to the idea of not slowing down, not having to take no for an answer, not having to limit yourself as you mature and learn new … You can still learn new things, your body can still improve, you can still learn to eat better, you can sleep better, you can move better, you can get better balance, better mobility at every age.

And I think that you don’t have to necessarily do martial arts to find value in what we’re talking about. Now, that might not happen wholesale, it might not be a big group of people. But I know for a fact that there are some people who I know won’t do martial arts, and aren’t doing martial arts, or have ever done martial arts, but are part of the group, and are watching what we’re doing because they find that the message is so powerful in their own life.

They don’t have and interest in martial art, but they have something else that they want to try, that they want to do, and so our example says yes, go for it, try it, do it. You can do anything as long as you find good coaching, and a good support group, and you don’t allow yourself to be limited by anybody else’s opinion, because that’s a big part of it, what will other people think? Or what are my preconceived notions about something. And I think that that’s really important, too.

Right, so I will amend my earlier observation. Even though I-

Well, you don’t have to amend anything.

Well, even though I-

That’s why there are two of us.

I know. Even though I was reminded that age is not a state of mind, I would say that martial arts is a state of mind. And that is the state of mind that we’re talking about, and that is amenable to, as I mentioned previously, all physical capabilities, mental capabilities, economic capabilities. There’s always a way that you can practice the message, and you can grow through martial arts.

And we’re kind of redefining the whole term martial arts, I think. We’re in the process of that right now. We’re-

Yeah, it’s not just for children.

It’s not just for anybody.

It never was for children, originally. This is what’s so funny is that I-

So get out of here children, get!

No, they get … there’s so much value in the martial arts, but what a lot of the kids are doing now is not martial arts. A lot of the things that I see in the schools, game playing, a lot of positive reinforcement, that’s all good. Focus, discipline, and the things that we teach, that’s all important, it’s all good.

But blocking, punching, kicking, get in and out of the way, defending yourself, learning how to fight, learning how to move, that’s not necessarily what kids are learning in all schools. Now, a lot of schools do still teach that, but it is much, much more challenging, from a physical perspective, to teach kids the values of martial arts, the things that we’re doing.

And then society, especially here in the West, has changed so much, and there’s so much fear and misunderstanding about what we do, and we’ve become less and less physical overall. When I started, classes were five … you went to class five or six days a week, and it was a couple hours at a time, and there was a lot of physical contact, and there was very little room for not paying attention and no focus. But all the students were older, or in my case, looked older and were bigger. Yeah.

Now, I have … I just taught a class, just got out of there, and I had three three-year-old kids in there. Now, I am not teaching, and I’ll be the first to say this, I’m not teaching them martial arts in the respect that it was taught to me as a kid.

Yes, they’re paying attention, and I’m better at it, I think, than almost anybody. I can get them to pay attention, and I can help them understand how to do that at school. These are all great byproducts. We talk about putting your hands up, saying, “Stop,” use your words, get out of the way. We even talk about blocking and all these other things.

But to be … It’s just not the same. It’s not martial arts in many respects. Now, I’m not going to debate, here, the value of it.

And for our purposes, they’re not really ready for our community. They will certainly benefit from our community.

They have their own.

They have their own community, which …

And they’re going to grow up like this, with all this stuff, and …

Well, yeah, anyway …

Yeah.

You know …

They’re taken care of, this is for us. This is for-

Right.

Yeah, this is for you when you need to have a community, you need like minded people, you need to see examples of other people doing the things that you know, in the back of your head, you can do it, you know in your heart you want to. We’re giving you permission. This is-

Well, our-

Yeah, this is us giving you permission.

And our mission, to a large degree, is to teach by example, but teaching by example is hundreds of times more effective than telling people what to do, what not to do, don’t do this, do that. If you teach an example that they can see that you are acting and living the way that you are describing life to be, then I think that is so much more effective.