Div.3 Chapter 22

Maintaining Balance in Taekwondo

“How is it despite my long training my skill does not advance?”

“You persist only in your favorite training and avoid concentrating on your weak points.”

What is the balance that results from the union of Tang (Earth) and Saram (Man)? Balance is the stable and calm state obtained when every part is controlled within change. To take an example, the pair of arms on a scale do not decline when both weigh the same. Likewise, a spinning toy top does not fall but calmly rotates due to the balance of forces pulling it both one way and another. Balance appears as a state of non-motion due to its tranquility while it is in fact quite different from that. It includes multiple movements. It is a state not of rest but of balance. Thus, good balance refers to a readiness that conceals all motion in apparent non-motion. It is a perfected standstill.

Many movements that can be actualized are hidden in standstill. Generally speaking, movement and the standstill are always open and relative to one another within the context of continuous flux. Man stands between them and defines as fixed what he wishes to do, which generates the particular movement in question, as well as standstill and balance. As balance in Taekwondo is for the sake of his attack and defense centered upon himself, it is to be united with mobility when it can spout its hidden potential in the proper way.

All change relies on a particular non-change, for there can be no absolute change. Thus, a motion, which is a mere pattern of change in your body, relies on standstill, which is a sort of no-change. The standstill supporting motion generates tranquility, which is the balance in motion. Therefore, an unbalanced motion cannot accomplish what it aims while a good motion includes its own tranquil stability. This concept is applied not only to motion but also to a static pose, which reveals no outer movement. For there is no fundamental difference in standstill or motion when it is in the control of your mind and body, although there is a difference between motion and standstill in their figures.

This kind of balance exists among all changing things; and each balance leads to a change. The motions of Taekwondo also follow this way. So when you shift from a standstill to movement you rely upon the balance of your body, and when you shift from one motion to another you rely more on the balance among you, the object and the world than on the relationship between you and your object, i.e. between Saram and the world.

A motion can be obtained only when balance collapses to reveal its potentiality, but even in its collapse the balance always leads to another balance. If you cannot control this balance you cannot overwhelm your opponent and your attack will lack power. By taking your balance into consideration, you as a Taekwondo-Een will strengthen your arms whenever you strengthen your legs, and you will hit the close part though your intention was to subjugate the further part.

When balance is perfect, that is, when it has accumulated the most potentiality within itself, it can be an important source of power. To put it another way, a powerful movement must be a balanced one. This principle is confirmed by the phenomena of our world. A hurricane can muster such amazing power because its center – “the eye of a hurricane” – remains calm. The rapid spinning of a toy top is possible because its center stands in tranquility. Just as with the hurricane and the top, correct balance is both calm and powerful.

Then what is perfect balance? Is there such a thing? To be completely truthful, there can be no such complete balance in itself. Every balance stands in relation to something else. Thus, there is no perfect pose or motion. For balance is an accumulated possibility in any given situation. Therefore, not every balanced state is static. A toy top can remain upright owing to its continuous spinning; balance with no mobility is nothing but an illusion.

In Taekwondo, when you attack or defend you should always control your balance in order to maintain your tide and to discern your opponent’s blind spots. As a skilful Taekwondo-Een, when you attack you should never be swept off by the opponent’s sudden change but rather defeat his calm with limited power thus upsetting his balance. When you defend, you will perceive his attack as nothing, causing his balance to collapse together with the world.

Though we may perceive the Taekwondo-Een swaying and his opponent broken together there, the swaying is not the swaying of confusion. The difference between a ship riding a wave and another swept away by the sea is that the former has its own direction controlled by the captain harnessing and riding the waves whereas the latter loses its direction owing to the changes of the waves. Even though both share the aspect of movement upon the waves their difference could hardly be greater.

The same goes for balance, so stability is not the only aspect of balance. You can achieve your ideal balance only in the accomplishment of what you want in your motion relative to your opponent. This is to create harmony in the way of Saram, which implies not losing yourself, and in the way of Tang, which implies a harmony with a world in flux.