Foreword by Robert Beaudoin
Welcome to living life with greater calmness, enjoyment, and inner and outer peacefulness; reaching more frequently that ever elusive “balance” in everyday living.
It was a few decades ago sometime in the 1990’s, that our founder, Grandmaster Jae C. Shin, gathered a couple of senior Masters and began by saying to us that he wanted to apologize. Well, that certainly got our attention.
It was not very often that Grandmaster wanted to ask for forgiveness for something, and we were definitely curious. He said he had been teaching us for around 30 years how to kick, punch, and block, but he had forgotten to teach us one of the most important things. I felt like a student hungry to learn some magnificent teaching or secret move from ancient martial arts history. Then he said “I forgot to teach you about healing.”
That’s when he described Ki Gong, a study about universal energy and how we humans strive for healing, balance, and relieving stress.
Since Grandmaster Shin added Ki Gong to our practice of Tang Soo Do, it has enhanced our health, our practice, and our lives. It has genuinely found an essential place in our quest for a better and improved life. Indeed, please open your mind and enjoy learning, implementing, and practicing Ki Gong with the fruitful and stimulating ideas in the following pages.
Respectfully yours,
Robert Beaudoin, Grandmaster, World Tang Soo Do Association
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Foreword by Bill Strong
For most of my martial arts life, now spanning almost 50 years, I have been intrigued with that “elusive” concept of Ki. In the early years of training my instructors frequently shouted “use your Ki” but rarely attempted to explain its meaning or how to achieve its power. Their instructions focused entirely on using Ki for martial arts purposes, but I doubt if many of us really understood it or felt it. During the second Masters’ Clinic in 1991, Grandmaster Shin invited a Ki Master to lecture on the concept and reality of Ki energy in the martial arts. Soon thereafter, he began a more serious study of Ki through the discipline of Ki Gong.
Sensing the need to inform WTSDA students, in January 2003 Grandmaster Shin conducted the first WTSDA Ki Gong clinic at his dojang in Philadelphia. He mentioned the value of Ki in the martial arts, yet focused the entire clinic on its healing properties through the practice of Ki Gong, thus presenting an alternative avenue to knowing, understanding, and applying Ki. Receiving guidance during his annual and regional clinics and engaging in much personal practice, I finally felt the physical manifestation of Ki energy flowing through my hands…an eye-opening and life-enhancing “aha” moment.
Those early Ki Gong experiences triggered a new interest, and in fact a personal goal, to discover how such knowledge could benefit and improve both my health and Tang Soo Do training. While I focused solely on the healing aspects of Ki Gong initially, merging its concepts and applications into the martial tradition boosted my Tang Soo Do passion to a higher level of understanding and skill.
To ensure future Ki Gong instruction, Grandmaster Shin organized the World Ki Gong. From its early origin with few members, World Ki Gong has flourished and cultivated a population of dedicated practitioners who are extending the value of Ki Gong practice to the larger community. World Ki Gong and its members have secured Grandmaster Shin’s vision of promoting the life-enhancing practice of Ki Gong for good health and martial arts benefits.
This World Ki Gong Manual offers a pathway to understanding the nature and value of Ki energy and I encourage you to embark on a worthwhile adventure embracing healthful living.
Ki Gong!
William Strong, Grandmaster, World Tang Soo Do Association
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