Taekwondo or my own way of meditation

Meditation is of course a good way to inner peace but meditation does not always mean to sit still and think.
For me meditation is doing a poomse which is kind of shadow fighting in Taekwondo. I started Taekwondo about 14 yeas ago already. When I started it my main goal was to lose weight. Yes sounds strange, most people start it because they want to learn to defend themselves or they want to learn how to kick somebody. Well, my reasons were different. And I must admit in the beginning I was very frustrated because the resulst came very very slow.

Another frustrating part was that as a newbie you had to stand in frond and learn the basics and I mean literally basics like walking front or back in the right way and how to block correct. I was so close to give up if there had not been one part of it that always fascinated me. It was the greatest thing for me, and still is, when I see one of the trainers doing a master poomse. This looked like a kind of art or a great ice skater standing in the final of a tournament. So controlled, so alive but also so calm and peaceful. I guarantee you I only did not give up because I wanted to do this myself so badly that I said I have to keep going. So I went training 3 to 4 times a week, some days I trained even 3 hours in a row.

Of course the trainers noticed my growing passion for this sport. And also I was no longer a newbie. Finally I was allowed to learn the first students form of poomse but just that I had seen it so often by the other students doing it that I already knew it. Well I thought so, til the teacher came and showed me that my fist was to high and so on. But I enjoyed it, I felt like being an artist. When you run a poomse you just concentrate on yourself, focus on your inner flow. Nothing from the outside world can distract you. You just do one kick after a block or a punch. Well OK some facts firts: poomse is a fight against an invisible opponent. This is to learn kicks, punches and blocks. Evey poomse has its own movements that must be made correctly.

But to me this means much more. The harder the poomse the harder the challenge but also the greater the feeling when you can do it correct and also with your inner peace. When you manage a poomse with this inner peace when it becomes a kind of meditation to you than you have truly mastered it. That is why I 14 years later still love this sport. I still stick to it even when I have no time to train and I still love seeing somebody doing a great poomse that he or she mastered. This is something you can´t buy you have to earn it and I did.