Welcome to The Martial Arts Experience, a blog for martial arts students written by a martial arts student. My name is James Heald. I hold a yellow belt in Taekwondo that I earned in 2007, and currently do not have a dojang where I may practice with fellow students. I earned the belt while living in Chuncheon, Kangwon Province, in South Korea. As an English teacher for a nationally recognized chain of institutes, I got to move around a lot during the three years I taught there. I've lived in Seoul, Chuncheon and Daegu. In 2008 my contract ended and I moved to Chiang Mai, Thailand, where I currently live.
A couple of years ago Joe Lewis was interviewed for a podcast that is no longer in production. I appreciated what he said during the interview about how he could learn from everyone, including a white belt. There is the right way of doing things, and a lot of different ways to get it wrong. On this site I will be taking a general approach to martial arts, sharing insight from what I read and how I think it applies to today's martial artist. Students have questions, and hopefully the answers we discover will help us become not just better martial artists, but better people in the society in which we live. This is the "marketplace of ideas," so please exchange your ideas here and together we all may learn something new. The only stupid question is the unasked question, so all questions are welcome. I do not have all the answers.
In the grand scheme of things, I plan to tie a podcast in with this blog. The blog should be updated once or twice a week, and the podcast, once it goes into production, should be available once every two weeks. I'll be looking at movie reviews of martial arts films from my collection, and will not just focus on Asian martial arts. To narrow things down a bit, I will try to avoid movies with lots of gunplay. Ridley Scott's "Kingdom of Heaven" features scenes of intense battle, but fits more in tune with a martial arts movie much better than "Blackhawk Down." "Seven Samurai" features limited gunplay, but the action is still focused on swords and hand-to-hand combat, and will fit into a review here, but "The Magnificent Seven," though the same story told using the American West as its background, doesn't quite fit into what with what I have planned for The Martial Arts Experience. We will also look at martial arts philosophy, but nothing that is devoted to the martial arts academy where one learns from one's instructor. This place is for discussing ideas. All are free to participate. And if I am wrong in my point of view, I am openminded enough to learn to see things through the eyes of those with more experience that myself. I am a student, and therefore, I will be wrong about some things, undereducated in other things, and am seeking to learn as all good students should seek to learn and to apply truth to their lives.
On a lighter note, it should be noted that at the time I earned my yellow belt, I was packing about 140 kilograms. I'd always wanted to learn a martial art, Korea provided a good opportunity to learn Taekwondo, and it opened a door to shed a few pounds. It also gave me a chance to learn what torn cartilage feels like, but that may not be due to practicing ap'chagi. The pain first began after I finished a 30 minute session on a treadmill at a local gym next to my institute in Chuncheon. I was able to work out at the dojang, but the next day decided it might not be a good idea to work out at all. Eventually I went to the hospital for x-rays, and was told it was torn cartilage behind my right knee. The doctor said to avoid climbing stairs, always use the elevator in buildings, go swimming and build up the muscles in my thighs, and to keep the knee extended. I still have no idea where to find a swimming pool in Chuncheon.
The only other injury I had in the dojang was a sprained left wrist. Before I could return to the dojang in Chuncheon, I was moved to Daegu by my institute.
My goals now are simple. Read, read, read as much as I can about the various martial arts that are out there and learn what I can about their history, the men and women who have excelled in the arts, and share with you the things that I found thought-provoking. There are tons of movies to watch and talk about. And there is a lot of weight to lose, so I will keep you posted on how the weight loss goes as I work out in preparation of one day returning to a Taekwondo school. I miss my time in the dojang, even if the black belts are 20-30 years younger than me. Hey, if you are a big guy like me and want someone to have as a support partner in weight loss, let me know. Together we can shed some pounds.
Vitals:
Name: James Heald
Age: 45
Weight: 140 kilograms
Martial Art: Taekwondo
Belt: Yellow
Currently studying taeguk il jong.
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