STANDING ON YOUR OWN TWO FEET MASTER Guy E. Larke

Standing On Your Own Two Feet Enter Teuk Gong Moo Sool (Part 2) By Master Guy Edward Larke

Stances are a not only a part of martial arts, but of everyday life. You could even say a part of nature. Stability is needed for plant life, animals and human beings. Lack of it can spell disaster. For the martial artist, stances provide balance, leverage, stability, and another method of generating power. Practitioners of Teuk Gong Moo Sool are no different. What follows is the evolution of GM No-Won Park’s decades of martial arts experience, in this case, practical stance training. First each stance will be explained with attention paid to the “why”. Next the poomsae (pattern) will be detailed.

Moh-ah-seo-gi Jah-sae: The “Attention” stance symbolizes the energy from the sky and the ground. To perform it, first you perform a high X-block, then you bring your hands together in a Chinese bow, then pull the hands down low in front of the of the body.

Gong-gyuk Jah-sae: This unique position means basically to “Attack.” It’s an offensive posture with the body balanced equally between both legs and sunk low to the ground. In addition the torso is leaned forward to enable one to explode forward at a seconds notice. This way you can scatter (or interrupt) your attacker’s power. It resembles a lunge in fencing when employed versus an aggressor. The lead hand is extended to protect the heart, while the rear is protecting the navel region.

Bang-uh Jah-sae: In many ways it resembles the Attack position. The “Defence” posture is utilized to receive an attack as it moves backward and can easily be moved into after the Attack stance is employed. Counterattacks are easily used, many times without even a single block released.

Pyoung Jah-sae: The “Basic“stance or “Balanced” stance, as it is more aptly called, in many ways resembles the archetypical horse stance most of us grew up with. The knees tend to pulled in rather than pushed out. Another difference is that while the 2nd and 3rd stance move forward and backward, this is designed to smoothly move from left to right.

Ahp-goo-bee Jah-see: This “Forward” stance once again requires the individual to lean forward as the feet are fixed firmly to the ground to provide stability for strong blocking techniques and counter attacks. Many times this employed with knife hand blocks.

Kyoh-cha Jah-sae: The “Cross” stance uses a triangle like formation with the lower torso. Again the body weight is low while it is evenly distributed on both sides. It is like a small tree that has been transplanted, when small sticks are employed to give it strength. The upper hand blocks and grabs the offending limb as the lower (shoulder, elbow, knife hand, and hammer fist) pierces the enemy’s defences.

Dwee-goop-bee Jah-sae: The “Bending Back” stance might seem like a typical back stance, but it much more resembles a branch blown backwards by a strong wind. As one can guess it is defensive in nature. One sinks as low and as far back as possible to get gain maximum distance from one’s assailant. As you are bending backwards, it is far more feasible to spring back as if you were and elastic band snapping back into shape.

Joo-choom-suh-gi Jah-sae: Literally, this translates to “Halfway Standing” or perhaps “Interrupt” may be more appropriate. It may be considered a tiger stance by some but GM Park purposely discarded as many animalistic references as possible as he saw them irrelevant for the 21st Century. It is used to interrupt an opponent’s attack to catch them off guard. It’s very easy to perform a defensive move from this posture. One could raise the lead leg to block kicks with the bottom of the foot and follow through with a kick of one’s own with the same leg.

Han-bahl Suh-gi Jah-sae: “The One Foot Standing” position appears to resemble the crane stance. It is rare where it is 100% defensive.

Bahn Moo-ryup Jah-sae: This last stance translates to “Halfway Kneeling Standing.” A more appropriate name may simply be “Kneeling” stance. It is performed versus an attack from a prone opponent. This allows you to defend and attack simultaneously.