AN EXPLORATION OF TSD´s EIGHT KEY CONCEPTS: ENDURANCE SBN Mary Cayte Reiland

An Exploration of Tang Soo Do's Eight Key Concepts: In Neh

SBN Mary Cayte Reiland

Tang Soo readers, happy March! This month, we continue with the discussion of the second of the Tang Soo Do Eight Key Concepts. Up next is In Neh, also known as endurance. According to the dictionary, endurance is “the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way.”

Sometimes when instructors say the word endurance, I think it can be misconstrued. While endurance requirements like pushups, crunches, burpees, pop up kicks, etc are very important for your physical endurance, mental endurance is even tougher to conquer because your thought distortions, emotions, and your personality can get in the way of that. You may not think you’re making progress because you paint yourself in a negative light, so that may get in the way of your mental endurance, and cause you to quit.

In a lot of ways, Tang Soo Do is very difficult; one instructor even told me if it were easy, everyone would do it. Statistically speaking, out of every 1,000 students who join up and begin training at white belt, only 100 of them will make it to Cho Dan, and only 10 of those 100 will make it to Sa Dan (Master). The time and commitment it takes to even make it to Cho Dan is a difficult and slow going process. Consider my journey, I started training in 2004 as a white belt. I wasn’t tested and promoted until 2011, 7 years as a Gup student. Then after being promoted to Cho Dan, you have to wait 2 years before you can test for Ee Dan, and tack on one more year for each rank after that. It’s a long and slow going process, but if your endurance is good, then you will stand tough during those times and keep pushing forward.

For me when I was growing up, quitting was never an option in my mind. I’ve only ever quit two things in my entire life, gymnastics (which if you’ve ever met me in person, you’d understand why), and scouts, because of drama mostly. I always saw Tang Soo Do as a long term journey, something I’d do for the rest of my life. So even as a kid, my endurance was good, which is not the norm in today’s society. Kids get interested in things, so they start, and eventually they get bored with it and quit. I’ve seen it throughout my entire life. I’ve even seen cases where parents were stubborn enough to make their kids continue even though they were bored, and the kids ended up getting next to nothing out of each class, and were more of a disturbance than anything else. At that age, it’s difficult to see the big picture journey ahead, which is understandable, and I think that’s where a lot of the statistics discussed before come into play.

Here are three tips to help you stay on top of your endurance game. First, consider how much progress you make on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Like I said before, we always tend to see the worst in ourselves, which negatively impacts our mental endurance. By making note of all the positive things Tang Soo Do has brought to your life, this will help increase your mental endurance. Second, talk with your instructors, ask them questions, learn from them (that’s what they’re there for)! Some are always more approachable than others, but if you lean into them, they will help guide you. Third and finally, keep coming to class and practice hard. It’s easy to fall out of the practice of coming to class 2-3 times every week, but if you do, I guarantee you will affect positive change in yourself and possibly your other comrades. Building relationships is also key! Have a karate buddy make a schedule with you so you come to class together. It’s one of the best things you can do, and you will be holding yourself accountable not only to yourself, but to your buddy. Everyone take care, keep practicing, Tang Soo!

SBN Mary Cayte Reiland, USA