After 20 years, Glenice Shaw returned to Tans Taekwondo to achieve 4th Dan.    In her late 50’s Glenice is living proof that you are never to old to come back to training.  Once a black belt, always a black belt.

Below are GLenice’s views of the 5 tenents of Tae-kwon-do.

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5 TENENTS OF TAEKWONDO

1. Courtesy (Ye Ui)

Taekwon-Do students should attempt to be polite to one another and to respect others. Students instructors before and after classes. Turning up early or on time for classes is also an aspect of courtesy.

I use courtesy in my everyday life in the way I approach and treat people. This will be in many different forms from simply saying “thank you” to helping someone less able to take a seat on public transport. In class to be polite to fellow students and also to bow to instructors and address in correct manner.  To also be on time for class and be ready to train to the best of your ability shows respect to the club and the Instructor.

 

2. Integrity (Yom Chi)

One who has integrity is able to define what is right or wrong and have the conscience, if wrong, to feel guilt. Taekwon-Do students should strive to be honest and to live by moral principles.

Without Integrity in your life it would be impossible to live happy and contented, to never take what is not your which includes when you are given more change than you should simply give it back, again it is not your to keep.

I had an experience where I withdrew money from my bank account and the teller was new and in training and she ended up giving me $100 more than I had withdrawn but I didn’t notice until I had gone to the next shop in my day. When I realized she had given me too much money I went straight back to the bank and gave the teller the money back even though it was out of my way knowing full well the teller would have been out at the end of the day and would have had to put the money in out of her own pocket I just couldn’t in all good conience keep the money.

If you borrow from your neighbor always return it after all if you keep it it is still stealing. Making sure if you use equipment from the Dogang always return it.

 

 

3. Perseverance (In Nae)

Perseverance means having patience. One of the most important secrets of becoming a leader in Taekwon-Do is to overcome every difficulty by perseverance. Confucius said,” One who is impatient in trivial matters can seldom achieve success in matters of great importance.”

I have to say it is more natural for me to be impatient however Taekwondo has taught me to come to terms with this and now I work through everything I need to do with a great deal of patience and also in my teaching roll I have been able to impart this to my students for them to be able to get the best out of themselves.

With perseverance I have been able to work through a divorce and make a great life for myself and build my own small business to attain awards for my work and increase my knowledge to be able to give to others

 

 

4. Self-Control (Guk Gi)

Without self-control, a Taekwon-Do student is just like any fighter in the street. Loss of self-control is disastrous both in sparring and personal affairs. “The term of stronger is the person who wins over oneself rather than someone else”, Lao Tzu.

Self-Control is a quality that everyone should live each and every day in every aspect of life.

I had a student in my club at Logan City who had totally lost his way. He was only 17 years old and running with a gang of young men who just did whatever they wanted to with no self-control. I worked with his Mum and she asked if I would take her son to training with me and try and help. Slowly everyone could see a change in him he was able to communicate more easily with others and his appearance was also changing with a new hair cut and neater cloths.  Happily after 18months with the club and using Taekwondo principals this lovely young man totally changed his life and with self-control and being able to gain self-confidence was able to change his outlook to gain a fantastic job and become a great asset to society and himself.

5. Indomitable Spirit (Baekjul Boolgool)

A true student of Taekwon-Do will never give up, not even when faced with insurmountable odds. The most difficult goals can be achieved with indomitable spirit

After being dianoged with Fibro Myalgia in 2006, which I was told there is no cure and that I would have to take pain killers etc to control the pain also I would have to limit what I do. No more heavy exercise. I was devastated because I really wanted to get back into Taekwondo training with the goal of attaining my 4th Dan.

I did follow the Doctors orders for a few years and just found I put on weight and the pain was unbearable. I also know a number of my friends and acquaintances who have similar health issues and they are totally dependent on Meds to get through their day, so figured there had to be a better way to live.

I decided that I did not want to take this path so I worked with a personal trainer for over 12 months to get my body fit and greatly reduced pain by exercise and being able to get back to Taekwondo training and worked through the effects of this very debilitating disease to be able to train for my 4th Dan. This is now my life style and train every day in at least one form of excerise as I plan to keep working at it to be able to train until I am very old without a lot of medicines.