Feedback of the 2025 SA Seminar by Mike, including some comment by GM Kim

[HAEDONG]

National Museum in Bloemfontein, South Africa 🇿🇦

Haedong Kumdo Seminar in South Africa (26th November – 1st December 2025)

This year, my participation in a seminar of Grand Master Kim took place in the city of Bloemfontein, South Africa. It was a trip that I had been thinking about for quite some time, as it was an opportunity to see up close places and part of the wildlife that we do not easily encounter in Europe and in Western culture in general.

In this respect, the experience was invaluable. However, as always, a Grand Master’s seminar is not just a chance to improve your skills and knowledge in the Korean swordplay, but it is a way of meeting new people and different cultures around the world, having the love for Haedong Kumdo as a connecting link.

Travelling to several countries to attend the seminars, I realize that one of the greatest Grand master’s qualities is that all the people who participate in his federation are, first and foremost, amazing characters.

For that reason, all of us who practice Haedong Kumdo are, above all, friends and then fellow athletes.

So, in South Africa I also found wonderful people. I met Stephen, the United World Haedong Kumdo Federation representative in South Africa and his wife Angela with their wonderful children, as well as their parents.

All of them were particularly kind and helpful who provided us with incredible hospitality and for these reasons I am very grateful.

Moreover, the other seminar’s partitioners (Mia, Justin, Chante and all the color belts) were just as nice as their master, being extremely happy and kind.

As for the seminar, it was once again particularly successful and educational.

For my aspect, with the help of Grand Master, I understood once again that you don't need to constantly learn new material in order to evolve in dan.

When the time comes, this too will happen. But through practicing the skills you already know, in the way that the Grand Master will show you, when necessary, you can evolve and change your everyday sword practice for the better.

Nevertheless, the most unexpected and at the same time amazing experience that happened to me was during kimu practice on the last day.

The last 8-10 years when I am practicing in Kimu by the guidance of Grand Master Kim, I always heard him to say “relax and feel the energy” and when you perform the movements with your hands “they move automatically”.

Unfortunately, until now, I have been executing these movements without feeling or not understanding what the Grand Master was saying.

But in the last day, when we practicing Kimu, I suddenly realize that my hands were moving without hesitation or by order by my mind, just automatically, as Grand Master always emphasize.

That was a great experience, understanding what exactly did Grand Master mean.

At the same, it was a great lesson for me, recognizing that if your master is good, you should learn to trust him, even if you are not able to understand what he says sometimes. There will come a time when you will understand what he wants to explain to you.

That's why we need to have patience and perseverance in everything we want to achieve, not only in training and in everyday life, and show faith to those who are the appropriate people to lead us on this path.

See you again in a Haedong Kumdo seminar’s experience

Michalis

《Message from Mentor’s Statement》

What you experienced was truly meaningful —
a genuine experience directly lived through the body.
And once it is realized, it is actually very simple.
The moment you felt during this seminar is precisely what I have always described as
“the most fundamental element in finding the forgotten half of martial arts” —
the actual experience of the body moving by itself.
This was not a stage of intellectual understanding,
but the moment when the body perceived first
and began to move on its own.
That moment is the essence.
However, there is one point I must state clearly.
That experience was not completion.
It was only a taste — the very beginning.
Kimu (氣武) is not a special technique.
It is not something forced,
nor something imitated through memorization.
When tension dissolves, intention disappears,
and the body resonates with the natural flow,
it simply reveals itself as a state.
And when this revealed state is repeatedly cultivated through continued practice,
sensory abilities that lead directly to healing naturally emerge.
Through this process, what may be called Eye-Fingers and Beam-Fingers are formed.
These are not metaphors.
They refer to real, functional sensitivity —
the ability to see with awareness, feel through the fingertips,
and guide, transmit, and regulate the flow of energy.
This sensitivity enables one to perform acupuncture,
to rub, press, or lightly strike with the hands,
while sensing through the body
the blockage and opening of energy,
as well as its dispersion and convergence during practice.
The reason Mike was suddenly able to understand with his body
what had remained unclear for so many years is simple.
He did not abandon his training,
and even within doubt, he continued to entrust himself to the process.
Moreover, Mike’s reflection goes far beyond a single Kimu experience.
Through this seminar, he clearly expressed
what Haedong Kumdo exists for,
and why international seminars truly matter.
He recognized that growth does not come from constantly learning new techniques,
but from how deeply and sincerely
one trains what is already known.
This insight can only come from a practitioner and instructor
who has accumulated experience across many countries and cultures.
He also spoke of Haedong Kumdo as a discipline
that connects people beyond nationality, language, and culture —
a community where practitioners are first friends, not rivals,
and where martial arts serve not to divide by superiority,
but to foster mutual respect and understanding.
This perspective aligns precisely with
the transmission philosophy of Jinyoung Ssangkum Ryu Haedong Kumdo,
which values character before rank
and life attitude before technique.
A true teacher is not someone who explains everything immediately,
but one who can wait for the student’s realization
and demonstrate the path from beginning to end through the body.
In particular, Kimu training in Jinyoung Ssangkum Ryu
cannot be taught by imitation or memorization alone.
The authenticity of the training
is instantly revealed through the quality of the hands and their movement.
From this point forward, your training will not be the same.
The movements may appear unchanged,
but the flow within them will be different.
Always remember this:
Kimu is not something felt once and completed.
It reveals itself only when one continuously empties oneself, moment by moment.
You have now entered
the stage of beginning to find.
From here on, the real training begins.
Continue forward
calmly and sincerely,
entrusting the knowing to the body first,
and walk the path without haste.

—
Jinyoung Ssangkum Ryu Haedong Kumdo ☆ United World Haedong Kumdo Federation
Founder & Grandmaster
Jeong Seong, Kim

《상기 후기에 대한 논평》

그 경험은 정말 훌륭한, 직접 몸으로 겪은 체험이다. 하지만, 알고 나면 너무도 간단한 일이다.

그대가 이번 세미나에서 느낀 그 순간은,
내가 늘 이야기해 온 ‘잃어버린 무술의 반쪽을 찾는 가장 기본이 되는 요소’,
즉 몸이 저절로 움직이는 현상을 실제로 체험한 순간이다.

머리로 이해하는 단계가 아니라,
몸이 먼저 알아차리고 스스로 움직이기 시작한 그 순간이 바로 그것이다.

하지만 그 체험은 여전히 온전한 시작이 아니라, 겨우 시작을 위한 맛을 본 정도에 불과하다.

기무(氣舞)는 특별한 기술이 아니다.
억지로 만들어내는 것도 아니고,
배워서 흉내 내는 동작도 아니다.
긴장이 내려가고, 의도가 사라지며,
자연의 흐름에 몸이 동조될 때
그저 드러나는 상태일 뿐이다.

그리고 바로 이 드러나는 상태를 거듭 반복하여 수련할 때,
힐링으로 이어지는 감각이 자연스럽게 형성된다.

그 과정 속에서 Eye-Fingers와 Beam-Fingers라 부를 수 있는 감각이 만들어진다.

이는 단순한 비유가 아니라,
눈으로 보고 손끝으로 느끼며,
기운의 흐름을 집중·전달·유도할 수 있는 실제적인 수련 감각이다.

이 감각은 침을 놓게도 하고,
손으로 부비거나, 누르거나, 가볍게 치는 동작을 가능하게 하며,
그 과정 속에서
기운의 막힘과 열림,
발산과 수렴을
몸으로 직접 감지하면서 수련할 수 있게 만든다.

Mike가 오랜 시간 이해되지 않던 말을
어느 날 갑자기 몸으로 깨닫게 된 이유는 하나다.

그만큼 수련을 포기하지 않았기 때문이며,
의심 속에서도 계속해서 몸을 맡겼기 때문이다.

또한 Mike의 후기는
기무 체험 하나에만 국한되지 않는다.

그는 이번 세미나를 통해
해동검도가 무엇을 위한 수련인가,
그리고 왜 국제 세미나가 필요한가에 대해서도 매우 중요한 통찰을 전하고 있다.

그는 새로운 기술을 많이 배우는 것이 곧 발전이라는 착각에서 벗어나,
이미 알고 있는 기본을
어떤 태도와 어떤 깊이로 수련하느냐가 진짜 성장임을 분명히 짚어냈다.

이는 오랜 시간 여러 나라의 세미나를 직접 경험한 수련자이자 지도자만이 할 수 있는 성숙한 인식이다.

또한 그는 해동검도를 통해
국적과 문화, 언어를 넘어
사람과 사람이 먼저 연결되는 공동체성을 이야기하고 있다.

수련자는 경쟁자가 아니라 친구이며,
무술은 우열을 가르기 위한 도구가 아니라
서로를 이해하고 존중하게 만드는 매개라는 점을 분명히 드러내고 있다.

이러한 인식은
무술의 술기 이전에 사람을 보고,
무술의 단수 이전에 삶의 태도를 보는
진영쌍검류 해동검도의 전수 철학과 정확히 맞닿아 있다.

좋은 스승이란
모든 것을 즉시 설명해 주는 사람이 아니라,
제자가 스스로 체험할 수 있도록 기다릴 줄 알고, 그 길의 처음과 끝을 몸으로 보여줄 수 있는 사람이다.

특히 진영쌍검류의 기무수련은
그저 따라 하거나 외워서 가르칠 수 있는 것이 아니다.

손의 모양과 움직임만 보아도
그 수련이 진짜인지 아닌지는 즉각 드러난다.

이번 체험을 계기로
앞으로의 수련은 이전과 같지 않을 수도 있다.
동작은 같아 보일지라도,
그 안에서 흐르는 기의 상태는 달라질 수도 있다.

그러나 늘 기억해야 하는 점은,
기무는 한 번 느끼고 끝나는 것이 아니라,
매 순간 다시 비워질 때에만 드러나는 상태이다.

그대는 이제
‘찾기 시작한 단계’에 들어섰다.
이제부터가 진짜 수련이다.

앞으로의 길도
차분하게, 성실하게,
몸이 먼저 알도록 맡기며
계속 걸어가길 바란다.

—


진영쌍검류 해동검도
총재 김정성