Training the Mind
The mind is a weapon, and ideally a sharp one. Students are more productive when they understand what our system is teaching. We appreciate students who develop a rounded knowledge base, including the sciences, arts, and culture. We want our students to question, explore, and discover better ways of doing what we do. Because that is not always easy, we give them the tools.
| Training Modules | Description |
| Mind Development | Students “learn how to learn.” We provide a short curriculum to review effective learning and self-study strategies, including what to do and what not to do when learning new material. We want our students to apply these skills to all areas of their life, not just our training classes: students can and should learn math, languages, and more using these effective techniques as they wish. |
| Visualization | Visualization is used in all the performing arts and most professional sports to ingrain the learning of new physical training. Students will focus on various techniques, and mentally drill them under different circumstances. These are guided sessions, so that students are not left to their own imaginations, but will learn what aspects of a physical activity to concentrate on. |
| Meteorology | Students will learn to read the clouds, understand temperature and pressure, wind and precipitation, and discover how to estimate weather changes. |
| Astronomy | The night sky can provide a detailed map of the world. The ability to determine time, direction, and distances using the night sky is a rarely used but highly valuable skill. Students will learn the road markers in the sky, and while no time will be spent with the telescope, students will appreciate the vast amount of information readily available overhead. |
| Physics | Many fighters discuss the science behind their techniques, reducing their understanding to ill-defined concepts like balance, chi, or centering. Chongdo insists that students understand the real reasons behind their training, including force, kinetic and potential energy, power, torque, leverage, acceleration, momentum, impulse, work, mass, and more. Armed with this knowledge, students at least understand why certain techniques work, and others never do. Or what can be done to increase the speed or effectiveness of any given technique. How fast does a strike move? How much power is lost in a high kick? Why do boxers hit harder than most Tiger/Crane stylists? What can a sword do to a torso? |
| Physiology | Students learn the basics of anatomy and work physiology. Topics include the function and definition of the musculo-skeletal system, the nervous system, and the circulatory system. Studies include energy liberation and transfer, muscle contraction, neuromuscular function, circulation at rest and work, respiration, work capacity, physical training efficiency, nutrition, temperature regulation, and more. |
| Psychology | The value of psychology in combative studies of often mentioned, but rarely explored as a serious subject. Our students are introduced to the ideas of sensation and perception, memory, cognition, motivation and emotion, stress and abnormal behavior, and how the functions of the brain are tied to physiology. |
| Emergency Medical Techniques | Students are introduced to first-aid topics, but are then escalated to trauma-type situations commonly seen in combative training classes or in outdoor situations. Proper assessment, stabilization, and preparation for transport are reviewed in detail. Students are also taught the basic of triage assessment for large accidents, including prioritization, the use of untrained but less injured personnel for assistance, and responding to serious injuries. |