Po Eun

PO-EUN is the pseudonym of a loyal subject Chong Mong-Chu
(1400) who was a famous poet and whose poem "I would not serve
a second master though I might be crucified a hundred times" is
known to every Korean. He was also a pioneer in the field of
physics. The diagram represents his unerring loyalty to the king
and country towards the end of the Koryo Dynasty.

I received my 1st Degree Black Belt April 11, 2003 under my old master. The form I learned was called Po Eun. It is the second of the first set of Black Belt forms taught in traditional Taekwondo (ITF style). I always loved forms and loved all the work and details that were required for forms training. But when I first learned Po Eun, I remember what a new perspective I gained for my training that changed my view of forms and ability to do forms training forever.

I bet my old master can even remember the class where he was teaching me this form in great detail to clean up the techniques. The techniques in this form are very detailed, indeed. How far a punch should go, where a side kick was being executed, how to keep the feet in alignment, keeping exactly 180 line, how to generate power with the elbow being bend, etc etc etc.

A quarter of an inch was a HUGE deal in this form. And after doing so much work and seeing how much detail was required in this form, I went back to all my other forms and put a lot of work and effort into refining the details in THOSE forms as well. After all, if I wanted to be a master one day, I better hold my standards high and meet those expectations and put the work into achieving them!

Po Eun was also the very first form I got a gold medal in for forms. All those details I worked at paid off. My first gold in forms at the 2004 US Grand Prix Winter nationals in Jersey City directed by Mark "the Shark" Williams. All the forms after that I worked great detail and my forms were transformed. Many people loved my forms.

Then I met Master Balon. O.M.G. When you think you couldn't work any more detail than you have, someone opens an entire world for you. That is what Master Balon had done for me. I am so grateful because it excites me to bringing myself to an entirely new level of detailed forms training and understanding in my Taekwondo forms that I could never imagined! And it will only make my own students even greater. My current advance belts are in a better place than I was when I was their rank.

In my last lesson with Master Balon, we went over the 1st Degree forms for traditional Taekwondo, and the forms that needed the most improvements and that I seemed to be the least confident was with Po Eun, of all forms! It is not because I don't practice it, don't get me wrong. But I have been doing this form for ten years and have been doing it for so long that reconditioning my habits and body to making these improvements has been a challenge. My body and mind are at battle instead of harmony. What an exciting challenge!

Being a master does not mean you know everything and that you can't improve. I tell my students even as a 4th Degree Black Belt I can make my low blocks better. I have no problem making mistakes in front of my students or saying I do not know something. But I always show them I can find the answers and can learn from my mistakes. Sometimes, in the most appropriate times, I guess, I do not deny my humanity. Nor would I want anyone to do so.

Po Eun has yet again come into my life as a way to excite me on something I love to do with forms, and to reaching new heights as a martial artist. Some people may say "It's only a form!" But what this form represented for me ten years ago and what it is representing to me today is a blessing for a young master like me. I am very excited, and my new Black Belts can be prepared to learning Po Eun to the best it can be. Let the details begin! (BOWS)

Yours in service,

MASTER TRENTO