Grandmaster Ken MacKenzie - Taekwondo Times

The Last Word
C. M. Griffin holds black belts in several martial arts. He is involved in many facets of the performing arts from stunt coordinator to director. He has
written, produced and directed projects for television and for corporations. He owns and operates his own Hwa Rang Do school in Ohio.
Check this out: there’s an old saying that goes something
like: “A little bit of knowledge can lead to a whole
lot of problems.” Well, there’s a guy I know, we’ll call
him Ted. Ted can fall into the category of a “self-taught
master,” but with him there’s a slight difference. Ted is
a U.S. Army Vietnam veteran. Before being drafted,
he was a boxer and he also trained in Judo. After the
military, he worked out and trained with men who
later became grandmasters. Ted sparred with them and
did some classes. He grasped a lot of the principles of
the arts. He also went to seminars, workshops, bought
books, magazines and watched film of different martial
arts teachers demonstrating their techniques. (This
was before video.) Ted even learned forms, including
Naihanchi—Korean and Okinawa versions; Bassai—
Korean and Okinawa versions, Korryo and so on. The
thing about Ted is that he never officially joined or
paid a school in order to get ranked. All the grandmasters
know him and worked out with him. They respect
his skill and knowledge; he just never received a black
belt.
In the early 90s, Ted became interested in pressure
points, Ki and Chi Gung. He went to a few George
Dillman seminars as well as Dragon Society workshops.
He also attended Tai Chi and Chi Gung seminars,
bought the books, videos, etc. He never joined a
school or studied under one teacher, he relied on his
vast martial library, seminars and his own knowledge of
the arts.
Friends warned him that he should not “mess
around with Chi,” especially with “hard breath techniques,”
without an instructor to show him the basics
and correct his form. They also told him he needed to
meditate and learn proper breathing techniques. Ted
laughed and said something like, “I always start at the
top! I go right to the head! If I can understand the top,
then there’s no need for me to reach to the bottom for
all that foo fah rah! That’s for you guys to spend years
down there before you start doing anything!”
So he continued on his path. A couple years went by
and Ted developed liver problems, followed by heart
and lung complications. In a four year period, he was in
and out of the hospital for extended periods of time at
least six times. The last time he had bypass surgery.
Not too long after convalescing, Ted announced that
he mastered Chi. His energy flow was so strong he
could move people without touching them. He demonstrated
this ability on a number of people in different
schools. Unfortunately after each time, he had a severe
headache. Once, his headache was so severe it landed
him in bed for an entire day.
Ted had lost a lot of weight over the last few years.
He went from a lean 220 pounds to about 170. Ted is
a big man, about 6’2” or 6’3”, but he was becoming skin
and bones. His eyes were dull and his color was very
sallow.
Late last year, Ted dropped by a tournament. I introduced
him to an older Korean grandmaster I know.
When he saw Ted, he immediately told him he was “out
of balance.” This grandmaster, who is also a licensed
acupuncture doctor, then proceeded to list all of Ted’s
symptoms and ailments. Ted was shocked. The grandmaster
and Ted talked for over two hours. Afterwards,
Ted regularly saw the grandmaster. They worked on
Chi techniques, correcting Ted’s breathing, movements,
posture and everything else. Five months later, Ted’s
color returned and his eyes are bright and clear. The
doctors have even cut back on a lot of his medications.
Ted tells us some of the things that the grandmaster
does and says to him. We smile and remind him that
a lot of those things we told him years ago. He does
admit that his method of training was all wrong and
he has a long way to go before he really understands
how Chi works and what it can do. He is beginning
to understand about breath and its importance. Ted
meditates regularly now and prays too. (He remarkably
found a connection to the Almighty! Go figure!) Like
I said, a little bit of knowledge can lead to a whole lot
of problems. That brings up another adage: “When the
student is ready, the teacher will appear. Before then, the
mind and ears are closed.” That may not be the exact
quote, but you get the idea.
Chi, or Ki, is not something you can learn on your
own. Doing that is like playing
with electricity. No,
let me rephrase that:
it’s like trying to
capture lightning.
Unless you really
know what you’re
doing and had
excellent instruction
in what to
do, you will get
severely burned!
Later.
98 November 2009 / taekwondotimes.com
By C.M. Griffin