PpppppffffPOW!

Today's tale from the mat:

Six-year-old Michael has been a student for about a month. He's quiet, shy, and unsure of everything. He often forgets to kihap (use his spirit voice) while kicking and punching, and when he does remember, his voice is always soft.

Yesterday during knee kick drills, though, he FOUND HIS VOICE! Exxxxxxcept his kihap was more like a spewing, spitting "PpppppffffPOW!"

Do you tell a young man who's finally found his spirit to not spit in your face while you're holding a power kicking bag?

Eventually.

But not today.

A Case for a Quiet Kihap

I encourage all my students to practice strong, loud kihaps, or spirit voices, so that they can defend themselves with ultimate power. No kihap is right or wrong. No two kihaps sound the same. If done with the right spirit, though, all kihaps should scare the crap out of you.

Three-year-old Logan loves to use his spirit voice. He takes it very seriously.

Recently Logan came running full speed into the Tiny Texans training room and made a beeline for me.

"Ms. Cathy," he began. His blond hair was ruffled and he was a tad out of breath. "I have [heavy breathing] something to tell you."

"Yes, sir, I'm all ears," I replied.

"My baby sister is coming with my daddy today!" he said, holding his index finger up in the air.

"Wow! How exciting is that?" I replied.

"Yeah, I have to make sure I don’t scare her with my kihap," he said in a serious tone, then darted off to run circles around the room with his classmates.