Last night I went to Jung SuWon (my martial arts academy) and Grandmaster was there... for those of you who don't know much about it, Grandmaster was / is the first ever *female* black belt in all of the art of Tae Kwon Do, the whole 5000 year history. She founded Jung SuWon (a very traditional style of tae kwon do) and teaches in San Jose. She used to be there all the time, but lately she's been busy traveling around being successful and awesome and stuff (she just won California's "woman of the year" award and is busy running her multimillion dollar international companies and giving seminars and hob-nobbing with bigwigs etc etc). She's in class 2-3 times a month these days and it's *awesome*.

Anyway, last night she was in class and it seems that she was just elected chairman of the International Tae Kwon Do Federation. This is HUGE. Basically, she's now the top-top authority for every school of every form of Tae Kwon Do in the world. They elevated her to 10th degree black belt and bowed down in front of her and stuff. This from the same guys who, 20 years ago, would not even *acknowlege* her as a black belt, even violently opposed that she was teaching - since she was a woman.

She showed us photos of Grandmaster CS Kim (he's got thousands of schools and tens of thousands of students all over the world) in tears, apologizing to her for the way she's been treated. Tears! From a Korean Grandmaster! (Koreans are pretty notorious for never showing emotion).

The reason all these guys have put her in charge and are bowing down to her is because she is the *only one* with intimate knowledge of Ki Energy (inner power) and how to use it. She teaches in a very spiritual way, and this spirit really and truly manifests itself in a very physical way in our classes on a pretty regular basis. I had no idea how unusual this was - she's the only one who can do that! And here I thought all martial artists were learning this stuff. Evidently not.

Sometimes you just don't realize how lucky you are. If it weren't for Grandmaster I would be a totally different person today. She gave me the power to start my business, buy my house, take chances, define and reach for my goals, and basically live my dreams. She's the reason I've got the body, mind, and spirit I have to accomplish all the cool stuff I somehow manage to do. I just take it for granted. I need to stop that. :)

So hey. I tell my friends about Jung SuWon fairly often but nobody else has ever really understood just how incredibly valuable and rare of a place it is. Anyone who lives within an hour of North San Jose and is interested in becoming the master of their life and fulfilling and living their dreams - you need to come see what it's about. What is holding you back?

Talk to me and I'll get you a free introductory 1 month membership. www.jsw.com All the Grandmasters from around the world are going to be here visiting our school in November, so this up coming month Grandmaster's going to be there a whole lot, teaching us and kicking our butts and getting us in shape. It's an awesome time to start. I'll be there tonight. And tomorrow. Perhaps I'll see you?