Hello there. My name is Matt Thompson. I'm a martial arts instructor who owns Han Mi Martial Arts in Damascus, MD. My other passions include music (I was a private music instructor for many years prior to opening this facility and I still do music lessons part time), running, films, and writing. I'm doing this blog at the encouragement of friends, colleagues, and students because some of these people seem to think that I have a few ideas worth sharing. As I'm sitting here typing this today (March 27th - my 38th birthday), I think about what this thing is going to be, and it's hard to describe. Perhaps I should do this another way.
Let me describe what this blog is not going to be. Negation always seems a good way to come at something hard to define. That said, this blog won't be about politics. There's nothing wrong with blogging politics, but I don't think I have much more to add to that conversation. I won't be blogging about specific ways to execute techniques. If you want me to teach you, I have a facility for that where I can make sure it's done properly and with minimal risk to you. I'm not interested in diving into religion either. It's a conversation where everyone talks and no one listens and it often just makes everyone angry without anything constructive coming out of it. Besides, there are blogs and vlogs devoted to these things already. There's no need for me to be repetitive.
What's left? Well, I think I may have something interesting to convey about what it is to be a good martial artist. I love teaching and watching people find out that they have more talents and capacities than what they may have thought before. I'm fascinated by the juxtaposition of concepts and ideas. Ideas about traditional martial arts versus modern interests, ethical considerations in self-defense, and the intersection between U.S. and Korean sensibilities (the name of the school translates to reflect this - it means "Korean American Martial Arts School"). I'm also interested in making this be more about mindset in practice and psychological approach over physical technique. On a good day, I hope to find something specific and draw out a more universal truth from it. Lastly, I hope to inform people that may not know anything about martial arts as to what I think I have to offer them in my business. I'm always looking to expand the number of people I get to work with in a day.
So, thank you for reading and being interested. I hope that I can be a worthwhile read and say something useful for people. I invite conversation as well on the topics I discuss as well as questions. You can feel free to contact me at hanmimartialarts@gmail.com and I'll be happy to answer the question directly or through a blog posting.
Thanks again!
