108 Years - A Korean Way of Health

Preface

The first thing you notice about Grandmaster Kwon is how fit he is. At seventy, he is trim, energetic, and impressively flexible.

The second thing is his smile. Kwan Jang Nim, (Grandmaster, in Korean) as he is addressed by his students, is infectiously optimistic. Just being in the same room with him will brighten anyone’s day.

I met Grandmaster Kwon quite by accident in 2009. A friend informed me she was testing for Black Belt in Taekwondo along with her two teenage children and she invited me to attend the ceremony. I had no particular interest in Taekwondo and wasn’t looking to study another martial art. I came out of courtesy to my friend.

What I saw changed my life.

Here was a martial arts academy nestled in a small town in Massachusetts that was unlike any other I had visited in my five decades since Bruce Lee first sparked my adolescent interest in the Asian fighting arts. For one thing, it was a family-centered dojang (martial arts training school). It didn’t emphasize self-defense, competition, and fighting, although those are integral elements. Grandmaster Kwon was running a martial arts-based family fitness organization of his own creation based on the ancient Korean fighting art of Taekwondo.

The students were smiling, having fun and, most remarkably, many were there as families. The students ranged from small children to adults in their sixties. The instructors were professional but kind. The air was punctuated with shouts of “high five!” and “good job!” The stern and harsh drill sergeant-like demeanor of so many martial arts instructors was absent. This was all the more remarkable in that the instructors themselves were mostly Korean and all impressively skilled.

Grandmaster Kwon was by far the most skilled of all. Pictures of his more impressive feats decorate the corridor. (In one, he is breaking four one-inch pine boards suspended freely from one hand with a fist while doing the splits balanced on a couple of chairs.) The opportunity to study at the feet (so to speak) of a 9th Dan Grandmaster (there is no 10th Dan level) was too good an opportunity to pass up, so I joined in 2009 as a white belt.

What I did not know at the time, and learned as I trained faithfully twice a week over the ensuing years, was that Grandmaster Kwon was also trained in the traditional healing arts of Korea. I learned of his skill through my own misfortune when in 2014 I was diagnosed with cancer.

While I was undergoing conventional treatment for the disease, Kwan Jang Nim took a compassionate interest in my case and offered his services. After a long and detailed interview, which involved painstakingly looking up all of the relevant medical terms in a dictionary, he gave me his recommendation, which I took to heart.

I was to do a 9-week purifying and rejuvenating diet along with incorporating several daily physical practices of self-massage and exercise. From a conventional Western medical point of view, my prognosis was serious. I had less than 40 percent chance I would survive even two years. As a trained physician myself, I chose to undergo the conventional treatments I know and trust, but also followed Kwan Jang Nim’s regimen.

Today I am cancer-free.

Grandmaster Kwon’s personal example is the best proof of the value of what you will find in this book. Although seventy at this writing, he is the fittest man I know out of a host of fit, elderly individuals. Fitness is my hobby; it is Kwan Jang Nim’s life’s work.

It is very difficult to convey the voice of the grandmaster, loved by so many as by me. English is not his native language and he is at his best when he can show what he wants to communicate. Much of what he has to say is highly detailed and technical. I’ve worked hard with the help of his children, Masters Jayne and Greg, to capture the precise meaning of what he wants to convey. I’m also indebted to his students of many years who know him best for their help. I have resisted inserting my opinions and interpretations into his message as much as possible. When I think there is some additional understanding to be had from medical science or believe that some clarification might be helpful, I’ve tried to make it clear that they are my own comments.

I’ve endeavored to stand aside and let Grandmaster Kwon say everything his way. Nevertheless, I’m afraid my voice will come through the text, but it can’t be helped. Please be assured that the English text may sound like me, his co-author, but the message is entirely his.

This does not excuse me from unintentional inaccuracies that the careful reader is sure to uncover. For those shortcomings, I apologize in advance and take full responsibility.

This is a singularly unique work. I know of no popular book on a martial arts-based Korean health system available in English. Even if there were stacks of them, Grandmaster Kwon’s book would still stand as a valuable contribution to the health and well-being of the inhabitants of this planet. Early in our conversations about writing the book, Kwan Jang Nim said, “There are too many hospitals! More full hospitals than when I came to this country over 30 years ago. Why?” His answer to his own rhetorical question was that people do not take care of themselves.

This book is about taking care of ourselves.

Kwan Jang Nim makes the argument that we must take care of others first, then ourselves. We are all connected. There is no individual health that does not affect the health of everyone else. In interviewing my fellow disciples for this book, I found case after case of people turning their health around for the better because of the inspiration and the instruction of the Grandmaster.

Conversely, there is no illness that does not affect us all, either. This is a very relevant conversation today as the debate over healthcare simmers in the halls of government and the pages of Facebook. Should we trust the government or private industry to guarantee health to all citizens? Grandmaster Kwon would say, “No!”

Your health is your responsibility; it comes from within you.

So does your happiness. As you will see as you read, all happiness and health start with your mental attitude. From that come right actions (through the instruction of wise teachers) which bloom into health-supporting habits that lead to happiness and fitness long into old age.

“Very, very basic; very, very small,” he said over and over again as he described to me the details of actions and habits that will lead to health and happiness. Little thoughts and actions matter. From tiny acorns grow mighty oaks.

Throughout the book you, dear reader, will catch whiffs of ancient Asian concepts like “karma” and “chi.” I’ve chosen to use the Grandmaster’s words and keep to his simple English terminology as much as possible. It would be an inexcusable injustice to render his teaching into just another book about yoga or Buddhist meditation.

Grandmaster Kwon’s story is unique and deserves to be told the way he tells it.

~ Lloyd Sparks, MD

3rd Dan Black Belt