2015 Week Long (19th Annual) San Diego CA
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” It’s really important that I’m now looking ahead with focused pleasure at a year of challenging practice”
I participated in the 2015 weeklong in my seventh month of Oom Yung Doe training, before which I had developed through the core curriculum and a Championship form (Ship Sa Gae). My expectation and goal was to set a new standard for the amount of energy and focus I could put into my practice, and the six days of six hour training did just that. The weeklong allowed me to make the kind of extraordinary exertion that expands rather than expends one’s will to continue developing oneself afterwards.
This is because the attentive Master Level Training team warmed us up, cooled us down, and kept us pushing ourselves far with their motivating leadership and adjustments, while the group’s energy raised our individual clarity, calm, camaraderie and gaiety. It’s really important that I’m now looking ahead with focused pleasure at a year of challenging practice, during which I intend to develop through the seven new forms, meditation principles, and general tone and format for practice sessions, including the strategic use of watermelon, this weeklong gave us.
On a shorter timeline, during the week I overcame an untimely back problem and felt myself becoming the most flexible and balanced I’d been all year, and impressed movement and coordination into my limbs that would’ve taken months of normal training to attain. I left this weeklong seeing Moo Doe not merely as a main pillar of my life, but as its bedrock and perhaps marble finish too. Moo Doe aims for all the self-mastery of a sage and the grace of an artist. If one wants physical security and health, go to Moo Doe; if one wants mental tranquility and preparedness, go to Moo Doe; if one wants to embody the beauty of human movement, go to Moo Doe.
This seems to me to be the unique value of Oom Yung Doe and why it was compelled to teach eight martial arts styles as one. We are all hopefully looking for the forms that will help us develop our highest visions of ourselves; we have the privilege of reaching through all the knowledge of attained humanity for these forms, and it’s clear to me that the Oom Yung Doe community is stewarding one of the finest that humanity has created, a 1500 year old legacy of pursuing personal flourishing that is alive today, for all ends and as an end itself.
Cody V.
Second Section
“I felt more energetic, flexible, agile, and focused”
This year’s weeklong was a unique and special experience. I really enjoyed the movements that were passed this year. It didn’t take me as long as it has in the past to absorb the movements. They were fun, interesting and challenging lessons. The movement chosen for the week matched the environment perfectly. I loved practicing in the morning on the beach with the gorgeous view of the ocean. The grassy field with the beautiful bay view we practiced on in the late afternoon was the best way to end the day. I felt more energetic, flexible, agile, and focused by the end. I had a great time and I can’t wait until the next one.
Jessika. P
1st degree Assistant Instructor
“Every year, I am stronger, more flexible and can remember sequences and understand movement in greater detail”
2015 was my 7th weeklong. I looked forward to it, as I do every year, as a chance to see friends from other areas and feel part of a larger community who knows that we can improve our condition from wherever we are now using movement, herbs and meditation and that aging is not an inevitable decline, but that there are actions we can take to feel better. I know that the weeklong will give me a foundation of movement that I can practice throughout the whole year to improve my ability and understanding. Every year, I am stronger, more flexible and can remember sequences and understand movement in greater detail. I love feeling the momentum of a group moving in unison and also the individual attention that helps me do more than I thought I could.
I walk away from the weekend feeling more toned with a bounce in my step.  I look forward to feeling at my best form after the weeklong every year and wish that I could keep this level of practice up all year.
Feeling great after the weeklong is no longer any surprise to me, because I always feel great after the weeklongs. But not being surprised at feeling great after practicing is itself a gift. It is easy to forget the feeling of hurting your back or knee and being in pain, frustrated to be limited in daily tasks, and scared to be so vulnerable.  But I get hurt much less often since I started practicing and I know that if I do get hurt, there are movements that I can do that will make me better and that I can keep improving even if I need to make adjustments for temporary setbacks. My friends talk about accepting that we are growing older and can’t do as much and have aches and pains. But I do not feel this way at all. I am more flexible, stronger and have more stamina that I did seven years ago. I can jump now. I am not looking to accommodate physical frailty as I age; I am trying to figure out how soon I can learn to jump better and do rolls like one of the 70 year old female instructors.
I anticipate improving in the future thanks to the teaching of Grand Master and the Master Level Teaching Team.
Gratefully,
Helen T.
Second Degree Assistant Instructor
“I also enjoyed seeing familiar faces from previous Weeklongs and meeting new people from around the country”
I attended the 2015 Weeklong Seminar. The two a day practice sessions are invigorating with much new form taught including weapon form and self-defense sessions. I also enjoyed seeing familiar faces from previous Weeklongs and meeting new people from around the country. I look forward to attending another Oom Yung Doe Weeklong  Semiinar.
Arthur Pranis
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| In addition to all the form and movement taught at the Week Long Moo Doe Seminar, students and instructors had an opportunity to learn more about the history and legends of Traditional Moo Doe, including a reading and discussion of principles from the “Master Key of Wisdom”. They also had time to practice together and enjoy the many attractions of the area. |   |