Sinmoo Hapkido focuses on some philosophical ideas like, Circular motion and the Water principle. Circular motion is a concept that allows the defender to deflect and redirect the attacker using the attackers force and momentum, rather than meet force with force. The concept of the Water principle looks at the actions of water in a stream. An obstacle in the path of the stream is not forced to move out of the way of the water but rather, the water flows around the obstacle. Sinmoo Hapkido allows the defender to flow around and through an aggressor’s attack while manipulating the aggressor’s power to his or her own advantage.

Sinmoo Hapkido is unique in that it allows the defender to gain complete control of the situation with a minimal amount of effort and without unnecessary aggression or injuries to the defender or attacker. The study of Sinmoo Hapkido develops: strength, speed,  agility, flexibility, coordination, discipline, sportsmanship, leadership, respect, peace of mind, self-confidence, winning spirit, character, mind and body harmony.

Lastly Sinmoo Hapkido has a special philosophical practice not found in other Hapkido systems taught in the form of 9 Rules of Sinmoo Hapkido, I outlined these rules in another post.

Holds and Joint Locks

Holds and joint locks are used primarily for control of an aggressor. They are primarily defensive, but at more advanced levels can be interpreted as attacks. At the 4th dan black belt there is also taught 30 special attack techniques using variations and combinations of basic locks.

Throws, Re-direction and Blocks

Throws and re-direction of an aggressor’s energy use an attacker’s momentum to continue their own motion using the circular motion principle of Hapkido. These techniques depend on the incoming energy of the attack to determine their outcome; a soft or weak attack will require a small or soft re-direction. A large or powerful attack will result in a re-direction or throw that involves much more energy, translating to a more devastating outcome upon the attacker. The blocks used in Sinmoo Hapkido are usually just re-directions but some blocks are intended to be used to stop an aggressor’s sudden attack. Hapkido also use kicks and special leg movements for blocking as well.

Kicks and Punches

Sinmoo Hapkido uses a wide variety of strikes. Sinmoo Hapkido incorporates 25 kicks and most are useful in “street style” defensive situations that counter incoming attacks – out of the 25 several are specially used to block kicks. Many of the kicks are designed for use in restricted spaces like hallways or crowds. After learning the basic 25 the student then learns 29 special kicks. Special kicks are harder to master but they need more room to be used, and they include combination kicks, jumping kicks, ground kicks, feint style kicks, etc…

Sinmoo Hapkido over 20 different kind of strikes using the hand, fists, forearms, elbow and head. 

Pressure Points and Energy Flow

Pressure points are used in Hapkido to control the physical body, and to manipulate the body’s Ki to stop, disarm and disable an attacker or heal a person. Sinmoo Hapkido uses 365 pressure points out of the body. The pressure points are also referred to as vital points. Sin Moo Hapkido has a special side called Hyol Do Bup which specializes on pressure point fighting and eastern medicine.

Weapons

Sinmoo Hapkido weapons training consist the use of short stick (Dan Bong), walking stick (Dan Jang / Ji Pang e), long stick (Jang Bong), the sword (Kum), rope (Po Bak), knife (Kal), Scarf both long and short versions, projectile weapons, and adapting everyday objects as weapons. Weapon training is learned after student achieves a black belt, but knife defense techniques are learned before black belt.

Spirituality – Meditation – Healing

Sinmoo Hapkido wouldn’t be Sinmoo Hapkido if we didn’t practice the higher mental aspects of this Art. The “Sin” means spiritual, higher minded or god like and in Sinmoo we’re striving to reach our full human potential. Too much to mention here but I’ll disscuss all these aspects little by little.

Master Ji studied Taoist and Buddhist philosophy to develop the Sinmoo rules but these concepts can be found in Judaism, Kabbalah and Indian philosophy as well.

Each rule has a philosophy that goes with it that we’ll discuss in future posts.

Physical:

• 1st -   Eat Proper food
• 2nd –  Healthy sexual behavior
• 3rd –  Beneficial Meditation

Mental:

• 4rd –  Do not be Angry
• 5th –  Do not be Sad
• 6th –  Do not be Greedy

Spiritual

• 7th - Water Control
• 8th – Air Control
• 9th – Sunshine Control