Water Theory
A Hapkido student should strive to be just as adaptable as water. Water never struggles with anything that gets in its path, but rather finds its way around obstacles without producing any friction. Water can find the smallest weakness in an opponent and slip or burst through. When faced with a conflict, rather than struggle with the situation, you should positively adapt to life’s changing circumstances and find the best path forward.
It is important to note that despite adapting, water never fundamentally changes itself. Likewise, you should not sacrifice your integrity in the face of adversity. Often when faced with hardship, people become stressed and fret over the circumstance or fall into despair. No matter how hard you try to avoid it, everyone faces challenges in their lives. Instead of fretting over “unfair” situations, you should strive to rise to the challenge. “A Carrot, An Egg and a Cup of Coffee” is an excellent teaching story that illustrates this principle very well.
In a self-defense scenario, it’s likely that your attacker will be physically bigger and stronger than you. If he weren’t or if he didn’t have some sort of situational advantage, he would probably be hesitant to attack you. When one force directly meets another, the stronger of the two will always prevail. So rather than try to directly confront and overwhelm an attacker’s force, we should instead join with it and redirect it.
In Korean, the Water Theory is spelled 유 or 流, both of which are pronounced “Yu” and actually translate more closely to “flow” as in flowing water, so our techniques should flow with the opponent’s force like a gentle stream.
Think of the challenges of diverting the flow of a stream going down a mountain. If you were to construct a dam perpendicular to the flow of water, the stream would bash right through it. But if you were to instead construct a dam tangential to the stream, the water would successfully be redirected. Not only is it more effective to deflect an opponent’s power, it also requires less energy and effort to do so!
It’s also important to be able to maximize your use of strength in one spot and in one direction. A hose without water in it is quite light and flexible. As a normal hose fills with water, it becomes heavier and more rigid, but can still be easily handled by one man. A fire hose, on the other hand, has so much force that it takes three men to handle it. The difference between them is the energy produced by the concentration of the water at one point at the end of the hose. When properly focused, a man’s Ki energy is like a fire hose.
Water is an excellent example of how softness can win against even the hardest of opponents. Although it may take a great deal of pressure, a rock or even a metal bar can be broken. Water on the other hand may be made to break up, but it will inevitably rejoin. Many martial artists can break even cinder caps with a focused strike, but think of the futility of attacking the ocean! No matter how hard you might hit it, it comes back together as if you’d never struck it.
Water also exerts constant pressure and eventually overwhelms whatever stands in its path. Although a rock in a stream is hard and difficult to break, over time the flow of water wears away at the rock until it is made to break up. Although you may not be able to see the damage at first, a persistent drop of water can eventually wear a hole through stone.
In Hapkido, we use physical and psychological balance breaks to put pressure on our opponents and don’t allow them to recover once we have the advantage. A Hapkido student constantly strives toward reaching his goals. We develop an indomitable spirit and never give up on our goals, no matter how hard the challenge we face or how long it might take.
“Nothing under heaven is softer or weaker than water, and yet nothing is better for attacking what is hard and strong, because of its immutability. The defeat of the hard by the soft, the defeat of the strong by the weak – this is known to all under heaven, yet no one is able to practice it.”
– Lao Tsu; Tao Te Ching, Ch 43 (Ma-Wang-Tui Manuscripts)
Lao Tsu’s last line doesn’t mean we are unable to achieve this principle, but instead that we can never perfect it. We can only eternally strive towards that ideal. That journey itself is its own reward.
It is important to note that despite adapting, water never fundamentally changes itself. Likewise, you should not sacrifice your integrity in the face of adversity. Often when faced with hardship, people become stressed and fret over the circumstance or fall into despair. No matter how hard you try to avoid it, everyone faces challenges in their lives. Instead of fretting over “unfair” situations, you should strive to rise to the challenge. “A Carrot, An Egg and a Cup of Coffee” is an excellent teaching story that illustrates this principle very well.
In a self-defense scenario, it’s likely that your attacker will be physically bigger and stronger than you. If he weren’t or if he didn’t have some sort of situational advantage, he would probably be hesitant to attack you. When one force directly meets another, the stronger of the two will always prevail. So rather than try to directly confront and overwhelm an attacker’s force, we should instead join with it and redirect it.
In Korean, the Water Theory is spelled 유 or 流, both of which are pronounced “Yu” and actually translate more closely to “flow” as in flowing water, so our techniques should flow with the opponent’s force like a gentle stream.
Think of the challenges of diverting the flow of a stream going down a mountain. If you were to construct a dam perpendicular to the flow of water, the stream would bash right through it. But if you were to instead construct a dam tangential to the stream, the water would successfully be redirected. Not only is it more effective to deflect an opponent’s power, it also requires less energy and effort to do so!
It’s also important to be able to maximize your use of strength in one spot and in one direction. A hose without water in it is quite light and flexible. As a normal hose fills with water, it becomes heavier and more rigid, but can still be easily handled by one man. A fire hose, on the other hand, has so much force that it takes three men to handle it. The difference between them is the energy produced by the concentration of the water at one point at the end of the hose. When properly focused, a man’s Ki energy is like a fire hose.
Water is an excellent example of how softness can win against even the hardest of opponents. Although it may take a great deal of pressure, a rock or even a metal bar can be broken. Water on the other hand may be made to break up, but it will inevitably rejoin. Many martial artists can break even cinder caps with a focused strike, but think of the futility of attacking the ocean! No matter how hard you might hit it, it comes back together as if you’d never struck it.
Water also exerts constant pressure and eventually overwhelms whatever stands in its path. Although a rock in a stream is hard and difficult to break, over time the flow of water wears away at the rock until it is made to break up. Although you may not be able to see the damage at first, a persistent drop of water can eventually wear a hole through stone.
In Hapkido, we use physical and psychological balance breaks to put pressure on our opponents and don’t allow them to recover once we have the advantage. A Hapkido student constantly strives toward reaching his goals. We develop an indomitable spirit and never give up on our goals, no matter how hard the challenge we face or how long it might take.
“Nothing under heaven is softer or weaker than water, and yet nothing is better for attacking what is hard and strong, because of its immutability. The defeat of the hard by the soft, the defeat of the strong by the weak – this is known to all under heaven, yet no one is able to practice it.”
– Lao Tsu; Tao Te Ching, Ch 43 (Ma-Wang-Tui Manuscripts)
Lao Tsu’s last line doesn’t mean we are unable to achieve this principle, but instead that we can never perfect it. We can only eternally strive towards that ideal. That journey itself is its own reward.
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