Physical Techniques
| Hitting | Hapkido uses; punching, hand strikes, back fist, hammer fist, finger striking on pressure points, fore arm strikes, elbows, knees and whole body striking. |
| Kicking | Hapkido uses; front, turning, side, crescent and axe kicks as basics (these kicks are also used as spinning reverse, on the spot jump kicks as well as running jump kicks). We also use; hook kick, whip kick, lower cross/ lower outer, low circular, low spinning reverse turning, low heel kick, foot stomping, knife foot thrust kick, scissor kicking (front / sides). Also the combination of speed kicks which is basically called flying kicking (commonly seen in International Taekwondo Tournaments). In all there are 50 basic types of kicks which vary in height and style of execution. For example, turning kick can be to head, body, thigh, knee or calf; could be front foot or back foot using stationary stance, sliding, walking forward or backward, on the spot jumping, running and jumping, or in a double kicking action). |
| Joint Twisting | Hapkido main syllabus is the application of manipulating the attackers joints and pressure points to overpower them to a state of submission. There are literally thousands of combinations of these techniques which are all simply dependant on the strength of the aggressor; the stronger the attack, the more it will hurt them. All techniques revolve around the centre of gravity and the circular motion applied. It also relies on the + (plus) & – (minus) principle; that is, if the attack is strong, you will use a soft approach to over come them; if the attack is weak, you may use a strong approach. Regardless, the joint and pressure point techniques are extremely effective and very painful. |
| Throwing | Many of the throwing techniques are also found in such Arts as Ju-Jitsu, Aikido and Judo. Hapkido joint techniques can easily be transformed into a throwing technique by the simple re- direction of the technique to manipulate the centre of gravity. Again there are many different throwing techniques. |
| Fixing | This is the finalisation of the above techniques; the submission holds. The first step to self defence is to avoid (punch, kick, grab, etc), the second step is to counter attack (hit, kick, attack pressure point, joint lock or throw). The final step is to secure the attacker in a submission hold to ensure your safety. At this point it may be possible adjust the lock to a Police lock to walk the opponent to another location (eg, outside, to the Police) or to knock out the opponent (in the case where there is more than one opponent). Again, the FIXING techniques are very effective and painful, if not dangerous to resist against. |
| Weaponry | Hapkido uses; short stick, long stick, walking cane, nunchaku and double nunchaku, towel, belt, fan, against knife, against kendo. No metal weapons are used. Weapons are taught at the Black Belt level, however are sometimes used as a class exercise. |
Mental Techniques
“Mind like Water” is a theory used in Hapkido; it understands that water of a flowing river does not penetrate the rocks that are in a river, rather to flow around the rocks to achieve its goal. Therefore, part of the way of Hapkido is to flow like water to achieve its goal.
Another theory is “Mind like Moon.” This is the acknowledgment of the power of “Ki”, a spiritual source of energy within every one and every thing. Once fully understood, you find the ability of knowing what attack will be used by an opponent before they begin (example- attack from behind).