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Hapkido is a traditional Korean martial art based on non-resistance, leverage and knowledge of body mechanics. Hapkido translates to "way of coordinated power," and is comprised of many principles. However, there are three primary ones; Yu, Won, Hwa. Hapkido is effective from the first class and can be practiced and utilized by children and adults.
Master Hocombe Thomas explains:
Yu is generally translated as the water principle. The Chinese character, more correctly, I believe, means flow or current. With that meaning in mind, the principle is one of flowing and smoothly adjusting, much as a water current flows around a rock in a stream. There is no intent to do so; rather, it simply happens. In the dojang, this means flowing from technique to technique as your partner changes his or her attack or balance or intention – whatever. In life, it means adjusting to what life gives you.
Won is the circular principle. The character means round or circular and is, incidentally, the character for the Korean currency, the won. A simplified version is used for the Japanese yen. In practice, our motions are circular or, more specifically, spirals, normally of a decreasing radius (in more than one plane) forcing our partners to move faster, work harder, and still lose their balance. The Hapkido practitioner becomes the vortex of the spiral. In life, pretty much the same thing happens, except (for most of us anyway) not in a physical sense.
Hwa means harmony or peace. Pretty obviously, one should seek harmony in his or her life. In the dojang, to me, this principle means not fighting with the opponent. Rather than directly clash, force on force, the Hapkido practitioner simply moves in the direction he or she wants to go, which happens to be one in which the partner finds it extremely difficult to exert force and maintain balance. Done properly, the opponent simply finds it impossible to bring force to bear.
I think these applications of Hapkido’s three principles apply both in the dojang and in daily life as well.
