Be in our Newest Sections!!

TKD Times is starting new pages in our magazine...
and we want your pics!

The Injury Report

Got a black eye from an intense sparring match?
Or a broken finger from a strike that went wrong?
We want to see it! Send us a photo of your martial arts battle wounds
and you could end up on the pages of our newest section...The Injury Report!

Your Big Break

Did you pull off a spectacular break that deserves some recognition?
Or maybe perform your first break ever in front of a crowd?
Send us photos of your demonstration and you could end up in the magazine in our newest section...Your Big Break!

Killer Kicks

Did you pull off that tornado kick or flying side kick with real grace?
We want it in our newest section! Send in your photos and get featured in our new Killer Kicks section!

Please send all submissions or any questions to press@taekwondotimes.com. To be considered for our latest edition, please submit your photos with your name and location by April 10. Submissions for these sections will be taken on an ongoing basis.

Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree

With the economy around the world in such a terrible state, stress is reaching higher levels than ever before. In these stressful times, crime rates rise and discipline fails. But that is when we must be strongest.

Now is a great time to join a health club, take a dance class, or start learning a martial art. Physical exertion is a stress reliever, especially the martial arts. Martial arts like Tae Kwon Do bring you new focus, new energy. They increase your discipline and boost your confidence. They make you healthier, inside and out. After an hour long TKD class, your stress will melt away, making you calmer and more at peace within yourself.

Yes, times are bad right now in the world. Companies we have known and trusted for years are folding under the pressure of a crumbling stock market. Citizens watch as their retirement accounts shrink and shrink, their house values plummet. Stress is everywhere you look. But it is in these times that we must buckle down and do our best to get through it. It is these times that make us stronger.

We must work hard for what we are earning. We cannot sit beneath the apple tree with our mouths open, waiting for the apples to fall for us and feed us. We must climb the tree and pick as many apples as we can, working hard to reap the fruit of our labors. If you never have to work for anything, you do not appreciate how you achieved it. If something is just handed to you, then you have no sense of accomplishment, take no pride in your earnings. But if you work hard and earn what you achieve, you can be proud of what you have done. You know that you are a success because of what YOU have done, not because something was handed to you.

That same message goes for our environment. For far too long, we have been wasteful as citizens of the world, reeking havoc on the planet. We have too much waste, too much garbage, use too much oil and other non-renewable resources. It is time to say that too much is enough. We must be conservative in our treatment of our world. We must make as little waste as possible, reusing and renewing wherever we can.

Conservation and hard work are the keys to surviving this economic crisis. If we are conservative with our planet, we will have more years for our children, our grandchildren. If we control our unnecessary expenses, we will be able to afford our necessities. And if you start training in the martial arts, as so many of us have, then you will find an inner peace amidst the chaos of the world outside.

Wake Up! The Party’s Over

It’s no secret. The state of the economy in the United States and the world is tumbling down and down. Who knows how much longer and further we will fall? But as bad as it is, I can’t say I didn’t see this coming.

For the last two decades, we have watched as people need more and more in their lives. More STUFF that is. They need more inches on their TV screens, bigger SUVs to cruise around, more square footage for their homes, more technology than you can shake a stick at. It never ends, no matter what you have, you always need more. I know people living in homes the size of a small village in Africa. Literally, their house could house all the people in that village, but it may only be two people living there. The only thing that is getting smaller and definitely should be, is our garbage.

We are leaving an age of excess, a time of overspending and overneeding. Remember when only one person had to work to support an entire family? For the majority of us, that is not even possible. And do you know what part of the reason is for that? You. Plain and simple. Not just you, but me too. We all get so caught up in “keeping up with the Jones’” we forget that we used to live with only one telephone in our home, only one car per family, and we were perfectly happy then. We forget that the stuff that makes up happiness in our lives, actually isn’t STUFF. It is people and experiences.

So we leave this time of luxury now, as the economy boils down. But you do not need to fear it. Embrace it and realize the wonderful things you still have in your life, all around you, the important things are still there. So maybe you need to downsize your home, but you still have a family to have a home with. So you won’t be able to keep that iPhone on, you still get to talk to your friends everyday. Remember the good things you have in life. And you will be rich forever.