Aaron Weiner's Martial Art Biography
I started Han Moo Kwan Tae Kwon Do in June 2000 at a Club at Applied Signal Technology. It was fortunate that one of the students from the original Club at Lockheed Martin came to work for my company and invited Brian and Kelly to start a sister Club there. When the Club was first announced, I had several co-workers who were interested in joining, which helped me convince myself to join as well. When that Club became defunct I moved to the Lockheed Club along with the few remaining students from Applied Signal. After a short period of time, and to most people's surprise, I found myself the last remaining member from my company! I stayed active and earned my first degree Black Belt in July 2005 and my Second Degree Black Belt in June 2012.
I became a Certified Instructor in January 2008. I wanted to become a Certified Instructor because I had enjoyed being part of this Club for over seven years and had enjoyed being able to "give back" to the Club by helping with the Instructor duties. By becoming a Certified Instructor, I was given the confidence to progress in my own abilities while at the same time help others along the same path. The most challenging part of instructing for me is interacting with all the different personality types in the Club. I have always been an introvert as well as am known for not having much tact. Having the chance to instruct others in the Club has given me the opportunity to work on understanding my own personality quirks as well as practice interacting in a more tactful manner with the other students. In this area, I am very much still practicing and have plenty more to learn.
My favorite aspect of the art form is the forms (Hyung). I enjoy practicing them and working to make them physically perfect. One of the things I enjoy most about the art form is the energy aspect. It brings a wholly different experience to all of the techniques, when you learn that they are just as strong or even stronger by utilizing energy instead of physical power. In this area as well, I am very much still practicing and learning new aspects about it on a weekly basis.
All in all, I am extremely thankful that I had the opportunity to join the Club and progress in it the way that I have. When I was younger, my self-confidence and self-esteem were not very good. Through this Club and this art form, I have found a new level of confidence and esteem that I never thought I would ever achieve! Thankfully, there is always more to learn and practice which may yet improve my confidence to an even higher level!
