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The weather is absolutely gorgeous today. And all the state parks have waived their entrance fees. Coincidence? Actually, yeah. But we’re going to take advantage of it anyway!

Get outside, even if it’s just your back yard. (I’m looking at YOU, adults!) Find something cool that you can see, something you can hear, something you can feel, and something you can smell.

Find a comfortable place to sit, close your eyes, and count how many different things you can hear.

Overachievers: See how many exercises you can invent just using the environment around you. Balance work on a log? Jumping over sticks? Interesting places to run, walk or climb? Get creative, and have fun.

Bed Time! Here are some exercises that you can do at home. All you need is a bed.

Bed Push Ups! Put your hands on the bed and your feet on the floor. See if you can do 10 push ups!

Overachievers: Do the push ups with your feet on the bed and your hands on the floor. Good luck!

Bed Bridge! Put your feet on the floor and your hands on the bed and see if you can do a bridge.

Overachievers: Try to doing a front kick while you’re in that bridge. Good luck!

Bed Fists! Grab a blanket in your hand and make as tight a fist as you can around it. Open and close 10 times, then try the other hand. Now try making a tight fist without the blanket. Open and close 10 times, both hands.

Overachievers: Instead a blanket, use a pillow. Good luck!

Bed Kicks! Stand facing the bed, and throw a front kick over it. Don’t kick the bed! Pick three between front kicks, roundhouse kicks, side kicks, and hook kicks, and do 10 each leg. Send me a picture or video of your best kick. If I like it, I’ll send you a picture too. The picture I send you will probably be really dumb, so you’d better not send me a good kick.

Overachievers: The closer you stand to the bed, the more challenging it is to do. See what you can do!

Bed Punches! Put your pillow right in the middle of the bed and sit down right in front of the pillow. Set a timer for 30 seconds and see how many times you can punch down into the pillow. Count them, and tell me how many you did. If you can do at least 30, I’ll put a picture on the Facebook page telling everyone how awesome you are and give you a point on the board. No wimpy punches!

Overachievers: After your 30 seconds, take a break for 30 seconds, and then try another 30 seconds. See if you can do even more than the first time!

Bed Eggs! Do 10 egg rolls on the bed. Remember to hold onto your shins and keep your chin tucked!

Overachievers: Use your arms to stop your roll like you’re practicing your falls.

Bed Stretch! Stretch anything you want, and make sure you breathe deeply and slowly.

Overachievers: Make sure you do one or two stretches that are especially difficult for you.

Bed Sleep! Get a good night’s sleep and dream pleasant dreams about taekwondo.

Overachievers: Dream pleasant dreams about taekwondo in Korean.

If class weren’t canceled today, it would be a form class. For this particular lesson, I want to explore stances a little bit.

First off, stances aren’t really stances. We think of stances as being a position that you adopt and hold firm, but in the martial arts a stance is nothing like that. Stances are momentary snapshots of positions that are useful in self defense. It’s the movement BETWEEN the stances that is what’s really important.

Part 1

Try this. Starting from a left-foot-forward front stance. See how many different ways you can step into a new front stance. Keep your head level (not bouncing up and down) and keep your movement smooth. Then switch feet and try the other side. Here are some ideas:

• step forward into a right-foot-forward front stance
• step to face the right in a right-foot-forward front stance
• step to face the back in a right-foot-forward front stance
• step to face the left in a left-foot-forward front stance
• step straight back (still facing the front) with a right-foot-forward front stance

Part 2

Try them all again with back stances instead of front stances.

Part 3

Try them all again starting in a front stance but ending in a back stance .

Part 4

Try them all again starting in a back stance but ending in a front stance.

Part 5

Overachievers: Try it with a book balanced on your head.