TAE KWON DO TIMES
January Issue Page 27
2006
2005 Tae Kwon Do Times Magazine Hall of Fame
Kuk Sool Won
MASTER BARRY HARMON
Master Barry Harmon wears many hats. He is a teacher, an acupuncturist, a speaker,
and a writer. Above all, he is a master in the martial art of Kuk Sool Won.
Those in the Kuk Sool community refer to Master Harmon as Suh Sung Sool
and Kwan Jang Nym and more recently as Ha Moon. The first is the martial art
name given to him by Kuk Sa Nym In Hyuk Suh to designate Master Harmon as the one who
should focus on technique; the other a family name provided by the monk Ko Bong,
Seu Nim to designate Master Harmon as the door, portal or gate-so named because
of what he has accomplished and contributed to Kuk Sool Won.
Master Harmon's career objectives are to pursue and spread his martial art
around the world and to assist and teach people of all ages and background in
the techniques of goal setting, self-development, and self-improvement through
training in the traditional art of Kuk Sool Won. In addition, he is working towards
uncovering the buried history of Korean martial arts and sharing it with other
martial artists.
Some highlights of this remarkable man's career include being Kuk Sool
Won's first non-Asian to be promoted to Master level. He has been featured in
extensive articles and books on martial arts, narrated, as well as appeared in,
all of Kuk Sool Won's training tapes and has recently been the focus of Korean
Broadcasting System film documentaries that were viewed throughout Korea. He has
recently completed authorship of a unique history book entitled 5000 years of
Korean Martial Arts History.
As Secretary General of the World Kuk Sool Association, Master Harmon has
overseen all tournaments since 1982 and has personally demonstrated in each one
of them in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, South America,
and Korea. He has promoted the expansion of Kuk Sool Won's tournaments to include
some of the lesser-seen skills of knife throwing, archery and cutting techniques.
As a business owner, Master Harmon opened his first Kuk Sool Won School
in 1971. His current business in Texas combines his martial art training center
and his acupuncture pratice. The school has held the record for winning first place
and highest ranking dojang in Kuk Sool Won. No less than seven Kuk Sool Won schools
have stared from instructors trained by Master Harmon.
As a man, Master Barry Harmon exhibits the easy going and hospitbale style
of his South Carolina upbringing. He earned his B.A in Psychosomatic and
Alternative Healing from San Francisco State University and holds national and
state level certification as a licensed acupuncturist. As such, he is comfortable
with people from the country to the city and from any cultural, ethnic or
international background. His circle of friends includes motorcycle riders, movie
stars to Presidents. In addition, he is married to Master Choon Ok Harmon, the
first female to achieve the rank of master in Kuk Sool Won. They have two daughters,
Emerald Mi-Young and Jada Mi-Ho. Looking over all his accomplishments one might
think him justified to have the hugest ego in the world and be unapprachable; but
nothing could be farther from this statement. Master Harmon's home is continually open to
visitors from other dojangs and he openly shares all his experience in business
and martial arts to help anyone who seeks his counsle (and many do). If you would stop
for a lesson as a new white belt, he would shake your hand and say, "Hi, my name
is instructor Barry. I'm going to take you throught your first training session."
You'd leave after 20-minutes of felt like fun and think, "I can actually to this!"
You'd be so charged up for your next lesson taht you could hardly wait, never
even realizing that you just had a private lesson from one of the few ture eight-
degree black belts in the world.
That's not where it ends either. Master Harmon freely teaches his black
belts new and more advanced techniques that allow them to advace to higher levels
on their own timetables. He's always telling his students that he wants them to
catch up with him so that they can all train together. That's a tall order but his students
try to comply, confident that Master Harmon will be there, teaching with the same
precision and motivating enthusiasm that was present from their first lesson with
him.
Master Barry Harmon is the model martial artist, a true door through which
all his students can pass and reach their full potential. By Terry Heaps
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