Inside Chayon-Ryu: Women in Chayon-Ryu-Spotlight on Master Kim Geary

Is Chayon-Ryu the right martial art for women?

Just ask Master Kim Geary, chief instructor of the Austin Chayon-Ryu school in Austin, TX, and she will tell you, yes!

"Chayon-Ryu is a good system for women, and all people, because of the atmosphere of acceptance Grandamster Kim Soo created. He tends to look for the good in people and brings individual talents to the surface." Says Master Kim Geary, an 8th Dan Black Belt who began her training in Chayon-Ryu in 1975 in the original Austin Branch of Kim Soo Karate.

What is the biggest benefit women can receive from Chayon-Ryu?

Master Geary performs "Jang Kwon" form with

Grandmaster Kim Soo, founder of Chayon-Ryu

"The main benefit is confidence. Not just the physical confidence that training develops, it is just as much about the mental confidence. I have witnessed many women do things that would possibly have never occurred without training.

I myself went back to engineering school at UT then went on to work in the oil fields. It was all very daunting; school was scary and competitive, flying in helicopters during rain storms, working alone in the desert at night, working in a man's world, facing layoffs during the oil bust, etc.

The confidence I received from training, teaching and demonstrating pulled me through many 'crisis'. I know several women who went back to school, started businesses, made major changes in their personal life, spoke publicly and demonstrated in front of crowds. All things that were previously terrifying, they are now doing."

As one of the highest-ranking women martial artists in the world, Master Geary has received numerous honors and awards for her teaching abilities.

Though renowned for the power and elegance of her forms, and the fighting spirit and strategy of her sparring, she says her favorite aspect of training is: "Learning and practicing forms." And second to that is, "Mat work."

Master Geary opened Austin Kim Soo Martial Arts in October 1990. has taught Chayon-Ryu all over Texas and all around the world in her 36 years of training. She opened a branch of Kim Soo Karate in Austin, Texas in 1990 and served as the Chief Instructor for seven years. Master Geary currently teaches at a private dojang in Austin, Texas, and if you would like to train with her, you can join her class.

Master Geary has been selected to teach Chayon-Ryu at the National Women's Martial Arts Federation (NWMAF) "Special Training" summer camp for women (1988,1986, 1993, 2005, and 2007).

This international summer camp brings women martial artists from Europe, America, Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, and Asia, to study with the top female teachers in the world, a small number of whom are chosen from many applications. In 1994 Master Geary hosted the first Texas "Special Training" in history for the NWMAF. She has also taught Chayon-Ryu at the summer camp of the Pacific Association of Women Martial Artists (PAWMA), which serves women in the martial-arts-avid state of California and its upper-state neighbors on the U.S. western coastline (1991and 2005).

Master Geary has been inducted into the Texas Martial Arts Hall of Fame.