Category Archives: taekwondo

Making the Martial Arts Intuitive

Newsletter 843

Intuition in the Martial Arts and a BIG win!

Good evening
and…
HANAKWANMASS!

monkey boxing lineage

Click on the cover!

Got lots of things today,
including a PHEEEnominal win from a Monkey Boxer.
So…
LET’S START!

First,
it is the month of HanaKwanMass,
and I should explain that to all you newbies
who only joined the newsletter in the last year.

HanaKwanMass stands for…
Hanukkah, Kwanza, and Christmas.
Political correctness is for idiots,
if somebody says Happy Kwanza to me,
I say Happy Kwanza back.
Skin color, religion,
those are just distinctions for the ignorant.
We all bleed red,
and I don’t care what you call your viewpoint
of the Supreme Power.
So
HanaKwanMass,
I reach everybody,
or offend everybody,
and the heck with political correctness.

Second,
the path of the martial arts
involves making a person intuitive.
So they don’t have to think,
but do the right thing,
without thinking about it,
automatically.
What matrixing does is do this FAST.

Look,
there’s a lot to matrixing,
and that’s because the martial arts have had a lot done to them.
People,
well meaning instructors,
have obscured the real arts.
They have hidden the path to intuition.
Matrixing merely cleans up the field,
derails mysticism
with scientific observation,
and heaping helpings of logic.

One of the first things I ever wrote about Matrixing…

If you want to teach somebody how to count,
you wouldn’t say…
4, 7, green, 5 elephant…and so on.
You would say…
1…2…3…4…
and so on.
The martial arts, because of politics,
religion, nationalism, personal interest,
and so on,
are a mixed mesh up of…
4, 7, green, 5 elephant…and so on.

Matrixing returns the art to the logic of 1…2…3…4…and so on.

But there’s so much more,
there is the intense scrutiny of basics,
the rearranging of form,
the alignment of techniques,
and the presentation of a scientific philosophy
so that people no longer get lost in the mysticism.

Unfortunately,
people who aren’t too smart,
can’t let go of the mysticism,
and they resist matrixing.

Invariably,
they haven’t studied it,
but they sure know how to badmouth it.

So,
third,
here’s a win.
It is a spectacular win,
comes from a Monkey Boxing student.
And I should say something about this.

Matrixing presents the logic,
can be applied to any art.

Monkey Boxing is me teaching.
I use matrixing,
and all the tools at my disposal.
You might see a drill I learned in the Kang Duk Won
45 years ago.
You might see a translation from Wing Chun to Aikido,
that I worked on 40 years ago.
You might see something I made up yesterday
to help one student make the leap
from the hard grind of repetition
to the joy of intuition.

It goes this way and that,
an intuition of teaching,
and I have no way of judging
whether my instincts are correct.
So to get a win like this
really makes my day.
Here’s the win…

Al,

I don’t have room here to say this big enough or joyfully enough— but if I did, I’d put a HUGE big “Whoopee!!”

I’ve finally been through the first few videos of the Monkey Boxing course.  I have a habit of watching all I have- this from a learning technique I picked up years ago called “super-learning” and it basically says to learn anything- first skim over the material, which creates a ‘sense of familiarity’ to the information.  I’ve done that.  I have been left on CLOUD 9.

I was injured in an accident in 99– got mashed between two HUGE trucks– my 16 ton tow truck and a 9,000 pound Ford Excursion SUV…. and after that, I took almost 3 years to learn just to walk semi-normally again and I still limp.   Lately, I’ve had more “arthritic” effects and stiffening as a result. The other effect it had on me is, for some reason, and no doctors have been able to tell me why- I’ve lost a LOT of memories of my life.  I can put all my past memories probably in a two or three hour video if I could transfer my thoughts to video.   My 5th degree black belt in Kenpo- for instance– is GONE.  I know it did it, and every so often get a little “glimpse” of things but doesn’t stay with me.  My bodyguard years- I have a few memories of that- and even the last few years since the accident, most of the past part is just not there.

I’m telling you this because I wanted to get back into a martial art- more for self- defense than the “art” part.  I’m 60, not in good health at all, but want to learn to take care of myself.

What I found, just watching the first 14 videos (for some reason I missed 13- which I’ll get when my internet is back on- my data limit ran out).. was that it IS exactly as you said– SO INTUITIVE!!  It’s a truly NATURAL grouping of actions and motions- and I easily flow with it.   I’m So excited, I could scream– probably will a bit later!! 🙂

I have begun, and will have to work consistently and SLOWLY, and let it build on its own.   I can see myself doing it all- very slowly- and with dynamic tension to get the motions correct and build the muscles for that particular move as the same time- then over time the drills will build the motion back into my muscle memory (which hopefully will stay with me since they ARE natural- logical  motions).   I don’t know how long it will take me to learn and get really good at this- and don’t really CARE– because I KNOW it works- my “spirit” says it WORKS… and my mind KNOWS it works- because it is NATURAL/LOGICAL and REAL. I’ve already put my Kenpo books, cds., and other stuff I was looking at BACK in storage– and won’t be needing them.  I’m not interested in spending another 5+ years just learning something that is NOT right for me anyway.   And I love that just doing the Forms is the only realy “workout” I need.   I DO a workout- have begun recently- called 7 miracle tiger moves.. which is dynamic tension in motion.. and LOVE them- they are very effective and are working.  I can just AD this system to my routine and learn Monkey boxing while “working out” at the same time!!  I LOVE this.

You can’t possibly KNOW just how happy this has made me.   I have no one to work out with–and the forms will take care of that.   Later, once I’m settled where ever I go- I want to get a dummy and stuff to work out on.  I’ll probably teach it to someone close by once I get settled too.

I DO have a lousy internet right now, though– it’s wirless through Net Zero– which is a good service– but the “hotspot” I got from them is crappy.  It’s a pad that I use for hotspot- and most of the time it kicks out right in the middle of whatever I”m doing- and I have to shut everything down and start over… and the signal strength is weak- so it doesn’t pick up well at all when it’s cloudy.   I’m ordering a better “hotspot” later- like Jan.  (my check this time is already spent on my truck).. Until then- I’m hoping all the videos you post are ARCHIVED– because I will miss from now to about the 5th…  That is why I want to DOWNLOAD them all to my hard drive– because I use up “data” limit time watching them directly and can’t do them over and over like here at home.

I thought I would have loads of questions– but don’t- because it IS so “intuitive” and natural (or maybe the kenpo and tai chi is still in there helping with that somewhere- just unconsciously).. and I just LOVE this..  I was seriously looking at JKD online, and Wing chun online– etc.– but not now– I’m Doing MONKEYBOXING totally!!  Forget all that other long time stuff!! 🙂

Anyway-  hope this wasn’t too long- but just wanted you to know- I have FOUND my “niche” in this!!!   THANK YOU.

David C

pS– There’s NO WAY I can possibly do the Monkey in a Box for a bit– I have trouble getting up and down out  of a regular chair lately… but I’m working on it..  and I’ve always had this “feeling” in me that there was “an answer” or a “secret” to ALL martial arts– and this is it!!

David,
thank you very much for the win.
Thank you for allowing me to share this,
I know it will inspire people.

And,
for all you guys and gals.

David’s points are very simple…

anybody can learn it,
it is intuitive,
it can be learned fast…
or slow.
Depends on what you need and want.

And,
I don’t wish to replace anybody’s arts,
but that sometimes happens.
I actually prefer that you take my material
and revitalize your own art of choice.

Here’s the key,
matrixing breaks apart and rebuilds,
it makes logic, and logic becomes intuitive.

Monkey Boxing is me teaching.
I teach matrixed art,
and I draw on ALL my experiences
to get the student to experience ALL of his abilities.

Now,
those of you who have signed up for Monkey Boxing,
you’ll get a Monkey Boxing newsletter shortly
giving you the heads up on the new videos,
and other things that are happening on the site.

Here’s two links…

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-karate/
starts the matrixing path…

and…
http://monkeyboxingnow.com/internet/
a page I’m trying out
to gear to ads on the internet.

Now,
HanaKwanMass,
and a Happy Work Out to All!

Al

http://monkeyboxingnow.com/internet/

http://www.amazon.com/Binary-Matrixing-Martial-Arts-Case/dp/1515149501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437625109&sr=8-1&keywords=binary+matrixing

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:
https://alcase.wordpress.com

Remember,
Google doesn’t like newsletters,
so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

You can find all my books here!
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/

http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei

Pa Kua Chang and the American Indian

Newsletter 833 ~ subscribe now!

Pa Kua Chang and Indian Stealth Skills!
part one

Good evening!
I just finished teaching,
2 1/2 hours of bliss,
and I am in heaven.
Let me share a little of that heaven with you.
Here’s one of the things I was thinking about,
which relates to the martial arts.
Specifically,
how Pa Kua Chang relates to the stealth skills
of the native American Indians.

The most important Martial Arts book ever written.

The most important Martial Arts book ever written.

Incidentally,
I am going to write five articles on this subject,
so if you want all five,
subscribe to the newsletter.
The other four articles will be coming out over the next month.

The American Indians were arguably
the greatest light infantry in the world.
They could outrun horses,
they had thoroughly mastered such weapons as
bows and arrows, knives, hand to hand, and so on.
And, they were masters of stealth.

Think about this:
to put food on their table
they had to be able to sneak up on wild animals.
This meant they walked with no noise,
don’t rustle a leaf,
or step on a twig.
Do it so well that a deer won’t hear you.
Have you ever seen how big a deer’s ears are?

The way they walked was very specific.
They did not walk heel to toe,
they did not place their heel down first,
the placed the front of their foot down first,
so they could feel a twig,
or any other surface that was going to cause noise
sufficient to alert an animal.
So they placed the front of the foot down first,
then rolled to the heel,
and they were aware,
feeling with their feet,
sensitive to whatever they were walking on.
And they walked fast enough to close on an animal
before the animal went elsewhere to feed,
and without alarming the animal.
That takes incredible skill.

Interestingly,
this method of walking is very similar to the way
students of Pa Kua Chang walk.
The precise way of walking in Pa Kua Chang
is to place the whole foot down,
gently,
sensing the ground through the feet.
This eliminates slippage on icy, grassy, wet whatever surfaces.
Further,
it breeds silence.
Further,
it enables the student to grip the ground.

This method of walking
is commonly called ‘Mud Walking.’
Walk so you won’t slip in mud.
Walk silently,
with no wasted (as in audible) energy.

There are differences here,
but here is the point:
both methods are used to build awareness.

It is awareness that makes a better martial artist,
not muscles,
not speed,
not anything else.
It is awareness,
of environment,
of the opponent,
of whatever is going on around you.

It’s funny,
when I hear people refer to Indians as savages
I have to suppress laughter.
They adapted to their environment,
they built a technology
that made them possibly the finest warriors in the world.

If you just study them,
if you consider how you might use their methods,
how you might improve your awareness,
you will find that they were geniuses of combat.

Now,
let’s be honest,
I haven’t studied Indian combat methods in depth,
but I have studied methods that closely align.
Here’s the link to Pa Kua Chang.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/butterfly-pa-kua-chang/

Think about what I’ve said here,
and then bury yourself in some Pa Kua,
it will be well worth the journey.

Stay tuned for four more articles
concerning the martial arts
and the stealth abilities of the American Indian.

and have a great work out!

Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/butterfly-pa-kua-chang/

http://www.amazon.com/Binary-Matrixing-Martial-Arts-Case/dp/1515149501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437625109&sr=8-1&keywords=binary+matrixing

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:
https://alcase.wordpress.com

Remember,
Google doesn’t like newsletters,
so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

You can find all my books here!
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/

http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei

Karate Kung Fu System in New Book

Newsletter 825 ~ Subscribe now!

Tiger and Butterfly Martial Arts Book

The new Martial Arts book is called
‘Tiger and Butterfly,’
and it’s pretty darned good.

new martial arts book

click on the cover!

If you look at the title,
and you have done any matrixing,
then you can see that I have used
portions of the Matrix Karate course,
and portions of the Shaolin Butterfly.

This was interesting,
because I didn’t want to fall into the trap
of having systems disagree.
I wanted the concepts to build on each other,
not work against each other.

In a way,
there is a certain similarity
between Tiger and Butterfly
and the MCMAP books I wrote.

The similarity is in the arrangement of material.
This had to be,
because when you make a system,
certain things have to be done,
certain rules have to be followed,
certain principles have to be included,
and all the way up the belt levels.

One of the reasons I wrote this book
is because I visited a few schools,
and I saw how the modern schools
have let forms and techniques fall by the way.
They work on freestyle,
on fighting.
The students get better,
but they can’t do certain things.
For instance,
they don’t understand how to take a punch.
And,
they have limited knowledge
concerning what happens
when you complete the circle (cycle) of a technique.

The system has eight belts,
white
yellow
orange
purple
blue
green
brown
black

There are no degrees.
Each belt is designed to be done
in about three months.
Brown belt might take longer,
but the material on the brown level
is pretty advanced.

When done,
the student will have those liquid kicks,
those floating kicks that look so light,
but knock down a elephant.
They should be able to take any kind of a punch.
They will be able to freestyle with authority,
and make a grab art out of any technique.
They will have knowledge.
Real knowledge.
Not just the fast reflexes of freestyle,
but a complete body knowledge,
how the body is constructed,
how to tweak it for more energy,
how to construct it for total effectiveness.

I want you to think about something.
When you study matrixing,
there are several courses,
and I recommend that you do them all,
that you get the complete picture,
from striking to locking
to guiding to manipulating
to predicting to taking down…
and more.

But,
I can’t reach everybody,
and some people don’t understand
just how big the martial arts are,
and that you have to understand them as a science.
They are locked in ‘hit and punch,’
‘ground and pound,’
and don’t see or understand the bigger picture.

This book is for those people.
Hopefully it will get them excited for the big picture.
But even if it doesn’t,
it will afford a massive education,
and do a lot towards bringing these people
who are studying arts that have degraded over time
into the real art.
They will appreciate it as science.

And,
even if they don’t,
if they do the book,
not just read it and say…
‘oh, I knew that,’
or…
‘we have that in our system,’
but actually do the book,
all the drills and techniques,
all the forms and fighting drills,
then they will be doing the true art.
Whether they were stupid and didn’t even understand
what I am talking about,
if they do the drills and exercises,
they will end up doing the true art.

For instance,
at a certain point,
a certain belt,
I teach a type of kick.
It’s a floating kick,
then you turn the hips over and slam the energy
down into the ground
as you strike.
The point is…
you can’t do that kick
unless you use the tan tien
in a certain way.
You simply can’t.
So they will practice it,
get it,
and stumble over the concept,
whether they understand what is happening or not,
and they will end up with classical power
in a certain mode.
And the whole system is constructed
so that one mode leads to the next.

Okay,
spoken enough.
Simply go to Amazon and enter
‘Tiger and Butterfly,’
or
‘Tiger and Butterfly martial arts’
or
‘Tiger and Butterfly Al Case,’
or something like that,
and watch it pop up.

Remember
it is unique,
matrixing brought one more step forward,
and it is REALLY potent!
It is a COMPLETE martial arts system.

have a great work out!

Al

http://www.amazon.com/Binary-Matrixing-Martial-Arts-Case/dp/1515149501/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437625109&sr=8-1&keywords=binary+matrixing

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:
https://alcase.wordpress.com

Remember,
Google doesn’t like newsletters,
so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

You can find all my books here!
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/

http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei

Behind the Need for Martial Arts Video Training!

Newsletter 819

Martial Arts Video Training!

“A human being is marked by his ability to change.”
Al Case

martial arts law

Click on Cover for The Secret of the One Year Black Belt!

Nice quote, eh?
Let me explain it,
in humanistic terms,
and martial arts terms.
I’m going to go far afield on this one,
so stay with me.

We have a severe homeless problem in my town.
The police have described the homeless as in three categories.
The categories are:
can, can’t, won’t

This is probably not a very good categorization,
but is adequate for the needs of police work.
Simply:
the ‘cans’ would like to work,
but they don’t have the opportunity.
Society has left them behind,
they don’t have the skills,
they don’t understand what has happened to them.

the ‘can’ts’ are merely unable to work.
Handicapped, mentally handicapped, etc.

the ‘won’ts’ are able to work,
but they won’t.
It is easier to live like parasites,
stealing and begging.

Okay,
so how do we fit this categorization into the martial arts?

The cans are able to learn,
but they don’t know where to go,
who to trust,
and they are beset upon by the naysayers,
the people with opinions and no facts
who badmouth everything.

The can’ts are unable to learn.
They have locked themselves into systems
and can’t see beyond those systems.
The ‘My art is best’ sort of thing.

The wont’s are the naysayers.
They are the ones who have opinions but no facts,
and their opinions are invariably:
‘that art is screwed up,’
‘that guy doesn’t know anything,’
and,
of course,
‘Al Case sucks.’

So how do you learn
in a culture filled with those types of personalities?

It requires strength of character
to ignore the naysayers,
separate yourself from a few paltry bucks,
and go get a martial arts book,
a martial arts video,
a martial arts course.

That’s all.
It’s that easy.
But how many people actually have the requisite strength of character?

So if you do have the strength of character,
let me describe what happens
when you do video training with me.

1) You need the course you want to test on.
2) You need the Master Instructor Course.
3) You need to send me a legible video.

At the current time,
I’m not even charging!
FREE!

The fact of the matter is that once people do my courses,
see how logical and common sense matrixing has made the martial arts,
once they do the Master Instructor course,
and understand the actual physics behind the martial arts,
it usually only takes a couple of videos to pass.

Of course,
therein lies my error.
I should be charging hundreds of dollars.
I really should.
Compare the price of three or four years training,
to three or four months of actual accumulation of knowledge.
And,
to be honest,
when I do have sufficient people testing by video
my prices will go up.
When my time starts getting used,
I charge for it.

This clip is from the 5 Army Tai Chi Chuan course.

Here’s something to think about.
In the beginning there was no such thing as black belt.
In the beginning
you picked up techniques where you could,
practiced with whoever,
and only your passion drove you on.

So what I am selling is knowledge.
Knowledge for those who have the passion to be ‘cans.’
Who can say:
I CAN DO THAT!

All others need not apply.

The point here is this:
do you want to learn?
Do you want the real knowledge,
the actual physics,
the logic that makes it all work,
the art?

Do you?
Then you have to be more than:
a ‘can,’ a ‘can’t,’ or a ‘won’t.’
You have to be a:

I CAN DO THAT!

Then you just do it.
You don’t listen to people who say I suck,
you find out for yourself.

You order the two courses,
you find a partner.
(Partners required unless you have enough experience.)
and you indulge your passion,
and you finally,
for the first time in your life,
learn the truth of the martial arts.

‘What kind of a person you are is up to you.’

Here is more data on video testing in the martial arts.

https://alcase.wordpress.com/martial-arts-video-testing/

have a great work out!

Al

https://alcase.wordpress.com/martial-arts-video-testing/

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:
https://alcase.wordpress.com

Remember,
Google doesn’t like newsletters,
so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

You can find all my books here!
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/

http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei

Congrats to New Karate Black Belt

Newsletter 815 ~ Sign up now on the Free Books page!

New Karate Black Belt

Good morning!
Wonderful morning.
I just did a whole bunch of forms,
I feel like a million.

The most important Martial Arts book ever written.

The most important Martial Arts book ever written.

Hey,
there’s lots of stuff happening,
so let me start with…
CONGRATS!
to Peter Carmody

Peter passed his Matrix Karate Black Belt test.

The test was done on video,
and Peter went through having to repeat the test,
doing all the corrections,
and making all the matrix karate material work.

And he made it look good!

Video testing is interesting.
You could probably film yourself on an iPhone,
don’t wear black against a black wall,
white against white,
and so on.

Have some sunlight,
or a few bulbs glowing.

You don’t need lots of space
as long as I can see your whole body.

Have a partner.

Be willing to fail once or twice,
at least.

And here’s the thing,
Matrix Karate is pretty darn unique.
You see,
most karate systems were developed for specific reasons,
bodyguarding,
the element of being grabbed,
having to deal with weapons,
etc.

Not saying you won’t encounter these things today,
you need some awareness of these things,
but the real factor is that we are a fist culture.
If you are in a fight
the usual weapons will be fists.
Then something that can be used as a cub,
then a knife,
etc.

But fists are the base of it all.
And,
if you can handle a fist,
it is just a short step to a knife,
if you have enough brains to adapt.

Anyway,
Matrix Karate is designed around the structure of the body,
it is a complete art,
taking into account all angles of attack and defense.
But it is SIMPLE!
Because the posing and the unnecessary techniques
have all been weeded out.

You have to learn about mistakes,
but the essence is in the logic
where one move leads to the next,
with no circus moves.

It’s funny,
I remember one of the first wins
I ever received,
this was about ten years ago.
The guy wrote that he had gone to a martial arts school,
and the first technique they taught him
was a cartwheel into a jump kick.
Not how to block and punch.
Not even the basic kicks,
but a jumping kick off a whole body contortion.

Can you see why matrixing was so desperately needed?
A little common sense?
And every system,
no matter how classical or developed,
benefits from the direct infusion of logic that matrixing provides.

Anyway,
well done to Peter,
and I recommend Matrix Karate and the Master Instructor Course
(you need both of them to test).
Whether you are accomplished and have a black belt,
whether you are a raw beginner,
whether you are just in the middle and need to get going,
Matrix Karate is the easiest,
the best,
the most efficient and completely rounded karate
on the planet.
Period.

Here’s a link to how to video test…

https://alcase.wordpress.com/martial-arts-video-testing/

Have a great work out!

Al

https://alcase.wordpress.com/martial-arts-video-testing/

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:
https://alcase.wordpress.com

Remember,
Google doesn’t like newsletters,
so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei

New Version of Matrix Karate

The breakthrough Martial Art, Matrix Karate, is now available through Kindle!

earn black belt karate

First Volume of Matrix Karate ~ Kindle version

This is a long awaited development, as Kindle is not user friendly for books the size of Matrix Karate. Kindle refuses to hold large amounts of pictures.

Thus, this version of Matrix Karate has been broken into 6 volumes, and reformatted to be Kindle friendly.

There will be six volumes of Matrix Karate, and this is the first. These new volumes will be renamed as ‘Earning a Black Belt.’

The subject matter of the six volumes is as follows:

  1. Vol 1 ~ Two Man Basic form
  2. Vol 2 ~ First Form and Self Defense movements
  3. Vol 3 ~ Two Man Intermediate form
  4. Vol 4 ~ Second Form and Self Defense movements
  5. Vol 5 ~ Two Man Advanced form
  6. Vol 6 ~ Third Form and Self Defense movements

The entire matrix karate system is delivered through these six volumes. The price has been adjusted commensurate with the printed version.

For people wishing to view the original video course, go to MonsterMartialArts.com.

What Matrixing in the Martial Arts Really Does

Newsletter 800
What is Actually Happening With Matrixing and the Martial Arts

Good morning!
The sun is shining,
and then it is raining,
and shining and raining,
and so on.
that makes it THE day for working out!

To injure an opponent is to injure yourself. To control aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace.

To injure an opponent is to injure yourself. To control aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace.

I just received several emails.
Some fellow was bashing me on his blog.
He was a long time martial artist,
quoted me,
then proceeded to ‘dissect’ me.
And,
if anybody spoke up for me,
he bashed them.
Nice guy.

Anyway,
I thought this made for a wonderful opportunity
to explain about bad people in the martial arts,
what really makes them,
what you do about them,
and…what is really happening with matrixing.
So here we go.

Here is a scenario.
You are in the seventh grade,
and you are charged with teaching a fourth grader,
you have to teach him how to multiply.
You lay out the problems,
you show him,
and show and show him,
and he just doesn’t get it.
You get mad.
Stupid kid.
Teacher comes up,
she doesn’t get mad,
she just sort of straightens everything out.
Now,
here is what happened:
you had never taught anybody.
You didn’t know all the tricks.
The teacher has seen it all,
she knows all the tricks.

Now,
the people who attack me,
who attack matrixing,
they are like seventh graders.
They have done some martial arts,
but they don’t know all the tricks.
Or,
in this specific,
they don’t understand
how all the arts fit together.
They don’t understand the underlying principles,
the real philosophy behind it all.
So,
they get mad.

And,
think about it,
they have spent their lives doing martial arts,
and here I come along and say:
oh, that’s not right,
you should do it this way.

Man,
am I a threat.
So they strike back
against what is threatening them,
threatening their carefully cultivated view of themselves,
of their construct of how the world works.

And,
here is a proof for what i am saying:
If they knew the truth they wouldn’t get mad.
I don’t get mad…because I know the truth.
I know how the arts fit together,
I know all the tricks,
the gimmicks and methods,
the way it all works,
so I don’t get mad
when these fellows speak ill of me
on blogs and chatrooms and so on.

If you know the truth you don’t get mad,
you can look down to their level,
and see what it is they don’t understand.

The problem is…
you can’t make them understand
if they don’t want to understand,
that is to say,
if they are holding to the small bits of truth
they did manage to accumulate,
to the methods and things that they constructed
to try to make sense
out of the martial arts
which don’t always make sense.

Now,
the specific fellow who was attacking me,
was dissecting one of my Kenpo books.
And it gets very interesting.

For instance,
he claimed I wasn’t a serious student of Kenpo,
which,
in the book,
I explained that i wasn’t a serious student of Kenpo,
that I was applying matrixing principles
to what i had learned decades ago.

For instance,
he said my work needed more depth,
which,
in my book,
I set forth the idea that this was a beginning,
and that somebody should come along
and exploit my principles
to look deeper.

Do you get it?

He was saying things I had already pointed out in my book.

He was criticizing me
using points i had already used to criticize myself.

Not very creative,
especially for so called critical thinking.

But,
here’s the kicker.
in his attack he made an interesting statement, he said something to the effect that he had read my books,
and that at a certain point he came face to face with

a different way of seeing things.

This was the effect of matrixing.

And he immediately pushed it aside,
which is to say,
he held on to his carefully constructed world,
and was unable to evolve.

And,
I will say something else.
In my books I tell people, very plainly,
that they can’t just read the books,
they have to do the techniques,
then they will understand,
then they will get what I am talking about.

I gauran-forking-tee he did not do this.
He was a seventh grader,
thinking he was a teacher,
and he read the book without doing ANY of the techniques.
Without experiencing what I was really saying.

If he had done the book,
instead of reading it like a comic,
he would have been changed,
that different viewpoint would have popped out,
nice and neat and gently overwhelming,
and he would have evolved.

His art would have evolved.
He would have become a teacher,
a real teacher,
instead of a seventh grader thinking he was a teacher.

Now,
I know what I have just said
is the absolute truth,
because I have seen it work over the last ten years.

There are thousands of people who have DONE the material I have written.
Who have DONE the forms and techniques.
Who have DONE the drills.
And my wins book is packed with their stories.
Over six hundred pages of thanks yous.
Of ‘how did you ever figure this out?’
Of ‘OMG, I am making my own art,
and it all makes so much sense!’

So that is the point i want to make here.
You can read about,
or you can do.
But don’t bother criticizing what I’ve done
until you have done it for yourself.

Don’t be a seventh grader,
thinking you know it all,
when you only know what a seventh grader knows.
Don’t settle for that.

And,
that brings us to where this matrixing thing is going.
Let me make a few points.
I love the martial arts.
There is nothing i love more than doing the forms,
working out with people,
it is all a ball.
But,
I left the fighting part of the martial arts decades ago.
I lived in a time that has passed
where i was able to accumulate all the data,
and make sense of it,
and I was able to put fighting aside.

And,
the point of matrixing is to help you do this, too.
To learn how to fight so well,
that fighting stops being a game of chance,
and becomes a scientific endeavor,
where you analyze and handle people
like you are a teacher,
and they are seventh graders.

We are talking about actual evolution here.

If you lived fifty years,
you would have fifty years worth of knowledge.
But what if I could give you that knowledge in a year or two?
where would you be in fifty years then?
You would be at a hundred years,
because you would have my fifty,
plus your fifty.
And here is the interesting thing,
the martial arts accelerate beyond that,
once they are matrixed.
It is not just about getting my fifty years of knowledge,
it is about getting thousands of years of knowledge,
all the knowledge accumulated by the ancients
and passed down,
and finally made sense of.

Let me ask you a question:
what step of evolution is it
where you don’t get mad?

You watch the world
and everybody gets mad.
The politicians lie and get mad,
the corporate bosses,
for all their success,
cheat and steal,
and get awfully mad.
People on the street,
they get mad in their cars,
they flip each other off,
they have road rage,
they beat each other up with baseball bats.
Husbands and wives get mad,
they snipe at each other,
and the next thing you know
the man punches out the wife,
the wife does a Lorena Bobbit,
and…

do you get it?

From the playgrounds of our ‘educational’ institutions
to the prisons,
to the businesses and politicis,
we are a raging,
wild beast.

I don’t get mad.
And I am telling you exactly why,
because I have done the martial arts so much
that I have given up fighting.
Because I understand what frustrations
all those seventh graders are having out there.

Do you want to get ‘unmad?’
Do you want to give up anger?
Do you want to understand,
not like a seventh grader,
hopped up on GMO and vaccines and testosterone and all that,
but like a calm, patient teacher?

Do you like a world where you are out of control?
Where you travel from one conflict to the other,
and never partake of the chocolate cake in-between?

That’s what I am selling,
that’s the truth of what Matrixing does.
That’s where you would be,
if you could suddenly ‘evolve’ yourself.
If you could leap past all the minor frustrations
of a society that is dedicated to killing itself.

Now,
the interesting thing is this:
I have often thought about taking all the books off the market
that are attempts to apply matrixing to other arts.
It just seems to cause so much anger.
People think I am trying to destroy their construction,
instead of enhance it.
They think i am attacking their art,
when I am only trying to make it bigger,
better,
more logical.
When all I want is to take them to the end of one street,
and show them a thousand other streets.
When I just want to evolve them.

My consideration is simple.
Are my books causing anger among those unable to understand
because they cannot do more than read,
because they cannot do,
because they cannot understand the instructions?

Something to think about,
eh?

I’ve also thought about,
and even begun work
on setting up lines of endeavor
which can be closely watched.
I made an attempt at Monkeyland,
and still think about the mistakes made I made,
and how i could fix them.

I’ve thought about setting up a website
dedicated to taking people step by step,
but not allowing them to purchase the next step,
until they have completed the previous step.

And there are reasons I haven’t done this yet,
though I have made half starts.
Reasons like I don’t have the time and wherewithal.
Not very good reasons are these, I admit,
but…that is where I am.

Okay,
hope I didn’t bore you,
hope I actually made some sense with this ranting,
but let me just say this…
the most important course I’ve got
is the Master Instructor Course.
I push it more than any other,
because it lays out the way energy works in the martial arts,
it presents how techniques work.
And it tends to divest one of ALL the false reasons
behind the actual martial arts.
It tells you the information you need to instruct.
It opens the door
to the way of becoming
a calm, patient teacher,
and not a seventh grader.
Here go.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/4-master-instructor-course/

And,
to all,
happy March,
March is named after the God of War,
so it is your month.
Enjoy it
by working out every day.

Happy martial arts!
and have a great work out!
Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/4-master-instructor-course/

http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei

Before You…and Karate…Was Born

Find the Zen of Karate…and the Zen of You

It’s hot here in LA,
and you can really sweat those toxins out.
The best way to sweat?
Work out!

I was driving down the street the other day,
and I saw all sorts of martial arts studios.
MMA, Muay Thai, Boxing,
Karate, Kung fu, Kenpo,
Judo, Aikido, Taekwondo,
and on and on and on.

When I began,
in 1967,
which is near 50 years ago,
there was judo,
which was taught in a few places,
and there was Karate.
Interestingly,
Karate was undergoing a boom.
This was just before Bruce Lee,
and the Tracy Brothers had breathed fire into marketing,
and Karate schools were opening every where.

I began Kenpo,
went every day,
became an instructor,
and so on,
and I had a lot of questions,
and nowhere to get the answers.
The only magazine was Black Belt,
and they sort of circled the arts,
talking about,
but never delving in.

And there weren’t many books.
There was the outlandish Super Karate Made Easy,
Ed Parker had a book out,
Robert Smith wrote his book on
Shaolin Temple boxing.
But these books were either techniques books,
or they talked in mysteries,
and there was no way to understand what the heck
the martial arts were all about.

Then I came across a book called
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.
I had left kenpo by then,
and was in the Kang Duk Won,
and this book was a Godsend.

Not a book about technique,
not a dissertation of mental tricks,
rather questions and tales
that made you blink,
and look for the real you.

One of my favorites was the old question,
‘Who were you before you were born.’

Now you might be wondering,
how can an art built of physical routines
answer that question?

The answer to that wonderment
lies in the simple fact
that we were not distracted.
Karate was not infected by boxing,
throws weren’t an active part.
And so on.

On the surface,
looking back,
reading these words as I write them,
I can understand
why people might wonder,
how can you call that an art?
How can you think of that stripped down sapling
as a wondrous forest of spirit?

Easy.
We weren’t distracted,
and we practiced those few techniques we knew
until we could make them work.

Enlightenment is when you do one thing
without distraction,
until you see the truth of that one thing.

You have heard people like Bruce Lee say,
in the end,
a punch is just a punch,
a kick is just a kick.

But,
here’s the bad news,
if you haven’t found that out
through doing a simple kick,
or punch,
without distraction,
for tens of thousands of times,
then the truth of the statement evades you.

You know about water,
but you’ve never been wet.

That is why,
except for a few logical changes,
and the nudging of matrixing,
the karate I do now,
is virtually the same
as the karate I did way back when.

Pinan one through pinan five,
the iron horse,
a few others,
I do them almost the same as I learned them.
And,
here’s the interesting thing,
the way I learned them was only a couple of generations
removed from the way they were taught before Funakoshi.

I go into modern schools
and I don’t see what I learned.
I see forms infected by boxing,
distracted by MMA,
slanted by tournaments and kick boxing.
I see techniques discarded because people can’t make them work.
I see people fighting,
instead of painstakingly being taught the drills that lead to…not fighting,
to scientifically assessing an opponent and shredding him without waste.

Most of all,
I don’t see the calm of mind,
the calm that comes not from knowing about lots of arts,
but from knowing one thing well.
And, in these modern times,
if people do know one thing well,
it has been slanted by ‘reality fighting,’
by the desire to beat up your fellow man,
not to calm yourself,
and find the truth of yourself.

Not to find out who you were before you were born.

Here’s the art that I was taught,
unchanged except for a few logical tweaks,
and the ‘de-slanting’ of matrixing.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/temple-karate/

Hope you enjoy getting back to the ‘zen’ of it all.

Have a great work out!
Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/temple-karate/

http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei

Moving the Body Faster than the Eye Can See

Newsletter 796
Sleight of Hand in the Martial Arts

Good morning!
It’s a balmy day out here in LA,
absolutely perfect for working out.
You just let the wind push you into the next move.

Hey,
here’s something interesting,
did you know that people don’t know how to use their bodies?
They do sports,
various gimmicks,
and they catch the ball cool,
but they are using the body at about 1/100 of its potential.
True.

And,
interesting enough,
I am not talking about instances of high adrenaline
as being the optimum.

In fact,
you should be using less energy
to create more effect.

Here’s the neutronic low down,very simple,
on this phenomenon.

If you study math,
the very first thing you learn to do is measure the universe.
After a couple of years of working with this fact,
which is used because it is undeniable,
you can’t argue with a ruler,
you learn to think in abstracts.
You learn to follow formula,
and you leave the necessity for measuring.

So,
two specific stages,
measure the universe,
follow formula.
The devising of new formula is considered the higher,
most creative mathematics.
That is what every professor shoots for.

Okay,
understanding this,
let’s discuss how it parallels the martial arts.

The beginner is taught to measure himself.
How fast he can run from point A to point B,
how much he can lift,
and so on.
This is the first stage,
the measurement stage,
the stage where you measure yourself in universal terms.

But you are not the universe,
you are awareness,
and to realize your true potential you have to find
the abstracts of motion.

Here is a very simple example of an abstract of motion.

The magician holds up the deck of cards,
you choose a card,
insert it back into the deck,
and the magician,
even though he doesn’t know what card it is,
pulls it out.
Whoa!
As Po would say.

But the magician has only used sleight of hand.
He has trained his hands to make a motion
that escapes the eye.
He doesn’t measure himself,
he grades himself according to how many people he can fool.

Can Joe Blow do this mystical faster than the eye can see motion?
With practice.
But here’s the point:
What if you trained your whole body to move
faster than the eye can see.
There are ways,
you know.
Here’s one.
Practice walking the circle out of Pa Kua for a few years,
until you feel the ‘lightening’ in your legs.
When somebody punches,
you move your hand in one direction,
and step down and under in the other direction.
It will be as if you disappeared.

I first heard of this disappearing act
when my instructor was being checked out by a high ranking Korean stylist.
The Korean did a series of stretches,
then,
noting that Bob was just standing and sipping a drink,
asked when Bob would be ready (for a proposed freestyle match).
Bob put his drink down and faced the Korean.
“I’m ready.”
The Korean jumped into the air with a perfect spinning kick.
When he came down Bob was nowhere to be seen.
In fact,
when the Korean turned his back Bob just walked behind him,
in conjunction with the spin.
The Korean was shocked to find Bob behind him.

I was not as fast as Bob,
I have a bigger body,
but I found that by moving my hand in one direction,
and my body in the other,
just as I described earlier,
that people would follow my hand and lose sight of me.

This is simple stuff,
but it takes immense practice.
And it takes a dedication to graduating from the simple measurement of self
into the abstract of measuring the other person.

It takes concentration,
focus of mind.

And,
in my case,
in addition to all the karate I did,
it took decades of Tai Chi and Pa Kua
to understand the enrages involved.

But,
with matrixing,
it doesn’t take that long.
It takes intense effort,
but if you understand what you are trying to do
before you do it,
then you can cut the time down by MUCH.

Mind you,
the path is different for everybody,
because everybody is different,
bodies are different,
and the mind and spirit is definitely different.
But,
if you understand what I have said here,
and are willing to dedicate yourself to the work,
then you can go beyond the measurement of the universe.
You can go into these things that,
before matrixing,
were considered mystical
and reserved for special people.

There is no reason why,
with understanding the matrixing concepts,
and a little hard work,
you can’t be special.
There is no reason why you can’t use your body
to its full 100% potential.

Here’s the Pa Kua page for any who wish
to choose that as a part of their journey.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/butterfly-pa-kua-chang/

Have a great work out!
Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/butterfly-pa-kua-chang/

http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei

Tai Chi Chuan vs Karate

Major Difference between Karate and Tai Chi Chuan

One of my work out partners,
way back in the Kang Duk Won,
decided he was going to do Tai Chi Chuan.
He figured it would be easy,
because of his karate conditioning.
He threw his back out so badly
it took him two years to recover.

Soft, flowing Tai Chi Chuan,
and it was too tough for a young karate guy.
What’s wrong with that picture, eh?

What is wrong is simple,
when Bruce, my friend,
did Tai Chi he thought he could just do a karate kick slowly.
But karate is fast and explosive,
the leg is out and back,
in Tai Chi the muscles have to strain to keep the leg up.
And I mean a whole sequence of muscles.
Bruce’s muscles,
though karate powerful,
couldn’t support the leg for an extended period of time,
and the result of his attempting to do such a thing
disrupted the muscles
all the way back to the spine..

Now isn’t that interesting,
tai chi chuan has more ‘weight lifting’
in its moves.
Karate has the fast explosion,
and the muscle tightening (focus)
builds the muscles.
But those muscles are built
at the beginning and end of the move.
In Tai Chi the muscles must support the weight,
throughout the move,
for a long(er) period of time.

A simple difference,
but it leads to an important concept.

Karate is explosive energy.
Tai Chi is suspended energy.

The difference manifests in movements,
in timing,
in focus of concentration,
in emptiness,
in energy.

Now we could actually analyze these differences
from different points of view.
But what I’ve said here is probably the best point to start.

Not speed,
not sensitivity,
though those are important,
but defining how energy is actually used.
Because how energy is used
defines the other terms.
This concept is core.

This is not to discourage you from trying,
but to caution you,
and help you make the transition.

If you do your karate forms slowly,
and round out the edges of your motion,
you can get Tai Chi power.
Just take it easy when you begin.

If you do your Tai Chi forms fast,
you can find Karate power,
and pretty easily.
But you do have to adapt to a different mind set.

Explosive and slow
two sides to a coin,
two sides to the martial arts.
And there are many more sides that these concepts can lead to.

Here’s the link to the Five Army Tai Chi Chuan course.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/five-army-tai-chi-chuan/

Have a great work out!
Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/five-army-tai-chi-chuan/

http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei