Tag Archives: aikido

Making powerful Martial Arts Kicks!

Karate Kicks that Work!

I’ve been working out since 1967.
I started Karate the day after Thanksgiving
and have worked out every single day since then.
Sometimes just a little, sometimes a lot.
There have been a couple of times I was injured
and even bed ridden.
On those occasions I did my work out mentally,
visualizing myself going through forms,
doing techniques,
even freestyling.
Because you don’t get the martial arts
unless you do the work out.
Period.

In the beginning my work out consisted of
doing the warm ups and basics of class
and a few forms.
The problem was that I wasn’t getting good fast enough.
So,
here is what I thought.

Your arms must be as strong as your legs,
your legs must be as flexible as your arms.

Another one was that I should be as handy with my body,
as my hand was handy with a knife and fork.

But the real joy started when I realized
that the before class warm ups and basics
just weren’t making me strong.
They were designed to get your blood pumping,
but not to make one strong.
I was watching a fellow named Ted one day,
this was back in my early Kenpo days,
and he had phenomenal kicks.
“Ted, what’s the secret of good kicks?”
He said,
“I practice my kicks a hundred times.”
A hundred kicks?
Heck,
the class work out consisted of ten kicks.
No wonder I was weak and my kicks were worthless!

I didn’t put this bit of advice to work right away.
I went to the Kang Duk Won,
The Kang Duk Won was a different mindset.
We were fanatics,
we were crazy.

250 kicks, per kick, for each leg.
Every day.

I quickly realized a truth,
one can walk all day long,
so why can’t one kick all day long?
I
I did the front kick, the side kicks,
the wheel kick, the rear kick
and the crescent and reverse crescent kicks.
Within a week my legs were different.
Within a month everybody knew I had serious kicks.

And,
it did’t stop there.
Every time I entered a room
I turned the lights on with a foot.
I became involved in yoga to increase flexibility.

Now I had kicks.
Serious kicks that could break things
and people.
They were fast and they meant business.
Period!

Furthermore,
now that I had really applied myself,
I used that same mindset in other things.
When I wanted to pick up a new art,
I would do that art intensely for hours
every single day.

I did Pa Kua,
I did Tai Chi.
I did other arts,
using the same mindset,
and it worked.
But maybe I should tell you
of those work outs another time.

Incidentally,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

is selling well,
got a couple of five star ratings.
check it out…
and
have a great work out!

Al

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 12 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 8 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find the book that works for you.

How to Fix Karate:
A Karate Training and Workout Book
(Two Volumes)

Figuring Out Martial Arts Footwork!

Analyzing Martial Arts Footwork!

Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter at Monster Martial Arts!

Recently had a question
about how I came up with my footwork,
specifically the Nine Square pattern.
It’s all geometry.

The foot only goes a couple of ways.
Right foot forward or back
Left foot forward or back.
Yet the possibilities are endless.
I started with a square,
‘cornerwork’ I called it.
I came up with 16 possibilities of motion
all based on the right/left forward or back.
I spent months exploring those 16 possibilities
through the various stances.
And explored the various arm movements
that could effectively be done.
A lot of work just there.

I put four corners together and came up with one pattern.
All other patterns were repeats and combinations
of the 16 cornerwork foot patterns.
That’s right, just one,
and it was cool.
It consisted of a cloverleaf,
and spinning and stepping over my front foot.
just those two steps to it, and that was all.

I put the four squares into nine squares.
It was a tic tac toe in a box.
It had eight points (not the corners)
which aligned with Pa Kya circle walking.
And there it was.

Why go further?
Why dance all around the room,
thinking I had created intricate patterns,
when the purpose was to explore the effective potentials
of either the right foot or the left foot
moving either forward or back.
And to drill the basics intensely.

So when you play with the nine square pattern,
especially in the books
Try working them on a simple square,
or on a foursquare.
You understand them better,
and you’ll see what I went through,
and you’ll be better.

The Last Martial Arts Book
(get the version with five hours of video links!)

and

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Came up with a little bit of advice,
here go…

If you train to fight, you’ll get in fights.
If you train to beat up people, you’ll beat up people.
If you train to teach people, then the world will listen.

Have a great work out!

Al

And thanks to everybody who picked up my book,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 12 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 8 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find the book that works for you.

How to Fix Karate:
A Karate Training and Workout Book
(Two Volumes)

How Matrixing Works in the Martial Arts!

Actually Understanding the Martial Arts!

I haven’t written about Matrixing for a while,
so let me explain for people who have never heard of it.

Make a list of numbers to ten.
1, 2, 3, 4…10
It’s easy to count to ten.
You can count anything.
After a while you even forget to count on your fingers.
That’s what effective martial arts looks like.
A small number of techniques easily and intuitively remembered.

But,
as people teach the martial arts they have favorite techniques
and they leave out number 4.
You can still count to ten, sort of.
Not a real ten,
but, hey, that blank space isn’t important,
I’ve got nine things that work.

Then some guy teaches it, and his favorite technique is 13.
1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13.
Okay. Cool. He’s got nine techniques that work,
and a thirteen technique that,
if he’s lucky, he can get away with.

A guy teaches techniques, but the enemy wears armor.
Some more techniques are left out,
and more ‘specialized techniques’ are added.

Time passes and students don’t have the weapons threat any more,
but they keep practicing the ‘specialized techniques,’
and they are adapted, changed, altered,
for different circumstances.

After a few years,
not even hundreds or thousands,
but just a handful of years,
three or four generations,
a few cultural changes,
and the art looks like this:

1, 2c, 5, 5f, 5g, 8, 3h, 16, 89, 1b,
b3, 43, 23k, 2k, yellow, 63fg, 7, 4little, 19, 9…
and eighty more techniques.
All to count to ten.

Everybody has added, changed, adapted, included
techniques from other arts, other countries,
been influenced by religion, politics
and their mothers aversion to violence.

And this what the martial arts look like today.
ALL of the martial arts.

People take years to memorize a sequence of ‘numbers’
that make no sense, are out of order,
and often don’t work at all.

Do you know what matrixing looks like?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Simple. Easy to learn and…
EASY TO REMEMBER!
It becomes intuitive right from the get go.
And it can be applied to ANY art!
You can figure out which techniques
belong in the sequence,
should be kicked out,
should be changed to work,
and so on.

And,
the hidden blessing…
once you matrix your art
your mind has experienced intuitive thinking.
It begins to function differently.
It is quicker and more logical.

Now,
is matrixing for everybody?
Nope.

People who are stuck in their art as a belief system
should not learn matrixing.
they don’t have the ability to learn,
and especially to be intuitive.
They will end up frustrated and critical.
Anybody who is critical is usually stuck.

People of low intelligence.
And this situation is truly terrible,
for it includes most people educated in the modern systems.
Go to school and you are likely more stupid
and even unable to learn.

But if you aren’t stupid,
and you aren’t locked into the arts as a belief system,
and you can learn…
matrixing can have a profound effect.

So,
the proof.
I’ve got 0ver 700 pages of wins from people.
I’ve been pushing matrixing,
in some form,
since the eighties,
and I’ve only had two returns in that time.
But the real proof is this…
Money back guarantee.
Looks, it’s subjective,
the only person that can prove it is your experience.
Not somebody else’s words,
but your own dig in and find out the truth self.

So,
here’s the link…

1a Matrix Karate

You can study it in other arts on the site,
but this was the first and most effective course.

Have a great work out!

Al

And thanks to everybody who picked up my book,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 12 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 8 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find the book that works for you.

How to Fix Karate:
A Karate Training and Workout Book
(Two Volumes)

Injuries Grow in Brazilian Jujitsu!

Martial Arts Injuries in Jujitsu!

(sign up for newsletter!)

Recently read an article that claimed
Brazilian Jujitsu was causing lots of injuries.
I find this fascinating.

When I started Kenpo Karate back in 67,
within two years I had broken my toes twice,
my hand once
and needed to repair a cracked tooth,
and I attributed these injuries to two things.

First,
poor instruction.
Can’t argue with that.

Second,
protective gear.

Our instructor came out to the freestyle class one day.
He had a couple of large boxes filled with protective gear.
“Okay, guys,
now we can fight without getting injured.”
Oh, Lord, the injuries piled up.
Everybody thought they could hit harder,
everybody thought they had to hit harder.
They stopped learning control
and started punching harder.

When I went to a classical school
(Kang Duk Won)
I learned what power was.
By learning what real control was.
This school was ten times harder than the Kenpo school,
I ended up with so many bruises I couldn’t press the clutch pedal.
But I never received an injury.
Good instruction and no protective gear.

We learned to be protective of our partners,
and to be precise in our control.
We learned the consequences of poor control
through the ministrations of our ‘gentle’ seniors.
in other words,
if you showed poor control
a higher belt would step in and show you consequences.
But they did it with good control.
It was actually a very humane lesson.

Brazilian Jujitsu has lots of injuries.
There is no arguing that.
I have seen good schools with lots of injuries.
Especially to the hands and wrists.
Poor instruction?
Maybe.
But I would tend to think it is young turks
getting over excited by the action.

But here’s the thing…
if you do jujitsu correctly
if you find the angles
and use gentle force,
it works.
That’s what the name means.
Jujitsu means ‘gentle trick.’

But I see people,
especially in the cage,
where victory is more important than your opponent’s body,
who use full force
and crank to the max,
and who,
in rare matches,
can’t even be pulled off their opponent.

It is interesting,
we live in degraded times,
where honor is not as valuable as a punch in the face.
Thus, there aren’t many voices asking for
more rules to protect the fighter.

To be truthful,
I am not fond of rules.
Rules are needed in contests
where the participants might be out of control.
they don’t have self control,
and there is a need for ‘other’ control.
such as referees,
fines and punishments like being banned.

It will be very interesting to see how this all plays out.
But,
in the meantime,
I’ll stick with the classic arts
who preach honor and virtue,
over ‘winning at all costs.’

Okay,
obligatory ad.
If you want to know the right way to do Karate,
check out

How to Fix Karate:
A Karate Training and Workout Book
(Comes in Two Volumes)

These are the real techniques behind the forms,
techniques that can be used on the street,
and even in the ring.
The books have over FIVE HOURS of video links!

That’s five hours of video training
for the price of two books.
That is THE BEST deal anywhere!
And it will make your karate technically correct
and give you all the real techniques!

There it is,
check it out,
and enjoy the rest of this winter.
It’s almost spring,
and that is training time in my book!

Have a great work out!
Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 12 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 8 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find the book that works for you.

How to Fix Karate:
A Karate Training and Workout Book
(Two Volumes)

Evolving in Tai Chi Chuan!

Accelerating Your Speed of Learning in Tai Chi!

I was always trying to figure out
how to make Tai Chi Chuan happen a little quicker.
Just as i didn’t want to take years for a black belt in other systems,
I didn’t want to take years to get the real benefits of Tai chi.

When I put together the Nine Square Diagram Boxing
I was addressing this directly.
I figured isolating the working moves,
increasing repetition,
and focusing on the meditative aspects
would get me there.

The important things to remember
are to shift the weight back and forth,
loading the legs with energy,
pushing that energy into the tan tien,
which is the energy generator for the body.

Also, to keep the belly taut, but not tight.
This focuses on the tan tien and not the muscles.
Very important to realize that
if you focus on the muscles
you isolate body parts
instead of putting them together as one unit.

And, to keep the arms filled with unbendable energy.
Aikido definitions are best to understand the ‘unbendable arm.’
But very little flexing,
keep the arms at their most optimum bend
and work on subtle pulses
that work off the push of energy in the legs.

Doing the Nine Square in this way,
or doing Tai Chi in this manner
will up your speed of learning,
and the accumulation of energy in your body.

Simply shift back and forth
and feel the ‘slosh’ of energy in your body.
It may take a while,
but it is faster than traditional Tai Chi by ten.

But what REALLY helped me
is doing the Nine Square with my eyes closed.
I did this with Tai Chi and it helped,
but with the repetition and focus of Nine Square
it magnified everything tremendously

I was feeling like I was holding a ball of energy.
I was feeling the energy building so fast
that I was compelled to move into the hard style
and snap everything with power.

that’s why I talk about doing the Nine Square two ways.
One soft and one hard.

When doing the Nine square soft (or Tai Chi)
don’t work against yourself.
Let the power build by being patient.
Know that you’re working for more than simple self defense.
Know that you are building yourself spiritually,
building and using energies
that normal people are not aware exists.

Ground the legs,
taut the belly
unbendable arms
close the eyes and let the power build

Do the hard style separately.

Here’s the link to the book,
make sure you…
GET THE EDITION WITH 5 HOURS OF VIDEO LINKS!

The Last Martial Arts Book: Nine Square Diagram Boxing

It’s a new year,
so have a great work out,
and do all the martial arts you can!
It’s good for your soul.

Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 12 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 8 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find the book that works for you.

How to Fix Karate:
A Karate Training and Workout Book
(Two Volumes)

The Proper Use of Muscles in the Martial Arts!

The Two Muscles in the Martial Arts!

There are two ways of using the muscles in the martial arts
One is to use the muscles,
the other is to not use the muscles.
I know, sounds like zen double talk.

The first method is to tighten the muscles,
specifically upon impact.

The second method is to ‘empty’ the muscles,
to just flow energy through them.

When I first began training in 1967
I was taught to use muscles,
to ‘focus’ the muscles by tightening
everything at the point of impact.
When I went to the Kang Duk Won
(not American KDW)
I was taught,
and mostly through experience and not words,
to tighten only the fist.
Eventually I stopped tightening the fist entirely,
merely sticking the bones of my arm
into the opponent’s body.
This required almost no muscle.

There are several things to be understood here.

If you tighten the muscle energy doesn’t flow through the body.
This leads to inefficiency,
energy loss,
and so on.

It is important to go through the tightening of the muscle phase,
lest you don’t understand what a punch really is.
This is why TCC sometimes doesn’t work,
the student doesn’t understand the reality of combat.
If the student does understand the reality of combat,
TCC is one of the better and more effective arts out there.

The ‘unbendable arm’ (Aikido)
is the best example of an ‘empty arm.’
Or an arm through which energy flows.
Aikido doesn’t develop this for combat,
but rather uses it almost as meditation
and for show.

I use the ‘unbendable arm’ in all movements.
I move my slightly bent arm with only a bit of
expansion and contraction.
The less I move,
the more ‘flow’ I create,
the more subtle are my movements,
my power,
my effectiveness.

When adapting the ‘unbendable arm’
to arts such as Karate,
One MUST understand how to sink the weight,
how to push with the legs,
how to turn the hips,
and how to move all body parts in harmony
so as to strike with the entire body weight.

I still have snap,
but it is subtle,
and designed around the delivering
of the whole weight of the body
into the target.

By developing the ‘complete energy’ of a strike
into the ‘no energy’ of a strike
one loses his tendency to be jumpy,
to respond with violence,
and attains a very calm mind,
one that doesn’t set up fights through mental attitudes.

The odd thing is that this sounds like mysticism,
but it is really hard core science.
It just goes beyond the ‘Newtonian’ science
we have been raised on.

Hey,
Happy Thanksgiving!
Take advantage of the time off
to do extra work outs,
and don’t forget to check out
my books on

How to Fix Karate:
A Karate Training and Workout Book
(Two Volumes)

(There is a version with five hours of video
but you have to hunt for it on Amazon)

And don’t forget to give me five stars!

Have a great work out!
Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 12 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 8 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find the book that works for you.

At the End of the Martial Arts Path!

The Secret of the Real Martial Arts

All right,
a beautiful day for secrets.
Of course, that means you might have to think.
NO! comes the scream.
I DON’T WANT TO THINK!
Too bad, so sad.
But if you want to learn the real martial arts you will have to think.
And specifically,
you will have to think about what I am about to tell you.

What is the purpose of the martial arts?
Why, it’s to beat people up!
And it is.
On a certain level.

But what is really at the end of the martial arts path?
What do you get if you are studying a true martial art and persist?
To love and trust your fellow man.

What?
What FN planet did this bozo study his fake ass martial arts on?
Let me explain.

A beginner puts out blocks,
ridges of energy,
and this pushes the opponent away, or back, or whatever.
It stops his opponent,
but it also stops his own ability to perceive.
Necessary in the beginning, maybe,
but not the end,
it’s the beginning of the real martial arts.

You go through the procedure of learning
how to put out a ridge of energy
so you can NOT put out a ridge of energy.
A ridge of energy will stop you from perceiving
the thought of the opponent.
You want to know what the opponent is thinking,
You want to know when he is thinking.
If you stop his thought from coming through,
then you can’t see the technique the opponent is planning,
and then you can’t do the right thing.
You’ve been reduced to simple blocking
which may or may not be the right thing.
You’re back to being a white belt.

So how do you stop yourself
from stopping the thought of the opponent?
You accept the opponent.
You don’t think of him as bad or good,
you don’t judge him,
you don’t stop him.

If he wants to hit you,
fine,
accept that.
Trust him to punch you.
Trust,
and here’s the crux of the matter:
like him.
That is the really real secret of real martial arts.
That is what awaits you if you study a real martial art.

You don’t make the other fellow wrong,
even if he is offering you a knife for your heart.
You don’t get upset if he wants to do bad things to your family.
You like him,
you appreciate him for the opportunity he has offered you.
You accept him as a seriously misguided individual
and do what you have to…while liking him.

If you refuse to like somebody,
even if you are right that he is evil,
then you will not see his true potential,
you will not read his body actions,
you will not see his thoughts
and you will have stopped yourself
from effectively handling him.

The only solution is to trust everybody.
Even Hitler.
Don’t trust him to treat you fairly,
trust him to be what he is.

I hope you understand,
but if you don’t,
don’t worry.
You will if your art is true and you persist.

And,
don’t forget to give me five stars…
when you purchase
The Last Martial Arts Book
(There is a version with five hours of video
but you have to hunt for it on Amazon)

Have a great work out!
Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.

Footwork Patterns in the Martial Arts

Creating Your Own Footwork in the Martial Arts!

Newsletter 1074
What I used to do was play with footwork.
I knew all the classical forms,
practiced them daily,
and one day started playing with the footwork.

Mathematically,
the theory was sound.
A line, to a triangle,
to a square, two an arrangement of squares…
the four square pattern
and the nine square pattern.
Lots of other patterns,
but I followed that logic.

I walked on a line,
used a two by four laid flat
and did the four things you can do,
step, shuffle, pivot, turn.
When I got good I turned the two by four on edge.
Try that for a kick.

I didn’t use the triangles much,
because that was for working applications on.

I used the square on top of four cinder blocks laid flat.
Then, when I could do my classical forms on the cinder blocks,
I turned them on end.
It was fun falling,
and lifting your feet so you could land without breaking something.

And that brought me to variations on four squares in a bigger square,
and the nine square pattern.
That was the point at which I saw
how the nine square could be used in conjunction
with walking the circle out of Pa Kua.

And I became aware of something.
When you use a muscle you train it in a sequence.
For instance, doing the squats doesn’t translate into the horse stance.
You’re using different parts of the muscles.
So I started looking for the sequence of motion
that used the most parts of the muscle,
and failed.
You need a bunch of different motions.
Although I did succeed in the form in Yogata,
but that was yoga, and not martial arts.
I wrote that up in a book,
‘Yogata: The Yoga Kata’
But, to continue,
when I failed finding a karate series of movements
that energized all parts of the muscles,
I put together what I had learned in

The Last Martial Arts Book: Nine Square Diagram Boxing

So check it out if you want,
maybe you’ll see something I missed
and create a form that energizes every muscle.
Or maybe not.

If you want to examine some of my other works
that utilize the nine square foot pattern,
or other types of footwork,
check out MonsterMartialArts.com

have a great work out!
Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.

Great Win for Pa Kua Chang!

Speaking of PKC…

A fellow wrote in a great win
after taking the Pa Kua Chang course.

Michael McCoy

Sir, I had to reach out to you and share this.
I’m a disabled vet so I’ve got time on my hands, lol.
I’ve watched some Pa Kua videos before on YouTube. I found Pa Kua intriguing, but out of my reach due to the apparent complexity,
I worked through your Butterfly Pua Kua Chang program today, I made a circle on the floor and started walking it with the 10 Hands while thinking about the points you say to concentrate on. I broke a sweat!
After that, I went back and looked at some Pua Kua videos on YouTube and low and behold, I could figure out the nuts and bolts of what was going on! It totally makes sense to me now, thanks to you. You…are an excellent teacher and a great innovator! Thank you Mr. Case!

Michael McCoy

Do you know why Pa Kua is such a great art?
Because it is already modular,
and that means it lends itself to matrixing perfectly.

This is the matrixed version of the art.
It has a hard core logic
that illuminates the classical.

Furthermore,
just walking the circle
improves the student so much,
and Matrixing PKC builds
energy in the legs,
a meditative state of mind,
an easy way to get out of the body
And once you understand them
the self defense is actually pretty incredible.

I’ve always thought of the Pa Kua self defense as
‘dark Aikido.’
But we can talk about that later.

So well done, Michael,
and thanks for your win.

Here’s the link to:

Butterfly Pa Kua Chang!

That’s…

2b Butterfly Pa Kua Chang

have a great work out!
Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.

‘Empty and Be’ in the Martial Arts!

The Biggest Secret in the Martial Arts!

Yes,
breathing, grounding, relaxing,
they’re important.
body alignment and synchronization,
very important.
But the most important thing is
where you put your intention.

So here’s a nifty, little trick.
Having trouble touching your toes?
Especially that first bend or two?
Try these two things.
First, arch your back and touch the sky behind you.
Really stretch,
relax,
let the back bend backwards.
Now,
LOOK AT THE GROUND
as you touch the ground.

Suddenly you can reach the ground easily
and with no effort.
Good martial arts never takes effort,
it takes relaxed intention.

Look, the reason you can’t bend forward enough
is because the back is tight
energy is locked,
or at least unmoving.
So you have to move it.
But the back is like the string of a guitar,
it doesn’t just bend in one direction,
it’s got to bend in both directions,
and when you bend in both directions
all the energy that is locked up
can start to move.
Bend only forward and the back is only half bending,
and the other half is fighting you.

And when you look to the ground your intention is freed,
it is no longer distracted by your half moving back,
and your body can go where your intention directs it.

So,
how do you put intention into your strikes and blocks?
The other side of the guitar string,
in this instance,
is emptiness.
Mentally empty your body,
just relax and breath,
even forget about what you are doing,
then direct your intention into your hand
imagine it being in the new position.
Pop!
What was empty is now full.

People talk about focus,
and they are right,
but it’s not just filling the muscle,
it is emptying the muscle before you fill it.

Want to punch faster?
Want to assume deeper posture?
Want to do away with reaction time
and be in the moment?

the secret is intention.
And the secret of intention
is to be empty before you be full.

What’s fascinating is to apply this,
to do this long enough
that you start assuming a viewpoint outside your body,
empty and fill your body,
figure out when the energy is going through which leg,
and out through which arm.
Empty and Be.

And,
eventually,
your mind is empty,
virtually cleansed,
and you have freedom of motion in all directions,
and in all directions of your life.

Okay,
so,
obligatory ad.

First,
go here

The Last Martial Arts Book

It’s been rated at five stars, then go here…

The last Martial Arts Book w video

Same book, five dollars more,
but…
FIVE HOURS OF VIDEOS!

And don’t forget to give me a good review!

Okay
guys and gals,
remember
every form is a prayer, so…

have a great work out!
Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.
(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)
My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them for 5 stars.
‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.
My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings
so hopefully you’ll find that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.