Tag Archives: hapkido

The Evolution of the Shaolin Martial Arts!

Posted on January 4, 2024 | Leave a comment

The History of the Shaolin Martial Arts

Most people say the Martial Arts
came from the Shaolin Temple.
Undoubtededly,
the Shaolin Temple is a big influencer.
But,
my own theory is slightly different.

Originally
I wrote a short column about ‘Og and Bog.’
Og steals Bog’s apples by conking him on the head,
Bog imagines a defense for getting conked on the head,
and we have a technique
and the birth of the martial arts.
Which is to say
from the very first time
one man raised his fist to another,
martial arts have been developing.

Verbal history,
not a reliable thing,
says that Bodhidharma came to Shaolin from the east,
trained the monks in meditation,
and when they proved too weak to meditate properly,
he gave them the martial arts.

But when you look at the exercises credited to Bodhidharma
they look like calisthenics.
So how do simple calisthenics
become martial arts?

Let’s create a possible scenario
to present my theory.
Warlords reigned,
they conscripted peasants,
and taught them how to fight.
How to use the spear,
how to do basic ‘boxing’ (kung fu).

The peasants who survived the battles
might retire to home,
and go to a temple to pray,
maybe even feel a bit of remorse
about the deaths they caused
and join a temple.

At the temple they want to stay in shape
so they use the basic calisthenics they used in the military.
They even use some of the fighting routines.
But the essence of the temple isn’t in fighting,
and if one is in daily meditation
and begins a regimen in fitness,
it is conceivable that the exercises they did
begin to take on the form of meditation.

No, not every monk is a warrior,
but if even one soldier takes refuge at the temple
translates his military exercises
into meditation…
that might have great influence.

So we have a sort of a criss cross here
between meditation and physical combat.
It’s a maybe,
but a logical sort of a maybe.

Now let’s talk about what happens if a person
practices a routine for years,
and especially in conjunction with meditation.
He becomes aware through meditation,
and as he focuses his meditation on his calisthenics,
he achieves a different type of awareness in his calisthenics.
He starts to feel this thing called chi,
a ‘breath energy’ circulating through the body.
He finds this thing called chi is difficult to explain,
but if a person is dedicated to motion,
and to the calm and breathing techniques of meditation…
he can achieve a certain degree of awareness of,
and control over this somewhat invisible energy called chi.

And all this backs up various religious theories.

The interesting thing is that Shaolin happened,
and it is so far back
that all we’ve got is theories.
But we have another art that isn’t thousands of years old.
It is influenced by Shaolin, but…

Tung Haichuan
back in the 1800s
apparently knew some kung fu.
He went into the mountains,
met some monks,
and they taught him how to meditate by walking the circle.
Tung Haichuan supposedly combined
the circle walking and the kung fu
to make Pa Kua Chang.
People immediately invested PKC
with all sorts of religious theories.
The eight trigrams,
all that sort of thing.
A good example of a ‘calisthenic’ being adapted to kung fu,
and kung fu becoming more meditative,
just as what probably happened
thousands of years ago at the Shaolin Temple.

And!
If you look at Karate,
it was a martial art designed by and for palace guards.
Heavy duty self defense
and hard core fighting.
In just a bit over a hundred years it has become
heavily infused with zen concepts.
A martial art expanding awareness
through dedicated and repetitious motion,
until it becomes,
in its purest form,
a source of enlightenment
and spiritual development.

AND…
A good question here is
could MMA become spiritual?
I would guess probably not,
and this simply because the techniques are
more dedicated to destruction than control.
The practitioners might even laugh if
a student wanted to find the zen
behind an arm bar.

Hey,
it may have taken MANY generations
for Shaolin to become more than
a physical calisthenic for ex-warriors,
and to become a method of awareness and control
and not simply an excuse for destruction.

So that’s my theory,
if you feel it is full of holes,
or you feel some other possibility is probable,
leave comments.

I do want to say that when I developed the

The Last Martial Arts Book: Nine Square Diagram Boxing

I was trying to create movements
that would have meditative aspects
as in Tai Chi Chuan and Pa Kua Chang.
I wanted to create a degree of spiritual awareness,
and yet have the art be totally workable on the street.
I want the meditation, the control, the spirituality,
but not at the cost of losing the destructive potential of the art.

Check it out on Amazon,
and if you decide to get it,
make sure you…
GET THE EDITION WITH THE 5 HOURS OF VIDEO LINKS!

Give yourself a present,
and don’t forget to give me five stars!

Have a great work out,
and have a great and profitable New Year!

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)

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Little Tai Chi Gimmicks to Build Chi!

Posted on November 25, 2023 | Leave a comment

Adding Chi to Tai Chi Chuan!

I remember when I first heard about Tai Chi.
Quite fascinating stuff.
Over the decades it became more fascinating,
and I learned how to differentiate
the myth from the reality.
In this newsletter
I want to list a few of the things I do
that helped me figure out Tai Chi.

Do remember that these things take time,
even with matrixing.
They also demand a certain amount of belief
that you are going to get to where you’re going.

Move the hands like the hands of a clock.
They move evenly,
at the same rate of speed.
It helps if you watch them
and get a little removed from your body.

Breath as if to the tan tien,
and keep the tan tien taut.
Don’t flex the muscles of the abdomen,
especially over the tan tien
(Tan tien ~ ‘The one point’ ~
the center of the body)
Like you’ve got an unbendable arm,
just running energy through it,
keep the tan tien taut, not tight.

move the arms into the posture
and keep them unbendable
while you turn the waist
and shift the weight.

Push with the legs,
you can feel the weight,
and alternate with weightlessness in the legs.
Synchronize the parts of the body
so they begin motion at the same time
and end motion at the same time.
this is CBM
(Coordinated Body Motion)

The energy in the tan tien
will duplicate the motion of the hands
if you have a taut belly and unbendable arms
and synchronize all motion.

Feel the air when you move the palms through it

Imagine yourself above your head
as if looking down from above
imagine yourself as if pulling the strings
attached to the parts of the body
like a puppet.

Now,
here’s the thing,
this will cause energy to flow
help you enter a meditative state
and even understand the physics involved.
BUT
it is worthless if you don’t practice applications.
This means you should understand the hard style first,
and you should train yourself to handle attacks
without using force.

Make your body as if a glove
into which the opponent puts his fist,
then adjust the glove to unbalance him.

No contact
except the brush of skin on skin
and unbalance the opponent.

Practice push hands,
and especially the Lop Sau
that I have created.
Not the traditional,
which is merely a piecemeal drill,
but the whole drill I developed.

There’s lots of other things you can do,
the classics are full of stuff,
but you need to understand the hard arts,
then practice A LOT!

But these things should help you.
Check out the tai chi courses on Monster Martial Arts

And,
if you want to learn the Tai Chi concepts about ten times faster,
check out

The Last Martial Arts Book:
Nine Square Diagram Boxing.

Make sure you look for the version with five hours of video included.

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.

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

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New Master Instructor!

Posted on August 19, 2013 | Leave a comment

A New Master Instructor, Plus…

Why We Study So Many Martial Arts…

Happy first day of the week!
Happy first workout of the week!
Make it a good one,
lose yourself in it,
and your whole week will glow.
True.

Okey doke,
thanks to all who are on the Kang Duk Won course,
don’t forget to set aside time each day,
whittle away at the art,
make it your own.

And,
congrats to Master Instructor Wilhem Stockinger!
Here’s his win…

I had a breakthru in the master instructor course yesterday, man the pieces finally came together…I was…screaming in ecstasy and joy…you are a genius master Al! I am so much more grounded and aligned in movement, it’s fantastic.
I finally got the missing pieces to what was once 6 years of Iu ryu jujutsu, 2 years of Gracie jujutsu,a few years of Muay thai kickboxing, and some Krav Maga and so on…I know I never mentioned my background since it fades away against yours and I was not enrolling into your course to talk about my past but to learn. And I did learn a tremendous amount, which not only corrected my faulty basics in form and execution, but also gave me understanding of form. Sensei, the 6 secrets, man, this is all Jujutsu theory I’ve been trained in for years, but nobody ever explained the principles, unless by practical example, but never the principles behind it. The why and how, not just the what. It was so enlightening. I am starting all over, but now the proper way. Thank you so much. I finally got the crack of technique over strength, of body mechanics over brute force. I am excited to be in the martial arts again. You are the real deal Shihan Alton Case. God bless you!

No,
thanks to you, Will.
Breaking through,
sharing your win,
somebody else is going to be
encouraged to make it, too.

And,
for everybody,
it’s easy,
it’s just how to fix your thinking.
Which makes it the hardest thing you’ll ever do.

Like Will says,
everybody talks about it,
without ever talking about it.
They talk about the surface
and never go into the depths.
They never go into why things work.
Endless drills,
endless techniques,
without ever telling you why.

So,
thanks again Will.
Persistence and tenacity in the martial arts,
that’s what you represent,
which are characteristics of good martial arts.

Okay!
I’m going to write an article on this,
it follows along with what WIll says above,
but I thought I’d mention it here, first.
I like to talk to the intelligent first,
then the masses.
Grin.

Do you know why I teach so many Martial Arts?
Why I am always open to new arts?
Why I listen avidly
when my fellow martial artists talk,
instead of opening my own yap?

It’s true,
like as not,
when the talk starts
I find it much more educational
to listen.

Well,
the reason is this.
If you were drilling a well,
you would need a stable base,
so you could build a high drill,
so you could drill deeper.
When you learn more martial arts,
when you toss the techniques around in your head,
compare and contrast,
fit them into the matrix of all techniques,
then you are building a wide database,
and you can then build a high drill,
and drill deep into your soul.

Data holds you together.
The more data you have,
the more held together you are.

Or,
think about it this way.
If you were going to build a telescope
to see to the furthest star,
then you would need a solid base,
so the telescope wouldn’t be shaken by wind or rain,
or any other force.
Then your sight would be solid and true,
and you could see to those far stars,
without them shimmying and shaking
and being a blur to your sight.

Do you understand?
The more you know,
the deeper you can dig into yourself,
the more of yourself
you can understand.

Simple,
eh?

Yet,
the work to make a wide database
especially in the martial arts,
with all the technique and styles and opinions and…
it can get pretty tough.

And,
it can get tough to keep it all in order,
which is one of the blessings of Matrixing.

Look,
people study,
they get a thousand techniques,
and it can take twenty years to sort it all out,
to learn to think about things in a way
that it all makes sense,
so that all of the data is at your fingertips,
instead of buried in the mass of
thousands of techniques.

So,
instead of lumping everything together,
and training like crazy.
You just put your techniques into a matrix,
fit that matrix to a larger matrix of all martial arts,
and the procedure gets REAL fast.

Oh,
like Will said above,
it can take time,
but not as much,
but,
the rewards once it all clicks,
there’s nothing like it.

It’s not just studying hard forever,
that is taken for granted…
it is making sense out of it quickly,
as fast as you input data and techniques,
that’s how fast you have to make sense out of it all.

Oinky Doinkey!
That‘s about it,
got nothing left to say,
and,
besides,
I’d rather work out than talk.
I’d rather dig deep
than open my yap.

My time of day…
workout time of day!

Don’t forget to straighten out your art…

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

Believe me,
it’s nothing but fun
when everything works
the way it is supposed to work.

Have a Great Work Out!

Al

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Posted in aikido, bagua zhang, karate, kenpo, kung fu, shaolin, taekwondo, wing chun

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In Karate Pain Can Work For You!

Posted on June 23, 2013 | Leave a comment

In Karate Pain is Not Necessarily Bad!

Karate pain might be good, and it might be bad. It depends on the circumstances.

I know, we’ve all heard the saying, ‘No pain, no gain,’ but that isn’t what this is all about.

karate pain

In Karate Pain can be an instruction


You see, there are two types of Karate Pains.

One type of Karate Pain is the real injury. The broken bone, the accidental punch in the nose or poke in the eyes. These injuries, these types of Karate pain are real and should be attended to.

If you’re bleeding, stop the durned bleeding. If you’re nose is broken, see a doctor. A poke in the eye could result in all manner of eye problems.

So you take care of it.

The thing here is to be able to tell the difference between karate pain that is real, and karate pain that is in the mind.

A bruise isn’t usually serious. So just inspect it, take care of it if you have to, and move on.

A dislocated joint, better get that sucker looked at.

A bone bruise…hmmm.

Bone bruises, especially when they are the result of some fast and intense sparring, can be quite painful.

I remember a blocking exercise which kept me in bone bruises for years.

I remember overextending punches, and suffering bone bruises inside the elbow joint where the bones slapped together. That was painful for a long time.

But, bruises, even bone bruises, are just something you go through.

The karate blocking exercise I spoke of, it was called the eight step blocking exercise, and we did it every class, and we all had constant bruising of the forearms.

BUT, after a couple of years of this we would be doing freestyle, do a block, and our opponents would yelp in pain. Simply, we got used to the pain, started ignoring it, and got the abilities that we wouldn’t have gotten if we hadn’t persisted in our karate classes.

And there were other exercises, some quite painful, that gave us abilities that people who don’t take karate, or other martial arts like kung fu or taekwondo, would never get.

The ability to grip somebody with a hand and bring them to their knees simply by squeezing.

The ability to get calm and focused when terrible things are happening and everybody else is going into a state of panic.

There is a saying, you don’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. Man, is this true.

For seven years I broke eggs. I still have bumps on the bones in my forearms from the durned eight step blocking exercise.

But when it comes to getting things done, I’m the go to guy.

Simply, I have faced pain, and now no the difference between real pain, and fake pain, the kind of pain one should just ignore and go ahead with his work.

This is something that is not taught in school.

And, truth, this is something that makes people great.

Pioneers of America had this quality. There was nobody there when they broke a wagon or got shot with an arrow or whatever, and so they had to fix everything themselves.

In recent times this ability, to forge ahead when the going gets tough, has been weaned out of people. But the martial arts, especially exercises that result in the karate pain i describe here, bring this ability out again.

Here’s a great article on the toughest Martial Arts class I ever taught. And if you are seriously interested in finding out more about this Karate pain type of thing, and how it can help you, check out the Evolution of an Art course at Monster Martial Arts.

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Posted in karate, kenpo, kung fu, martial arts, shaolin, wing chun

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Superman Martial Arts for Everybody!

Posted on June 15, 2013 | Leave a comment

Superman Martial Arts

I went to see superman today,
definitely a martial arts movie.
Supie has daddy probs,
and the bad guy has mommie probs,
(not really, but it sounds funny to say)
and it is a slugfest fantastic!
And I had this thought
about halfway through the movie.

superman movie

There’s a little superman in ALL of us!

 

A martial artist is a superman.
Sure we are.
We’re stronger,
longer lasting.
We rarely get sick,
we even tend to avoid accidents!
Wouldn’t you say that is a cut above Joe Ordinary?

So what makes us that way,
and what is our kryptonite?

What makes us superman is simple.
On the physical level it is the simple work out.
When you do a the first form of Karate,
for instance,
you are doing twenty lunges.
By the time you have done five forms
you have done lunges,
kneels,
squats,
all manner of sheer physical exercise.
So when you are doing Martial Arts,
you are doing body calisthenics
the way a madman might do them.
Or…
a superman.

On the second level we have energy.
Every time you do your forms
you are doing cycles of deep breathing.
This oxygenates the body,
feeds the tan tien
(the energy generator)
and cause incredible amounts of sheer energy
to swarm through the body.
So when you are doing martial arts
you are feeding the energy system,
and making something
a lot longer lasting and more powerful
than even the muscles you have built up.

On the third level we have thought.
Thought is the most powerful thing in the universe,
and Joe Ordinary doesn’t even know it exists!
Joe Ordinary thinks thought is doing a book report,
or something like that!
But we know the truth.
We know the truth because we built up all that energy,
and all that energy had to be controlled,
and the only way to control energy is with thought.
And all that energy we build up in the body,
as we learn to control it,
we learn to control the energy of the universe.

And thus,
through three levels,
we become stronger,
longer lasting,
have more energy,
know how to control that energy.

Can you understand why I refer to us as…
supermen!

Now,
what is our kryptonite?
That is an interesting question.
What can harm us?
The only thing in the universe,
the whole entire universe,
that can harm a superman is…
himself!

He can abuse his powers,
fragment his self,
lose sight of that incredible energy that is him.

The exact procedure
for making yourself less than a superman,
and,
indeed,
less than a man,
is to forsake virtue.

Virtue is part of the soul,
it is the desire to do good.
When we don’t teach,
share the lessons,
spread our charm,
then the energy dies,
we fragment,
and lose sight of our superhuman selves.

Virtue.
Help a child.
Pet a dog.
Laugh at a barbecue.
Wrestle with your younger brother…and let him win.
Tell a girl she is beautiful.
Hold a job,
learn,
share.

That’s all it takes to protect our superhuman powers.
And how super can we get?
Well,
that depends on your work out.
The more work out you do,
the more forms you do…
(every form is a prayer)
…the stronger you get.
The more times you do a technique,
the more integrated you become as a human being.
The more times you kick and punch,
the more you fill yourself with superhuman powers.

And,
of course,
there are going to be those that disagree.
Who say that I’m wrong,
and give other reasons.
but they are mere earthlings.
If we are patient enough,
we can raise them up.
And patience is a virtue.
And maybe they will come,
someday,
to the truth that we know.

You are a superman.

So,
go enjoy the movie.
Have a ball.
Eat popcorn and cheer for the good guys,
and feel sorry for the bad guys.
They just haven’t worked out enough,
lost sight of themselves,
don’t know their own power.

Enjoy the movie.
And,
BTW,
the new site is called…

Free Bruce Lee.

Google it,
it’s about a super guy,
and it’s got some super stuff on it,
and it is built for super people to enjoy.

Have a great work out!

Al

And don’t forget to go to…
Start your journey to superhuman right here…
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-karate/

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Posted in bruce lee, chi power, karate, kenpo, kung fu, martial arts, shaolin, tai chi chuan, Uncategorized

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Martial Arts Science Called Matrixing Changes Everything!

Posted on May 29, 2013 | Leave a comment

Martial Arts Science Puts Logic into Art

Martial Arts Science is not based on the movie called The Matrix, but on a form of computer logic. It is based on Boolean Algebra, which puts three dimensional programs on to two dimensional screens (computers, TV, etc.)

That it works is proven by the hundreds of pages of martial arts testimonials I have received. These were not solicited by me, but just poured in. They came from people with no experience to many decades of experience. They came from people who studied karate, learned kung fu, practiced Aikido, and just about every other martial art under the sun. It is not unusual for me to receive a testimonial from some fellow with 35 years experience, a teach, who has practiced Hapkido, Silat, Tai Chi, and so on and so on and so on. These wins are all the result of putting Matrixing, the first and only Martial Arts Science on the planet, into their martial arts.

martial arts science

There is a simple science here…

 

Here are a few of the Martial Arts science wins I have received over the years:

There I was, doing a form, I was glowing and I had a certainty: I knew I was a Master. I knew I could be victorious in a fight but that I would never have to fight–my glow would melt any attempt to create a conflict. ~ Herb S

Herb was one of the first students to learn my martial arts science. This was way back in the eighties.

…my perception and awareness of my own body from the feet, legs, arms, etc., have gone up tremendously. The attention to detail seems never ending when studying and teaching. The ability to catch each detail, at the right time, is an important item to grasp if you want your student to really get what you’re teaching them.
Wiley G

Wiley took one of the first Master Instructor Courses I ever prepared. The following win is a little longer, but it shows what YOU can do if you have the data of the only real Martial Arts Science.

First off, I would have to give you a little back history so you can fully appreciate where it is that I’m coming from.  When I was about five, I started off learning Nagano Ryu from my father, who learned it from his uncle, who in turn learned it from his father, and so on.  There wasn’t much too it – it was basically a garbled version of the 40 Monkeys, with some Judo basics, and no forms.  [It turns out that this system is actually an ancient form of Ninjutsu that is no longer in existence today!]  The main thing that I took away from this early training however was something that my father kept telling me, which was: “Practice one thing a thousand times and you will finally understand it.  Practice it ten thousand times and you will be a master.”  After about a hundred times of being thrown to the ground I got the picture.  But, I also got the “bug.”  I fell in love with the art, and have ever since been in the process of trying to become that master. 

 I spent my teen years learning Karate from an old Okinawan dude, and a sensei that wouldn’t give me my black belt until I could beat up every brown belt in the school.  I learned countless forms, but barely any basics.  After getting my black belt, I started fighting in semi-professional kick boxing matches. However, I eventually got beaten by a little Thai kid, and realized that all my years of karate training had little actual use in a real fight. So, I moved on to Muay Thai, and then Brazilian Jujutsu, and soon found myself gladiating in an octagon. Needless to say, those were the dark years of my art.  (Though, I did learn some valuable up-close and personal lessons about what a real punch looks like and what it feels like to get your ass kicked!)

It took a real butt-kickin’ before I came to terms with the fact that I wasn’t going to become a true master through combat alone.  So, I fell back on my previous training and started doing forms again.  I decided that I would approach them from the viewpoint of how to make them actually work.  After a while, I started to realize that the Old Masters just might have had something.  A while longer and I re-kindled my purpose to resolve the martial arts puzzle and become that master that I always wanted to be.  That’s right about when I met a guy at a party (Harry) who told me about this guy “Al” who supposedly already did just that.  I was intrigued.  I ordered some manuals and started pouring over them.  I was so incredibly appreciative that somebody had already spent so much time researching and laying the path to a goal that I thought was going to take me a lifetime (maybe several.)  My art expanded and I reached a whole new level.

 Then I did the Master Instructor Course and it hit me.  The Basics that are so concisely communicated in this course including the Matrix principle IS the solution.  It doesn’t matter what “style” I call my art, because all styles follow these same principles.  It doesn’t matter how hard I train or how many repetitions I do if I don’t train the right way.  And I would never become a master if I didn’t know how it all fits together.  Now I do!  I can honestly say that I am now on the path that I have always sought as a martial artist.  Thank you Al!

These wins are just the tip of the iceberg, and a good thing to do would be to go to the Testimonials page at Monster Martial Arts and do a search on your particular art. It might just pop up, and it might give you some ideas of what I’m doing and how this Matrixing thing, this Martial Arts Science, works.

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