Tag Archives: karate

Learning Martial Arts Straight from the Animals in New Mexico

Posted on September 11, 2013 | Leave a comment

Greetings!

And…work out!
There is no greater gift one can give oneself,
than just working out.
Becoming pure through sweat,
divesting oneself of distraction
and finding the purity of the self.

Beyond what the world expects.

We were driving up this long, long road
to a place to pitch a tent for the night.
As we drove I noticed that the road was littered with rocks.
Little chunks that looked like sparkly granite,
maybe half the size of baseballs.
I veered this way and that
attempting to miss the rocks,
but knew I wasn’t successful.
Yet there was no sensation of tire over rock.
There should have been a hundred, little bumps,
things rolling under the car,
bouncing up against the undercarriage,
yet…
there was nothing.

How curious!

So I slowed down,
rolled down the window
and peered down at the rocks on the road.
Grasshoppers!
BIG…and beautiful grasshoppers!
Their acutely folded legs moved,
and they leaped,
but,
like as not,
I squashed them with my Firestones.

So I slowed,
drove more slowly,
and navigated the road filled with giant grasshoppers.

At the tent site there were only the occassional insect,
and I found one and squatted down to watch it,
to matrix it.
Colors to match the sparkle of dew,
perhaps to draw in smaller insects for a meal.
And there weren’t any larger insects,
so no fear there.
And if a bird,
or other beast came to feast upon it,
it jumped.
The quickness of the jump was savage,
an attack in flight.
And,
the sagacity of the insect,
it landed in twist,
so that it literally bounced off its rump
and faced the way it had come.

Well,
of course.
To flee again…in attack.

Is that good martial arts…or what?
I mean,
positively brilliant!

And what was the alternative?
To land facing away,
and to become a target in flight?

No,
better to flee as if in fight.
Surprise the foe with savage thrust,
yet always end up facing,
towards not away
ready to flight again.

Fight or flight,
flight and fight,
a marvelous yin yang of martial arts survival
and something that most people just roll over,
or swat away,
or laugh at.

Yet,
in mass,
grasshoppers are one of nature’s most ferocious armies.

Interestingly,
I was brought to think of the book by McMurtry,
‘Lonesome Dove.’
During a cattledrive the cowboys are overwhelmed by grasshoppers,
so they catch bagfuls of the critters,
dip them in molasses
and fry them.

Ummm!

Cowboy treat!

And even the hardiest,
most savage warrior
become naught but food
for those who can overcome their fear.

So,
in the midst of scorpions and tarantulas,
giant grasshoppers and other denizens of the enchanted land,
I pitched tent and had dinner.

And,
no.
It wasn’t a mess of fried grasshoppers.

Every place I go I see contest and battle,
creatures struggling for survival.
Interestingly,
it is only man that has a chance.
Only man has the ability to overcome himself.
To fight or flight and land so that he faces the true enemy…himself.
His cruelties and tortures,
his naked desires and covetness.
His desire to worship warped gods and think that
it is God that made him right.

And it is only by divesting ourselves of these cruelties and nightmares
that we can ascend to the truth of ourselves.

And it is only through landing in the correct manner so that we don’t fight ourselves,
but face ourselves,
that we will succeed.

Martial Arts creates this path.
Martial arts is where we learn to fight
so that we never have to fight.
This is a truth that we must take to ourselves,
and faster than we have ever done before.

And that is the message from the enchanted land of New Mexico,
the message I received just because I drove down a road
and didn’t want to kill
some of the most beautiful grasshoppers you have ever seen.

My apologies to those who wait an email,
or a fix on an order.
Everything is working,
but there are are a couple of things I just can’t do
until I get back to my computer.

I am able to connect to the net every day,
so if anybody wants to tell me off,
or wish me well
I can handle that.

BTW,
take advantage of the KangDukWon.com
I haven’t been able to raise prices
because of being on the road,
so,
temporary reprieve,
but prices are going up.

So,
if you want to learn how to fight like an animal,
if you want to learn the wisdom of nature,
you can start with the Shaolin Butterfly.
The animals covered in that include
the snake,
the dragon,
the crane,
the tiger,
the mantis,
and more…
here’s the URL…

2a Shaolin Butterfly

Have a great work out!
Al

Don’t forget to subscribe to this newsletter at MonsterMartialArts.com.

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Posted in bagua zhang, chi power, kenpo, kung fu, martial arts, shaolin, tai chi chuan

Tagged karate, kenpo, kung fu, preying mantis kung fu, shaolin, shaolin animals

The Arizona Spiritual Martial Art Workout!

Posted on September 8, 2013 | Leave a comment

Have a great work out from Texas!

Got here last night,

and immediately did a workout!

The only way to survive the insanity of traveling!

So,

I was in Arizona the other night,

and a couple of interesting things to note.

Upper Arizona is beautiful,

trees all over the place,

lots of wildlife.

Really gives a lie to anybody who says

we are running out of things.

Man,

there is so much space,

so much lumber,

so much wildlife…

there is no shortage in this world,

just crooked politicos who try to frighten you

by saying there is!

But enough ranting,

let’s move on to the good stuff,

let’s move on to that unique universe

of doing the martial arts in Arizona.

Lower Arizona is dry and dusty.

Wind blowing everywhere.

At first,

I was discouraged.

Then,

sitting up late at night,

listening to the desert,

I felt it…

Listen,

do you know how it feels

when you cram a bunch of people in a room?

100 people in a 20 by 20 room?

People knocking elbows,

bumping into each other,

sooner or late…

there’s going to be a fight.

And,

multiply that by ten thousand,

and you have a city.

People packed together like sardines,

not enough room,

everybody getting cranky!

So I’m sitting in the middle of the Arizona deseert

and there’s no people,

and I could feel the deep, deep spirituality.

The space.

The vastness.

The clouds overhead were surging with life.

I could feel elemental forces moving across the deseert floor.

And then there was me,

a mote,

a speck,

audience to this vast moving play,

this magnificent display of earth and element.

It was spiritual.

And,

moved,

I began doing my forms,

and I couldn’t stop!

Elements were moving me,

forces were shoving my punches,

nibbling at my stances,

making me feel ENERGY!

It was massive.

And,

of course,

I had a realization.

In truth,

I have realized this before,

but from different perspective,

which made it all the newer and more potent to me.

When you are starting out

it is good to be in a dojo,

to feel the bodies,

to interact with other martial artists.

But,

as time goes on,

you need space.

You are the center of the universe,

you need to look out,

to feel the massive space within which you sit.

Look,

your physical body is part of you,

but the real you is as far as you can see,

as far as you can imagine!

And that is space.

That is the true empty in empty hands.

That is the truth of you that is just waiting for you to…wake up to it!

Sitting in Arizona,

unable to stop doing forms,

I was in the middle of that realization.

Absolutely spectacular.

And,

it goes without saying,

I could see myself,

I could imagine myself,

doing my forms on top of Mt. Nipomo.

Monkeyland.

120 acres,

nearest neighbor four miles away.

Exuding the essence of me through the discipline of the martial arts.

Heaven.

All the best of modern society,

but isolated,

alone,

with sufficient space

to truly delve into the martial arts.

Now,

that in mind,

when you do Tai Chi

the image is often of doing it on top of a mountain.

Alone.

Horzons beyond horizons.

Able to see everything.

One of the most impressive images I have ever encountereed

was a cheap wookd block carving.

It was a viewpoint of a mountain range…

from above.

But how could the guy get above to see that?

How could he see a yin yang in a mountain range as if from hundreds of miles up?

By being alone,

by doing the martial arts,

and getting so much discipline

that he was a pooint of awareness

outside of his body

high in the stratosphere.

So,

that was the train of my thought,

and how it related to martial arts

and to monkeyland,

and all sorts of things,

as I stood in the desert

and did forms…

and couldn’t stop.

So,

here’s the Tai Chi URL,

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

in case you want to get started on being alone,

creating space,

finding the purest,

highest,

most elemental level of martial arts you can.

Mind you,

don’t give up that hard stuff,

or partners,

or the blessings of living in community of city,

and don’t give up your karate forms…

but,

do your martial arts at night,

alone,

slowly,

creating massive space.

Becoming aware of yor true body,

of the true extent of your awareness…

your imagination.

Take a hike,

find a mountain top,

exude yourself,

see if you can discipline yourself to greater and greater awareness.

Have a great workout,

and I’ll tell you about New Mexico Martial Arts Soirituality next time!

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Posted in chi power, karate, kung fu, martial arts, pa kua chang, shaolin, tai chi chuan

Tagged karate, kenpo, kung fu, martial art, pa kua chang, shaolin, taekwondo, tai chi chuan

Real Aikido and the Fight with Beavis and Butthead

Posted on August 20, 2013 | Leave a comment

The Case for Real Aikido

I practice real Aikido, and the rest of the world doesn’t.

Don’t you just love a knucklehead statement like that? I mean, the fellow who makes it has broken rule number one: he thinks he is the only one, and therefore he is knee deep in loco.

That said, let me give you a rundown on real Aikido, and what the rest of the world is practicing.

If you are learning a tradition with respect, no matter who the teacher is, no matter what the argument is between form and function, you are learning real Aikido. And, hey, while we’re at it, this statement extends to other classical martial arts, such as karate or tai chi chuan, or whatever.

And, to put it another way…are you learning, or are you fighting?

Now, here comes the part where I offend people. The UFCers and the MMAers are fighting, so they are not doing a martial art. They are doing a martial sport.

A lot of people get upset with me when I say something like this, they take it as a personal attack,and then explain how their school is different.

And that is the dividing point, is their school teaching, or is it promoting fighting?

It is a simple question, with a simple answer, and Beavis and Butthead can’t answer it.

You know Beavis and Butthead? They are the fellows with bad grammar who go to forums and sites and drop comments like UR STOOPID! (note the misspelling), and F*** U! (No asterisks)

Brilliant fellows these, and they don’t study real Aikido. They study ca ca humor and eat with their mouth open and it’s really important who won the fight.

But it’s not important who won the fight. What’s important is whethere an individual is actually learning, becoming more disciplined and aware, exploring the manifestations of spirituality that a human being is.

The real fight, you see, is not between the gladiators in the ring, it is between the edification of the human spirit, and the degradation of the human meatball.

That’s why I study real Aikido, and that is the dividing line one must find in their own art if they are to win the martial art war.

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Posted in aikido, karate, kung fu, tai chi chuan

Tagged aikido, karate, kung fu, tai chi chuan