Tag Archives: karate

Self Awareness in the Martial Arts

Posted on December 11, 2021 | Leave a comment

Building Self Awareness in the Martial Arts

I am speaking of the classical martial arts.
some types of Karate,
some types of kung fu
aikido,
tai chi…
that sort of thing.

I am not speaking of MMA
and the various arts
that fall under that umbrella.

First,
there is sport
and there is art.

Sports are when you try to beat somebody
Art is when you try to discipline yourself.
Huge difference there.

Trying to beat somebody doesn’t make you wise
Disciplining yourself makes you wise.

But,
I’ll be in your face with this,
if you don’t understand the difference,
why this is so,
then you’re just going to be pissed off at me if you’re into the sports
And you’ll be a parrot supporting your art if you are classical.

So,
here it is…
what is the difference?

This universe consists of motion.
Objects fly through space.
Go on,
think about it.

cosmic forces impinge on a planet,
a planet forms.
Gravity and such causes compression,
rocks heat up,
heat rises to the surface
a volcano blows up
people run for their lives.
Living in this world
is like living on a game board.

But,
on this game board we call earth
there are humans
and humans have choices
and can even affect the game board.
They can move away from the volcano.
They can dodge meteorites.
They can step out of the way of cars.
Or they can get into the cars and drive through crowds.

All there is in life
is the analyses of the flow of objects
period.

So how do you analyze the flow of objects?
In boxing you hit the bag
and there are drills for bobbing and weaving.
But the point isn’t to analyze the flow of objects.
The intent is to make the body strong
and to create knee jerk reactions.
Yes,
this is good,
but it does not build the awareness
that will turn into wisdom.

You won’t get wise by being punched,
otherwise we could make Mozarts with clubs.

You won’t get wise unless you pursue awareness.

So,
we come to the martial arts,
and the point I am trying to make here.
Some martial arts,
many martial arts
have gone the way of boxing.
Boxing works,
after all.
Even though it doesn’t breed wisdom,
or elevate one’s awareness and self awareness.

In the classical martial arts,
the real ones that haven’t fallen to knee jerk training methods,
there is a pursuit of awareness.
There are drills that cause one to become more aware
and more self aware.
Smarter and wiser.

Sure,
boxing works,
and it can be used to beat people up pretty ruthlessly,
but what good is the ability to beat people up
if you keep walking into the traffic?

So,
let’s delve into this subject of awareness in the martial arts.

There are four methods for enlightenment.

scripture
yoga
fakir
martial arts

One can study scripture
and eventually figure out wisdom.
Very intelligent approach,
but not useful for self defense,
but…enough wisdom and one can see a fight coming
and avoid it.

One can study yoga,
which exercises the body
and holds on still long enough
that he might see the motion within his body
and that tends to bleed over to seeing the motion
outside one’s body.
and hopefully the yoga will see the fight coming
and avoid it.

One can deny the existence of the universe
as a fakir does
until he sees himself
and becomes aware of himself.
Sort of a crazy method,
but it works.
But it is difficult to get punched in the face
and say it didn’t happen.

And then there are the martial arts,
which I will describe in a second,
after I have made a brief summation
of the other three methods for pursuing enlightenment.

A scripturalist
learns ABOUT the motion of the universe
until he becomes aware of potential consequences,
and in this method he is enlightened,
which is to say
he is made self aware.

A yoga
looks at the universe inside his body
until he can see the similarities of motion
between the universe of his body
and the game board universe in which he lives.

A fakir says nothing exists
denying the universe
until he figures out that he is all that exists.

A martial artist
studies the flow of fists
until he understands that the universe
is nothing but the flow of objects.
He becomes aware that he cannot see the flow of objects
unless he looks at them,
and he can’t look at them,
unless he looks at himself.
Self awareness.

Of the four methods
the martial arts are the best and the surest.
This is because
reality impinges if he doesn’t look.

How many times have you heard something like this…

‘He tagged you,
better open your eyes.’

Yet most martial arts
have put aside the drills that open the eyes,
and gone the way of such as boxing
with their emphasis on knee jerk reactions.

A knee jerk reaction is a jerk of the body to a threat.
It is not self awareness.
And you have instructors touting muscle memory,
instead of teaching people to ‘open their eye,’
or attain self-awarenes.

And there is just enough truth in muscle memory,
that people think there is more.

You are walking through a dark house
a tap on the shoulder
and you turn around and smack the guy.
Wonderful!
Except the guy happened to be your granny
offering you a fresh baked cookie.
That is muscle memory.

You are walking through a dark house
a tap on the shoulder
and you turn and hug your granny,
or smack the guy with the club,
because that is not muscle memory.
That is awareness.

Looking at the flow of objects
on the game board of this universe,
Now analyze force and direction
until you are aware of force and direction
to the point at which you becomes enlightened.
Self aware
Wise.

Now,
if you are still with me,
I have one more point to make.
There are degrees of self awareness,
and these degrees can be arranged in a scale.

A baby walks into walls, falls down.
He isn’t aware of his body much at all.
He/she might be fantastically aware of themselves,
but as the game board of the universe impinges on them
hits them on the nose with enough walls,
awareness of self falls to awareness of hard objects that flow.

A teenager is aware of his body
but not of himself.
He/she is usually out of control
(unless they have VERY enlightened parents)
and deliberately runs into the walls of the universe.

A fellow who has started the martial arts
has taken a step towards self control.
And this is a discipline
and a step towards self awareness.
Unfortunately,
the state of the martial arts,
the obsession with hitting people for fun
keeps them in a very low state of self awareness

A black belt…in a GOOD art,
an art that is logical and based on physics,
has a greater degree of self control.
He has awareness of himself,
but not to any great degree.
He is a baby in a new universe.
The key here is this:
while there is an art to destruction
the true art lays in control.

A fellow who has mastered a true art,
one based on physics and with the precept just mentioned
is aware of himself to a great degree.
He is somewhat enlightened.
But he is like a teenager in a new universe.

How do you become totally enlightened?
Totally self-aware?
Don’t give in to the games of the universe.
Don’t teach to dominate.
Don’t play politics.
And…
Do study other arts,
and study fields outside the arts
with the intent of developing self awareness within those fields.
Most of all…
teach with the idea of helping others.

And here is the fun fact…
there is no end to developing self awareness,
and that is the True Art.

Okay,
time for the obligatory ad.
If you do the one simple exercise in the Matrix Karate course
you will be close to, and might even attain, enlightenment.
That is because it puts the observation of the flow of the objects (fists) of the universe
to logic.
That which is logical is ten times easier to learn
ten times faster to absorb.
But here is the cruel trick.
Most people read the drill,
it is called
‘The Matrix of Blocks,’
and they say,
‘Oh, I’ve done all those blocks.
So I don’t need to.
I understand what he’s saying,
and it’s enough that I’ve read it.’

Grrr.
I am close to saying a dirty word here.
That’s like saying
‘I’ve been in a car,
so I don’t need to know how it works.’
Or,
and this is a good one,
‘I’ve seen water,
so I don’t have to take a bath.’

Stupid, eh?
So you have to get the course,
and…GET A PARTNER.
And…DO THE MATRIX OF BLOCKS.

Knowing about it is not enough.
Having a surface knowledge of the basics isn’t enough.
You have to experience the blocks
and how they work together
in the Matrix of Blocks.
Just a few times through,
until you can do them as easy as you count from one to ten,
and then you’ll have it.
But please…
don’t read about it and think you know it.
Don’t be a paper tiger.
Be the real thing.

MATRIX KARATE

And,
my HanaKwanMass present to you,
If you order the Matrix Karate course,
you may order any other course you wish,
of comparable value.

That’s the Master Instructor course,
the Matrix Aikido course,
the Shaolin Butterfly
or whatever.

To be specific,
any course that’s $40 or less.

Just make your order,
and write me and tell me what course you would like
and I’ll send you the download link.
email me at aganzul@gmail.com
Write me if you have questions.

Now…
HANAKWANMASS!
And have a great work out!

Al

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

BTW
I’ve got nothing but five star reviews on

The Science of Government.
It’s really nothing more than applying matrixing to politics.

Matrixing + Politics = Sanity

I told you matrixing works with anything.

Here’s the link…

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13 Reasons People Degrade the Martial Arts

Posted on December 2, 2021 | Leave a comment

Why people speak ill of the martial arts

You survived Thanksgiving!
And now it’s almost time for Christmas,
or as I call it,
HanaKwanMass!
Happy HanaKwanMass!

Okay, let’s talk about people who degrade the martial arts.
I’m not talking about people outside the martial arts,
we all know they are idiots,
talking about something they know nothing about.
I’m talking about people inside the martial arts.
People who say things like,
or hold the opinion that…
My art is better than your art.
That art sucks cause it wouldn’t work in the ring.
and,
of course,
the dreaded…
IT’S A MCDOJO!

So I was just sitting around
and popped out 13 quick reasons
why these people say bad things about the arts,
or other martial arts.
Here they are:

people who have not studied it completely
people who have not been able to make it work
people who received inadequate training
people who received an incorrect form of the art
people listen to other people and aren’t able to think critically about what they hear
people of low character (negative people)
people who have been trained/influenced by negative people
people who think you have to beat somebody up (joy of combat)
people who have studied a little and think they know something
people who have a need to be ‘the’ authority
people who practice putting other people down to make themselves ‘bigger’
people who are general malcontents (disgruntled)
people who are ignorant and can’t think

Of course,
some of these reasons overlap,
and there are doubtless more reasons,
but they boil down to one basic thing.

People who speak ill
of others, of other arts,
are ignorant.
Go on,
read the list again
and you will find that common denominator.
Haven’t been trained enough so they ignorant…
haven’t gotten a true version of the art so they are ignorant…
can’t make it work so they are definitely ignorant.

Now,
what do you do about ignorant people?
What’s that old saying?
You can’t live with them but you can’t kill them.

So the choices you have are two,
and only two.

First,
if they can be educated
you can educate them.
Sit down, talk with them,
show them where they are wrong.
This one,
quite honestly,
doesn’t work.

First,
you are talking to somebody who is so ignorant
they are holding on to their ignorance like it was a banner.
Here’s the thinking behind that:

I’m right and if you try to educate me
then you are attacking my rightness and I will kill you.

Go on,
read that again.

If you try to smarten me I’ll hurt you.

That’s a mantra for idiots,
and yet it is prevalent in the world.
It is probably,
if you think about it,
political rule number one.
But don’t get me started on government.

So,
the first solution,
while it is the preferred,
is only rarely able to be applied.
And that leaves us with rule number two.

Now,
I’m going to speak French here,
just to let the easily offended know,
so they can plug up their ears.

But,
my personal solution,
the way I get through life while surrounded by idiots is

Stay away from assholes.

There it is,
I think this is the first time in over a thousand newsletters
that I have used bad language.
Sorry.

But we can transcribe that to English…

STAY AWAY FROM IDIOTS!

Simply,
if you rub elbows with idiots,
with the truly ignorant,
you risk getting their ignorance all over you.
You will get involved in all sorts of unpleasantness
as they hang on to their ignorant ‘rightness’
and try to hurt you.

Now,
why do I speak of this here?

First,
because people should learn how to survive
the stupidity of this world.
Second,
there might be an ignorant person reading this.
Right now.
And I am really hoping
that they scratch their head,
wonder if I could actually be talking about them,
and perhaps even start the arduous journey
to the land of critical thinking.

Okay,
obligatory ad here,
close your eyes and go nah nah nah
while reading…

So,
it’s HanaKwanMass
everybody deserves a present,
so here’s my present to you…

Purchase the download version of
Rolling Fists

4ac Rolling Fists

I will give you
absolutely free
the Blinding Steel course.

4a Blinding Steel (Matrixing Weapons)

Just buy one,
email me at aganzul@gmail.com
and tell me you want the rolling fists/blinding steel deal.

I will then email you the link for the second course.

Easy peasy.
And there you go…
HANAKWANMASS!

And have a great work out!
Al

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

BTW
I’ve got nothing but five star reviews on

The Science of Government.
It’s really nothing more than applying matrixing to politics.

Matrixing + Politics = Sanity

I told you matrixing works with anything.

Here’s the link…

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What is ‘Fake Karate?’

Posted on October 21, 2021 | Leave a comment

One Thing Wrong with Karate…

Good morning!

One of the main things wrong
with karate today
is bunkai.

It’s funny,
I have heard people who believe in
the more combative methods,
talk about how worthless Bunkai are.

And,
I have seen a LOT of schools that don’t even practice bunkai.
so people don’t practice making karate work,
and,
as a result,
they don’t know how to make it work.

when I was training we didn’t call the form applications ‘bunkai.’
We called them ‘Promise Fights.’
It was the ‘promise’ of a fight.
But,
as time went on,
it was more.
It was the postulate of a fight.
A postulate is an idea.
If you practice promising enough,
the idea works.
It is that simple,
and that complex.

First,
many of the applications are worthless,
they are either dancers or posers.

Second,
they don’t fit the form.
But the forms have been really screwed up,
so that is understandable.

Third,
when we did the form applications,
or ‘Promise fights,’
as we called them,
we had 1/3 to 1/2 of the class time to do them.
We would face each and get ready,
we stepped forward with an attack,
and the defender did his promise fight.
Class after class,
year after year,
and a strange thing happened.

Because it was the same every time
we began to see where a body would move
before it would move.
We weren’t fighting,
we were looking,
and we would suddenly see the dip of the shoulder,
the turn of the foot,
the glaze of the idea,
and we knew what was coming,
before it was even launched.

So damned simple and workable,
yet it has,
in many schools,
been put aside.
And even if bunkai are practiced,
they don’t make sense,
they don’t fit the form,
they dance and they pose.

Our applications were VERY workable.
No posers,
no dancers.
They looked like the forms,
but they were VERY functional in combat.

I’ve talked about how the upper students
could actually make them work in freestyle.

And people have given up doing applications
across the arts.
It is easier to have a fellow punch a bag,
than think about the turn of the hip,
or the wrist,
year after year.

The sad truth is that most people
think that karate,
and other martial arts,
are all about fighting.

May I coin a phrase?
If people think that,
they are not doing karate,
they are doing…
‘fake karate.’

And here’s an interesting little item,
the people who say,
‘my art is better than yours,’
are manifesting a fight,
and they are guilty of…
‘fake karate.’

And,
believe me,
Fake Karate is every bit as bad as fake news.

Okay,
just to let you know,
I’m working on a book,
and it’s a big one.
Might even come in two parts.
But it is proving…difficult.
Usually,
when I write a book
I sit down and write it,
takes maybe a week or two.
But this one is just beating me up.
I have rewritten it,
broken it into pieces,
recombined it,
and it is just being stubborn.
So,
my apologies for making you wait,
but,
you might want to make sure
your matrix karate is ready for when this is released.
You are really going to need
to have your art down,
because this is going to expand it.
Severely.

The book is about what happened to karate,
and i am specifically speaking of the applications.
The bunkai, if you will.
Full of history,
full of applications,
full of matrixing.

So,
I’ll keep working on it,
but you should look into either

Matrix Karate
or
The Master Instructor Course

In fact,
I really shouldn’t do this.
there’s no reason to,
except that I’m a nice guy…

Buy one and I’ll give you the other.
Just buy one,
then email me at: aganzul@gmail.com
and I’ll send you both courses.

This is good until October 31st.
Happy Halloween!

Now, have a great work out!
Al

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

BTW
I’m always pushing my novels,
did you know I write other stuff?
If you want to know the truth about government,
why we have riots and why idiots keep getting into office,
why the government seems to do the exact wrong thing
almost ALL the time…
then check out:

THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT!

1a Matrix Karate

1d Master Instructor Course

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The Essence of Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune

Posted on July 18, 2021 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 1028
The Essence of Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do

I wrote
a couple of newsletters ago
about the essence of Bruce Lee’s Art,
Jeet Kune Do.

Let me expand just a bit on that.
Bruce was concerned with the initial point of contact,
the entry into the fight.
So he figured out that there were five places
where you could ‘attack an attack.’
And that one concept
really sums up
The Way of the Intercepting Fist,
right?

You can interrupt an attack before it starts,
you can stop an attack on the way in.
You can attack and attack at the point of contact.
You can attack when the attacker is on the way out.
You can beat an attacker after the attack.

Obviously, each one of these points
has certain considerations.
Number five, for instance,
attack after it is over.
That’s like saying start anew,
but i fully understand Bruce putting it
with the five points of attack.

Now,
his attack could be summed up
with three steps,
kicking, punching and kneeing/elbowing.
So his basic drill was
kicking,
punching the pads on the way in
and closing for the knee elbow.

Now this is simplicity,
and it is genius for its simplicity.

So where do I differ from him?
I analyzed lots of arts like he did,
but I decided the essence of the martial arts
was not to obsess on attacking.
Yes,
you have to throw the punch
or do the throw,
but you should see it coming
before it happens.

This idea,
seeing something before it happens,
was a product of the karate style I studied.
It’s very zen.
I often wonder
if Bruce had studied Karate,
I mean in a ritualistic setting,
he would have come up with similar idea.
Maybe.

But the point is this,
I decided that the time to handle the attack
is when it reaches a certain physical point,
and that point would be when it enters ‘slapping’ range.

I structured Monkey Boxing around this idea.
Don’t charge in a fight,
rely on the sla[ping distance.

Part of it was that I’m 6 foot and 200 pounds,
so I encountered smaller guys
who were faster.
When I stopped trying to get them,
and relaxed and waited for them,
then I started winning.
I was no longer the big ‘sitting duck,’
but a guy who’s punches they ran into.

Now,
obviously,
there are many different ways
of looking at this matter of fighting.
Bruce isn’t right or wrong,
neither am I.
We’re just people with strategies,
tactics,
and preferred methods.
And the real point is that you
have to look into each art
and play with the techniques
until you understand the concepts,
then put what works for you together.

The martial arts are not a set in stone methodology.
They are a changing, adapting tactic.

Now,
obligatory ad…

4a Blinding Steel (Matrixing Weapons)

My method.
amongst all my other studies and methods.
It sets you up for weapons, hands and feet and takedowns.
Check it out.

Okay,
one last thing…
I get wins from people all the time,
and ometimes I like to share them,
hope somebody else’s wins
can inspire oyu.
So here is Justin Harris…

I just had a hell of a workout with my Matrix Karate forms plus House 1, House 2, and Moon form. The interesting thing about a matrixed form is how well it stays in memory. I hadn’t practiced these in a while but I busted em out today and let me tell you they are so natural and intuitive, they just flowed right out of me. I can’t remember many classical forms I learned years ago. But the interesting thing is that the logic of a matrixed and organized form sticks in the mind and body better than random stuff. Not saying classical forms are bad, I do quite a few of them sometimes but logic and a clear sense of how to make the art True makes things so much easier.

Many thanks!

Sifu Justin Harris
Dragon Palm Tai Chi and Kung Fu

Thanks, Justin,
I appreciate the kind words,
and I love it when Matrixing works for people.

Now…everybody…
have a great work out!
Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

BTW
I’m always pushing my novels,
did you know I write other stuff?
If you want to know the truth about government,
you will find some startling matrixing going on in

THE SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT!

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The True Path of the Martial Arts

Posted on July 4, 2021 | Leave a comment

The True Path of the Martial Arts

In the next couple of months
I’m going to be rewriting the website.
There are a lot of reasons for this.
I basically built Monster Martial Arts
as I progressed as a person.
This resulted in a specific path.
A True Way.
A method that works,
ties all the martial arts together,
and gets the student there FAST.

Unfortunately,
I was just plugging in stuff as I did it.
No rhyme or reason,
just putting it up
and moving along
as fast as I could.

The result is that Monster,
while enlightening,
doesn’t present the path as I envision it.
So I’m going to fix that.
Following is a graphic that I will use
to restructure the website,
and present the art in the correct order.

Now,
the way this works is simple.
The boxes on the left side
are the arts in order.

The boxes in the middle are the courses
specific to the arts.

Obviously,
you would simply do the arts
as I have listed them in the middle boxes.

The box on the right
are supplementary materials.
I will be drawing on those as I see fit,
as they fit into the line up of arts and courses.

Now,
there is much room for jiggling and joggling.
For instance,
just to name one specific,
which should come first?
Tai Chi or Monkey Boxing.

Technically,
Monkey Boxing would be the first.
But culturally,
Tai Chi should come first.
So I chose my order of arts,
but that doesn’t mean you are bound by it.

And,
what about weapons?
TEchnically,
it is at the end,
but we all know that weapons
can be plugged in anywhere.

So you can do the arts in any order you wish.
Although I always recommend Matrixing first,
as that is the core of the logic,
of the science,
of the martial arts.

So,
that is what I am working on,
and I will keep you posted,
and even set up a dummy site first,
and invite you to go through it
and offer comments and criticisms as you wish.

Now,
I know I’m not giving you
the secrets of the universe this time,
although one could say that offering
a completely sane pathway for the martial arts
IS a secret of the universe,
but stay tuned.
The pearls are coming
so don’t be swine.

And,
that said,
here’s a little fourth of July gift for you.

http://churchofmartialarts.com/realstat/mtrixdictinry.pdf

I wrote this back in 2002,
and I put it on almost every course,
and it has even been pirated
and put on the internet,
and I never bothered invoking copyright
because it is so valuable.
The definitions illustrate matrixing,
and highlight the real science of the martial arts.

Now,
obligatory ad…
Got an injury?
Want to get more flexible?
Try this…

4b Yogata (The Yoga Kata)

Now,
have some great fire works and…
BLOW UP EVERYTHING!

Have a great work out!
Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

BTW
Have you checked out my novel?
Monkeyland?

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The Real Martial Arts Secret of the Universe!

Posted on May 26, 2021 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 1016

A Bit of Effective eMartial Arts Philosophy

What a day!
I just saw a duck walk past
with seven ducklings behind her.
Cool.

Okay, a real secret of the universe today.
Not one of those shabby, second rate secrets,
but the real goods.
Let’s set the stage…

What is the universe?
A bunch of objects floating through space.

Not much of a secret, eh?
Until you consider what this means to the martial arts.

A fist floats through space
it is aiming for your jaw.
Now,
two things may happen,
and only two.

The fist connects,
or it misses.
And there is the secret.
What?
You don’t see it?
Okay,
sigh.
Here we go.

If the fist connects it is force.
If the fist misses it is flow.

And that’s ALL there is.
A guy connects with you,
or misses.

Force bad if his fist hits you.
Force good if your fist hits him.
Sort of.

Flow good if fist misses.
Flow bad if it wasn’t a fist,
but a beautiful girl
that was trying to ‘connect’ with you.

I know
thats too simple to be a real secret.
Let’s go further.

Without force the universe stagnates and dies.
Hey,
no punching,
but also no sex.
No resultant familes.
No civilization.
We’re all alone,
man IS an island,
and that’s all she wrote, brother.

So the universe needs force to survive.
Except,
here is the problem,
and this is starting to become secretive,
or at least,
you’ve probably never heard this…

The universe teaches force.

It’s got to to survive.
And the real problem here
is not that the universe teaches force,
it is that man buys it.

And,
man never buys flow.
He has been trained not to.
The universe won’t reproduce
and give him all those nifty things
like cars and buildings and TVs and so on,
if he doesn’t buy force.

Which means,
anybody who buys into force too much
is only living half a life.
He is only living the force part.
The force part gives him
MMA,
wars,
cars,
diseases,
and so on.

The flow part gives him something else.
But to understand this
we must understand the benefit of flow.

Here’s some stuff to think about.
If you go away from something…it’s gone.
If you go towards something there will be impact,
with good and bad potentials,
and resulting vectors and new shapes and forms
and so on.

But if you go WITH something…
if you flow with them,
not colliding,
but encouraging harmony…there’s the other half of the universe.

there is art
and beauty
and love
and children playing in the fields.

Okay,
I hope this train of thought has encouraged
a realization or two,
and thus qualifies as a good secret.

Let’s go one step further.

The incredibly sad truth
is that a person can’t really understand truth and beauty
until he understands rot and ugliness.

And,
in the martial arts,
if you don’t learn how to maim and kill,
dismember and rip body parts off…
you won’t understand this thing called ‘Flow,’
and truth and beauty and all that sort of thing.

So,
God,
this is going to sound like a fortune cookie,
or a bumper sticker…

“You can’t learn the soft arts
unless you have learned the hard arts.”

This is a tremendous statement
with incredible ramifications,
and I know I have said it before.

Simply,
you must have yang to learn yin.

Funny,
the actual place I learned the concept,
to help me describe what I was understanding
through the discipline of arts
was in The Tao.

Something about…
‘there is no high without low.
There is no forward without backward.’

Okay,
this is sort of basic Neutronics,
for anybody who is interested,
but let me give you
the obligatory advertisement.

Check out the video
halfway down the page here…

2c Five Army Tai Chi Chuan

I wouldn’t have understood all these things
about jointlocks and pressure points
and balance and how the body works
if i hadn’t dabbled in the softer arts.

And,
let me tell you, brother,
these things are incredibly functional
if you have the hard to understand them.

Anyway,
the conclusion…

The universe teaches force.
Humanity teaches flow.
You have a wonderful choice and opportunity here.
Have a GREAT work out!

Al

2c Five Army Tai Chi Chuan

BTW
My novel, Monkeyland, is worth the read.
Check out the five star reviews on Amazon.

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Justin Earns 4th Black Belt!

Posted on October 19, 2020 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 1003

A New Fourth Black Belt!

Happy Covid!
Hope you’re enjoying your vacation,
and that all is well with your friends and families.

Haven’t been writing much lately,
well I have,
actually I’ve been writing 8 hours a day,
but it’s been in other fields.
Simply,
I need to make some money.

That lame excuse out in the universe,
let me say…

CONGRATS TO JUSTIN HARRIS
Justin just earned his black in Shaolin Butterfly,
which, with the other arts he has studied
earns him a fourth degree black belt.

WELL DONE!

Now that’s a guy who takes advantage of the Corona crisis!

Okay,
Since I haven’t been writing much lately,
you can always catch up on old writings.
First,
the inexpensive way,
just go to
https://alcase.wordpress.com
and start reading the blog.
There’s probably
a 1000 blogs there.

Or,
if you want to go a bit more in depth,
I compiled all my articles in a ten book series.
The Biggest Martial Arts Lesson

That’s a lot of articles,
near a thousand,
and they cover EVERYTHING!
Or,
you could just start ordering courses,
stop reading about and start experiencing.

You know,
I came across an interesting question today.
It was something to do with how many defenses you need
to really protect yourself
I started to chuckle,
cause the guy had it backwards.
You don’t worry about how many things you can do,
you just worry about what he is going to do.
If you are worried about what you will do
you are introverting,
and not looking out,
to where the danger is.
So look outwards
and learn to analyze strikes.

Do you know how many punches there are?
Six.
That’s all.
So let me cover this in more or less logical (matrixed) fashion.

There are two punches left and right
There are two types of punches straight and circular
There are two modes of punches snap and thrust

When you matrix these, and toss out things that don’t work (you don’t snap a circular punch, for instance) You end up with six possible strikes. Of course they could sail in fron odd directions, but still, only six…

left straight snap
left straight thrust
left circular
right straight snap
right straight thrust
right circular

So,
first, watch for the kick.
No danger from punches or other strikes,
maybe from weapons,
but you will usually see if there is a weapon pretty quick.

Second, as you step in
the kick gets jammed,
easy to handle with a retreat or a turned hip, etc.
Now you have to worry about the punch,
but worry introverts,
so you just watch him.
I know some people say you have to train
for punches from the rear,
yes,
but as soon as you turn to him he is in the front,
so front training is where the punch is coming from.

Watch his feet to see if he is angling for a punch
watch his shoulders to see if he is loading
sidestep slowly,
always being ready,
and always moving so he can’t quite fix on you.

Third,
don’t worry about knees and elbows,
he has to close to use those,
and that is so obvious it is ridiculous.

And there it is.
Fighting is easy,
reading an opponent is easy.

Of course,
it all means nothing
if you don’t spend some time
hitting things so you can feel what it feels like
practicing forms so your body is in top top shape,
and just training like your life depends on it
because,
darn it,
it does.

Anyway,
that is sort of how you apply simple logic (matrixing) to fighting.

And,
obligatory ad,
you really should look into my courses,
because they are all like this,
simple and thorough,
realistic and fun.

That all said,
don’t worry about the Covid crisis,
because worrying is introverting
and life is out there.
Instead,
train hard and strengthen the immune system,
best medical advice I can give you.

Sensei Case

Have a great work out!

Al

Here is ‘The Last Martial Arts Book,’
Best one I have ever written,

Nine Square Diagram Boxing

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Internal Chi Power: Karate and Tai Chi Chuan

Posted on April 14, 2020 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 998

The Two Types of Internal Power (chi)!

Hi guys and gals!
Happy Corona vacation!
I hope you’ve made the best of it,
learned an art or two,
worked out every day,
preserved your health and safety
for your whole life.
If not…okay,
you’ve still got time.

One of the big mysteries in the martial arts
is this thing called Chi Power,
or ‘internal power.’
It is spoken of in Karate and kung fu,
Aikido and Tai Chi
and all manner of arts.
Interestingly,
MMA,
and more modern arts,
don’t speak of it.
In fact,
‘chi power’ is often denigrated,
held in poor repute.
All that means is that people don’t understand it,
and so bad mouth it.
So,
let me delve into the subject briefly.
Before I do,
however,
you should know something.
Most arts won’t generate chi power
for the simple reason
that the body is not structured properly.
To make chi you first have to have resistance,
and the body must be formed
to take advantage of that resistance.
you don’t make muscles,
although muscles occur,
in real martial arts.
You generate awareness,
and awareness becomes chi power.
When you do the Master Instructor course
you learn how to create resistance
by structuring the body correctly,
and that turns into chi power,
but it’s not easy.
It takes time and awareness,
and most people are too interested in beating people up
and so ignore the simple fact of awareness.
When you do the Matrix Karate you learn how to structure an art,
and that speeds everything up.
No missing pieces in your path,
nothing out of place or not making sense.

Okay,
that all said,
let’s talk about the two main types
of internal power in the martial arts.

There are hard arts,
karate and kung fu and such.
Then there are soft arts,
such as Aikido and Tai Chi.

Karate is a matter of analyzing the body
so that it provides certain paths of resistance,
and then using as little force as possible
on these paths.
Why as little force as possible?
Because if you use force you build muscles.
If you don’t use force,
then you start to use energy.
But the paths of resistance MUST be correct
for the generation of energy to occur.
If you turn your feet wrong you lose resistance.
If your hips aren’t aligned you lose resistance.
If your shoulders overthrow you lose resistance,
and so on and so on.
This is why the old guys who teach hard chi
obsess on such things as the wrist not being turned properly.
Even if you knock the other guy out…bad form.

Now,
here is an interesting phenomena.
Most karate teaches explosive power.
It’s all in your ability to explode.
If your form is correct
you might make the transition
and start to generate chi power.
Most styles of karate,
however,
do not have proper form.
they have been made into boxing,
or the instructors haven’t understood what they are doing
and the art has become tweaked and incorrect.

Actually,
the proper way to teach hard chi
is as follows.
Push with the foot,
feel the turn of the leg,
feel the turn of the hip,
feel the power go up the body,
feel the corkscrew of the arm
snap the fist.

This is described in many places,
but the directions are poor,
or they leave things out.
The instructor doesn’t teach the student
to stop tightening the whole body
and to tighten only the wrist.
Or breathing is neglected.
Or the purpose of stances is not adhered to.
(sink the weight into the ground to create a motor).
But if you relax, breath correctly,
feel weight and sensation course up through the body
through exact configuration
(spiral, unfold, pulse, etc.)
then you don’t get chi power.

tell the truth,
I had chi power from my study of karate.
I had a teacher who taught a good art,
and I obsessed on figuring out the best way to form the body.
But I didn’t understand it,
and wasn’t able to teach it effectively
until after I had done Tai Chi.
Tai Chi gave me the ‘emptiness’ that I needed
to fulfill the ‘empty’ in ‘empty hands.’

Okay,
having mentioned Tai Chi,
let’s talk about the chi power you get
from such arts as Tai Chi or Aikido.

Karate is an explosion.
A ball of boom!
Aikido and Tai Chi…
they rely on getting ahead of the attacker
just enough to unbalance them.
Now,
here is the secret.
When you move with somebody,
in harmony with them,
you tap into more power.
It is the simple fact of two motors
(two bodies)
working in tandem.
More energy is created.
And, harmony has more inherent energy
than the fact of exploding.

Which is not to say karate or kung fu
don’t have harmony.
But it is constantly being upset by the need for power.
If a person can stop lusting for power,
learn to relax while punching,
harmony breeds.
Never as much as in Tai Chi or Aikido,
but enough.

So these are the two types of internal power
you get from the classical martial arts,
arts that haven’t been corrupted by such things as politics,
MMA, boxing, the need to pay rent, and so on.

But there are more types of internal energy.
Much more.
But the correct path would be to develop
one, or both, of the types of energy I describe here,
then let other energies develop.
And they will develop.
Every person is different,
however,
so it may be difficult to predict
what kind of energy and ability you will develop,
and it may not be what you were expecting.
But whatever you get,
it will be in keeping with your personality
and your personal evolution of spirit.

If you want what I am describing here,
I recommend

the Master Instructor course
to learn how to structure the body correctly.

Matrix Karate
to learn how to structure an art
so there will be no missing pieces,
no out of place oddities.

And,
if you are a long timer
and understand all that I am saying,
you might like to delve into
Tai Chi Chuan.

Okay,
‘nuff said,
have yourself a great and wonderful Corona vacation,
and a super duper work out.
Al

2c Five Army Tai Chi Chuan

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Corona Kung Fu Special!

Posted on March 17, 2020 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 996

Two for One Corona Martial Arts Special

Hey! hey!
How you all doing?
Lot of people got some time off
and you know what that means…
Training Time!

It’s funny,
I get people who ask me
if I’m worried about the Corona virus.
“Why?” I ask.
“You’re over 70!
You’re at risk!
One out of 10 people over 70…DIE!”

I’m gonna die,
okay,
I’ve known that all along,
everybody dies…
so what?
What is important is not that I’m going to die,
but the quality of my life before I die.

Did I work out every day?
Did I use the lessons of the martial arts?
Was I polite?
Did I make friends instead of enemies?
That’s the important stuff.

And,
news flash for the bozos
who want to get into the death stuff…
after working out every day
for more than 50 years,
I’m in fair good shape.
In fact,
I would put me in the 10-20 age group for risk.
That’s what happens when you work out.
That’s what the martial arts do for you.

So,
let me ask you…
have you worked out today?
Did you work out yesterday and the day before and…so on?
And, if you didn’t…
why not?
Why the F not?
What good is your life
if you don’t make yourself strong,
compassionate,
and learn how to enjoy your life
and the lives of everybody around you?

I guess you can see where this is going.
Yep.
Anybody who orders a course
between now and March 21
can get another one of the same or lesser price.
Two for one.
Yep,
the Corona Martial Arts special,
to encourage all you lazy couch potatoes
to be all the Bruce Lee you can be.

Just put in an order,
then email me at aganzul@gmail.com,
tell me what course you want,
got to be of equal value.
You order a $30 course
you can’t order a $50 course as your second course,
got to be a $30 course (or less).

This is my present to those of you
who want to survive not just the Corona thing,
but for life!
If you want to be stronger,
smarter,
have more friends,
be the one people look to in an emergency….

Two for One until March 31st.
April 1st and i will just write you back and say…Don’t be an April Fool!

Here’s a link

2e Kung Fu Package

Have a great work out!
Al

2e Kung Fu Package

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Dark Martial Arts Holiday is Here!

Posted on December 10, 2019 | Leave a comment

Newsletter 992

Martial Arts Holiday HanaKwanMass is Coming!

One punch at a time…
one kick at a time…
day by day we get closer and closer…
it’s just a few days until…

HANAKWANMASS!

You old guys know what I’m talking about.
Hanukkah, Kwanza, Christmas!
HanaKwanMass,
the one day out of the year
I get to insult EVERY person who says…
happy holidays.

Happy holidays is a phrase invented so you don’t
hurt the feelings of somebody who believes in Kwanza
by saying Merry Xmas to him,
or offend a Jewish fellow by saying Kwanza,
and so on.

But I say
a holiday is a holiday,
and if somebody says the wrong one to you
he meant well
and you walk away with good wishes,
and the heck with the politically correct bushwah.

You know,
there is a deeper thread here.

A fellow knows karate,
so he bad mouths Kung Fu,
or Aikido or whatever.
A fellow does MMA,
so he looks down on Kenpo or Taekwondo.

These fellows are the garbage minds of the Martial Arts.

When I meet a fellow who studies something I don’t,
I am all over him,
how do you guys handle this?
What about that weapon?
what’s your training like?

Every question I get answered
opens my mind
makes me a batter martial artist.

No art is better than any other,
they are just different steps in the martial arts.

No person is any better,
or worse,
than any other.
We are all cogs in the same machine,
we are all the different faces of God,
we are people…
and HanaKwanMass to us all.
And HanaKwanMass to you
and all your kids,
and your brothers and sisters,
aunts and uncles,
grandparents,
and even your dogs and cats,
and especially to your instructors.

If you understand what I just said,
then you understand the real spirit of the martial arts.

OBLIGATORY AD
(you may skip if you wish,
but you’ll probably wake up tomorrow with a rash.)

4d The Punch


This is for those of you
who wish to develop
the strongest punch
known to mankind,
and even a few aliens.

Al

4d The Punch

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