Tag Archives: kung fu energy

Making Oneself Aware to Find the True Martial Art

Newsletter 975

The True Martial Art of Awareness

Got a student here,
having a rough time with Tai Chi.
When doing the form
she wants to go to a posture,
strike the posture,
and that’s all.
But the problem is one of awareness.

When I was doing a lot of Pa Kua,
one of the drills I made myself do
was walk the circle
while staring at my finger.
Focus on the finger.
And the point was this…
DO NOT GO UNCONSCIOUS!
In other words,
grow more aware.

When you strike a pose,
this is common in Karate and kung fu,
you have a moment of awareness.
When you follow the finger
as you walk the circle,
you create awareness at all times.
So striking a pose might result in 10% awareness,
but you need to achieve
100% awareness.
Awareness at all times.

If you go to a party,
and you are aware 10% of the time
and a fight breaks out,
there is a 90% chance
you will get struck.

But if you are aware 100% of the time
you will probably avoid getting struck at all.

People think the martial arts are about fighting.
Or building the body,
or quickness or strength,
or winning tournaments,
or making an image to impress the girls.
Martial arts,
TRUE martial arts.
have nothing at all to do with that.
They are about building awareness.

You have to break through the obsession with the body,
then even put aside energy,
and just become aware.

When I walk the circle in Pa Kua
I hold a finger and stare at it without break.

When I do a Tai Chi form I create circles
around my body with my hands,
and I never have a corner,
never pause or speed up,
just hold awareness in every motion I do.

When I do a freestyle drill,
the point is NEVER to beat the other person,
it is to create awareness,
to create a shield of awareness around myself
so that nobody can penetrate,
so that I can deal with anything
because I am aware.

And,
forgive me for the obligatory ad,
but if you are interested in Tai Chi especially,
but any art,
Matrix Tai Chi creates awareness
about ten times better than the classical form.
It is a simple matter of applied logic.
Maybe I’ll go into this in a later newsletter,
but for now,
remember this…
if you want your martial arts to be true
you must create awareness.
Period.

Here’s the link…

2ba Matrix Tai Chi Chuan

Now have a GREAT Fourth of July!
Al

A WIN!

Al, Very early this morning I downloaded the Matrix Tai Chi package and wow! I read through the manual and am very impressed. I cant wait to start practicing what I am reading. The posture matrix and the application matrix, it makes so much sense. It took me a long time to learn the Yang short and long form as well as the Cheng Man Ching 37 form. Using the matrix I could have learned that all much quicker. I also glanced at the form video that came with the download and it reminds me of both Yang and the Cheng Man Ching forms run together but it all makes such perfect sense having read over the manual. I will read the manual over and over as I go through the course. I did the 5 Army Tai Chi course first and love it but I am seeing a lot more in the 5 Army form now having read the manual and all this after a quick read! This is great, I cant wait to get heavy into this program. I will keep you posted and as always, Thanks! ~ Kurt

“If you want to learn to swim jump into the water.
On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you.”
– Bruce Lee

A Real Sword fight (sorta) with Real Blood

Newsletter 937

Using a Sword for Real!

There was one time I used a sword for real.
Sort of.
At any rate,
I used swordsmanship to cut open an attacker’s chest.
Lot of blood on that one.

I was working in a door factory,
big, noisy warehouse,
and a couple of the fellows there knew I knew martial arts.
One of them asked me,
quite seriously and with respect,
how to use a sword.
We went into the back of the warehouse,
one of the badly lit areas,
and picked up a couple of metal runners for sliding doors.
They were about the length of swords,
no edge,
but a nasty and poorly cut end.
So I showed him how to hold it,
showed him a couple of cuts,
and suddenly I felt a huge hand,
much bigger than my body,
grab my body
and pull my sword back.
For some reason,
I didn’t know why,
I pushed the sword sideways.
It went sideways slightly,
then back down,
and then cut through the chest
of a fellow sneaking up behind me.
Poor Eddie.
Blood all over the place,
didn’t know what had hit him.
Figured it was an accident,
and life went on.

But I was profoundly effected by the incident.
I asked Eddie,
after we had him all patched up,
what he had been doing.
‘I was sneaking up on you.
I was going to grab you.’
And I knew what he was thinking,
‘I’ll show him this karate crap doesn’t work!’
So I asked him what he was thinking.
He said, ‘Right before you cut me,
I thought…
‘Gotcha!’
Then I cut him.

Gotcha.
There was the thought that made me move.
It was strong enough to wake up the art,
and the art doesn’t mess around.
If I hadn’t pushed,
with all my might,
that sword would have cut right through his face.
Marked him up for life.
But somehow I managed to resist that energy
that had grabbed me
and was moving me.

Some people don’t believe in this stuff.
Don’t believe in ‘chi,’
think superhuman stunts are BS,
nothing more than vivid imaginations.

But I had experienced it.
I felt like a little puppet
in the hand of the true art.

So what was it?
What was this energy that moved me?
Chi?
Some mystical Kung Fu god come to help me out?
Maybe just a bigger version of me?
The ‘me-spirit’ that operates this body called Al?
None of the above?
All of the above?
I know…but there’s no way I can describe it,
other than through the incident itself.
It’s something that happens subjectively,
can’t be proven in real universe terms,
can’t be proven by physics.
But,
really,
it doesn’t matter.
I just know,
in solid terms proven by experience,
that the martial arts enabled me to create this experience.
The martial arts protected me.
And if you study the martial arts. intensely enough,
you’ll experience it, too.

So why don’t others experience this kind of thing?
I think lots of people do,
but since there’s no way to explain,
they don’t want to sound like a kook,
so they don’t say anything.

But I get letters from a LOT of people,
and a LOT of people tell me things that happened to them,
that are similar,
in some way,
to my experience.

So why don’t more people experience this kind of thing?
Because they stop too soon.
The martial arts tend to be a long path.
If I hadn’t stuck to it,
obsessed on it with this matrixing thing,
I might not have experienced it.
And here’s something I do know…
Matrixing will speed up your progress.
It will speed up your evolution as a martial artist.
And maybe that is the key,
to get to a certain point,
to live enough life
to where you get to that signpost of ability,
that experience of something greater
than the so-called ‘science’ of mankind.
I certainly hope so.
I don’t want people to go fast enough
so they get ‘done’ with the Martial Arts…
I want them to go fast enough to reach the real martial arts,
that area where mystical things happen,
where abilities pop out,
where the true art protects you no matter what,
and in the firmest of terms.

Hey,
obligatory,
got to give you a link.
You know where to find matrixing,
the Monster,
and here’s the Matrix Kenjutsu link,
which is what I was showing the fellow
when the big hand turned the heck out of me.

Matrixing Kenjutsu

Have a great work out!

Al

Matrixing Kenjutsu

Mr. Case,
I have received the Master Instructor Course, read it multiple times and have wondered…where has this information been and why is this not required for all instructors that have the care of their students entrusted in them? I was amazed that the principles of Matrixing and how they can take any martial art and develop it into one practicum.
The most obvious observations I made is that my students seem to “lose” their breath while training. By demonstrating the breathing techniques that you share in the course, I was able to assist in redirecting their breathing patterns.
I look forward to introducing more of your principles into the classes. I have ordered the “Matrix Karate” course and anticipate a great learning and training experience, with it.
Thank you, Mr. Case
GARREN

 

Have you subscribed to this newsletter? Gotten your free book sight it? See link below…

FREE