Newsletter 1014
Heat Makes for a Pure Art!
Good morning!
It’s a perfect Wednesday!
You know,
I have a special deal for any of you guys
who like intense novels.
It’s at the end,
but let’s talk about heat first.
The body is a machine.
And it is a motor.
What is the difference between a machine and a motor?
A machine is a series of motors to accomplish a purpose.
A motor…wait for it…drum roll…
CREATES A HEAT!
The heat can be used for various things.
More action being prime.
When you work out,
when you use the motor that is your body,
what happens?
Your body gets hot.
Sometimes you have to cool it down.
Generally speaking,
what I have told you is totally accurate.
So,
what does this have to do with the price of pickles in Italy?
One of the clever little tricks the body does,
when you pump it up,
is cleanse.
Motion creating heat will purify the body.
Understanding this,
and remembering my days
sweating in the dojo…
(130 degrees in San Jose)
And remembering how much fun it was,
every once in a while I would turn up the heat in a class.
I mean,
REALLY
turn up the heat.
Half hour before class I would close the doors and windows
and turn the heat as high as it would go.
Man,
these guys would come in
and sweat just from standing there,
and then the fun would start.
That would be a day
when I ran them through basics half the class,
then ran them through forms the next half,
and then the third half we would freestyle.
Oh, it was fun.
They would be dragging.
Exhausted.
I would let them drink as much water as they wanted,
This was sort of unusual.
I don’t usually let students take breaks for any reason.
What?
You’re going to take a break in the middle of a fight?
Now,
I was careful in pairing students,
and I watched them closely.
Exhaustion leads to mistakes,
and I didn’t want anybody to get hurt.
But they would sweat,
and if their uniform wasn’t TOTALLY soaked
by the time class was ended,
I knew I had failed.
And,
a short aside,
when I first moved to Los Angeles,
taught my first class,
we met in an attic.
Heat rises,
and one fellow told me
he actually lost 15 pounds in 2 weeks.
Yowza!
Now,
the point here is this:
Karate is a pure art.
And it must be made pure.
And to have a pure art,
you must have a pure body,
so I would turn up the heat,
they would sweat,
and the machines that were their bodies
sweated out toxins,
and what was left was the pure body,
and it made it easier to guide them to the pure art.
Now,
the original inspiration for this method
came from reading about summer classes in Japanese dojos,
reading about how students
would go to the front door and wring out their gis.
Later inspiration came from reading about Yoga classes.
Now,
the obligatory advertisement…
I recommend
Butterfly Pa Kua Chang.
The reason is that when I did that
the purification process
really seemed to kick into high gear.
And the sweat was different,
it was ‘silver.’
Really amazed me,
I mean,
sweat can have different colors?
But that’s what I perceived,
and I recommend you find out for yourself.
Here’s the link.
Now,
have yourself a great and sweaty work out!
Al
And, the special deal for people who like to read novels.
I recently republished ‘Monkeyland,’
and I am looking for reviews.
If any of you guys want to read,
then give me a review on Amazon,
I’ll send you a free copy of Monkeyland (Digital).
Email me at:
aganzul@gmail.com
Subject line: Monkeyland review.
I will send you a copy of the book.
And,
before you send the email,
check out the book,
see if it fits your reading preferences,
and make sure you glance at the reviews.
Here’s the link…
