Tag Archives: shaolin

Evolving in Tai Chi Chuan!

Accelerating Your Speed of Learning in Tai Chi!

I was always trying to figure out
how to make Tai Chi Chuan happen a little quicker.
Just as i didn’t want to take years for a black belt in other systems,
I didn’t want to take years to get the real benefits of Tai chi.

When I put together the Nine Square Diagram Boxing
I was addressing this directly.
I figured isolating the working moves,
increasing repetition,
and focusing on the meditative aspects
would get me there.

The important things to remember
are to shift the weight back and forth,
loading the legs with energy,
pushing that energy into the tan tien,
which is the energy generator for the body.

Also, to keep the belly taut, but not tight.
This focuses on the tan tien and not the muscles.
Very important to realize that
if you focus on the muscles
you isolate body parts
instead of putting them together as one unit.

And, to keep the arms filled with unbendable energy.
Aikido definitions are best to understand the ‘unbendable arm.’
But very little flexing,
keep the arms at their most optimum bend
and work on subtle pulses
that work off the push of energy in the legs.

Doing the Nine Square in this way,
or doing Tai Chi in this manner
will up your speed of learning,
and the accumulation of energy in your body.

Simply shift back and forth
and feel the ‘slosh’ of energy in your body.
It may take a while,
but it is faster than traditional Tai Chi by ten.

But what REALLY helped me
is doing the Nine Square with my eyes closed.
I did this with Tai Chi and it helped,
but with the repetition and focus of Nine Square
it magnified everything tremendously

I was feeling like I was holding a ball of energy.
I was feeling the energy building so fast
that I was compelled to move into the hard style
and snap everything with power.

that’s why I talk about doing the Nine Square two ways.
One soft and one hard.

When doing the Nine square soft (or Tai Chi)
don’t work against yourself.
Let the power build by being patient.
Know that you’re working for more than simple self defense.
Know that you are building yourself spiritually,
building and using energies
that normal people are not aware exists.

Ground the legs,
taut the belly
unbendable arms
close the eyes and let the power build

Do the hard style separately.

Here’s the link to the book,
make sure you…
GET THE EDITION WITH 5 HOURS OF VIDEO LINKS!

The Last Martial Arts Book: Nine Square Diagram Boxing

It’s a new year,
so have a great work out,
and do all the martial arts you can!
It’s good for your soul.

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)

Footwork Patterns in the Martial Arts

Creating Your Own Footwork in the Martial Arts!

Newsletter 1074
What I used to do was play with footwork.
I knew all the classical forms,
practiced them daily,
and one day started playing with the footwork.

Mathematically,
the theory was sound.
A line, to a triangle,
to a square, two an arrangement of squares…
the four square pattern
and the nine square pattern.
Lots of other patterns,
but I followed that logic.

I walked on a line,
used a two by four laid flat
and did the four things you can do,
step, shuffle, pivot, turn.
When I got good I turned the two by four on edge.
Try that for a kick.

I didn’t use the triangles much,
because that was for working applications on.

I used the square on top of four cinder blocks laid flat.
Then, when I could do my classical forms on the cinder blocks,
I turned them on end.
It was fun falling,
and lifting your feet so you could land without breaking something.

And that brought me to variations on four squares in a bigger square,
and the nine square pattern.
That was the point at which I saw
how the nine square could be used in conjunction
with walking the circle out of Pa Kua.

And I became aware of something.
When you use a muscle you train it in a sequence.
For instance, doing the squats doesn’t translate into the horse stance.
You’re using different parts of the muscles.
So I started looking for the sequence of motion
that used the most parts of the muscle,
and failed.
You need a bunch of different motions.
Although I did succeed in the form in Yogata,
but that was yoga, and not martial arts.
I wrote that up in a book,
‘Yogata: The Yoga Kata’
But, to continue,
when I failed finding a karate series of movements
that energized all parts of the muscles,
I put together what I had learned in

The Last Martial Arts Book: Nine Square Diagram Boxing

So check it out if you want,
maybe you’ll see something I missed
and create a form that energizes every muscle.
Or maybe not.

If you want to examine some of my other works
that utilize the nine square foot pattern,
or other types of footwork,
check out MonsterMartialArts.com

have a great work out!
Al

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

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 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 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 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 that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.

What is Fake Karate?

What is the difference between fake karate and real karate?

I taught a karate class in Ukiah.
And, one of those students taught a class in Willits.
And, as time passed,
other students took over the class.

Now,
I taught real karate,
as it had been taught to me.
Forms, applications,
making those applications work,
translating the thing into freestyle,
and a zen mind at the end of it all.

My student taught calisthenics
and half the forms.
a lot of freestyle
Not much about applications.

His student taught an even more reduced curriculum.

And his student,
taught fighting.
And he called it Karate.

It wasn’t karate.
It was calisthenics
for the purpose of fighting.
No theory about forms,
nothing about the structure of the body,
nothing about the actual physics of karate…
it was now boxing, (kick boxing)
and not very good boxing at that.

So I’ve seen how the art degrades first hand.
I’ve seen how the art can be corrupted.
I’ve seen karate go from real karate,
as taught by the bodyguards of Okinawa,
to…fake karate.

Isn’t it fake if you’re just fighting?
And not learning?

Now,
a LOT of people
are going to disagree with me.
This is because they’ve invested their time and trouble,
and they think they are doing karate.
Sorry.
I was second generation to the people who brought karate here.
And here is the way I define karate,
and fake karate.

Real karate
forms and applications
applications made to work
limited freestyle but no protective gear
Learn control

Karate
forms and applications
applications are posers that don’t work
freestyle with protective gear

Fake karate
calisthenics
emphasis on fighting with protective gear

I know,
there are some people out there that really don’t like this.
And,
I know there is a lot more to this.
Each of the three levels has much more to be considered.
But this does sum it up.

Let me make a couple of points.

Fighting is not karate.
Karate is learning not to fight, but to control.
Karate was designed,
or at least highly adapted to,
controlling people who had weapons and armor.
Real karate doesn’t bounce around like Bruce,
who was dancing around like Mohammed Ali.
Real karate teaches one to fight…
by teaching one how to not fight.
This is a very zen thing,
but it is at the heart of not just karate
but all real martial arts.

And,
a final word,
if you use what I have said here
to ‘prove’ another art (or person) wrong,
then you have missed the point entirely,
and you are doing Fake Karate.

If you want to fix your karate
and make it real,
I suggest my book,

How to Fix Karate

Two volumes ~ FIVE HOURS OF VIDEO INSTRUCTION!
four hundred pages
800 images
applications that are not posers
all the missing pieces found
and the garbage thrown out
sections on matrixing
sections on fighting

You don’t have to be the victim of poor instruction,
you can make your karate real karate yourself.

Enjoy the summer and
have a great work out!
Al

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

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 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 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 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 that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.

How Deep Should You Strike in Karate?

Hitting with the Right Degree of Force!

Let’s take off the gloves.
Let me dispel a couple of illusions.
Let’s talk about how deep you strike somebody
in the martial arts.

There are three depths of striking.
First, you strike somebody skin deep.
Bare contact,
no harm,
point fighting.
Excellent stuff.
Trains people without harming them.
Sure, it lacks reality,
but you can get more reality
by mixing in other training.
Makiwara, sand box, punching bag.
Mix those with your point fighting and
you will become formidable.

Second,
you strike somebody muscle deep.
This is to cause pain and bruises.
It is not to kill somebody.
It is to bruise them and dissuade them.
It is the slap to bring them to their senses
before you stick a knife in them.
We use this in a very controlled manner
when we are doing form applications.
We build ourselves and our partners up
by striking them harder and harder,
but still don’t damage them.

Third,
you strike somebody bone deep.
This is the punch or block designed
to break a bone or…
to end a life.

To punch skin deep is to touch,
to punch muscle deep is to bruise,
to punch bone deep is to render them
broken and unconscious.

Good karate,
or any good martial art
will enable the student to progress
through the depths of strikes
so he can use the right one at the right time.

I think that being able to
strike somebody bone deep
is a skill worth acquiring.

I wrote a book on how to develop a third level strike.
it is called:

The Hardest Punch in the World

Have a great work out!
Al

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

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 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 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 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 that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.

Martial Arts after age 75!

Martial Arts I Study after 55+ Years!!

Happy Summer!
You should set a goal,
choose an art,
and learn it this summer.

Let me be specific in what I study,
the martial arts I practice.
I get this question every once in a while,
and if you’re not not interested,
pass on by and I’ll talk to you next month.

I do Sanchin.
I don’t do the rock hard version
where people beat on you,
where you learn to ‘take it.’

The reason for this is that
there are two sides to the martial arts,
avoid…or get tough.

I prefer to mix the two,
seek a type of harmony between them.

So the Sanchin I practice I will…
…sink the weight
…turn the hips
…execute a slap and grab motion
…and punch.

And,
I use a matrix of blocks
in applying the slap grab,
and develop the slap grab
from strike to lock to takedown.
This makes the art totally workable.

Now,
I play with other forms.
I practice with weapons
and I do other arts,
but…
Sanchin is my gold.

It gives me breathing,
dynamic tension,
grounding,
loose-tight,
a whole body,
energy,
and so many other things.

For the soft side of the art
I do the material from…

The Last Martial Arts Book:
Nine Square Diagram Boxing

It includes concepts from Tai Chi and Pa Kua Chang,
and follows the matrixing logic of Sanchin.
It is a complete ‘soft style’ art.

And,
to round out the art,
and to make sure I can use everything I study,
I do…
Rhythmic Freestyle,
lop sau (aș originated by me and described in book/video)
sticky hands (from wing chun)
Push hands from Tai Chi chuan.
And,
of course…
freestyle.

This is the actual training routine I do.
Every day.
Every day.
This routine is totally defined in two books,
How to Fix Karate (comes in two volumes)
and
The Last Martial Arts Book: Nine Square Diagram Boxing

All the instructions are in there.
including instructions on what the forms really mean,
how to make the applications work,
complete instructions on matrixing,
and so much more.

I wrote those books so I would have a path
should I choose to come back to this planet
after I die.
It’s the best I could do.

And, I should mention a couple of things.
There are two versions of The Last Martial Arts Book.
One of them has five hours of video instruction.

And,
How to Fix Karate has hours of video instruction.

And,
you shouldn’t discount the other books and courses I’ve done.
I sincerely hope that somebody gets excited
and starts researching,
seeing how I came up with this stuff.
Research is how you go deep in your understanding.

Anyway,
I thought I would mention all this
and encourage you to
learn a totally different martial art this summer!

Have a great work out!
Al

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

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 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 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 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 that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.

Using the Mind in the Martial Arts!

Martial Arts Mental Abilities!

A Funomenal day for a work out!
And I ain’t kiddin’!

Before we get into today’s headline,
remember,
the newsletter will be ending.
Go to
https://alcase.wordpress.com
if you want to keep getting it.
The sad truth is that though I like Mailchimp
(a newsletter distributing service)
they are getting too expensive for me.
So,
back to the basic wordpress blog format.

Okay, secrets of the universe time…

To understand what I’m saying
you’re going to have to realize that the mind
is just a bunch of memory.
You don’t use it.
It’s just a data base that,
ideally,
you just draw data from.

So what are you using?

There is the body
which is meat.

There is the mind,
which is memory.

Then there is you,
which is spirit.

Most people confuse mind with spirit.

Most people think the martial arts are about beating people up.

If you study a good martial art,
you‘ll be past that in a few months,
maybe a year,
two at the most.

The first step is to learn how to stare at something
without being distracted.
I love a good candle.
But other things will work.
I don’t recommend objects like diamonds
or other such shapes.

You use this is in freestyle,
focusing on the opponent so that there is only him,
and you ignore distractions.

It took me a couple of decades,
but I ended up looking at an opponent
as if through a tunnel,
and I could then predict
what he was going to do.

it shouldn’t have taken so long,
but there were no instructions
and I had to figure this out for myself.

What is happening is that you are
unconfusing the blend of mind and spirit
and viewing the opponent without the distraction
of the body or the mind.

YOU are looking at the opponent,
and you are not confused by having to look
through the meat mechanism of the eyeballs.

That is one way to use the mind in the martial arts.

The second way is different,
and there’s no way to train for it,
except through a rounded and intense
practice of the martial arts.

You are walking down the street
you suddenly step to the side,
don’t know why,
just do,
and the attack misses.
ESP,
sixth sense,
whatever.

Here is the weird thing,
you don’t get this unless you have
no concerns, no stress, no bothers.
If you are stressed
you don’t have this ability.
If you are not stressed,
just bopping through the world
happy as a clam,
it works every time.

I started having this ability
after I got my black belt.
Three and a half years in the Kang Duk Won.

When I did start doing this
I redoubled all my efforts
at living a stress free life.

I’ve lived in dangerous areas,
done dangerous things,
and I always made it through
by being happy,
greeting everybody cheerfully,
and staying away from a-holes.

But it all starts with dedicated practice,
intense practice of the arts.
And you MUST have a good art,
and your progress will be ten times faster
if you understand matrixing
and apply it to your martial arts.

I usually recommend an art at this point,
shameless advertising,
don’t you know,
but I’m having a BOGO month.
Buy One and Get One (free)
So head over to the Monster and pick an art.
Buy the art,
then email me at aganzul@gmail.com,
and tell me what art you would like for your freebie.

monstermartialarts.com

Have a great work out!
Al

Remember to vote for Angelo!

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

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 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 7 ratings for 5 stars.
‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.
‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 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 that useful
find the book/course that is right for you,
and matrix your own martial arts.

Secrets of the Rolling Fist!

Secrets of the Rolling Fist!

Thanks to everybody who purchased
How to Fix Karate (Vol one and two)

I want to talk about the Rolling Fist today.
You’ll see smalls sections on the Rolling Fist
on a couple of courses,
and there is a larger course where I go into it in detail.
The reason the Rolling Fist drill is so important
is that it is the most efficient way to teach real fighting in the world.
Period.
And there is a reason for this.
I’ve told everybody,
but nobody gets it,
so let me build up to it,
and tell you the secret
so you’ll never forget.

But,
so you can understand what I’m saying,
take a look at this clip.
This is me working with a fellow
who has a moderate understanding of Lop Sau.
We’re not working on the basics,
but how to translate Lop Sau into grab arts.

You’ve watched it?
Okay,
you’ve got the gist,
so here we go.

When you do the rolling fist
you are basically taking turns rolling a backfist in,
back and forth,
and there is a scientific assortment
of secondary techniques
that takes into account
virtually every attack in the martial arts.
If not through the logic of Rolling Fists,
then through the application of a few moves of the form.

If you stay inside the drill
you can’t be beat.
If you leave the drill you leave an opening.
If you leave an opening that’s where you need to rely
on the few isolated moves from the forms.

What people don’t realize
when they are doing this drill
is that you are NOT suppose to hit the other fellow.
You are teaching him how to block.
You already know how to hit him,
so what’s the point?
Teaching somebody how to block,
or handle an attack intuitively…
that’s the point.

Let me ask you a question now.
If you keep hitting somebody,
will they trust you?
No.
And if they don’t trust you
they won’t trust your data,
and they won’t input your data,
which means they won’t be able to learn.

And you have to be especially careful of this
when you are teaching somebody.

You must teach the student to trust you.
Then they will stop trying to stop you,
and they will stop stopping themselves from learning.

If they trust you they will take your data.

After you have learned how to trust somebody
you must learn how to trust the enemy.

That’s right.
This is real zen,
but it is the truth of the real martial artist.

I’ve had people ask me:
how can you like that person.

I say,
because I trust them.

They say,
but he’s a liar and a thief!

I say,
I trust him to be a liar and a thief.

And here we are at root of it all.

Trust.
And you’ll become a superior martial artist.
And this is the secret of Lop Sau.
That and a thousand hours of training.

Here’s the obligatory ad for Rolling Fists…

4ac Rolling Fists

And,
last thing,
I broke The Shaolin Butterfly course down
and made a book out of it.
It’s not the complete course,
it doesn’t have the nine square forms on it,
but it has all the smaller forms and two man forms.
Best of all,
I have included links to the videos on the course.
It offers a good option to people interested.

It’ll be up on Amazon in a couple of days,
probably by Tuesday,
so start looking for it.

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’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…

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

13 Reasons People Degrade the Martial Arts

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…

The Real Martial Arts Secret of the Universe!

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.

The Night Before Xmas…for Martial Artists

Newsletter 993

The Martial Arts Night Before Xmas

Here it is,
my annual Xmas poem,
the Night Before Xmas,
adapted for Martial Artists.

I won’t make apologies for it,
but I will ask one thing,
a present to me for Xmas,
if you will.

If I have offended,
sent the wrong order,
dropped a communication,
offended you in ANY manner,
even with this poem,
please forgive.
It’s a new year,
help me start it fresh,
the world is too wonderful a place
to carry around ANY ill will.

Now,
with no further ado,
here is…

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS!

Twas the night before Christmas
I was in my shack
primed and ready
for the red fat attack.

my weapons were loaded
the windows were barred
all would be safe
while I was on guard

The chimney was decked
with concertina wire
I crouched by the couch
ready to fire.

I had an M60
with ammo to feed
I didn’t care
if the red fat did bleed.

A loaded shotgun
and grenades to spare
when red fat came down
I’d blow him out of there.

Throwing stars and knives
and a really long sword
and if that didn’t work
I knew a bad word.

Sitting there late
my eyes started to close
when suddenly I heard
a bunch of ho hos.

Off with the lights
safety off, too
I  watched the fire close
and heard a sound from the flu.

‘Ouch and gosh darn it
who put the wire here
those are my undies
starting to tear!’

Then a shower of soot
and a grunt and a groan
he landed in the fire
and gave out a moan.

He was rubbing the place
where the wire did tear
so I held down the trigger
and lead filled the air.

belt after belt
did I deal the red fat
he danced and he jumped
I knew he felt that!

then quicker than spit
I ran out of lead
but enough was enough
he had to be dead.

Boy was I shocked
to see him stand tall
stepping out of the fireplace
not bothered at all.

So I grabbed up the 16
to mow him down
he had to be hurting
cause I saw his big frown.

Then I was empty
and he came straight for me
I pulled out my knives
and sliced him with glee

He jumped to the side
moving real quick
disarmed my knives
with a well placed kick

then he dropped the big bag
he had on his shoulder
reached forth his arms
and his anger did smolder

He grabbed hard my neck
and held me up high
I tried kicks and punches
but I was like a fly

Not karate nor judo
no art did work
and he grinned a mean grin
and called me a jerk

‘Don’t you know
you stupid little man
Christmas is forever
in spite of your plan.’

Then he threw me aside
and proceeded to work
giving presents to all
and to me a great smirk

And when he left
the great big red fat
he left me a lump of coal
the big red fat rat!

HANAKWANMASS TO ALL
and to all a great work out.

Have a great work out!
Al

1a Matrix Karate