Tag Archives: shaolin

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

Dark Martial Arts Holiday is Here!

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

A Martial Arts Fight to the Win…

Newsletter 972

A Great Martial Arts Win

Here is an awesome little account of a fight that was a win…

Master Al,

I hope you accept the appellation I have given you,  I know no other way to address you.  Although we have never met, you have given me so much.

I have sent you a couple of ‘wins’ in the past, but in your Master Instructor course, you say to simply send a win, and ask.  To this day, I never have.  Oh, I’ve had wins,  taught unruly children, helped class members to their Black belt, taught some excellent self defense (and more importantly – in my opinion – taught people to walk away from situations.

However, tonight I write this email as I await my second X-Ray in accident and Emergency  (I think the US equivalent is probably ER?)

My middle finger on my right hand is pretty jacked up.  Ninety degree angle to the rest of my hand.  Reason?  I threw a terrible punch.  The worst I’ve ever thrown I think.  Yes, I have a thousand excuses, none of them change the fact that my hand doesn’t look like a hand currently.  It was a ‘live target,’ a human head… they aren’t soft like pads, aren’t flat like pads, and don’t stay still like pads.  But all that is my fault… it was a bad punch.  I broke my ‘good’ hand.

Let’s backtrack a little though.  I was punching another human in the face, to cut a long story short, because I was walking home and heard shouts.  Upon approaching the wooded area, I found a lady in her twenties being assaulted by a man, maybe thirty.  He had torn her dress and was doing his best at the undergarments when I arrived.  He rushed me and I threw a punch he’d never come back from.  Except it was awful.  Shocked and surprised him.  Did me too.  He wasn’t expecting to get hit, I wasn’t expecting him to still be vertical.  Awful punch.  Moving,  awkward target… but a terrible punch.

That is the worst win you’ve ever heard.  But hold on…

In that moment, I knew I’d screwed up, felt my finger snap.  But I didn’t feel the pain.  Time slowed and crystallized.  Like a scene from a movie.   My stance shifted to a left stance as I moved my ‘weak’ hand into play.  Only it’s not that weak any more, because I’ve matrixed.  I can do the same both sides and cbm comes into play… it might be my weak side,  but it’s trained more than his best side, this much was evident.  It was like I had all the time in the world, all the options laid out before me to choose from. Left outside, left inside, left upward, left down?  From my breaking my finger to my having him incapacitated was probably a second, at most, in real time, felt like an hour with the cheat code activated.

As I sit here awaiting repair, the lady is at home where she belongs, upset, and had a rubbish night, but is home and safe.  He is behind bars where he deserves to be, and I’m awaiting somebody to reconnect this joint.

Maybe not the best win you’ll ever hear… but for me a triumph.  When the chips were down, zero hesitation.  From a detached location outside my body I not only assessed the damage and selected the next best option.  I did so without thought.  But again that isn’t my win, my win is that I’ve been teaching others for months in this mindset (albeit within another system) there are another dozen people out there because of me (and in turn, you) who would have stepped in and done the same.  And of that, I am truly proud.

Perhaps in your eyes that doesn’t constitute a win.  However, I feel I won’t be writing out anything that I find more worthy, so it shall have to stand.  I haven’t before, but I shall now ask (as per your manuscript’s askance to simply offer you a win) may I step up and become a master instructor of your Matrix system?

Thank you for your consideration, and for the system/s you have created.  I truly believe that because of them at least one lady (although she has been through a hell of an ordeal) sleeps a little easier tonight knowing that sometimes the good guys win in real life… even if they have to swing by the hospital after instead of the bat cave!

Adam

Ps.  If I didn’t make it clear, it is my honest belief that through me, you saved someone’s life tonight.

Well done, Master Instructor Adam Daniel.
And, just so all you people understand,
it is not the fight that promotes him,
but the fact that he has been teaching others
using the data off the Master Instructor Course.

The interesting thing here is that when the material is logical
the human being experiences profound change.
Adam experienced being out of his body,
intuition in spades and in spite of being injured.
And,
of course,
compassion and protection for another human being.
And,
to be honest,
I may have contributed my matrixing,
but it is Adam who contributed the hard work and understanding.
He is the fellow who stepped into the breech
and put down the forces of evil.
Well done…
Master Instructor Adam Daniel.

For every one,
there is gold on The Master Instructor course,
these wins have been coming in since 2007,
when I first released it.
It worked then and it works now.
No exceptions.
Have a tremendous work out!
Al

A WIN!

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. ~ Garren L

“Life’s battles don’t always go to the stronger or faster man.
But sooner or later the man who wins,
is the man who thinks he can.”
– Bruce Lee

Learn Apocalyptic Martial Arts

Newsletter 963

Here’s How To Do Caveman Martial Arts!

I’m binge watching a TV series.
‘Into the Badlands.’
Great fun,
the premise being that there are no more guns,
so we live on a few old cars,
relics like turntables,
and practice the sword.
Yowza!

And the martial arts are really cool!
Flying superkicks,
punches that knock people through brick walls,
did I say it was…COOL!

Now,
the thing that gets me is this…
the ladies,
in spite of living in relative caveman times,
all look like they stepped out of a beauty salon,
wearing the gorgeous gowns,
and,
of course,
wearing high heels that can spike an oaf’s face
with elan.

Well,
if you think about it,
that is the least of the problems.
The whole thing suspends reality for…COOL!
So what do you think a post apocalyptic martial art
would really look like?

No swords…
people would just pick up stray and heavy objects
and grind an edge on it.
Found a big, old paper cutter?
Loosen the blade and swing that!

Lots of knives.
Easy to make,
easy to hide,
easy to use.

Lots of guns,
but ammo might run out pretty quick.
So,
maybe no guns after a while.

And,
would you have a lot of people
who knew long and elaborate forms,
and knew how to use them in a fight?
Nah.

In a world reduced to caveman,
the guy who studies the short form,
and most diligently,
is going to be the one to survive.
I’ll take House One any day.

My House One,
on the Matrix Karate course,
has only seven moves.
But those seven moves have over 16 applications.
It replaces dozens of long forms
with simple logic.

House Two has 10 moves,
but put together with House One
there are over 64 applications.

So you just drill these simple moves
over and over,
and the truth will emerge:
a fellow who knows the basics well,
can beat a fellow who knows advanced techniques.
You see,
advanced techniques depend on the basics.
Got to know the basics.
And the fellow with the best basics,
no matter what kind of ‘advanced technique’ he knows,
is going to win.

Anyway,
that’s my answer to Hollywood,
gals on six inch spikes,
and those glorious
wire suspended trampoline kicks.

1a Matrix Karate

Do Matrix Karate for a year,
you’ll know how to fight better than anybody.
It’s pure, man.
It’s pure.
Pure logic and pure joy.

Have a pure work out!
Al

A WIN!
Hey Al!

I just read today’s news letter.  You are always so encouraging, and always raising such excellent signposts for those of us who follow you!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

I’m taking it easy, really trying to ‘get’ coordinated body movement, working my Matrix Karate forms, looking for more and more relaxation… or less and less effort?

Each time I add a side, I find something new and wonderful.  When I started doing Form 2 backwards, I found a whole new ‘direction’ in my mind, like I was learning something completely new.

Ryan

‘I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once,
but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.’
– Bruce Lee

Master the Martial Arts with the Eyes…

Newsletter 955

The Eyes Have It in the Martial Arts

I’ve got a student
and he can’t look at me.
His eyes focus on me briefly,
then he looks somewhere else,
down at the ground,
off to the side,
someplace,
and I know he is unconscious.
Unconscious being not conscious of me,
or,
taking his eyes off his attacker.
In the martial arts
if you take your eyes off the target,
the target hits you.
So I asked him,
have you ever flipped anybody off?
He got self conscious,
nodded and mumbled in the affirmative.
I said,
NO YOU DIDN’T!
Your body flipped them off,
and you told your body what to do.
There is a separation
you see,
between body and spirit.
I asked him if he ever took a leak.
He laughed and said yes.
I said,
NO YOU DIDN’T!
Your body leaked.
You didn’t leak,
you told your body to leak.
And he started to get it.
And here is the lesson.

You don’t look at the chest,
and try to see everything.
You don’t look at the hands/feet.
You look at the eyes because…
THE EYES ARE THE WINDOWS TO A MAN’S SOUL!

If a car was driving towards you
should you look at the driver or the car?
You look at the driver
because he is controlling the car.
He is the spirit behind 2000 pounds of metal.
So you look at the eyes,
and you look for the awareness
that is driving a 150 pounds of flesh and blood.
And that’s where you look.
Period.
And somebody who disagrees,
is simply WRONG,
and I prove it with my next words.
you see,
I told him one other thing.
A very important thing.
What is the one reason
you always look forward,
always keep the eyes open?
The answer is simple,
and yet so hard to grok and do.
The spirit radiates in all directions.
It is aware from the center of a sphere,
looking outward in all directions.
So the one reason a person always looks outward
is so that he doesn’t look inward.
You can’t defend yourself
if you are looking inward.
If you are looking inward,
you are not aware of what’s coming to hit you.
Remember:
the one reason,
the only reason,
for looking outward,
is so that you don’t look inward.

Here’s the obligatory advertisement,
do yourtself a favor and go there…

4ac Rolling Fists


This is the one drill I use
to train people to look outward,
it works,
and it is better than ANY drill
in ALL the martial arts.
I developed it myself,
putting the missing pieces into
some of the lop sau drills in other arts.
This is the complete and real deal.

Have a great work out!
Al

4ac Rolling Fists

A WIN!

Al,
Allow me to say that in 27 years of Chinese martial arts your Lop Sau instructions are the most clear and cogent ones I have ever in my life encountered. ~ Justin H

“There is no comfort in the growth zone and no growth in the comfort zone”
Unknown

Martial Arts Night Before Xmas

Newsletter 952

The 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

Here’s a Christmas win…

A WIN!

Merry Christmas my friend. I love what you do, and you’ve changed the way I approach the arts that I love. 2018 marks my 40th year as a martial artist, and I believe that what you do is so important to us true believers. Please remember that innovation is always going to be violently resisted initially. What you do is absolutely logical, and it’s impossible for any sane man to argue with logic. Press on with pride brother. You ARE making history and a legacy. Best wishes and thanks.
– Sean

“There is no comfort in the growth zone and no growth in the comfort zone”
Unknown

Martial Arts Offensive Phrase…

Newsletter 950

Something You Should Know About Martial Arts

You’re going to have a great time,
you’ll be remembering the MA all your life,
you’ll be healthy,
when old people get alzheimer’s,
you won’t.
when other people are carrying oxygen tanks,
you’ll breath easy.
When they are in wheel chairs,
you’ll be spry.
The truth is…
you’re going to be feeling so freakin’ young
while everybody else grows old.
It’s odd,
so think about it
and prepare yourself.
Your life is going to be great.

And,
speaking of great things,
let me change subjects here
and say…

HANAKWANMASS!

That’s right,
it’s that time of year.
Past years people have gotten upset
if you say Merry Xmas.
You’re supposed to go generic,
‘happy holidays,’
and not offend anybody.
I say…
OFFEND THEM ALL!

If it makes a difference to somebody
that you wish them well
in a manner they don’t like…
well,
they’re idiots.

And,
my solution,
offend everybody.
Wish them HanaKwanMass,
Hanukkah, Kwanza, Xmas.
Mix them together
and you’ll be able to offend everybody.
People who prefer Hanukkah
can get angry about Kwanza and Xmas,
People who prefer Kwanza
can get angry about Hanukkah and Xmas,
and people who prefer Xmas,
can get angry about Hanukkah and Kwanza.
You see?
You’re wishing everybody well,
but no matter who you say it to,
they get offended.
Pretty clever, eh?

So,
I wish you a HanaKwanMass,
and if you don’t like it,
tough bananas,
it’s your problem.

And,
if you are offended,
the best way to get over it
is to work out.
Work out your angry,
work our your upset,
and know that working out,
know that the martial arts,
gives you calm and certainty,
makes you stable and friendly.
Martial Arts makes the world better.

Have a great work out!
Al

Here is the obligatory ad,
it’s about matrixing the samurai sword.
go to the link,,
purchase a present for yourself,
and wish me a HanaKwanMass.

Matrixing Kenjutsu

Here’s a great win from a previous Xmas…

A WIN!

hi sensei Al
Happy holiday workout to you…just wanted to say thank you for everything, it was a great first year with you and the matrix universe.
I enjoyed everything, the journey, the learning, the discovering and all. you are an amazing teacher of life. Honest to God, the world is a bit a better place because you are here. My life has definitely improved because of you. I think I even got a bit smarter if not wiser. Thank you! ;-))
Btw, I took the yogata course today, awesome, looks quite easy to learn and pragmatic. Exactly what I was looking for to get started. I want to implement it into my training syllabus. I am working on my karate form and blocks pretty much every day, on my blinding steel basics and matrix tai chi line every day. Nothing old discarded, the new will be incorporated to form a whole. After all, you designed it this way (grin). I read thru all the materials you gave me, bonuses and all, I filed and organized them neatly and work my way thru the concepts and discoveries. I love your scientific approach, cuts a lot of crap out. Thank you. I hope you are doing great and monkey land will thrive very soon. Do the world (and me, duh) a huge favor and turn your sword fighting books ASAP into an entire matrix kenjutsu course. ;-))

Happy Holiday workout and happy new year,
your biggest fan and student.

How the Martial Arts Fell Apart!

Newsletter 949

Five Steps of How the Martial Arts Failed!

I’ve spoken before of this,
some of my advertising is aimed at this,
so let me detail some of the exact steps
of how the martial arts degraded.

FIRST,
PROTECTIVE GEAR
One day the head instructor walked in
had a box of protective gear.
So we geared up,
and started hurting each other.
But we hadn’t been injuring each other
before!
Simply,
putting on the gear made us think
that we had to hit harder to have effect,
and,
we thought,
‘oh, we can hit harder,
they have protective gear on,
so it won’t hurt.’
But it did hurt,
and we started getting sprains and deep bruises,
even breaks,
so the protective gear didn’t work,
but the head instructor kept demanding we wear it.
Protective gear meant more money for him.
Interestingly,
protective gear works now,
but that’s because people aren’t teaching the real art,
which you will understand
as you continue with this little essay.

SECOND
EXPANSION
When I started martial arts,
there were maybe a dozen schools.
As the number of schools multiplied,
hard core martial artists stopped coming together
in the few schools,
and were spread out in the many schools.
in the whole SF bay area.

THIRD
KIDS
As the number of schools grew
instructors couldn’t pull in enough people,
but parents were willing to enroll their kids
at an astounding rate.
The art was quickly watered down,
drills were changed,
and protective gear was sold.

FOURTH
TOURNAMENTS
Tournaments were a wonderful way
to enroll people and keep them enrolled.
Unfortunately,
a technique that wins in a tournament
bears little resistance to a real technique.
Also,
there was grown a false sense of ‘penetration’
when it came to striking people.
My own instructor took the to a tournament
this was back in the late sixties,
and walked out mid-tournament.
The techniques were simply so degraded
he couldn’t encourage his students to learn them.

FIFTH
POLITICS
Back in the very early 70s
my instructor was sitting at his desk,
and two Koreans walked in.
They told him that
The Korean Martial Arts Association was being disbanded,
and if he joined the new Taekwondo association
he would be promoted two belts
(he was sixth black at the time)
and every black belt in his school would be promoted one belt,
and they would all get to learn brand new forms!
Forms that would replace the old ones,
which, according to these two Koreans,
were old and didn’t work.
Interestingly enough, this same association,
since that time,
has gone through two or three new sets of forms,
and there are even people who have returned
to those bad old forms
taught at schools
such as the Kang Duk Won.
This was politics,
TKD, sad to say,
was an invention by a military general
so Korea could have its own
more national art.
And so what if it didn’t work.

SUMMARY
So,
that’s the truth.
If I have stepped on toes,
sorry,
but I was there.
I saw this stuff first hand,
I experienced this stuff first hand.
It really happened.
And if you don’t like what I have said,
do some research,
if you can find histories that weren’t written
by some school for advertising,
you will come to the conclusion
that I am not kidding.

Now,
does that make the martial art bad?
No.
People have overcome bad training,
politics,
tournaments,
and other misfortunes.
The art is about people,
and the deeper a person delves into an art,
the more sure it is
that they will find the truth of the martial arts.

But there are systems which are ALL messed up.
and which are being sold as the next great thing.
And they CAN be fixed.
But you need a bit of matrixing.

But,
I don’t want to push matrixing here,
I want to push history,
I want to push actual,
physical martial arts.

I wrote five books,

Pan Gai Noon
Kang Duk Won
Kwon Bup
Outlaw Karate
Buddha Crane Karate

You can find them on Amazon.
Or,
better,
if you go through the website
you can find video courses in which I show these arts.
These courses often have the books (in PDF)
bundled in with the videos.
That’s your best deal.

Now,
I am not pushing remembering dates,
who taught who and why it matters.
I am pushing an actual progression through history,
China to Okinawa to Japan to America…
…to matrixing.
You can actually do the very techniques of which I speak,
you can see how they evolved from art to art,
country to country,
concept to concept.
Kung Fu to Karate to Matrixing.
And that is better than reading a thousand encyclopedias.
This is a PHYSICAL history of the martial arts.
This is the martial arts being written on your bones,
not a bunch of significant words on paper,
which may or may not be important,
but are definitely slanted to whoever writes them.
Better to do than talk about.

Okay,
end of push,
thanks for listening.

Here’s a list of some of my books,
including the ‘historical’ encyclopedia.

http://learnkarateonline.net/karate-books/

Have a great work out!
Al

http://learnkarateonline.net/karate-books/

Here’s a great win…

A WIN!

Al,

I have gone through many of your courses and am currently going through blinding steel and eventually on my way to forty monkeys. I recently went through your book Matrixing Tong Bei. Several things clicked and the martial arts universe opened up after finishing that book.

Respectfully,
Tyler K

How to Matrix the Samurai Sword (and the Staff)!

Newsletter 930

Matrixing the Samurai Sword and Staff

One of the things that people have asked for
ever since the first matrixing course hit,
is for me to matrix the sword.
Specifically, the Samurai sword.
So I done it.

You can find a Matrix Kenjutsu box on the monster,
or there is a link down below.

The course is based on the book
‘3rd Level 6th Sense Sword Fighting.’

I actually wrote that book back in the 90s,
and I always received the best comments on it,
so it was time.

Now,
the course consists of 2 parts.

First is the Matrix Kenjutsu part.
I simply filmed each of the cuts, blocks,
how to do directions, and all that sort of stuff.
And I felt it was too simple.
I needed to predict any questions people might have.
The segments were too short.
The whole thing is only an hour long.

I always want to give people more than their moneys worth.
So I filmed a second part.
Teaching Matrix Kenjutsu.
In Teaching Matrix Kenjutsu
I filmed about 20 segments,
long segments,
in which I teach Matrix Kenjutsu to a student.
This ended up being over three hours of instruction,
showing not just the art,
but how to teach it.
You’ll see the mistakes made,
the questions asked,
the ‘what ifs’ that arise,
and so on.

Now,
if you do this course,
and have done the Master Instructor Course,
and send me a video of yourself doing the art,
just showing the strikes, the footwork, the two man defenses,
I’ll be happy to certify people.

And,
I’ll tell you right now,
you can teach this as a seminar to get people in your school,
or as a complete course along with whatever other art you teach.

I am about helping people become competent,
understand the truth of the martial arts,
and this really entails making teachers.

So,
the door is open,
whether you just want a new art,
an expanded viewpoint of matrixing,
or something to teach,
Matrix Kenjutsu is the real deal.

I’ll be talking about it over the next couple of weeks,
but for now,
head over to the monster page

Matrixing Kenjutsu

and check it out for yourself.

And,
just put it up,
so if anybody encounters any problems,
in ordering or the downloads themselves,
let me know at
aganzul@gmail.com.

And,
for now it is just Instant Download.
Sorry,
my printer is refusing to print disks,
so until I get that fixed,
instant downloads only.

Okeyly Donkey
Have a Stupendous Work Out!

Al

Matrixing Kenjutsu

Here’s a link for an article about when I first started doing this book.
I intended to finish it quickly, but it’s actually been five years!
New Book About the Samurai Sword is Coming

What the Old Martial Arts Masters Knew

Newsletter 926

The Last Word on Chiang Nan

Got an email from Tom J the other week,
said an interesting thing.

I am getting the picture that “real” true karate, being true to its Okinawan roots, comes very close to stand-up grappling with strikes, I think, also, much of the sensitivity developed in Tai Chi – like exercises was there.

Even though they were not doing Tai Chi as such, lots of practice and thinking through the moves probably brought the Okinawan masters into that level of skill

Which brings me back to your “Everything must be practiced”, admonition. All the pieces are like pieces of a pie and all should be visited in practice.

Thanks Tom.
And he is so right.
People think that Tai Chi is the ultimate,
and it is,
but that doesn’t mean there aren’t others that are the ‘ultimate,’
it doesn’t mean that there aren’t other arts
that don’t elevate the student to the top.

My instructor said to me once:

There are many roads to the top of a mountain.

He had certainly reached the ability,
let alone the sage wisdom,
of a tai chi master.

The problem is that so many people think it is all about fighting.
Fighting is important,
but you go past fighting,
and start to understand how to handle life,
and what person can fight you
if you know how to handle life?
Heck,
a guy throws a punch
and it is an exercise in dissection,
in quick and sure manipulation,
and there is no fight.

And the truth of the matter is that these old guuyts,
these old masters,
who knew so much,
they knew so much because they studied more than just half an art.
Shake Morihei’s tree and you’ll find
the very thorough and complete
aikido jujitsu.
And you’ll find spear fighting,
sword fighting,
and all many of no nonsense studies.
Take a look at the Tai Chi masters,
you’ll find Shaolin,
types of kung fu,
history as bodyguards,
and it’s all to the death.

So don’t think you are going to be a master
if you study just one art.
Oh,
maybe,
but it’ll take half a century,
and then you die.

All of which means you should study ‘Chiang Nan,’

How to Translate Karate into Tai Chi Chuan

Which takes karate and applies tai chi principles to it.
You get a soft way of train a hard art.
You figure out different ways,
sometimes more efficient ways,
to move the body.
You undo the effects of training that has been too hard,
and has resulted in injuries.
You elongate your life in the martial arts.
You learn more than you ever thought there was in the martial arts.

Okay,
enough preaching.
You heard or you didn’t,
and the choice is up to you.

I think,
next time,
I’ll talk about the various courses.
I’ve got so many,
got so many books,
I should probably differentiate them,
maybe acquaint some of the newbies to this newsletter
about the how and the why of matrixing your martial arts.
Until then,
think about Chiang Nan,

And have a great work out!
Al

How to Translate Karate into Tai Chi Chuan