It Really Shouldn’t Take So Long to Learn Martial Arts
The bully charges out of the alley and tosses a whole, darned trash can at you! Do you ask him to take that garbage can back because you’re only on your ninth Karate lesson and haven’t reached the deflecting the garbage can lesson? Or do you ask him go away because, here it comes, you forgot to pay your dues at the local dojo?
There is a point to all this silliness, why do the martial arts take so long to learn? You can teach a guy to fly a jet, get in a dogfight and get shot down, spend time in a concentration camp, get released and run for political office, and become a senator, and retire, in the time it takes to learn some systems of the martial arts. I heard of one system that it takes seventeen years to get to Black Belt in!
Some people will make the excuse that you’re learning more than self defense. You’re solving martial mysteries and its all about the lifestyle and you need to invest in your old age, you know? But you’re still lying under that trash can and the guy is pulling out a knife, and no matter how many lessons you’ve taken, you have to do something!
One of the old sayings that I heard, long time ago, is garbage in, garbage out. The sad fact of the matter is that if something is hard to put into your head, then it might not be easily accessed and used. Maybe it would be appropriate to find an art that is as easily absorbed as track, or boxing.
It is true that the Martial Arts are not a sport, they are an art, but they can still be learned easily and quickly. They just have to be taught not by one mystical technique after another, but rather by understanding concepts behind them. Those endless techniques that you memorize, to be truthful, are random data, and, often as not, they don’t really relate to one another.
That is a problem, to be sure, even if you learn a thousand techniques, you might not have enough data to be able to make sense out of the whole thing until you reach one thousand and one. And, let’s face it, a hundred years is to long to become competent. And then go to heaven.
The solution is that the martial arts must be taught on a conceptual basis. Instead of having a fellow memorize endless strings of tricks, have him learn the rather simple principles behind those tricks. Have him learn conceptually and he’s suddenly going to be able to figure out those thousand techniques without any need for endless memorization.
Give him an acorn and throw in the watering pot, that’s what I believe, and then watch the oak shoot upwards. Most martial artists, and I don’t mean to be mean in this observation, are lost in the limbs of the trees. The real way to teach, however, is to show the guy the principles, then have use those principles, and, faster than a rabbit on steroids, you’ve got yourself a fast and competent martial artist.
Good Morning USA, and world, and, uh, guess I’ll throw in the universe.
Never can tell, some gloopy alien with three eyes might be keeping track of those strange critters on earth. Might be reading this article right now making sure we’re not being contentious and guilty of sedition to the alien galactic empire.
Hello, Gloopy Alien.
I wonder if he knows what this here finger of mine is for? Hah.
Speaking of weird and Gloopy Aliens, the founder of modern Karate, Gichin Funakoshi, was about 80 years old, and was out for his nightly walk. The night was ominous, Japan was in an unsettled state, and he saw a mugger waiting on a street corner.
Gichin knew, deep in his heart, that that mugger was going to try to mug him. Hey, you think a mugger’s going to risk picking on somebody who is big? Nope, muggers want to get on with their work with the least amount of personal risk, you know? Smart guys, these muggers are.
Anyway, Gichin keeps on walking makes sure he looks feeble, and as he passes the mugger and the mugger leaps at him he whirls and grabs the mugger.
Now, you might be wondering where he grabbed the mugger. A death lock on the carotid–a specialized nerve center that immobilizes totally?
Well, uh, he didn’t do any of those things.
He grabbed him by the, um, cajones. The apples, you know..the coconuts. He grabbed him by the children he might sire some day, by the future, by his only source of fun on those long, lonely nights that frustrate a mugger when he is all by himself and can’t find anybody who even remotely likes him.
Now the founder of modern Karate has a mugger by the embarrassment, and what is he going to do next?
Does he flick a set of knuckles to the throat and crunch the Adam’s apple…cause it to swell up and stop the mugger from breathing? Does he launch a spear hand thrust to the chest and yank the mugger’s very heart out and take a big bite while the terrified mugger watches in terror? Or does he just start to close his hand. Close his hand slowly, and watch the life blood drain out of the mugger’s face, and the very life right out of his quaking and pain infested body, and the happiness out of his future? Squeeze, until the nutty pulp runs out from between his gnarly, old fingers. Squeeze, until a loud popping sound fills the night air. Squeeze, until the mugger screams like a little girl and falls to the pavement, never to enjoy the feel of loving again.
Gichin called for the cops. Yep, he stood on that corner and held that man and called for help.
And the mugger was totted away to think about his crimes, and the terror of having his manhood held by another man.
An interesting lesson for a mugger, eh?
Another interesting lesson would be if you looked up the real meaning of the word testament and where it comes from and all that.
Anyway, the point of all this is this don’t walk down that dark alley. Yep. My students have heard me say this, and they know what I mean. When you have a choice of a long walk down a lit street, or a short trip through a dark alley, take the long way.
Hey, a sunny street in the heart of town might be a dark alley if there’s some idiot waiting for you. And you should have developed the extra perception, through those endless hours of practice, to know the difference between a dark alley and a well lit street.
I’m addicted to the martial arts. I’ve studied Southern Shaolin and Northern Shaolin and Wing Chun and Tai Chi and Pa Kua and…I can’t stop.
This is not bad, of course, for the health benefits and the clarity of mind are absolutely phenomenal. There is one problem, however, that I wish to address here, concerning the martial arts.
Float like a butterfly, and sting like an …elephant!
It can take several years to become expert in a system of Gung Fu. It can take more than a dozen years to master a system of Gung Fu. This is much, much too long.
My solution to this problem was to concentrate on isolating the main concept–and motion–behind a system of kung fu, and concentrate upon just that concept. I didn’t want to learn by memorizing series of tricks, you see, I wanted to go for the gold. I wanted to find out the real secrets behind any system I studied. Every system I studied, however, was based on a different concept. Wing Chun slipped and angled , and the Mantis pulled with a hook. Pa kua made circles and deflected, and Tai Chi guided by absorbing. None of the systems seemed related!
But, I reasoned, fighting is, at heart, fighting!There had to be a simple concept that tied them all together. There had to be some simple thing that was common to each fighting system, no matter how different the fighting system seemed to be! There had to be an underlying principle that I was missing. And, in the end, I found it.
No matter what type of Kung Fu you are studying, the body is the common denominator. Kung fu, flower arranging, dance, taking a walk…they all need a body.
And the body is constructed the same, for the most part, from person to person. Thus, I dissected and analyzed all the arts, and found that there is a principle of body motion, relating to and coming from the body, that is the same for virtually all arts.
And the arts I was studying suddenly made sense, and I could see the connections. I had found the source of it all! Eventually, I formed my own system, and it is based on this common principle of body structure, and the only potentials of motion that a body is capable of. I call this system the Shaolin Butterfly, and the true glory of it is that is includes virtually all potentials of motion from all other systems of Kung Fu.
Oh, and one other thing about this system that is great–it can be learned in a couple of months.
Okay, heres a shocker for you to think about–you are learning the martial arts using the slowest method of education in existence in the world. Its true. And it is propagated through the mysticism and awe of attaining something that, should you use an updated method of learning, would speed up your learning up by a factor of ten.
The martial arts work on a method that has worked for the history of the world, for monkeys. This is the monkey see monkey do method of education. Using the monkey see monkey do method of education, you are trained to memorize random strings of data.
Thats absolutely right, random strings of data. In fact, to be perfectly accurate, it is random strings strings of random data, and everything is tied together through mystical concept. Not logical concepts, but mystical concepts.
That system of kung fu you’re practicing, the one based on an animal–I have never heard of an animal being logical. Oh, you fight like an animal would fight, in concept. What youre saying is that the movements that resemble how an animal would move have been gathered together so you could copycat them.
Copycatting is not a concept, and it is not being logical in any sense.
Copycatting is doing what youve been shown…or, in the martial arts world, sold. Lots of money in selling copycat methodology, because you can just keep rearranging the strings of data and fooling people into thinking they are getting something scientific.
Now, you might think that I am down on martial arts because of what I have said. The opposite is the real truth, however–I am so in love with the martial arts it is unbelievable. I dont, however, believe in learning through antiquated methods.
What I do is take the mysticism of the martial arts, utilize logic to line it all up, and learn ten times faster than the next guy. This method, a vastly different than any method you have ever seen, is called Matrixing. Matrixing is an actual scientific method–it is not the latest fake-scientific-wordage (cyber cranial digitation, neural brain synapses, and that sort of made up so on) that internet marketers use to sell their gimmicks.
The inquiry I often get is how does it work. Consider: if you had 4, 5, 3, 8 and a shaved donkey, you wouldnt know how to count. If you had 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on through all of your digits…you would know how to count.
What I do is align the martial concepts in the correct sequence, so there are no missing numbers, no out of order numbers, and no ridiculous concepts tossed in. When people learn the martial arts in this fashion it is possible to learn, as I said, as much as 10 times faster. Of course it all depends on the person learning, and whether they have a basic education, and etc.
The above all being said, it was not an easy thing to figure Matrixing out. In fact, it took me over 30 years, as there was no precedent for what I was doing. The job is completed, however, and martial artists the world over need no longer be trapped by–the slowest method of learning in existence.
Here’s a great article on a more brutal form of martial arts training using…a Tiger!
Great Day in Paradise!
Monkeyland may be as little as two weeks away.
Man,
that’s worth a dozen work outs!
So here is the URL so you can take a look at this gem in the wilderness.
http://churchofmartialarts.com/the-church/
Give the page time to load,
there’s a couple of large pictures.
And make sure you hit the FB LIKE button at the top of the page!
The Church of Martial Arts!
Now,
let’s talk about Monkeyland.
Let’s talk about how it got started,
how it developed,
and how it is going to progress.
First, I wrote a book,
and it is called Monkeyland,
and the tagline is…
‘Another word for Freedom!’
It is a story of war and corruption and disaster and man’s inhumanity to man.
Yet,
after five books,
there is a sublime message,
one that forgives the thought of war
if we can only understand ourselves,
transform ourselves…
mankind has hope.
And,
I kept working out,
developing matrixing,
nibbling into Neutronics,
and I started thinking about a real Monkeyland.
A place where people were free to be themselves,
without the regulations and intrusions of government,
without the interference and distractions of evil people.
A place where the martial arts could flourish,
and people could experience what the true martial art was like.
A place where people could be free.
And I used to sit and wonder,
How the heck was I supposed to pull this off?
How could I make this happen?
And I mentioned Monkeyland in the newsletter.
Frank was one of the first people I ever taught matrixing to.
Back about 1984 we locked ourselves in the dojo
and worked out until he was a black belt.
Frank read the newsletter,
and he had his own bad case of good dreams.
He wanted a place where, among other things,
he could escape the grind of a society going bad,
where GMO could be defeated,
where solid stock, animal and human both,
could be raised.
And our dreams were going in the same direction.
It took a couple of years, some very intense negotiating,
a bunch of hoops to jump through,
but within a couple of weeks we will be on the land.
Monkeyland.
A ranch free from the contaminations of society.
A Church where people can be encouraged to plumb their depths,
find the true art that is within themselves,
is their inherent nature,
just waiting to come to the surface.
Of course,
there is going to be an immense amount of work,
but,
we are in the right time,
and the right place.
Did you know that people actually love to work?
The country only gets depressed when people aren’t working.
Did you know that people love to solve problems?
With a government telling them no,
with a society of political correctness,
where you have to ask permission to pee in ocean,
people are miserable.
But set them free,
tell them to build something,
tell them that nobody is going to stop them,
and you have paradise each and every single day.
Did you know that some people love the martial arts?
Yes, it’s true,
the brighter and more industrious members of mankind all LOVE the martial arts.
What better gift to the best on earth
than to give them a place where they can let loose their talents,
change the path of mankind,
elevate ALL martial arts!
So,
more to come,
I’ll probably have to set aside a separate section of the newsletter
just to deal with the happenings at Monkeyland.
But,
remember this…
if you are a true martial artist,
if you want to find the truth of yourself,
and if you are willing to work your fingers to the bone,
then you have a bed up here.
Within the month I should have some sort of plans started
to enable visits and instruction and even some possible live in arrangements.
But,
let me say this right now,
study your matrixing.
When you come to visit,
the first thing we’ll do is check out your matrixing.
If you can do your Matrix Karate,
right out of the box,
then we won’t have to spend time teaching you things you should already know,
and we can get right into the deeper teachings.
So here’s the URL for Matrix Karate…
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-karate/
And in a future newsletter
I’ll lay out the complete sequence of study.
But for now,
remember,
it all starts with Matrixing.
Matrixing led me to Monkeyland,
and it’s going to bring you here, too.
Now,
thanks to all,
and special thanks to Frank,
and I’ll be talking to you later.
Have a great work out!
I recently came across the most interesting discussion concerning Martial Arts testing for belts. It was interesting because it was well thought out, concerned, and because I disagreed with most of what was said.
Sometimes I will make a comment, but in this case I am prompted to tell the truth about Martial Arts testing. What makes this particularly juicy is that the people involved in this discussion were nibbling at the edges of what I did a lo-o-ong time ago, and which is more in keeping with the true spirit of the martial arts.
Is Karate the answer to this type of attack?
Originally there were no belts, which doesn’t mean there were no ranks.
Gichin Funakoshi introduced belts which, I believe, came from the a method used by swimming teams.
The first two belt ranks were white and black. This expanded to white, green, brown and black.
Some fifty years ago ranks and belts exploded. Ed Parker and Kenpo Karate led the way with a rainbow of colors. Taekwondo expanded the colors even further.
Now, this is the way it happened, but, there is an incredibly valuable piece of data missing.
I began studies with Kenpo, and was introduced to the belt system, and found it valuable in encouraging people to study.
Isn’t it interesting that people have to be encouraged to study?
But, when I went to the Kang Duk Won, I wasn’t encouraged to study. We had four basic belts, white, green, brown and black, further delineated by stripes, and nobody much cared.
Simply, people who cared about flashy belts left the school, and only the faithful, the ones who didn’t need to be encouraged to study, were left.
Nowadays people treat the martial arts like a business, structure everything around sales and promotion, and the belt is held up as the goal.
Fact: the belt means nothing.
Fact: knowledge means everything.
But these two facts seem to have become twisted, and the belt means everything, and knowledge means nothing.
I didn’t understand my Kang Duk Won instructors thoughts concerning belts, and I didn’t care. I was one of the faithful. I worked out till I bled, and there was no middle ground. There was no entertainment, and freestyle while recognized as a game, was treated like life or death.
Not to beat somebody else up, but to hone your own skills.
Interestingly, this type of freestyle brought one to mushin no shin (mind of no mind), which is an intuitive method, and it was a science, and it was TOTALLY combat effective. When people say their art is not combative effective, or not useful on the street, I know they didn’t study the real art, but rather an art that entertains children.
When I became an instructor I awarded rank according to forms and techniques learned.
As I progressed I realized the inadequacy of that, and I stopped giving out belts. For years I gave no martial arts tests, simply gave a person a black belt when he had the knowledge.
This thing of knowledge is quite interesting.
The number of forms learned, of techniques done, has no relationship to martial arts knowledge.
And I could ascertain the depth of knowledge a person had by simply looking at him.
Just to mention a couple of the actual criteria:
how deeply does a person ‘screw’ himself into the ground when doing his forms and techniques.
Or, what level of intuition has the student progressed to.
And there are other criteria, all coming from the removal of the student from his body.
I know, sounds crazy, but the awareness that is a human being becomes removed from his body through the method of doing the martial arts forms and techniques correctly.
Emphasis on ‘correctly,’ as it requires an experience of physics beyond the normal ‘fist in the face’ ‘apple falls on the head’ physics. This is an entirely different set of physics which I have seen only a few dozen people demonstrate, and none of whom actually understood.
Now, fees. I charge little, if at all. The rationale here is: how can I charge somebody for what he already knows? What he already paid for, and not just in money, but in sweat and blood?
Yet I had one fellow come to me and said he was required to pay $800, plus plane fare to Japan, plus lodgings and meals and all, to take a martial arts test.
For what?
Three old guys would sit behind a table and watch him demonstrate for an hour, then pass or fail with NO comment on why he was passing or failing!
Obviously, these guys loved themselves…and wanted his money. And they called themselves masters.
Anyway, as time went on I got back into giving not belts, but checklists, and then I would just work people to the bone, making sure they screwed themselves into the ground during form and technique, that they reached intuitive levels of freestyle, and other things.
And, eventually, I made these checklists public, selling them as courses, and here an interesting thing happened. Knowledge became able to be transcribed on paper.
Yes, the student still has to work, and those students in it for the entertainment or the belt and so on will have problems.
But a student who actually reads the courses, does the courses, gets the knowledge.
And they usually stop needing to be entertained and become the faithful.
This became an immense and tremendous boon to ANYBODY who possesses these courses.
It eliminated guesswork. It gave workable knowledge.
It enabled the true art to be passed on even if the instructor didn’t have all the knowledge, as it passed on the knowledge to all involved.
Then I come across discussions on how to test.
Man, there are hundreds of theories out there, but all passed on being able to monkey see monkey do a form, and none having to do with the perception of knowledge, of how to actually increase the students awareness.
So I say this: stop entertaining. Get brutal. Search for knowledge and not belts. Award rank for knowledge and not memorized skits.
This is the only way to the true art, and it is the way martial arts testing should be.
Here is a page that will tell you how to find out your true rank without Martial Arts testing.
Taken from newsletter 625,
Subscribe to the Monster Martial Arts Newsletter Now!
Hello and great day to you ALL!
And a great work out,
which will make you smarter and faster and stronger
and lead you to your dreams.
It’s true.
Congrats to Master Instructor Luis Lista!
Here’s his win…
Hi Al,
Thank you for this amazing course!
I had to watch the DVD 3 or 4 times, and I realize there are still a
lot of things that I understand intellectually but have to practice
further to make them natural.
But your statement was true. One cannot watch this DVD and read the course book seriously without having some huge realizations about the Art, and the way to practice it.
I’ve been able to correct my own stances and sharpen my “good
reflexes” in a dramatic way! I still have a lot to learn and
practice, but wow what a change, a true “mind-shifting process”!
And frankly that is not the best of it. I share the practice of your
Matrix Karate System with some people of my neighborhood, and I noticed that I can now see way better their eventual mistakes AND I’m able to propose simple and direct solutions AND show them why and how they work. That is fantastic!
At my small scale this as been the most beneficial course for helping people learning the Art… and for helping me structure the way I share the practice.
I even could make some valuable suggestion to a friend who is a master in a traditional Japanese Koryu… even I was surprised! Suggestions came by themselves because I was just seeing things you showed and explained in your course.
And I now this is a course that will follow me trough time, I’ll have
the opportunity to return to it and evaluate and learn regularly from it… what a joy!
Al, I must sincerely thank you for your wonderful work of
dissemination of Martial Arts!
Luis L.
Thank you, Luis!
and thank you for sharing with others.
Sometimes I don’t think people truly appreciate teachers,
but teaching others is how mankind actually progresses.
No teachers = no evolution.
You know,
I’ve said it before,
but perhaps it is time to say it again…
how,
exactly,
I came up with this course.
I studied,
and I wrote things down,
and I made connections,
and I thought everybody was doing the same things as I.
I didn’t think I was doing anything unique,
I thought everybody did the martial arts the way I was doing them,
I thought everybody had the same realizations,
understood about how the physics worked,
and so on.
I think the first person who abused me of this was Mike Baron.
He was my partner in one of my schools,
and actually pushed Monster into happening.
He said,
‘You know, Al, nobody else is doing the things you’re doing.’
As I recall,
I just grinned.
I thought he was just unaware of everybody else.
Then we released a couple of courses,
among them was the Master Instructor course,
and the wins started coming in.
It blew me away.
Far away.
People with lots of experience,
were telling me how
they finally understood the martial arts,
how everything had been obscured and mixed up and jumbled,
and they were finally able to see how the martial arts worked.
I was surprised,
to say the least,
and it changed the way I was doing things.
And,
it is changing the way other people are doing things.
So,
thanks Luis,
and thanks to all for being part of the martial arts.
And,
that said,
let me explain something about the martial arts.
The Martial Arts are the only field
that deal with the actual force and flow of the universe.
School and religion certainly don’t,
they just talk about dry facts,
or esoteric theories,
but don’t relate to the fact that everything in the universe
is an object that has trajectory.
And,
Martial Arts are the ONLY field on this planet that actually deals
with the force and flow of objects,
and thus with the whole universe.
This leads directly to awareness.
People who don’t study the martial arts are car crash victims.
Life happens to them,
and they don’t understand why.
Martial Artists see the way objects fly,
from the fist to the car to the whole darned planet,
and they are trained to handle the flow of objects,
and the potential collisions.
And,
even more importantly,
the martial arts provide a discipline
which leads down the path
to greater awareness.
This happens no where else.
Go to school and your intelligence actually goes down.
This is true by actual, tested statistic.
People in school study facts
until the flow of objects in this universe is obscured.
But people who do the martial arts
have quicker and cleaner intellects.
They have good health,
they handle problems as they come,
stay away from drugs,
help people learn how to be aware.
Do you understand how valuable you are?
Well,
forgive me for ranting,
but it is true,
and you really should know how special you are.
So thanks to all,
and thanks to Luis,
and here’s the URL for the Master instructor Course…
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/4-master-instructor-course/
This post is from Monster Martial Arts Newsletter 624.
Visit Monster Martial arts if you wish to subscribe…
Good morning and a great work out!
Or good evening and a great work out,
or…get the idea?
Anytime is time for a great work out!
I’m back in town,
working like crazy to get caught up,
and my apologies for any late orders,
missed emails,
or whatever.
I should have everything done by Monday,
including sending a couple of courses I ran out of
during my trip across America.
Let me know if I didn’t answer an email,
or anything else.
Now,
word has it that Monkeyland may be as little as a month away.
Zowie!
What a long journey,
but it is going to be well worth it.
I know that others have constructed temples
for the martial arts in America,
but I really think this is going to be a first.
I am working on putting all arts on checklist format.
Will make it easier to study,
and easier to teach.
I am thinking of how to construct the area
so that it is not just a couple of houses and a dojo,
but a terraced and organized Garden of Eden for the martial arts.
And,
did you know that there are actually seven arts that I have put together?
This makes for seven chunks of knowledge,
or seven steps to complete martial mastery,
in the most fanatical sense of the word!
So instead of working through belts,
although that will occur,
and must occur for people who don’t want religion in their martial arts,
there will be an alternative route.
For instance,
a fellow who is a postulant,
is a fellow who is seeking (admission to a religious order)
So a postulant would follow a specific checklist,
which might include the first four courses on Monster,
and certain works from churchofmartialarts.com,
for instance ‘prologue,’ and so on.
And I would put together some sort of package to save money,
and a forum where people can actually discuss what is going on.
I have had a lot of requests for a forum,
and I think I see how I could structure it
so people could trade knowledge and wins,
ask questions and such,
and yet stick to specific courses.
First level might be postulant,
second level might be novitiate (novice)
and there would be a separate forum for each level.
Mind you,
I am just thinking my way through this,
outlining a structure,
and things may change drastically
before we come up with something that works.
And,
I say we.
Us.
I thank every one of you that has offered ideas,
sent me heads up on links and courses and whatevers.
You see,
monkeyland isn’t me.
It’s martial arts.
So how much time do I have left to teach?
And that question leads us to one fact,
can I – we – establish a structure,
physical and spiritual,
that will last past our mortal flesh?
That is the real question here.
Let me share a little something with you about this.
I have had lots of opportunities.
People have offered me this and that
over the course of the years.
One fellow offered to make me a Hollywood producer.
And he was one,
and could do it.
But I said no to him,
and to all other opportunities
and for one reason.
They had to be martial arts compatible.
If the opportunity wasn’t about martial arts,
I wasn’t interested.
And,
over the years I have also had a lot of people
try to button me down.
‘Get rich, Al!’
Or,
‘Here’s a job that…’
‘We could make so much money…’
And,
of course,
there is the fact that I kept the price of courses down,
instead of going internet crazy,
and gouging people.
Why?
Because in the back of my mind is the question…
‘will people remember what I did in a thousand years?’
Even if they don’t know my name…
‘will the effects of what I have done be influencing the world in a thousand years?’
Not because I am glory hungry,
I don’t care if people know who I am,
I’m actually sort of a recluse.
I hide in corners at get togethers,
and don’t even like to go to parties.
No,
I just want to do something that is big and good and will have lasting effect for thousands of years.
What is the purpose of my life?
Do you understand?
It’s not to get rich,
or to be famous.
Heck,
I could have done that!
But can I actually contribute something of worth
that will help my fellow man,
raise his awareness,
make the world a better place.
Shaolin does that.
I want to do that.
And in America there is a relatively blank canvas to do that.
What an opportunity!
And,
that being my personal motivation,
now you may understand that it is not about me.
It is about the people who help.
It is about people coming together
to overcome a rancid and unforgiving world.
While everybody waves a flag and goes to war,
we nibble at the edges of the heart…and go to peace.
It’s about you.
What do you want?
Do you want to be part of something big?
That will change the world?
Will make the martial arts a force for peace…instead of corruption and tournaments and making money and dominating people and beating people up and…
Do you get the idea?
Well,
forgive me.
I rant.
But it’s a good thing.
So cross your fingers,
that everything goes through as planned,
no burps or farts,
but an actual place to come and study the purest martial arts in the universe,
a martial arts that doesn’t just make the most honorable and glorious fighters in the universe,
but raises people from monkey to human being to…an Awareness of who they are,
what they are about,
and gives them a chance to really do something this lifetime.
And all through martial arts.
Oinkey ka doinkey…
got to go,
you guys and gals have a most glorious day
and wonderful workout!
And I’ll talk to you later…
Al
BTW
Here’s the first book
that will probably be offered
on the first checklist…
Do you know what makes a work out good?
When it is focused on making you more aware.
True.
The body is important,
the muscles, the reflexes,
speed and strength,
adaptability and creativity…
it is all important,
but that is only a ‘biofeedback system’ to your awareness.
The most important thing in the martial arts
is building awareness.
The way you build awareness is to look at your technique,
practice your technique,
until you know how it works so well
that you can make it work no matter what.
And it is your awareness that will make this happen.
Now,
the problem is when people start thinking
that their body is what is important.
That is when the martial art becomes a martial sport.
Or,
when people start thinking that beating up people is what is important.
That is when they stop improving themselves
and start ‘de-proving’ themselves.
Here’s the thing…
when you beat somebody up
you are trying to decrease their awareness.
It’s true.
So you are trying to make them stupid.
So do you like living in a world where everybody is stupid?
If you like living in a world where people beat each other up,
then you do.
And you are then caught in a trap,
a monkey cage,
a vicious cycle,
even life after life.
But,
if you do martial arts
so that you look at your body in such a way,
that you learn,
that you get smarter,
then you like to live in a world that is getting smarter.
It’s a pretty strict dividing line,
you know?
You either want to get smarter…
or stupider.
You either want to help the world…
or hurt it.
You either want to do martial sports,
or you want to do martial arts.
Mind you,
I don’t look down on martial sports,
for that is where the people who want to get smarter come from.
That is where the people will suddenly get wiser,
realize that beating people up is a dead end,
and become martial artists.
But the actual fact of the matter is this…
there are three distinct levels of humanity here.
There are the animals in the jungle.
These are people who are like monkeys,
who chatter a lot,
act smart,
but are basically asleep.
They live in a cruel world,
and bounce around between people who tell them what to do,
manipulate them,
and so on.
These are the people who have no discipline,
no route to self awareness,
and who are your basic mankind.
They live,
they walk and talk,
they do clever tricks like work,
but they are not aware of who they are.
Then there are the humans,
the people who know martial techniques,
but not the compassion.
They fight for nationalism,
or become bouncers,
and they beat people up
while constantly telling themselves that they are right,
but it is only for a belief,
or a paycheck,
or some other temporary thing.
These people have a discipline,
a route to self awareness,
but they abuse it.
They know there is a logic and a compassion,
but they refuse it.
But at least they are on the doorstep to self awareness.
Then there are martial artists,
who strive to improve themselves and others.
Who,
instead of becoming bouncers and beaters,
become teachers.
These people are human beings of the highest caliber.
They help instead of hurt.
They share knowledge and discipline,
they build the road to self awareness.
They have logic,
but more…
they have intuition.
They live in a different world,
a world of impulse that is correct,
they listen to the voice in their head,
until they become that voice in their head.
They build a world that is evolving
towards a higher humanity.
I am not being cruel here,
I am not just assigning labels to separate or make elitists,
I am trying to help you understand
exactly where you are.
A monkey.
A human being.
Or a martial artist.
Which are you?
Are you asleep?
Are you awake but stunted in your growth?
Are you awake and trying to help everybody else wake up?
Here’s the thing…
you can kill a body,
but you can’t kill awareness.
Awareness is what travels from body to body,
looking through the eyes and ears,
having fun on planet earth.
Or having misery…and calling it fun.
But to the degree that you support a planet asleep,
where awareness thinks it is asleep,
to that degree are you unaware.
No man is an island,
we are all in the same boat.
But,
one method for waking up is the martial arts.
It is a discipline that trains you to look,
to be aware,
to wake up.
Haven’t you noticed that people who do the martial arts are more aware?
Understand things better?
Easier to get along with?
And haven’t you noticed that the longer you do martial arts
the easier life becomes?
So why not go all the way?
Why not become an awareness that is intuitive,
understanding,
compassionate,
who helps others become better,
who wakes people up…
instead of putting them to sleep.
Why not see if there really is a superior way of learning with Matrixing?
Why not see if there is a discipline that is more logical
than anything you have ever seen?
Why not find out if you can learn martial arts,
a LOT of martial arts,
faster than man has ever learned it before?
Why not?
Well,
I can only talk,
I can only explain,
whether you take the next step is up to you.
But the first four courses of Matrixing are:
Matrix Karate
Matrix Kung Fu
Matrix Aikido
The Master Instructor Course.
These four courses provide the basic graphs of matrixing.
On Matrix Karate you learn the basic geometry of the body,
not random tricks,
but a logical method for assigning function to the body
and its parts.
Never been done before.
On Matrix Kung Fu you learn the basic physics
of how to take down a body.
Oh, you’ll have seen some of these techniques,
but probably not all,
and certainly not in the correct and logical order.
On Matrix Aikido you learn how to think conceptually,
how to make a grab art out of anything,
and,
surprise,
you do Matrix Aikido
and you will suddenly be finding the techniques of Monkey Boxing.
For the first time…
a system where everything fits together in the right way,
even though there are different martial arts being used.
And,
the Master Instructor Course,
the pure logic of how to use the human body.
And here is the funny thing,
or perhaps I should say the tragic thing.
I have sold maybe a thousand of these courses,
and most of the people who purchased
had decades of experience
in a variety of arts,
yet they had never seen this material.
Or,
if they had,
they hadn’t seen all of it,
and certainly not as it is presented here…as a strict and orderly science.
Not as a logic that pushes one to the complete understanding of the human body,
and increases awareness.
There you go,
four courses that will change you,
will change your martial arts.
I suggest starting on Matrix Karate,
but whichever you do is fine with me.
Because whatever you do,
it is a first step into the true martial arts.
Oinkey donkey!
I will be returning home next week,
hopefully will be sitting behind my own computer by the end of the weekend.
I will then go through the mail again,
and take care of those problems that I haven’t been able to handle while on the road.
Thanks for being patient.
And…work out!
There is no greater gift one can give oneself,
than just working out.
Becoming pure through sweat,
divesting oneself of distraction
and finding the purity of the self.
Beyond what the world expects.
We were driving up this long, long road
to a place to pitch a tent for the night.
As we drove I noticed that the road was littered with rocks.
Little chunks that looked like sparkly granite,
maybe half the size of baseballs.
I veered this way and that
attempting to miss the rocks,
but knew I wasn’t successful.
Yet there was no sensation of tire over rock.
There should have been a hundred, little bumps,
things rolling under the car,
bouncing up against the undercarriage,
yet…
there was nothing.
How curious!
So I slowed down,
rolled down the window
and peered down at the rocks on the road.
Grasshoppers!
BIG…and beautiful grasshoppers!
Their acutely folded legs moved,
and they leaped,
but,
like as not,
I squashed them with my Firestones.
So I slowed,
drove more slowly,
and navigated the road filled with giant grasshoppers.
At the tent site there were only the occassional insect,
and I found one and squatted down to watch it,
to matrix it.
Colors to match the sparkle of dew,
perhaps to draw in smaller insects for a meal.
And there weren’t any larger insects,
so no fear there.
And if a bird,
or other beast came to feast upon it,
it jumped.
The quickness of the jump was savage,
an attack in flight.
And,
the sagacity of the insect,
it landed in twist,
so that it literally bounced off its rump
and faced the way it had come.
Well,
of course.
To flee again…in attack.
Is that good martial arts…or what?
I mean,
positively brilliant!
And what was the alternative?
To land facing away,
and to become a target in flight?
No,
better to flee as if in fight.
Surprise the foe with savage thrust,
yet always end up facing,
towards not away
ready to flight again.
Fight or flight,
flight and fight,
a marvelous yin yang of martial arts survival
and something that most people just roll over,
or swat away,
or laugh at.
Yet,
in mass,
grasshoppers are one of nature’s most ferocious armies.
Interestingly,
I was brought to think of the book by McMurtry,
‘Lonesome Dove.’
During a cattledrive the cowboys are overwhelmed by grasshoppers,
so they catch bagfuls of the critters,
dip them in molasses
and fry them.
Ummm!
Cowboy treat!
And even the hardiest,
most savage warrior
become naught but food
for those who can overcome their fear.
So,
in the midst of scorpions and tarantulas,
giant grasshoppers and other denizens of the enchanted land,
I pitched tent and had dinner.
And,
no.
It wasn’t a mess of fried grasshoppers.
Every place I go I see contest and battle,
creatures struggling for survival.
Interestingly,
it is only man that has a chance.
Only man has the ability to overcome himself.
To fight or flight and land so that he faces the true enemy…himself.
His cruelties and tortures,
his naked desires and covetness.
His desire to worship warped gods and think that
it is God that made him right.
And it is only by divesting ourselves of these cruelties and nightmares
that we can ascend to the truth of ourselves.
And it is only through landing in the correct manner so that we don’t fight ourselves,
but face ourselves,
that we will succeed.
Martial Arts creates this path.
Martial arts is where we learn to fight
so that we never have to fight.
This is a truth that we must take to ourselves,
and faster than we have ever done before.
And that is the message from the enchanted land of New Mexico,
the message I received just because I drove down a road
and didn’t want to kill
some of the most beautiful grasshoppers you have ever seen.
My apologies to those who wait an email,
or a fix on an order.
Everything is working,
but there are are a couple of things I just can’t do
until I get back to my computer.
I am able to connect to the net every day,
so if anybody wants to tell me off,
or wish me well
I can handle that.
BTW,
take advantage of the KangDukWon.com
I haven’t been able to raise prices
because of being on the road,
so,
temporary reprieve,
but prices are going up.
So,
if you want to learn how to fight like an animal,
if you want to learn the wisdom of nature,
you can start with the Shaolin Butterfly.
The animals covered in that include
the snake,
the dragon,
the crane,
the tiger,
the mantis,
and more…
here’s the URL…
Go to the Testimonials in the menu and do a search for your martial art!
Hi Sensei Al!
(On the Black Belt Course) Everything is working great! Thank you for the quick responses. I am enjoying the one on one videos. It may be cliche, but I do feel like I'm there. I also like the conversational style and the way you explain how you're teaching and why. You've got a new student for life. Thank you. ~ Daniel
What's interesting about Al Case's writings and teachings is there isn't any emphasis on 'the unknown' or 'mystery' behind martial arts. Al will slam this information in your face! Quite frankly the data isn't hidden, you'll find you're blind. ~ WG
Al Case is a powerful presence to be around, but if you can confront it, then you will not be sorry, for there is no one like him, and it is an extreme privilege and honor.
I used to read your articles in Inside Karate and was excited when I found your web site. ~ RV
As an old timer with thirty-five years of experience I was really bored, but your works have peaked my interest and shown me that there is much more to learn. I Thank You Again, Sincerely ~ CC
Where was this information 24 years ago? This course is one of the best things to ever happen to me. Thank you Al Case for the gift of knowledge!
Be blessed my teacher, ~ Rev. Ernest R
I bought the Infinite Fist tape YEARS ago and you know? I Keep going back to it! ~ KS
You are a master. You have opened me up to things that I have never thought of before. ~ KFM
I purchased your course on "Create Your Own Martial Art" and absolutely love it. I believe that your matrixing system is very unique. ~ DW
In my entire experience twenty years as a student and an instructor since, no one has contributed more to my martial arts education than you have. I started following your works twenty years ago and although I was young then I knew you had the True Art it was obvious to me even then. ~ Charles C
Students will know longer be slaves of poor instructors and practitioners. ~ Lonnie M
Win from Master Instructor Course
Let me start out by saying thank you. Thanks from all the martial artists who asked why. Al, I'm in the Security and Law enforcement field and carry Instructor credentials, so effective methods in combat and teaching them is what I constantly look for.
Win from Matrix Aikido
I just had to write to you to say WOW. Your INSTANT AIKIDO is great!!! ~ SD
My students have started coming up to me after class telling me how much more they are enjoying it, and that the classes have stopped being so ridged and now flow in a kind of give and take between me and them. I have stopped being a task master and started having fun and letting them teach me as well.
I did the Master Instructor Course and it hit me. The Basics that are so concisely communicated in this course including the Matrix principle IS the solution. It doesn’t matter what “style” I call my art, because all styles follow these same principles. It doesn’t matter how hard I train or how many repetitions I do if I don’t train the right way. And I would never become a master if I didn’t know how it all fits together. Now I do! I can honestly say that I am now on the path that I have always sought as a martial artist. Thank you Al!
I conducted a Matrix Aikido training class for a Security Team at a local manufacturing plant. I tailored the training according to their Use Of Force policy. As you know they need control and takedown skills. I knew Matrix Aikido would be the answer. The training plan you shared was boss. The class went so smoothly. The participants learned very quickly. By the end of the class you could see techniques of Monkey Boxing coming through. They were also able to create their own techniques. There was one female officer in the class who asked to become my private student. She was throwing, locking and taking down guys twice her size. The Security Supervisor wants me to come back and with more participants! I'll keep you posted. ~ L M
Have found your books and dvds excellent. My background is mainly in medical qigong but I practice Sun Style Tai CHi, BaGua and HsingI as well as Eagle Claw, Snake Style Kung Fu and several Wudang weapon styles. This is the first time I have had the underlying principles so clearly explained and in a way that they are immediately workable and demonstratable. I have worked through the Master Instructors Course, Aikido and Butterfly Bagua and have started to breakdown the Sun Hsing I using your matrix method. I was even able to teach a 70 year old friend of mine with no martial arts background your instant aikido where she was able to do some very accomplished locks and throws after the first lesson
Search the testimonials for your martial art!
Free Martial Arts Books
HERE'S SOME FREE MARTIAL ARTS BOOKS, MY THANKS FOR DROPPING BY.
Includes books on Bruce Lee, the Truth About Matrixing, the first Martial Arts book sold in America (It's a real hoot!), and much more!
