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Evolving Your Martial Arts with Zen!

Posted on June 18, 2024 | Leave a comment

Creating A Better Martial Art!

I recently had a person ask me,
‘what do I know about Zen?’
I said,
‘I know everything.’
Pretty arrogant, eh?
Well,
this is going to be a lengthy newsletter,
but I will explain it in a way
that will wake up the zen in you.
I will even,
at the end,
explain EXACTLY what zen is,
and why it makes your martial arts superior.

I started Martial Arts in 1967.
I had no idea what they were.
I looked for books,
but couldn’t find a thing.
But I did find books on this thing called Zen.
I had no idea what zen was,
but the few references to it
said it would improve one’s martial arts.
It was supposed to be the difference
between martial ART
and everything else,
including the simple ‘fighting’
that most people assumed martial arts was.

Then I came across a book called
‘Zen and the Art of Archery.’
By Eugene Herrigel.

Eugene went to Japan to study zen
and they refused to teach him.
Nope.
Won’t teach you.
Go away.
He persisted,
and he asked why they wouldn’t teach him.
They said because he had no cultural context.
He had no frame to put it in.
It wouldn’t hang on him.
He simply wouldn’t be able to understand it.

Well, these durn foreigners can be persistent,
and he persisted,
and he asked,
‘How can I study it?’
And he was told,
study something else with zen.
That might give you enough context
to understand it.
Eugene took up the art of archery.
And he didn’t understand it.
He tried,
but he was told to hold postures,
to forget about the target.

Forget about the target?
how do I hit it then?
His western, logical mind
simply couldn’t grasp the concept.
The master,
whose name I forget,
but it is in the book
should you wish to find it,
invited Eugene to his house.

It was evening
and they had dinner
or tea,
or something,
then the old man took Eugene
to the backyard.
He had a hundred pace archery range.
At the midway point,
fifty paces,
was a stool with a candle on it.

The old man had Eugene light the candle
then stand behind him.
Eugene could see the single candle,
but not the target at the end of the range.
The old man turned off the lights
Eugene heard the twang of a bowstring,
and the arrow passed through the flame
and extinguished it.
The old man told him to turn on the lights.
The old man had not only extinguished the candle,
he had made a perfect bull’s eye.

And that was the old man’s demonstration of zen.

You can read the book yourself,
see if it sounds like bushwah,
but after nearly 60 years in the arts
I have seen enough things that were like this,
that I believe.

So…what is zen?

I’ve come across lots of definitions
but the simplest and best definition I have found
was simply the word, ‘knowledge.’
One can get into all sorts of Japanese linguistics
and explore origins and etymology and such,
but at essence,
this is what it boils down to for me.

The old man who shot out a candle
and made a bull’s eye
was demonstrating a higher knowledge.
A knowledge that most men,
without the discipline,
and the correct way of thinking,
simply cannot understand.
The correct way of thinking,
such as…
do your form,
forget about the target,
and…
be now.

I had the discipline to understand zen
because I did the martial arts.
I had the context to understand
this unique and elevated
form of knowledge.
But I needed something else.
That something else came
in the form of a hundred years old manuscript,
from a college lecture
on the subject of yoga.
Talk about going far afield!

That manuscript said this:
Man is an essence,
an idea,
surrounded by ‘sheaths.’
He surrounds himself with the sheath of family.
He surrounds himself with the sheath of his work.
He surrounds himself with hobbies,
systems of law and religion,
education and rules and morals and mores and…
everything in the world does one thing…
substantiates the man.
We identify ourselves,
we give reason and purpose to our existence
by our clinging to these sheathes.

In zen they sometimes talk about
returning to the source,
or…
being childlike in your wonder
and appreciation for life.
People think they must be ‘childlike’
to understand zen.
They don’t understand that to understand zen
they must understand themselves as an idea.
That they are an essence
wrapped in self generated ‘sheaths,’
and that to understand themselves,

to get to the idea of zen

they must rid themselves of sheaths.
They must peel the layers like an onion
and uncover that original idea
that they are.

Oh, the lies we must penetrate.

When one does the martial arts
they are trying to be
‘in the now.’
They are not trying to react,
but to act,
and even if that action is merely
the relative motionless
of just being in the now.

I didn’t just practice the martial arts
for nearly 60 years,
I investigated them.
I read everything I could,
even things like yoga and zen
and obscure religious manuscripts.
When doing the forms
I tried to divest myself
of what other people thought the forms were,
and tried to stick to only physics,
no matter where that led me.

The result was a lessening of the static in my mind.
I no longer have that ‘chatter’
in my head,
telling me what to do,
to care what people think,
to act a certain way.
None of that.

I explored the context of this martial zen
by learning and practicing
every martial art I could.

Attaining the purity of explosion,
silence before and after
the moment of the punch
in Karate.

Focusing attention until it was unwavering
on the single finger of Pa Kua,
or the delicate geometry of Tai Chi.

Exploring patterns of Kenpo and Arnis
and various other arts,
until there were no patterns,
only me
moving in space
without regard for planet earth.

When I wrote
The Last Martial Arts Book,
the one on ‘Nine Square Diagram boxing,’
I had all of this in mind.
It is able to be done with the purity of explosion,
the silence and contemplation
of tai chi and pa kua.
I do the forms (and the fighting) with my eyes closed,
so that I am only connected to reality
by the sensation of gravity,
and the geometry of the self in space,
that there is no distraction of the world
to interfere with the idea of me
exploring a world without context,
a world of only me,
unbound by convention,
thought or idea.

This is the way I try to do all martial arts,
cultivating silence within,
observing the world without judgment,
able to do things at 76,
that I couldn’t do at 19.

This is a sad times we are living in.
Children are being programmed and not taught.
No more cursive or standard clocks.
No more ability to critically think.
Just follow directions
and trust that ‘authority’ will take care of you.

It is ignorant times,
and such things as zen cannot be understood,
and are unknown as a path to a superior man,
because people don’t understand simple words,
and even if they do,
they are being bound in sheaths,
and robbed of context,
the context of nothingness
that is the true reality
for the idea of what a man is.

Okay,
there it is,
philosophy and rant,
message and path,
all wrapped up in one, neat blog.

I suggest you look at unwrapping yourself from what binds you.
Undo the matrix being constructed around you
Defeat the teachings of ignorance
which have been used to imprison you.

If you want to follow the path to a higher martial art,
and to a higher, more evolved and superior you,
I suggest that you educate yourself.
Pick up a copy of
Zen and the Art of Archery.
Start exploring these concepts.
And for the discipline,
to achieve the context of which I speak…

The Last Martial Arts Book:

Nine Square Diagram Boxing

There are a couple of editions,
so make sure you get the edition with
FIVE HOURS OF VIDEO LINKS!
You may have to search,
but there is your path.

Enjoy the summer
and learn a new martial art!

Al

And thanks to everybody who picked up my book,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

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)

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A Great Sticky Hands Kung Fu Drill!

Posted on June 14, 2024 | Leave a comment

One of my favorite Martial Arts drills
came from Sticky Hands,
out of Kung Fu.
Or so I was told.
Some thirty years later
I came across the drill
in an entirely different setting.
But I learned it
while learning Sticky Hands,
so I stick with that as the source.
Though I have never seen this drill
done by any Sticky Hands practitioner.

You place your hands in front of you,
palm out and about two inches from your partner’s.
Then you move your hands and he has to move his hands with them.
No contact.
Just looking and growing awareness.
After a while he moves his hands and you have to move with him.
It is fascinating because there is no contact,
and the mind,
because there is no fear of contact,
starts working differently.

You lose your reaction time.

It happens rather fast.
Prior experience really helps,
but the idea that you’re not going to be hit
if you make a mistake
and the mind relaxes and functions.

Once you’re pretty smooth at that you’ll find
that your sticky hands becomes much more efficient.
The trick to sticky hands,
of course,
is to have as little contact
between you and your opponent as possible.
I’m always telling people,
when they twine arms,
‘hair to hair.’
I remember reading of one fellow who
admonished his students
‘Don’t rest your dead meat on my arms.’
Interesting way of putting it.

I consider this whole thing
of touching your opponent so lightly
that you can hardly be felt,
as an expression of the phrase I use:
the least amount of force
for maximum efficiency.

After you do this exercise for a while
you start to view freestyle differently.
I mean,
it really is a zen sort of exercise
that causes you to be aware,
and not reactive.

And, obligatory ad…

Have you checked out my book

The Book of Five Arts

It’s got five star ratings,
it shows five different arts
in a way that shows the whole overview
of the martial arts.
Lots of charts and images.

If you want to see how your art fits into
the whole scheme of things
this is the book that will show you.

It’s summertime, so…
Have a GREAT work out!
And think about picking up a new art this summer!

Al

And thanks to everybody who picked up my book,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

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)

Leave a comment

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Putting Chi Power into your Karate!

Posted on June 6, 2024 | Leave a comment

The Truth of Chi in the Martial Arts!

Chi,
that mysterious, invisible energy
that nobody can define,
is difficult to teach
and ‘real’ scientists scoff at.

The first thing you need to do
to cultivate chi power
is learn basic physics.

I was lucky.
My father was the prototype engineer at Ampex.
Ampex, in the 1950s was making
cutting edge reel to reel tape recorders.
In the 60s he was the prototype engineer
for Memorex tape.
They were making the first cassettes.
Our end tables were loaded with
Popular Mechanics, Popular Science,
and other like magazines.
I hated school
with their elitest BS instructions
for simple things like math,
but I was reading things about
how to make an airplane,
the latest advances in robotics,
how tires are made,
and that sort of thing.

One day I didn’t understand steam.
My father took a pair of tin snips
built a base, a spindle, and a propeller.
He arranged the propellor over
the spout of a coffee pot
and turned on the stove.
A minute later I understood steam.
I went to school and while every other kid
was asking what steam was,
and how did it work,
I knew.

One of the first graphics I came across,
in this matter of Chi,
was a drawing of a man with a fire in his belly
and energy waves emanating.
I understood chi.

Making your own body into a coffee pot,
however,
wasn’t realistic.
So…how?

I looked up all the words
connected to energy.
Do you know what energy is?
Go on,
think about it.
Make your best guess.
It is…(drumroll)
‘the capacity for work.’
There are about 50 other definitions,
and you have to understand them all,
and that means you’re going to have to
look up a lot of words
and actually understand them,
but…
the capacity for work.
If that isn’t invisible I don’t know what is.

Then,
during Karate,
I would be shown a block.
Instead of thinking of the focus and power,
I would be thinking of the angle struts
that support a bridge.
The cantilevers.
I would think about this as in where
were the muscles needed to support the block.
But I was also reading everything about chi,
and zen and oriental mystical practices,
and trying to understand them in terms of physics,
and I would visualize invisible cantilevers
holding my blocks up,
supporting the arm and…
resisting incoming energy.

As the years passed I stopped
resisting the incoming fist/energy.
Instead of hitting somebody’s arm with a block,
I let them run into my perfectly cantilevered body.

Then,
after a while,
I stopped punching people.
Instead,
realizing that there is space between atoms,
I put my fist inside their body.
Their own flesh could not withstand this concept.
Note that I said concept,
and not power.
I was now punching with an idea,
instead of muscle and bone
and all that inefficient stuff.

People who laugh at forms as silly dances
might punch hard,
but they don’t punch with minimum energy
to get the same, and better, results.

Want to know why chi manifests in older people?
Because they pass their peak,
their bodies are no longer filled with muscles and strength,
they have to use tricks, instead,
and there lies the chi,
because the tricks they learn are nothing but chi physics.

Chi physics,
different from Newtonian physics.
Newtonian physics the apple falls and there is gravity.
Chi physics you can undo impact
and even things like gravity,
by understanding a concept.

The old guys have spent a lifetime
slowly accumulating a slight knowledge
of Newtonian physics with their bodies.
When they get old they used the simple physics,
but backed it up with things like minimum energy
invisible cantilevers,
occupying a body with a fist instead pf punching.
They have figured out which parts of the body
respond to light touches.
They know a touch can unbalance the body,
because it unbalances the mind first.
and so on.

You see,
the ‘real’ scientists scoff at chi
because the physics measures the universe,
and they can’t measure what they can’t see.
They can’t measure a concept.
But when you master simple physics sufficiently
and start dealing in concepts,
you find a whole new realm of physics,
physics that the ‘real’ scientists don’t have a clue about.
They’ve never done a form until it is a concept.

And that is why forms are so important.
They teach physics.
The physics of the body
that lead to the physics of concepts.

The only problem is that most forms are done incorrectly.
They have been arranged by whim and preference,
and not by simple physics.
When is the last time your instructor said,
‘A little more (or less) oomph in the cantilever
will make that block work without effort.’

And that is where matrixing comes in.
In the Master Instructor Course
I explain all sorts of things about the body,
how to construct it efficiently,
and all this will eventually make chi manifest.

In Matrix Karate,
and to a lesser degree in my other arts,
the forms and techniques are corrected according to physics.

You turn the foot a certain way,
to increase traction,
to use the muscles on the legs properly,
to take advantage of the ‘spring’ that is the arch of the foot.

That is the essence of physics.
Now take that through the ability to hold a position
(grounding)
or cantilevering your blocks
by visualizing the energy structure of the body.
and doing your forms,
practicing these things,
and you end up with chi power.

The chi power will manifest quickly
if you understand all the physics words,
mass, energy, flow, etc.
It will manifest quickly if your forms
are scientifically correct.

But,
most people will not do these things,
so I wrote books like

How to Fix Karate

Personally,
I think the Master Instructor Course
and Matrix Karate,
are much more important,

But

How to Fix Karate

is wonderful entry point.
It analyzes the forms and techniques
and starts the student on how to think the right way
when it comes to learning karate,
or other martial arts.

Furthermore,
it comes in two volumes,
and it has links for

FIVE HOURS OF VIDEO

Now,
summer is here
so think about cleaning up your martial art,
get rid of the whims and preferences
that others have corrupted the arts with
and make your art perfect this summer!

Al

And thanks to everybody who picked up my book,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

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)

Leave a comment

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Figuring Out Martial Arts Footwork!

Posted on June 1, 2024 | Leave a comment

Analyzing Martial Arts Footwork!

Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter at Monster Martial Arts!

Recently had a question
about how I came up with my footwork,
specifically the Nine Square pattern.
It’s all geometry.

The foot only goes a couple of ways.
Right foot forward or back
Left foot forward or back.
Yet the possibilities are endless.
I started with a square,
‘cornerwork’ I called it.
I came up with 16 possibilities of motion
all based on the right/left forward or back.
I spent months exploring those 16 possibilities
through the various stances.
And explored the various arm movements
that could effectively be done.
A lot of work just there.

I put four corners together and came up with one pattern.
All other patterns were repeats and combinations
of the 16 cornerwork foot patterns.
That’s right, just one,
and it was cool.
It consisted of a cloverleaf,
and spinning and stepping over my front foot.
just those two steps to it, and that was all.

I put the four squares into nine squares.
It was a tic tac toe in a box.
It had eight points (not the corners)
which aligned with Pa Kya circle walking.
And there it was.

Why go further?
Why dance all around the room,
thinking I had created intricate patterns,
when the purpose was to explore the effective potentials
of either the right foot or the left foot
moving either forward or back.
And to drill the basics intensely.

So when you play with the nine square pattern,
especially in the books
Try working them on a simple square,
or on a foursquare.
You understand them better,
and you’ll see what I went through,
and you’ll be better.

The Last Martial Arts Book
(get the version with five hours of video links!)

and

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Came up with a little bit of advice,
here go…

If you train to fight, you’ll get in fights.
If you train to beat up people, you’ll beat up people.
If you train to teach people, then the world will listen.

Have a great work out!

Al

And thanks to everybody who picked up my book,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

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)

Leave a comment

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Kenpo Geometry Applied to Karate

Posted on May 16, 2024 | Leave a comment

Martial Arts Geometry!

My initial thoughts on the martial arts,
the stuff that led me through to matrixing
was all geometric.

For instance,
way back in Kenpo I realized
the body has two halves.
A line right down the center,
with each side approximating the other.
Easy peasy.
This led me to one of my first questions.
Why didn’t the techniques I was learning
work on both sides of the body.

I was doing Kenpo,
and the fellow would attack with the right hand
and I might use a right handed defense
but if he attacked with the exact, same hand
in the same manner,
the mirror of my defense
the left handed version,
wouldn’t work.
That frustrated me.
Why didn’t Ed design the techniques
so they worked on both sides?

This,
incidentally
is what I call a ‘universal technique.’

This led me to simplify techniques
and focus on the basics.
Kenpo-ists thought it was sacrilege,
but it made me rethink everything
in a more traditional and classical karate mode.

In other words,
Ed was moving away from the classical,
and I was simplifying
and reverse engineering
to get back to the classical.

This was probably one of the reasons
I found the classical to be such a breath of fresh air
when I finally moved over to it.

It makes no sense to memorize 200 techniques
for the right hand
(opening the opponent)
and 200 techniques for the left hand
(closing the technique).

How are you going to remember which of 400 techniques
to use for two sides of the body?
Why not just use a small number of techniques
that worked no matter if you were opening the opponent,
or closing him?

Mind you,
I didn’t discount or neglect my learning in Kenpo
when I switched to the classical.
There were things I learned in Kenpo
that made my studies easier.
There were things I knew
that my fellow classical students didn’t know.
Which is why I tell people
you can’t learn just one martial art
and think you know the martial arts.

If a guy has a black belt in one art,
he is an expert in one range,
or one geometry of the art.
He is, for instance,
a black belt in Kenpo,
but not the martial arts.
If a guy has black belts in several martial arts,
then he could call himself a black belt of all martial arts.

This is why I tell people
a couple of times a year
to pick up a new art.
I do it at Xmas.
I do it when the season changes.
I especially do it when summer is here.
People have more time during the summer.
The days are longer,
the mind set changes in a subtle manner.

You will find the results of my initial research
in the books

How to Fix Karate (Volume One)

How to Fix Karate (Volume Two)

Just make sure you get the versions of these books
with over 5 hours of video links.

How to Fix Karate will fix your martial art,
show the simpler and more universal methods I developed,
some of which were realized only because I knew Kenpo,
or other martial arts.
And,
if you only know one martial art,
this might be the second one.

Have a great work out!

Al

And thanks to everybody who picked up my book,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

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)

Leave a comment

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How Matrixing Works in the Martial Arts!

Posted on May 2, 2024 | Leave a comment

Actually Understanding the Martial Arts!

I haven’t written about Matrixing for a while,
so let me explain for people who have never heard of it.

Make a list of numbers to ten.
1, 2, 3, 4…10
It’s easy to count to ten.
You can count anything.
After a while you even forget to count on your fingers.
That’s what effective martial arts looks like.
A small number of techniques easily and intuitively remembered.

But,
as people teach the martial arts they have favorite techniques
and they leave out number 4.
You can still count to ten, sort of.
Not a real ten,
but, hey, that blank space isn’t important,
I’ve got nine things that work.

Then some guy teaches it, and his favorite technique is 13.
1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13.
Okay. Cool. He’s got nine techniques that work,
and a thirteen technique that,
if he’s lucky, he can get away with.

A guy teaches techniques, but the enemy wears armor.
Some more techniques are left out,
and more ‘specialized techniques’ are added.

Time passes and students don’t have the weapons threat any more,
but they keep practicing the ‘specialized techniques,’
and they are adapted, changed, altered,
for different circumstances.

After a few years,
not even hundreds or thousands,
but just a handful of years,
three or four generations,
a few cultural changes,
and the art looks like this:

1, 2c, 5, 5f, 5g, 8, 3h, 16, 89, 1b,
b3, 43, 23k, 2k, yellow, 63fg, 7, 4little, 19, 9…
and eighty more techniques.
All to count to ten.

Everybody has added, changed, adapted, included
techniques from other arts, other countries,
been influenced by religion, politics
and their mothers aversion to violence.

And this what the martial arts look like today.
ALL of the martial arts.

People take years to memorize a sequence of ‘numbers’
that make no sense, are out of order,
and often don’t work at all.

Do you know what matrixing looks like?

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Simple. Easy to learn and…
EASY TO REMEMBER!
It becomes intuitive right from the get go.
And it can be applied to ANY art!
You can figure out which techniques
belong in the sequence,
should be kicked out,
should be changed to work,
and so on.

And,
the hidden blessing…
once you matrix your art
your mind has experienced intuitive thinking.
It begins to function differently.
It is quicker and more logical.

Now,
is matrixing for everybody?
Nope.

People who are stuck in their art as a belief system
should not learn matrixing.
they don’t have the ability to learn,
and especially to be intuitive.
They will end up frustrated and critical.
Anybody who is critical is usually stuck.

People of low intelligence.
And this situation is truly terrible,
for it includes most people educated in the modern systems.
Go to school and you are likely more stupid
and even unable to learn.

But if you aren’t stupid,
and you aren’t locked into the arts as a belief system,
and you can learn…
matrixing can have a profound effect.

So,
the proof.
I’ve got 0ver 700 pages of wins from people.
I’ve been pushing matrixing,
in some form,
since the eighties,
and I’ve only had two returns in that time.
But the real proof is this…
Money back guarantee.
Looks, it’s subjective,
the only person that can prove it is your experience.
Not somebody else’s words,
but your own dig in and find out the truth self.

So,
here’s the link…

1a Matrix Karate

You can study it in other arts on the site,
but this was the first and most effective course.

Have a great work out!

Al

And thanks to everybody who picked up my book,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

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)

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Identifying the Bad Guys…

Posted on April 18, 2024 | 1 comment

Who are the Bad Guys?

Got a couple of things to cover this issue.

First…
pick up the free book,
RAT SYNTHESIS: SOUL RANGE: THE ART OF VICTORY: BECOME A DHARMIC WARRIOR

It is by Matt Russo.
and it is free for a week,
so check it out.

Second…
I was thinking the other day,
how do you tell the good guys from the bad guys?
It’s easy to say stay away from bad guys,
but how do you tell who is a bad guy,
and who is not?

When I was in high school
I was studying world history,
the teacher said that Hitler attacked every country.
He went to Poland, then continued attacking countries
in a circle, until he got to Russia.
He just attacked everybody.
And,
when he started losing,
he attacked his own people,
blaming the German people for being too weak.

So my criteria for identifying bad guys is
looking for the guys who attack people.

Obviously, you can have differences of opinion,
even big, old arguments,
but when an actual attack occurs,
there’s the fellow you should look at,
he might have just made a bad decision,
but he might also just be a Bad Guy.

And,
you can further identify a bad guy
by the magnitude of his attack…
does he bring a gun to a fist fight?

And,
you can further identify a bad guy
by how many people he attacks.
Does he pick fights with lots of other people?

And,
a very important element,
does he attack people who are smaller than him?

What gets interesting is something like
the weigh in at UFC.
There is trash talk,
good to generate audiences.
Then one of the guys slaps the other guy,
or some other action.
Oops. Bad guy.

There are also all sorts of key phrases that identify bad guys.
For instance:

‘That guy studies at a McDojo.’

‘If it doesn’t work in the ring it isn’t a real art.’

I know I’ve stepped on some toes here,
and there is a lot of room for opposing opinions,
shadings of some of the things I’ve said,
and so on.

Just because a guy says one thing,
or does one thing,
doesn’t paint him forever.
Guy might have just had a brain fart.

But you can generally identify bad guy remarks because
they have one common factor:
opinion over facts.

Okay.
Think about it,
argue,
find fault,
think about your politicians…
andleave comments at MonsterMartialArts.com
and don’t forget to check out Matt’s book.

Have a great work out!

Al

And thanks to everybody who picked up my book,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

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)

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The Power of the Karate Horse Stance?

Posted on April 7, 2024 | Leave a comment

Why the Horse Stance?

Good morning!
Summer is coming,
so start thinking about what art
you’re going to learn this summer!

Let’s talk about the horse stance.
It is considered by many
to be THE stance of classical martial arts.
Why?

First, because the body is an energy system.
If you’ve gotten any of my courses
you’ll remember that
weight equals work equals energy.

When you sink your weight,
your tan tien has to create more energy
that energy can be used in strikes, blocks, etc.

BUT…
how much energy do you need?
Or…how deep do you go in your stance?

I used to practice holding a horse stance
with a stick laid across my thighs.
This made my thigh bones horizontal to the ground,
was difficult,
and gave me lots of strength
and even a bit of flexibility.
But it was impractical for fighting.

If you go lower,
if your butt is below your knees,
you’re not in a horse,
you’re in a squat.

If you go higher you’re not getting the power.

BUT…
you don’t need to practice those low, low stances forever.
Practice for a while,
till you have the power,
then raise your stances and use that power in your mobility.

AND…
I never practiced those super low stances in forms.
I practiced them in a meditation we practiced
which we called ‘Kima Chasie.’
I apologize if I have the spelling wrong,
or even the translation,
which we were told meant,
‘horse meditation.’

We would assume a stance with the bottom of our butts
on a level with the top of our knees.
A very slight slope.
We would hold one hand in an open hand high block,
and the other hand stretched to the side
with the fingers turned in a ‘beak’ to the rear.

This gets painful real quick,
but if you realize one simple idea…
‘it may hurt but it won’t kill you,’
and just sit through the pain,
the pain will eventually stop,
and you will have super leg power,
and incredible mental power.

So how deep should the horse stance be?
Depends on what you’re doing.
Are you seeking mobility?
Power?
Something else?
Are you doing it in meditation?
Part of a form?
For some other reason?

It’s up to you.
But what is guaranteed
is that the horse stance is a profound secret of poweer,
if you can get past the pain
and tap into your inner self.

Prepare for the summer!
Plan your work outs now!
Set up your dojo!
Every form is a prayer,
every technique reveals your heart.

Have a great work out!

Al

(thanks to Kumar)

And thanks to everybody who picked up my book,

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

Don’t forget to give me five stars.
Those ratings help my sales.

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)

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Original Karate Technique!

Posted on March 13, 2024 | Leave a comment

Hidden Techniques of Karate!

I originally published this book as Chiang Nan.
I added several hours of video links
and renamed it
‘Hidden Techniques of Karate.’

Oddly,
The version called Chiang Nan
without the video links
has five star ratings.
Hidden Techniques, however, has no ratings.
Weird.
You’d think I would have more and even better ratings
for a book that includes several hours of videos.

Anyway,
I want to discuss the first technique.
It’s the third move in Pinan one (Heian One)
the move with the rolling fists.
On the surface it is stupid, as I will show you.
But when you see what it is really is
it really makes sense.

Pay attention to the way ‘old masters’ do this technique.
It will demonstrate how even the guys
who supposedly know so much have been bamboozled.
My way is best,
and if you do it right,
and the guy doesn’t let go his grab
a little practice
and you can break his wrist with your strike.

Here you go.

If the link doesn’t work try copy and paste into your browser.

Okay,
the book is
Hidden Techniques of Karate
It’s a video course book.
It’s got hours and hours of video
forms and applications,
and it is a valuable lesson in the right way to do martial arts.

Here’s the website link…

Hidden Techniques of Karate

Or if you want to just go to Amazon just type
‘Hidden Techniques of Karate’ in the amazon search box.

Now,
have yourself a funomenal day!
And a great work out!

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)

Leave a comment

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New book on Nine Square Boxing!

Posted on March 6, 2024 | Leave a comment

New Book on Nine Square Diagram Boxing!

What a beautiful day!
For me, what mades it so is the one form I do.
I start off the day with this form,
and I end the day with this form.

Oh, I still do Sanchin (including Seisan)
and my matrix forms,
but the one form that geets my full intention
day after day,
is in my new book

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

In this book I get rid of ALL the mystical bushwah,
and I focus on the dozen postures.
The moves that actually work, and can be used in freestyle.

The form is done on the nine square pattern,
it is short,
and I do it with closed eyes.
This aids in visualization
and really starts the energy flowing.

There are about 30 techniques taken directly from this form,
and I have a section on Lop Sau,
which helps understand how the moves can be translated from
the perfection of form
to the discipline of application
to the chaos of freestyle.

The book is 108 pages,
has included some matrixing theories,
and…
I do it every day.
Rain or shine.
I do it slowly,
Tai Chi style,

And it is the only form in the art of
Nine Square Diagram Boxing!

SO,
check it out…

Advanced Tai Chi Chuan for Real Self Defense!

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

‘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)

Leave a comment

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