Whenever I try to explain to people that there are 2 styles of Wing Chun, anyone that “knows” Wing Chun, tries to tell me that I am wrong, that there is no second style, only the variation being that of Moy Yat and Leung Ting.
The objection stems from the fact that most people do not know that soft-style exists. There are no “training” videos sold of soft style, and finding a video on YouTube is next to impossible.
Two sides, my friend. Learn them both if you want to be great!
Soft-style was only taught to a select few students, William Cheung learned both soft-style and hard-style. Bruce Lee, Leung Ting, Moy Yat and other famous Wing Chun Stylists either never learned soft-style, or chose never to teach it. Think of it like this, hard-style was taught to the outside world, and they guarded the REALLY good material and kept it only in the family. Because I do not know these individual people, I don’t know the reason their lineages don’t include soft-style, whether they wish to continue the secrecy, or whether they simply weren’t privy to it.
The Tan-sao is a perfect example, of the difference. Hard-style leans and drops it down so it is almost horizontal, soft-style maneuvers the body properly, and keeps the tan-sao up, the eyes just barely able to see over the fingertips. Bruce Lee threw out the Tan-sao because he said it was worthless, and indeed if the tan-sao is held low, it doesn’t block anything.
When comparing forms, you will observe hard-style people simply lean from one side to the other when performing chum-kil, while soft-style will actually take a full step.
Both of the videos below include Bil-jee, if you watch those variations of that form, you will see many more differences.
Some of the key differences between hard and soft Wing Chun are as follows:
Hard-style relies more on muscular strength, while soft relies on correct body alignment. As sensei says, “if you are leaning, you are falling”. This is true in all arts, and one of the reasons my Brazilian jujitsu instructor harps on good posture. If you rely on a lean ,you must rely on muscle.
Hard-style uses a more collapsed forward guard with no forward intention, under the assertion that in trapping your energy is harder to read. While the energy is indeed harder to read, the guard is easier to blast through. Such a guard and collapse and trap a guard that has no forward intention.
Hard-style Wing Chun is what Bruce Lee was unhappy with when he created JKD. Even so, he and many others proved it was incredibly effective, even without knowing the “family secret”.
Releasing the Fifth Volume of Matrixing Karate: Master
This is the official announcement that ‘Matrixing Karate: Master,’ has been released.
It was actually finished a couple of weeks ago, and it has had time to get up on Amazon, and it is in the createspace bookstore, so it’s time to make it official.
Release of final volume of Matrixing Karate Series!
The first volume of this pivotal Karate series was dedicated to fixing basic movements. Volumes 2 – 4 were aimed at explaining matrixng principles, introducing matrixing graphs, and so on. Volumes 1 – 4 were based on the Matrix Karate course available at MonsterMartialArts.com.
The fifth and final volume is a bit different. It is based on a series of manuals written over the years, and upon the ‘Create Your Own Art’ video course.
The thing that makes this final book so important, and sets it apart from even the books it was based upon, is that it goes through the history and concepts of Matrixing and details exactly where each concept came from.
Thus, you are taken on a journey, from the first martial art studied by the author, Kenpo Karate, through each and every martial art he studied. This includes detailing concepts from separating two arts successfully (Kang Duk Won and Kwon Bup) and developing a third based on those two. (Outlaw Karate: The Secret of the One Year Black Belt). It goes into the exact influences that resulted in the development of matrixing, including the original matrixing lists from the 70s and 80s, and leads right into the creation of the Matrix graph.
One thing that may be surprising to students of the martial arts is that the author developed matrixing without the matrixing graph. Instead, he used lists of techniques, reworking the lists for every concept he encountered. This actually entailed, literally, thousands of lists. Thus, the development of the Matrixing Graph is a bonus to the martial arts of unparalleled value.
The book may be found on Amazon. It is paperback, and students of the martial arts are encouraged to get the earlier volumes first, that they may better understand the import and significance of this volume.
I just finished a book, Matrixing Karate: Master, which is number five, and the last, of a series on how to Matrix the Martial Arts. It should be up on Amazon ina couple of days or so.
One of the last things I wrote I figured I would share with you. Hopefully whet your appetite for more; for the precise method as to how to get to this level of thought.
You can’t speak and listen at the same time.
Go on, try it.
What you’ll get is a garbledegook where you have to rely on memory, or mocking up the confusion you just experienced, to describe what you ‘heard.’ And whatever you said was premade and ejected without thought.
So, in the martial arts, you can’t attack and defend at the same time.
Physically, by the technique, you can.
But the frame of mind leading up to the attack or the defense, you can’t assume both frames of mind at the same time.
You either have to be in the attack mode, or the defense mode. You can’t be in both.
Go on, try it. If you succeed, it will be because of mental gymnastics, and not because of clarity of thought and calmness of mind.
What this does is make the universe into a binary experience; it makes it black or white…depending on whether you can isolate the difference between speaking and listening.
And, for most of us, this means you have to shut up.
If you don’t have to shut up you are going to be classified a ‘beta’ personality by the people in charge of labels, and life is going to be a frustrating experience of you being a victim.
But, if you can be ‘alpha,’ and I mean while you are actually ‘listening,’ then the universe is going to peal back for you and give up its juicy innards.
Most people, you see, are so confused, so garbled, that they run around screaming and shouting mindlessly, and then wonder why everybody in the world is so stupid that they can’t listen.
So you have to do your forms, calm your mind through this ritual, through this pattern of circuitry (I know, a bit redundant, but it is better said that way).
And you have to make yourself not speak, except in the most gentle and precise sense.
When you go into a hamburger stand, don’t ask for no pickles and extra ketchup and could they toast the bun not so much…just ask for a number one. And whisper, so that the girl actually has to listen to you.
When you teach, don’t speak. Remember, teaching by speaking is not listening, speaking too much while teaching and you won’t have any idea of whether your students get it.
Instead, summarize the teaching in one sentence, a short sentence, and then watch, observe. Listen. See if the student gets it. If you have to use two sentences then your teaching is lacking.
Okay, that’s how you do it. Though, to be sure, I certainly recommend getting a course on Matrixing, and the five book series, available on Amazon, called ‘Matrixing Karate,’ and further divided into white belt, green belt, brown belt, black belt, and Master appellations, is the latest and best way to get where you are going.
And where are you going?
To the truth. If you can just shut up long enough to hear it.
Have a great work out!
Al from monstermartialarts(dot)com.
If you want to check out Matrixing Karate (the series), then go to Amazon and type in
Happy work out!
That’s not dangerous,
that’s probably the best blessing in the world.
An actual time when you can dedicate yourself
to making the body strong, the mind quick and sharp,
and the pure enhancement of you,
and NOBODY can get in your way
All of which leads us to the most dangerous words in the universe.,
and what you can do to defeat them.
A man guilty of these two words is in an eternal box of limited potential.
Before I tell you what these dangerous words are,
and what you can do to undo them,
let me ask you a question.
Would you like to do one thing for the rest of your life?
Maybe build outhouses.
Let’s say you discovered that you’re a fair carpenter,
and that you build outhouses that are far better
than the outhouses built by anyone in the world.
You become famous for building outhouses,
and the government discovers that you are a natural treasure,
so they pass a law dictating that you will be
the sole and only national outhouse builder.
And they even give you lots of money for doing this.
So you go to work,
and,
at first you are happy.
Such luxurious outhouses.
Brass rails and furry seats,
endless supplies of the softest paper.
Believe me,
you are making a world happy.
And it’s good…for the first few years.
Then,
you wish you could do something else.
I mean,
as good as your outhouses are,
it’s all you do,
and it’s getting boring.
Polish the handrails,
glue the velvet on the seat,
put the paper on the roll.
Man,
maybe you’re the best,
but it feels like you could train a chimp to do it.
But,
there’s that darned law,
people expect you to make outhouses,
and the money is so good…
so you keep going.
A few more years pass,
and you are going out of your mind!
Same old same old
dat after day,
the goldurn railing,
the Frigging velvet glued down,
you even hate gluing the half moon to the door!
So you try to quit,
but nobody will give you a job because,
darn it,
you’re the supplier of America’s bottoms!
People wouldn’t be able to,
uh,
do their business…
without you!
You are more important than a national treasure!
You are the sole industry and you are the only one who is allowed to do it it and…
and you start buying drugs to escape the pain of the same old same old.
but you can’t escape,
you are doomed to building outhouses until the day you die,
which can happen none too soon,
if it was up to you.
but it can’t happen because of Obamacare,
you are taken care of,
not allowed to die,
doomed to polish handrails and glue velvet,
and,
hate to say it,
but congress is considering another bill,
they are considering making you the sole outhouse builder of the nation
next lifetime.
That’s right,
reincarnation.
Karma…
ain’t it a be-yotch?
Now,
pay attention here,
because I will tell you how to undo the effects
of the most dangerous words in the universe
in just a few sentences…
don’t just break the mouse and smash the computer because of these words,
but the two most dangerous words in the whole, entire universe are…
normalcy bias.
Normalcy bias is when you are happy that everything is normal.
The reason these words are so dangerous is because,
in the extreme,
you will be doomed to be the world’s best outhouse builder.
in the un-extreme,
these words are dangerous because
they make you content to just wallow your way through life.
Imagine being happy with minimum wage…
that’s normalcy bias.
Imagine being happy with a wife that cheats…
that’s normalcy bias.
Imagine being happy with a child that is a bone brain
who burns cats for fun…
that’s normalcy bias.
Now,
I know it all seems sort of…funny,
maybe quaint,
and maybe you’re not all that alarmed,
that’s normalcy bias.
But I’m not going to tell you the really scary thing about it
until I tell you what to do about it.
I want you to finish this page
before you go cry and hide in a corner.
It is very neutronic to say…
there are only three directions in this universe.
There is towards, away from, or with.
That’s it.
Every other direction in this universe
is just a shade of those three things.
A car is careening towards you,
you can run away from it,
you can run towards it,
or you can figure out how to hop on and take a ride.
If you choose any angle that is going away,
that is still away.
If you choose any angle that goes towards,
that is still towards.
If you can get the driver to slow down
so you can get in the door,
or hop on the hood,
or whatever,
that is with.
And this applies to a fist.
Let’s say somebody tries to hit you.
You can run away from him,
you could tackle him,
or you could guide his fist harmlessly past.
An aikido master has mastered this concept of going with.
But the master of ANY martial art (but not sport like MMA)
has mastered this.
Simply,
he has mastered the motions of the universe
so that he can do what he wants with them.
He is not the victim of a fist that smashes into his face,
he is the receiver of a blessing
that he can manipulate to his own enjoyment and satisfaction.
Joe Blow,
not knowing any martial arts,
is an accident waiting to happen.
When the fist flies,
he is going to eat knuckles.
Simply,
he is going to wallow around,
and has no knowledge
of how make the fist work for him.
How to slip it like in Pa Kua
or guide it in wing chun,
or absorb it in Tai Chi,
or harmonize with it in aikido.
Joe’s older brother,
Rollo,
has been studying karate for ten years,
so he can block and strike.
Their father,
Louis,
is matrixing,
so when the mugger flies out of the alley
with a knife in one hand and a club in the other,
screaming dirty words and exposing himself,
which of these three people is going to die because of normalcy bias?
Joe is dead meat.
He was so lame that he didn’t study anything.
He was happy to be a doofus,
going through life without working at anything.
This is the worst case of Normalcy Bias.
Rollo has a chance,
but not much of one.
After all,
the mugger is high on drugs and can’t feel anything,
and he is insane,
and even if Rollo manages to block,
his decisions are limited,
he only has a couple of choices,
and they are based on going towards.
You see,
he had normalcy bias, too.
He was happy to study one art for ten years,
not speeding up,
not looking into other potentials of motion.
Pap Louis will survive because he didn’t have normalcy bias.
He wasn’t satisfied with not knowing the martial arts,
and he didn’t limit himself to one martial art,
but he dedicated his life to learning ALL martial arts.
So the moral is this:
people who don’t accept normal as the rule
will live to fight another day.
Think about it like this:
you are the first person in America,
and you need to walk across the country.
You reach the first river,
and you are stopped.
But the guy who spent his life not just walking,
but learning to swim and climb and jump and…
he’s the one who’s going to make it across the country.
And if you are satisfied with one little corner of the country,
of living in one neighborhood,
and knowing only fifty or sixty people during your lifetime,
than…you go it…NB.
Normalcy Bias.
So go to Monster,
pick the course you don’t know anything about,
and get out of Normalcy Bias.
See to your survival
for ALL potentials of motion.
Not just the one dictated to
by one martial art,
or two.
Here’s the URL…
http://monstermartialarts.com
Al
Decided to make a separate newsletter for Monkeyland.
To sign up simply go to the ChurchofMartialArts.com
and subscribe at the top of the right sidebar.
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!
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.
Happy first day of the week!
Happy first workout of the week!
Make it a good one,
lose yourself in it,
and your whole week will glow.
True.
Okey doke,
thanks to all who are on the Kang Duk Won course,
don’t forget to set aside time each day,
whittle away at the art,
make it your own.
And,
congrats to Master Instructor Wilhem Stockinger!
Here’s his win…
I had a breakthru in the master instructor course yesterday, man the pieces finally came together…I was…screaming in ecstasy and joy…you are a genius master Al! I am so much more grounded and aligned in movement, it’s fantastic.
I finally got the missing pieces to what was once 6 years of Iu ryu jujutsu, 2 years of Gracie jujutsu,a few years of Muay thai kickboxing, and some Krav Maga and so on…I know I never mentioned my background since it fades away against yours and I was not enrolling into your course to talk about my past but to learn. And I did learn a tremendous amount, which not only corrected my faulty basics in form and execution, but also gave me understanding of form. Sensei, the 6 secrets, man, this is all Jujutsu theory I’ve been trained in for years, but nobody ever explained the principles, unless by practical example, but never the principles behind it. The why and how, not just the what. It was so enlightening. I am starting all over, but now the proper way. Thank you so much. I finally got the crack of technique over strength, of body mechanics over brute force. I am excited to be in the martial arts again. You are the real deal Shihan Alton Case. God bless you!
No,
thanks to you, Will.
Breaking through,
sharing your win,
somebody else is going to be
encouraged to make it, too.
And,
for everybody,
it’s easy,
it’s just how to fix your thinking.
Which makes it the hardest thing you’ll ever do.
Like Will says,
everybody talks about it,
without ever talking about it.
They talk about the surface
and never go into the depths.
They never go into why things work.
Endless drills,
endless techniques,
without ever telling you why.
So,
thanks again Will.
Persistence and tenacity in the martial arts,
that’s what you represent,
which are characteristics of good martial arts.
Okay!
I’m going to write an article on this,
it follows along with what WIll says above,
but I thought I’d mention it here, first.
I like to talk to the intelligent first,
then the masses.
Grin.
Do you know why I teach so many Martial Arts?
Why I am always open to new arts?
Why I listen avidly
when my fellow martial artists talk,
instead of opening my own yap?
It’s true,
like as not,
when the talk starts
I find it much more educational
to listen.
Well,
the reason is this.
If you were drilling a well,
you would need a stable base,
so you could build a high drill,
so you could drill deeper.
When you learn more martial arts,
when you toss the techniques around in your head,
compare and contrast,
fit them into the matrix of all techniques,
then you are building a wide database,
and you can then build a high drill,
and drill deep into your soul.
Data holds you together.
The more data you have,
the more held together you are.
Or,
think about it this way.
If you were going to build a telescope
to see to the furthest star,
then you would need a solid base,
so the telescope wouldn’t be shaken by wind or rain,
or any other force.
Then your sight would be solid and true,
and you could see to those far stars,
without them shimmying and shaking
and being a blur to your sight.
Do you understand?
The more you know,
the deeper you can dig into yourself,
the more of yourself
you can understand.
Simple,
eh?
Yet,
the work to make a wide database
especially in the martial arts,
with all the technique and styles and opinions and…
it can get pretty tough.
And,
it can get tough to keep it all in order,
which is one of the blessings of Matrixing.
Look,
people study,
they get a thousand techniques,
and it can take twenty years to sort it all out,
to learn to think about things in a way
that it all makes sense,
so that all of the data is at your fingertips,
instead of buried in the mass of
thousands of techniques.
So,
instead of lumping everything together,
and training like crazy.
You just put your techniques into a matrix,
fit that matrix to a larger matrix of all martial arts,
and the procedure gets REAL fast.
Oh,
like Will said above,
it can take time,
but not as much,
but,
the rewards once it all clicks,
there’s nothing like it.
It’s not just studying hard forever,
that is taken for granted…
it is making sense out of it quickly,
as fast as you input data and techniques,
that’s how fast you have to make sense out of it all.
Oinky Doinkey!
That‘s about it,
got nothing left to say,
and,
besides,
I’d rather work out than talk.
I’d rather dig deep
than open my yap.
There are several reasons why Karate Kata are so valuable to the martial artist. Mind you, we are including many forms of Martial Arts, kung fu patterns, taekwondo forms, whatever.
The first reason Karate Kata are so good for you is purely physical. Simply, if you are doing a form, you are doing body weight calisthenics. Many people over look this, but when you do the first form of Karate, Heian One, or Pinan One as it is sometimes referred to, you are doing approximately 20 squats on the front leg. If you do all five of these karate kata you are doing over 100 knee bends, and these calisthenics shape and power the legs in a multitude of ways. Simply, the leg is completely and fully powered up.
Jackie Chan said he knows enough Martial Arts to start his own style! Why not you?
The second reason Karate Kata are so great for you is that they teach you control.
This starts with control of the body. You learn how to hold your body in a particular position in space, how to move to another position in space through the quickest and most efficient manner possible.
This fact of control progresses into technique, and here is where kata really shine. When you are doing a technique you are learning to take charge of another person’s body. You control it no matter how violent it is, and you learn to handle it without using effort.
Mind you, there are more efficient ways of learning fighting. You could punch a bag as in boxing for hours and hours, and not learn anything new about yourself body. And, to tell the truth, this author finds that method slightly boring.
So Karate Kata might take a bit longer to learn, but you are not learning to just destroy, you are learning to control, both your own body and somebody else’s body. Very valuable stuff. And that brings us to the third reason martial arts forms are good for you.
To control the body takes concentration, and thus you are learning to take charge of your mind.
Did you know that people who learn real karate, or real kung fu, usually do better in life? That is because they have learned not to just to control bodies, but awareness. They have learned to control thought.
And a person who can control thought can control the universe. Thus, the importance of martial arts forms, karate katas, or whatever you call them, cannot be underestimated.
It’s true, Light Gung Fu can be made out of any martial art you study, and that includes Karate, Silat, Aikido, whatever! In fact, it is incredibly easy!
All you have to do is go get some cinderblocks, set them on end, and do your forms (kata) on them! Instant Light Gung Fu!
But whatever you believe…chi energy power exists!
Here are some key items to help you out in this search for light body Gung fu.
You don’t need a lot of cinderblocks. As little as four, but you can use as many as you want.
It is best to lay them sideways the first few times you do this. After you are comfortable (won’t take but a day or two), you stand them on end. After a week or two, you can lay two on the side. Then you can go to one on end on top of one on end, and then two on end, and so on.
You want to pick a good surface to eliminate brick wobble. And when you purchase the cinder blocks, set them on end and pick out the ones with the most stability.
IMPORTANT: when you fall, learn to pick up your legs and search for a place to land. You don’t want to break a leg by stepping on the falling cinderblock.
Now, this method of light Gung fu has been around for years. It is called sunken post, or sunken pillar training. Usually you dig holes and sink them, and climb the poles until you are six or eight feet off the ground, striking Gung fu postures and dancing around like a kung fu crane.
But, that’s a lot of digging, so my method is simpler and quicker, and saves a lot of digging and measuring and leveling and basic construction work.
Nothing wrong with the ancient sunken pole tricks, especially if you are an official Gung fu school, but, my method of light kung fu is much simpler.
Now, the main area where you grow is going to be in balance.
Everything is balance. From being able to stop yourself in an aggressive karate move without falling forward, to the delicate hourlong meditation of holding the bowl. Everything is balance.
So standing on a couple of cinderblocks on end is going to give you tremendous balance.
First, you will feel awkward, the body will shift back and forth in attempts to keep your balance.
After a while your kung fu maneuvering will become easy as pie, and it will be as natural as walking, and you will likely feel a nice, little glow developing in your tan tien.
The muscles on both sides of the leg, you see, are going to fire up, work back and forth, and that will start up the body energy generator, which is what the tan tien actually is.
And that is how you create light Gung fu out of Karate, or taekwondo, or pa kua, or…ANY…Martial Art you might happen to study.
Here’s a great article in which the author demonstrates light gung fu. And here’s a great article on how to learn Shaolin Kung Fu.
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
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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!
