The difference between yoga and martial arts is quite interesting
but quite simple.
Yoga is ‘not moving’ meditation
Martial arts is moving meditation
Both use the body,
and studying both can be incredibly enlightening.
In yoga you assume a pose and put your awareness
through the body.
The focus is on flexibility,
there is much good health,
awareness grows.
All good stuff.
In martial arts you do a technique and put your awareness
through the body,
and through your partners body.
The focus is on self defense,
good health and…awareness.
So which awareness is better?
Of course it depends. but consider
a few of the following comparisons.
You won’t get bruises in yoga
you won’t learn to defend yourself
yoga analyzes energy flows in the body
martial arts analyzes energy flows outside the body
you’ll get more injuries in martial arts
injuries which yoga can help rehabilitate
you won’t be asked to ‘show your stuff’
at a party with yoga
There is always some idiot who wants you to
show your martial arts stuff at a party
Of course its sort of fun to practice your joint locks
on drunks at parties…but still…
yoga is great stuff, but you don’t get to wear a belt.
Martial Arts is always looking for the next belt,
if you’re into that.
There are pros and cons for both disciplines,
and you know what I’m going to say…
study both.
Grow awareness inside,
rehabilitate and get flexy,
and put that acquired mental focus to work
by applying it to martial arts.
Guaranteed,
the disciplines will aid each other.
Greatly
Now,
it is easier to get started in yoga.
Get a book,
a DVD,
do an online course.
Lots of freebies to get started.
There is one problem, however.
The advanced theories and knowledge
are severely lacking in yoga.
Most of the people teaching it
really don’t know
how the mind works,
where to put the attention,
and all sorts of stuff like that.
Everybody just monkey sees and monkey does.
It’s the same in martial arts,
but not as bad.
Anyway,
I suggest finding some free beginners stuff,
and supplementing it with
Black Belt Yoga
The ‘belts’
(levels of difficulty)
are accompanied by very simple but thorough
advices on what, exactly,
you are supposed to be doing in yoga.
Try it,
you’ll find your martial arts shining
with new awareness,
and your abilities will grow.
Furthermore,
nobody has ever done what I did here.
Everybody makes a sequences of yoga poses
based on what they like to do.
I put the poses in actual order of difficulty.
The republishing is going well,
I’ve included a short catalogue below.
Check out the various links.
They should work,
and eventually I’ll get them all in the websites.
and have a great work out!
Al
PS ~ sign up for the blog at
https://alcase.wordpress.com
It’s expensive to pay Mailchimp and I want to cancel it.
Don’t forget to check out the interview
https://anchor.fm/dale-gillilan/episodes/S1E10—Al-Case-e12e3np
THE LAST MARTIAL ARTS BOOK
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-last-martial-arts-book-al-case/1146217369?ean=9798227617200
ADVANCED TAI CHI CHUAN FOR REAL SELF DEFENSE!
Amazon
ADVANCED TAI CHI CHUAN FOR REAL SELF DEFENSE!
Thriftbooks
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FIVE MARTIAL ARTS!
HOW TO FIX KARATE! (1)
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HOW TO FIX KARATE! (1)
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HOW TO FIX KARATE! (2)
amazon
HOW TO FIX KARATE! (2)
bookshop
https://bookshop.org/p/books/how-to-fix-karate-book-two-al-case/21839401
BLACK BELT YOGA
amazon
BLACK BELT YOGA
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/black-belt-yoga-al-case/1121852191
THE BOOK OF MATRIXING
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=THE+BOOK+OF+MATRIXING&crid=306WX8EKZIXJE&sprefix=the+book+of+matrixing%2Caps%2C167&ref=nb_sb_noss
THE BOOK OF NEUTRONICS
THE BOOK OF NEUTRONICS
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https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Book-Neutronics/Al-Case/9798227766922?id=9287395896456
HIDDEN TECHNIQUES OF KARATE
Barnes & Noble
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Kenpo Karate is one of the most popular martial arts in the world, and the history is, to put it lightly, a mess.
There are three men who brought Kenpo to the streets of America. These are James Mitose, William ‘Thunderbolt Chow, and Ed Parker.
James Mitose learned the art at a temple in Japan. Except, there is no temple there. The area is the home of kosho sect of the Yoshida clan, so maybe. Except…when you think about it, would there be much significance if your instructor learned Karate at a Baptist church somewhere in Illinois?
Yes, there are differences in culture, and there is a potential zen aspect to it all, but churches are basically meeting places.
The second man in this lineage is William ‘Thunderbolt’ Chow. Professor Chow claimed that he originally learned martial arts from his father, a Buddhist priest. Except, there are no records of his father as a priest. And how does that tie in with the Kenpo he learned from James Mitose?
The third man in this saga is Edmund Parker.
Parker brought Karate to the mainland, began teachingmartial arts while at Brigham Young University. Except, he is said to have taught his students all he knew – he was only a brown belt – and when he went home and tried to get more to teach…Professor Chow wouldn’t teach him anything because he had been instructing without permission!
Now, there are a lot more sordid details to this story. There are fights and arguments and people slandering one another, and the reader might think, at this point, the this writer is writing black headlines just to sell an article. Except…the real problem here is not the three men, it is the students learning their kenpo karate martial art.
People seem to need to bolster themselves up, to give themselves airs, to make themselves sound more important than they are.
So when Mitose says, in an offhanded remark, ‘Yes, my father used to show me tricks when I was a kid. We were living next to a church then, and we would roll around on the grass in the side yard. Lot of fun…’ the student bows deep and realizes that his instructor studied at a zen temple, was beaten with a bamboo rod for dozing, and had to go through rigamarole that would make Gordon Liu envious.
And when Thunderbolt Chow says, ‘Yes, my father had dreams of being a priest, talked about it often. Priests know really great martial arts, you know,’ the student holds his finger aloft as the lightening strikes him, and knows that he studying ancient and arcane mysteries written down in scrolls dating back to the time of Buddha.
And when Parker says, ‘My instructor didn’t have any more to teach me,’ the student catches his breath and claps his hands together, for obviously his instructor has surpassed his instructor, and the student is the real beneficiary of all this light and goodness.
Yes, there are people who spread rumor and prevarication to make themselves look good, but it is up to the student to be discerning and find out the real truth…and, there is a lesson to be learned here.
The lesson is that man learns best from his mistakes. He learns a little bit from doing something well, but he learns A LOT from messing up. And these three men, James Mitose, William ‘Thunderbolt’ Chow, and Ed Parker, they were human, and they messed up.
So, are we going to make them saints and pretend they made no mistakes? Or are we going to look extra hard at their mistakes and learn, truly learn, from them?
The author began studying Kenpo Karate in 1967. He has written a perspective of Kenpo called ‘How to Create Kenpo.’ In that three volume series he offers a unique perspective of Kenpo. Subscribe to his blog at MonsterMartialArts.com
When I was at the Kang Duk Won
there were all sorts of people studying.
Glass blowers,
grave diggers,
college students,
and lots of outlaw motorcyclists.
1 per centers.
Mostly Hells Angels.
One day I went to class
and there were about twenty Harleys parked outside.
The Hells Angels were doing a documentary on themselves,
and one segment had to do with martial arts.
So Ted,
a big second black who had joined the HA,
places three boards on a couple of cinder blocks.
He psyches up,
thrusts a right spear hand down,
and the boards don’t break.
Well, they broke,
but not all the way.
Ted lifts up the first board.
Clean break.
He lifts up the second board.
Clean break.
He lifts up the third board…
it’s got a knothole in it.
It was broken, but the knothole
had stopped it from separating.
So Ted replaces the third board,
puts the first two boards on the stack,
and breaks it with a spear hand with his left hand.
Bang.
Clean break,
Cut,
Print,
call it a wrap.
I don’t recall whether he broke his hand,
but he might have.
Or at least a couple of fingers.
Now people used to be able to break boards
pretty easily with their fingers.
Not any more.
I don’t see buckets of sand for conditioning in the dojos,
I don’t see people doing fingertip push ups.
So,
for the time being,
except for a few hardy souls
who believe in ancient training methods,
breaking with fingers is a lost art.
The original finger tip break was probably
for breaking through armor on samurai.
I’m just guessing,
but it sounds logical.
Or,
perhaps it was for inserting the fingers
into the neck,
through the armpit joint of the armor,
or whatever.
Not having seen old Japanese armor
I don’t really know.
BUT…
I do know that while I used to train in the old methods,
and I was able to do a few tricks,
like break a one inch board with fingertips,
I am no longer going to spear anybody.
Just too old.
Which led me to an interesting discovery.
What if the spear hand was not a thrust
to break a body?
What if it was intended to be a grab?
If you look at every spear thrust
in the Pinan (Heian) forms,
and change it to a grab,
It not only makes sense,
and protects the hands…
it leads to some interesting locks and throws.
I detail a few of these in the
How to Fix Karate books.
But you can figure a lot of these out yourself.
Instead of striking,
move the hand deeper and grab.
Look for a way to manipulate the opponent.
What if the move on the way up the center,
in Pinan three,
was not a spear hand to the sternum,
as usually taught?
What if it goes past the neck
and you simply stand up and grab his neck in a headlock?
Think about it.
Try it and see if it works.
See if you need to alter the movement
to make it work.
And,
by the way,
if you want to see the things I came up with,
check out the
How to Fix Karate Books
(two volumes, you have to order them separately)
on Amazon.
They’ve got about five hours of video links.
Okay,
last thing.
It’s almost time for…
(drum roll)
HanaKwanMass!
That’s right!
A combination of Hanukkah, Kwanza and Christmas!
HanaKwanMass!
That way you can offend everybody at once!
Have a great work out,
and HanaKwanMass to all!
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)
One of the biggest questions I get,
year after year year,
is how did Bruce Lee die.
At first I didn’t know.
I searched through all the theories,
his family was cursed,
he was poisoned by jealous masters,
he had a bad reaction to
marijuana, tea, speed, aspirin, etc.
None of these worked,
all the theories fell apart under close examination.
Recently,
however,
I found out the real reason Bruce died.
It is totally logical,
backed up by facts,
makes sense,
and I fell it is the real reason.
Did you know that Bruce had his sweat glands removed?
That’s right.
He was trying to get rid of ‘underarm blotch,’
which looked terrible on the camera.
Now,
sweat glands are important,
and the ones under the arms VERY important.
It is a way of cooling down the body when it is overheated.
Overheated like working out,
shooting films in 100 degree heat under lights,
and so on.
In the months before Bruce died
word has it that he had fainted several times.
His brain is supposed to have swollen.
Again,
a byproduct of heat.
So Bruce Lee died through overheating his body,
which was caused by his having certain of his sweat glands removed.
Can I be totally, 100% sure?
No.
But I can be 99% sure.
His history,
the condition of his body,
the effect of removing sweat glands,
it all makes sense.
I would love to have a doctor exhume the body and find out for sure.
Except,
it’s done.
Whether it is misadventure
through the removal of sweat glands,
or Triad masters giving him repeated overdoses of aspirin.
Bruce is gone.
Thank God he was with us for a while,
he sure left us some gold.
Here’s a link to a site filled with Bruce Lee info.
http://freebrucelee.com
Have a great work out!
Al
A WIN!
I’ve come to the same conclusion as Bruce (Lee): I no longer believe in ‘styles’. I believe every martial artist has to create their own personal martial art. Even if they are a die hard ‘traditionalist’ they still do it their own way or their own interpretation. ~ Matt R
“The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.”
– Bruce Lee
“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”
Now a lot of people refer to this quote.
It is held up as an iconic concept,
a golden standard.
Be formless.
And it is almost entirely misunderstood.
I heard one fellow say,
I don’t want to study karate
because I want to be formless.
But how can you be formless if you don’t have form first?
Do you think Bruce didn’t study forms?
He studied Wing Chun,
which has forms.
And he studied the forms of the drills,
the form of the Sticky Hands.
The guy was a living,
walk and talking
form.
Then he was formless.
First comes form,
then comes formlessness.
I want you to google Fred Astair.
Old time dancer.
Probably the most graceful man who ever lived.
His secret?
He makes every thing look effortless.
Do you know how much effort it took
to make his moves effortless?
Now consider that same concept with form.
Do you know how hard Bruce studied
how hard he worked,
how he must have visualized and sweated
to become formless?
Fortunately,
you can choose from a lot of arts to study,
and you can choose from a lot of forms.
You can choose the ones which intrigue you,
which fascinate you,
which seem to be the best for self defense,
or whatever your goal is in the martial arts.
They are incredibly simple,
very short,
very easy to translate into formlessness.
(Read the win below…)
Have a great work out!
Al
A WIN!
Al,
I’ve sped through the Shaolin Butterfly, am learning the Five Army Tai Chi Chuan and the Butterfly Baguazhang. It seems to me that now I can look at classical forms and simply understand how to do them correctly. It’s absolutely amazing. The practice and learning process basically infuses a student with the basics to make anything work. To correct the whole of an art simply by looking at the forms and playing around with them. I’ve applied this to many classical forms I learned years ago. Thanks so much for the master key to all the martial arts right in my hand. ~ Justin
“The stillness in stillness is not the real stillness;
only when there is stillness in movement does the universal rhythm manifest.”
Newsletter 800
What is Actually Happening With Matrixing and the Martial Arts
Good morning!
The sun is shining,
and then it is raining,
and shining and raining,
and so on.
that makes it THE day for working out!
To injure an opponent is to injure yourself. To control aggression without inflicting injury is the Art of Peace.
I just received several emails.
Some fellow was bashing me on his blog.
He was a long time martial artist,
quoted me,
then proceeded to ‘dissect’ me.
And,
if anybody spoke up for me,
he bashed them.
Nice guy.
Anyway,
I thought this made for a wonderful opportunity
to explain about bad people in the martial arts,
what really makes them,
what you do about them,
and…what is really happening with matrixing.
So here we go.
Here is a scenario.
You are in the seventh grade,
and you are charged with teaching a fourth grader,
you have to teach him how to multiply.
You lay out the problems,
you show him,
and show and show him,
and he just doesn’t get it.
You get mad.
Stupid kid.
Teacher comes up,
she doesn’t get mad,
she just sort of straightens everything out.
Now,
here is what happened:
you had never taught anybody.
You didn’t know all the tricks.
The teacher has seen it all,
she knows all the tricks.
Now,
the people who attack me,
who attack matrixing,
they are like seventh graders.
They have done some martial arts,
but they don’t know all the tricks.
Or,
in this specific,
they don’t understand
how all the arts fit together.
They don’t understand the underlying principles,
the real philosophy behind it all.
So,
they get mad.
And,
think about it,
they have spent their lives doing martial arts,
and here I come along and say:
oh, that’s not right,
you should do it this way.
Man,
am I a threat.
So they strike back
against what is threatening them,
threatening their carefully cultivated view of themselves,
of their construct of how the world works.
And,
here is a proof for what i am saying:
If they knew the truth they wouldn’t get mad.
I don’t get mad…because I know the truth.
I know how the arts fit together,
I know all the tricks,
the gimmicks and methods,
the way it all works,
so I don’t get mad
when these fellows speak ill of me
on blogs and chatrooms and so on.
If you know the truth you don’t get mad,
you can look down to their level,
and see what it is they don’t understand.
The problem is…
you can’t make them understand
if they don’t want to understand,
that is to say,
if they are holding to the small bits of truth
they did manage to accumulate,
to the methods and things that they constructed
to try to make sense
out of the martial arts
which don’t always make sense.
Now,
the specific fellow who was attacking me,
was dissecting one of my Kenpo books.
And it gets very interesting.
For instance,
he claimed I wasn’t a serious student of Kenpo,
which,
in the book,
I explained that i wasn’t a serious student of Kenpo,
that I was applying matrixing principles
to what i had learned decades ago.
For instance,
he said my work needed more depth,
which,
in my book,
I set forth the idea that this was a beginning,
and that somebody should come along
and exploit my principles
to look deeper.
Do you get it?
He was saying things I had already pointed out in my book.
He was criticizing me
using points i had already used to criticize myself.
Not very creative,
especially for so called critical thinking.
But,
here’s the kicker.
in his attack he made an interesting statement, he said something to the effect that he had read my books,
and that at a certain point he came face to face with
a different way of seeing things.
This was the effect of matrixing.
And he immediately pushed it aside,
which is to say,
he held on to his carefully constructed world,
and was unable to evolve.
And,
I will say something else.
In my books I tell people, very plainly,
that they can’t just read the books,
they have to do the techniques,
then they will understand,
then they will get what I am talking about.
I gauran-forking-tee he did not do this.
He was a seventh grader,
thinking he was a teacher,
and he read the book without doing ANY of the techniques.
Without experiencing what I was really saying.
If he had done the book,
instead of reading it like a comic,
he would have been changed,
that different viewpoint would have popped out,
nice and neat and gently overwhelming,
and he would have evolved.
His art would have evolved.
He would have become a teacher,
a real teacher,
instead of a seventh grader thinking he was a teacher.
Now,
I know what I have just said
is the absolute truth,
because I have seen it work over the last ten years.
There are thousands of people who have DONE the material I have written.
Who have DONE the forms and techniques.
Who have DONE the drills.
And my wins book is packed with their stories.
Over six hundred pages of thanks yous.
Of ‘how did you ever figure this out?’
Of ‘OMG, I am making my own art,
and it all makes so much sense!’
So that is the point i want to make here.
You can read about,
or you can do.
But don’t bother criticizing what I’ve done
until you have done it for yourself.
Don’t be a seventh grader,
thinking you know it all,
when you only know what a seventh grader knows.
Don’t settle for that.
And,
that brings us to where this matrixing thing is going.
Let me make a few points.
I love the martial arts.
There is nothing i love more than doing the forms,
working out with people,
it is all a ball.
But,
I left the fighting part of the martial arts decades ago.
I lived in a time that has passed
where i was able to accumulate all the data,
and make sense of it,
and I was able to put fighting aside.
And,
the point of matrixing is to help you do this, too.
To learn how to fight so well,
that fighting stops being a game of chance,
and becomes a scientific endeavor,
where you analyze and handle people
like you are a teacher,
and they are seventh graders.
We are talking about actual evolution here.
If you lived fifty years,
you would have fifty years worth of knowledge.
But what if I could give you that knowledge in a year or two?
where would you be in fifty years then?
You would be at a hundred years,
because you would have my fifty,
plus your fifty.
And here is the interesting thing,
the martial arts accelerate beyond that,
once they are matrixed.
It is not just about getting my fifty years of knowledge,
it is about getting thousands of years of knowledge,
all the knowledge accumulated by the ancients
and passed down,
and finally made sense of.
Let me ask you a question:
what step of evolution is it
where you don’t get mad?
You watch the world
and everybody gets mad.
The politicians lie and get mad,
the corporate bosses,
for all their success,
cheat and steal,
and get awfully mad.
People on the street,
they get mad in their cars,
they flip each other off,
they have road rage,
they beat each other up with baseball bats.
Husbands and wives get mad,
they snipe at each other,
and the next thing you know
the man punches out the wife,
the wife does a Lorena Bobbit,
and…
do you get it?
From the playgrounds of our ‘educational’ institutions
to the prisons,
to the businesses and politicis,
we are a raging,
wild beast.
I don’t get mad.
And I am telling you exactly why,
because I have done the martial arts so much
that I have given up fighting.
Because I understand what frustrations
all those seventh graders are having out there.
Do you want to get ‘unmad?’
Do you want to give up anger?
Do you want to understand,
not like a seventh grader,
hopped up on GMO and vaccines and testosterone and all that,
but like a calm, patient teacher?
Do you like a world where you are out of control?
Where you travel from one conflict to the other,
and never partake of the chocolate cake in-between?
That’s what I am selling,
that’s the truth of what Matrixing does.
That’s where you would be,
if you could suddenly ‘evolve’ yourself.
If you could leap past all the minor frustrations
of a society that is dedicated to killing itself.
Now,
the interesting thing is this:
I have often thought about taking all the books off the market
that are attempts to apply matrixing to other arts.
It just seems to cause so much anger.
People think I am trying to destroy their construction,
instead of enhance it.
They think i am attacking their art,
when I am only trying to make it bigger,
better,
more logical.
When all I want is to take them to the end of one street,
and show them a thousand other streets.
When I just want to evolve them.
My consideration is simple.
Are my books causing anger among those unable to understand
because they cannot do more than read,
because they cannot do,
because they cannot understand the instructions?
Something to think about,
eh?
I’ve also thought about,
and even begun work
on setting up lines of endeavor
which can be closely watched.
I made an attempt at Monkeyland,
and still think about the mistakes made I made,
and how i could fix them.
I’ve thought about setting up a website
dedicated to taking people step by step,
but not allowing them to purchase the next step,
until they have completed the previous step.
And there are reasons I haven’t done this yet,
though I have made half starts.
Reasons like I don’t have the time and wherewithal.
Not very good reasons are these, I admit,
but…that is where I am.
Okay,
hope I didn’t bore you,
hope I actually made some sense with this ranting,
but let me just say this…
the most important course I’ve got
is the Master Instructor Course.
I push it more than any other,
because it lays out the way energy works in the martial arts,
it presents how techniques work.
And it tends to divest one of ALL the false reasons
behind the actual martial arts.
It tells you the information you need to instruct.
It opens the door
to the way of becoming
a calm, patient teacher,
and not a seventh grader.
Here go.
The name of the book is ‘Bruce Lee, Jeet Kune Do, and Neutronics.’
Written by Al Case, a martial artist with near fifty years experience in the martial arts, this book takes an outside viewpoint of Bruce Lee, and his martial art (Jeet Kune Do).
Book on Bruce Lee’s Martial Art of Jeet Kune Do.
Bruce Lee is often considered, specifically as to what drove him to his martial arts theories. The main focus of the book, however, is to compare and contrast Jeet Kune Do to the more classical martial arts, specifically, the author’s art of Karate.
This is a hard core book. While it is respectful, it is obvious that the author holds Mr. Lee in high esteem, there are some very hard questions asked concerning the formation of JKD, and the real purpose of the art.
It is also an intelligent book, going into Matrixing Technology, which is the first and only science of the martial arts, and Neutronic philosophy. The author claims that because JKD is an advanced martial art only advanced methods of thought can be used to analyze it.
Which is to say that if you are Beeavis or Butthead, you may want to avoid this tome. It won’t teach you Jeet Kune Do, and it may hurt your head to actually start thinking about it.
Mr. Case has, as said, near 50 years martial arts experience. He began Kenpo Karate in 1967, quickly became an instructor, and went on to study virtually every martial art that came down the pike during the Golden Age of Martial Arts. He became a writer for the magazines in 1981, and had his own column in Inside Karate. Thus, Mr. Case doesn’t enter the picture as a newbie, but an experienced fighter and writer. His compare and contrast with JKD should provide the most enlightened student with much thought.
Bruce Lee, Jeet Kune Do, and Neutronics, will be released and on Amazon within the week, and students interested in the paperback version should do a search on Amazon probably by the last week of April 2015.
Students who would like to save $5 and purchase the instant download of the book should go to FreeBruceLee.com.
I remember when Bruce Lee Died. It was a shock that went through the soul. Here was an icon,the best martial artist in the world, in perfect physical condition…dead.
How? Why? What happened?
Final volume of Matrixing Kenpo! Click not he cover!
Interestingly, one of the first theories I heard as to the cause of his death came from a friend who was studying Tai Chi Chuan. The one word summation was: balance. And, the one sentence explanation was Bruce Lee was lacking balance.
I tucked this opinion away, collected facts, but it was literally decades before I matured enough as a martial artist to understand, and to accept, this opinion over the facts.
Let me say, before I continue, that I like facts. It could be said that only fools deal in opinions, and in most cases, this would be correct.
The person offering this opinion, however, was basing his opinion not on the facts of Bruce’s death, but upon the facts of the martial arts. It wasn’t until I was firmly matrixed in my approach to the martial arts that I understood this.
One of the facts that I continuously came across was that Bruce had an allergic reaction to marijuana, which was in tea he had drunk.
This is interesting, I have never read a study on this, is there marijuana in Chinese tea?
Another fact I came across is that Bruce had, again, an allergic reaction, this time to aspirin. But I think that the aspirin was given to him after he complained of a headache. And, I know it’s possible, but I just don’t hear of a lot of people, or any people, dying of allergic reactions to aspirin. Doesn’t mean it’s not possible, but…hmmm.
And, the third of these ‘facts,’ Bruce had a reduced fat content in his body. Now this is dangerous. And this could result in death. And this has much more substantiation in fact than the previous two theories.
Mind you, in saying this I realize that it is still opinion, and the only real fact we have is that we will never know. But this one fact, considered in light of the theory of ‘balance,’ really resonates with me. What was Bruce Lee doing that would result in a loss of balance, and which could possibly result in death? For the answer to that let’s consider how the martial arts are accumulated.
In matrixing one isolates the specific arts, and simplifies them to workable levels, and does not mix martial arts. In matrixing one studies the smaller pieces of the individual martial arts until they (eventually) blend into a larger and comprehensive whole.
Bruce, on the other hand, was doing a hybrid of the martial arts; he was doing, for one specific example, Wing Chun and Boxing.
I know, there was a lot more, he had 26 different arts at one count.
But consider the differences between just those two martial arts. Wing Chun controls the centerline and works on straight punches. Boxing moves laterally and has roundish punches.
Yes, a simplification, but bear with, for there are different concepts of chi power here.
In boxing, there is no focus on chi power, everything has to do with muscles.
In Wing Chun, hoever, the focus is on chi power, and there is major emphasis on generating energy from the tan tien.
Could this mix of martial training, taken to the extremes that Bruce took them, result in an imbalance in the body? Could this have resulted in Bruce’s death?
Unfortunately, as with the other theories, there is no proof, and likely never will be, and we all never know. But it is something to consider.
The mix of the martial arts you study is definitely worth considering. Not because of the risk of death (Bruce was a singular and extreme case), but because mixing the various martial arts, and especially without simplifying them through the matrixing process, causes confusion, and results in a slower learned and less effective martial arts.
In closing, the point of this article has been to ask, not to state definitively, and that in an attempt to understand Bruce Lee. It is only through understanding, not through mindless worshipping, that we are going to reap the true benefits of this incredible person’s martial arts and existence.
Take the first step in learning how to Matrix with Matrix Karate. For information that might be more specific to the theories presented in this article examine The Master Instructor Course. Both courses are available at MonsterMartialArts.com
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”.
Free Bruce Lee Website Promises to be Significant!
Bruce Lee is the most famous martial artist of all time. He impacted upon America like a Kung Fu fist, shaking all our standards of Martial Arts style fighting and cinema alike.
Bruce’s Martial Art, Jeet Kune Do, would bring elegance to streetfighting, and a sureness of character.
Bruce Lee (The Little Dragon)
His movies would replace the pale chop sockie kung fu flix in a heartbeat.
It is only fitting, then that the most prolific martial arts writer of all time, Al Case, would choose to put up a website dedicated to The Little Dragon. Still in composition, the website is called Free Bruce Lee! And you didn’t even know he was in prison! (He he, snuffle snort–sorry, couldn’t resist).
Anyway, the website already has a handful of articles on Bruce’s life and times, including handwritten letters, articles his martial arts and insane workouts, and even pieces on his actual fights.
That Bruce Lee got in fights is no secret. He grew up in a tough town, was a member of a street gang called the ‘Tigers of Junction Street,’ fought in the Hong Kong Boxing Championships, and, of course, had that famous battle with Wong Jack Man.
The fight with Kung Fu stylist Wong Jack Man is, of course, the most interesting of all Bruce Lee’s fights, as it may be the one that Bruce actually lost, or at least came out on the sad side of a draw. There is MUCH controversy regarding this fight, and of particular interest is the article entitled: ‘Bruce Lee Battle with Wong Jack Man!‘
As has been noted, this website is in the beginning stages, but it promises to be the most valuable Bruce Lee resource on the whole net. It is in depth, written by a writer who lived through those times, and offers the unique perspective of a martial artist who has studied the life of Bruce Lee since 1967 (when the author began martial arts, and when Bruce Lee hit the small screen as Kato in the Green Hornet television series).
Go to the Testimonials in the menu and do a search for your martial art!
Hi Sensei Al!
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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
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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
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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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