Were the Indians Masters of Their Own Brand of Zen?
part two
What a GREAT day!
Of course,
if you don’t work out,
you probably don’t really know what I mean.
Grin.
This is the second of a five parts series.
Subscribe to this newsletter to get all five parts.
Last newsletter I made the point
that the American Indian
was probably the finest warrior in the world.
To back this up,
simply consider their attitude towards that great zen concept…
silence.
In zen you create a silence so absolute
that your spirit can manifest,
that the truth of you becomes apparent.
Indians had this zen attitude towards silence.
The mere fact of walking,
as described in the first part of this series,
can be used to create silence.
But that is only the first stage.
Perhaps some of you remember an old adage
that only fools whistle?
A bit harsh,
a happy person should whistle,
but when you are hunting game,
or sneaking up to a battle,
you can’t whistle.
Instead,
you have to master the sounds of nature,
the tweet of a bird,
the call of a wolf,
the actual sound of shifting sand,
or wind in the rushes.
To master such sounds requires an appreciation of silence itself.
Consider this bit of zen:
it is not the sound you must hear,
but the silence.
Or,
as I am fond of telling students,
a candle in a coal mine
is brighter than the sun at noon.
Consider this when you are doing Tai Chi,
and don’t make a sound.
Consider this in Aikido,
and don’t let your circles make a sound.
Consider this in Karate,
or Tai Chi,
or other arts,
and quell the sound of your motion,
of your technique,
it is not just wasted energy,
but it distracts the mind
from the silence necessary
to manifest the spirit.
Here’s a link to Tai Chi,
which is a great art for pursuing silence.
Happy fall work out! Cooler weather, hotter work outs Yippee!
Click on the cover!
Hey, did you know there is a learning curve to the martial arts? Of course there is. There is a learning curve to everything. And the curve can be sharp, low and slow, wiggly waggly here and there. But here are two things that your mommy never told you, and a different way of looking at the learning curve inherent in mankind.
One, most people don’t want to learn. They know there is a curve, but they don’t want to apply it to themselves. They are satisfied accepting what some so-called authority tells them, and they never look at what they are really doing. They work out and don’t think. Mindless exercise.
Two, and this somewhat extrapolates on the first point, and shows what the scale of learning in the martial arts actually look like.
At the bottom we have the people who want to fight. They just like the freestyle, the reality, they are often quite vocal always backing up opinion with the offer to prove what they say with their fists.
Near the bottom we have the physical cultists. They work out to get a good body, maybe impress people. No thought of what the martial arts does for mind/spirit
In the middle we get most people. They talk about chi, and research what has gone before, but they don’t look into the future, they are not scientific about what they do.
Above the middle we get dedicated artists. These are people who sense what is going on, and are pushing themselves forward, and making inroads as to what the martial arts are really all about.
At the top you get the matrixed martial artists. These are people who realize that there is a truth behind the martial arts, And that there is a scientific way of getting to that truth.
To sum up this learning curve and the people embedded in it…
domination image and symbolism pseudo intelligent but bad data dedicated artists attempting to rise above logic and science as a method
Now, that all said, here are a few examples.
At the bottom are the people who want to dominate. Who inhabit chat rooms only to put down, who insist that arguments can only solved by fighting.
Above the bottom are the idiots who listen to the dominators and actually believe them. These guys are mindless drones, wanna be dominators, on their way down, but not there yet.
In the middle are people, people like you and me, but with one large problem. Their data is wrong. No matter how hard they work out, they are cursed. Simply, they accept methods that, even if efficient, are so couched in ancient terms that they are near useless. They learn Japanese because you can’t understand Karate unless you speak Japanese. They meditate without any idea of what meditation is. They are firmly ensnared by the classical, and have never picked up a dictionary, or done anything to translate the mass they are stuck in.
Above the middle are people who have felt the energy, who are exploring concepts, who are trying to resolve the mass of unordered data that is the martial arts. I can’t tell you how many of these people have written me, are aware that matrixing has given them the final order, has propelled them, has uplifted them.
At the top we have you, the matrixer. The fellow who has seen the order of the martial arts, has experienced the logic, who has started to speed up, has seen the sure and steady path into the real ability of the martial arts.
So, where you? I know not only do matrixes read my stuff, but sometimes others, low and almost low, sometimes looking and sometimes not, read things i’ve written. So where are you?
Are you stuck on the downward path? Trying to dominate others? Or are you on the upward path, finding the real education in the martial arts, opening up your abilities as quickly as you can?
Here’s the most important link a martial artist can ever find.
‘Karate is the best thing you can do for your child.’
Who said the above quote?
The answer is at the bottom of this newsletter.
We didn’t have much of a kids class
back when I was learning at the Kang Duk Won.
There weren’t many schools back then,
and there was no shortage of adult students.
Now,
of course,
schools can only survive if they have children’s classes.
But how the heck do you teach a child?
Children have short attention spans,
they tend to whine,
and they don’t remember everything you say!
Which brings us to the solution.
First off,
don’t try to teach classical forms,
just keep working on the basics.
Teach them basic kicking,
basic rolling,
and do lots of freestyle ‘games.’
Here’s a couple of things to illustrate what I mean.
I went into a school, a pretty good school,
and noticed a healthy sized kid’s class.
Interestingly,
there was a riot of color when it came to belts.
white, yellow, orange, purple, blue, green, red.
All with stripes of…
yellow, orange, purple, blue, green, red.
This school had an amazing amount of belts,
and I asked the instructor about it.
He equivocated,
and when I watched a class,
I suddenly realized what he was doing.
He was teaching nothing but basics.
But there was a method here.
Kids can’t remember things,
so he just kept emphasizing basics,
and waiting for an individual child
to reach the point where he could accept instruction.
Until that point was reached,
it was calisthenics,
basics,
and games.
Interestingly enough,
though there wasn’t an emphasis
on teaching classical forms and techniques,
children who were wild and wooly
began to calm down.
The exercise tired them out,
and made them amenable to reason.
The discipline of just doing the basics,
made them more able to focus.
And when were they ready?
When they stopped trying to interrupt the class,
when they began to focus on what they were doing,
when they became aware
that there was more than a game going on.
Here’s something to think about:
I have seen young children
who were mature beyond their years.
I have known adults
who were nothing but children.
The key word is responsibility.
So you teach things like
kicks and shoulder rolls,
basic one step sparring games,
breakfalls and punches,
and you back everything up with
don’t let them rest.
Don’t make them cry,
don’t drive them like an adult,
make everything fun and laughs,
but don’t let up.
It is an interesting line you walk with this method.
When a child starts to look at you,
to understand what you are saying,
and especially when he is willing to help younger students,
then he is ready for instruction.
It might take a month,
it might take years,
but you just have to watch and wait.
You have to keep them there with games and fun,
until they can string a half dozen moves together,
and remember them,
until the light of awareness enters their eyes.
Here’s what you are actually fighting.
Parents that don’t feed their children properly,
that send them off to school
with cereal,
if that.
Electronic games that consume children,
and drive them to frenetic activity.
Peers that squash children.
Drugs that are handed out freely
by adults who don’t understand
what the real solution is.
Karate,
or any martial art,
can be part of the solution.
In many cases,
it is the only solution that is needed.
We live in a weird society,
a place where values have been forgotten,
where parents have never been parented themselves,
and simply don’t have a clue,
where teachers are guided by psychological interests,
and the simple fact of raising a child
has been forgotten and neglected.
As a martial arts instructor,
you may be the first sane person a child has ever seen.
You might be the only sane person a child has ever seen.
Yet your small influence,
being based in common sense and good values,
may be the difference.
Now,
Who gave the quote at the beginning of this newsletter?
Chuck Norris
What’s with All the Bowing Stuff in the Martial Arts?
“Politeness is the greatest strategy.” Al Case
The most polite man i have ever met was my instructor in the Kang Duk Won. He was also the best martial artist I ever saw, which leads to an interesting possibility:
Politeness goes hand in hand with competence.
Think about it, if you are polite, honestly polite, then you won’t be scared, you won’t have hidden demons driving you, the martial arts will have expunged you of all that. You will be honestly competent.
So practice politeness as well as seek competence.
Now, with that in mind, what is the purpose of bowing in the martial arts? Aside from my little diatribe on politeness, why should people keep bowing and bowing all the time?
On one level, it is a sign of respect. I respect the work you’ve done, the level you’ve reached. And under that is the implied question: will you teach me. And the teacher bows to show respect to those who have come seeking his instruction.
On another level, it is merely saying hi. hi to everybody in the school. Hi to everybody who contributed to the school, even if they are passed on, a simple greeting to your friends.
With those two viewpoints in mind, here are the times you would bow.
Bow when entering the school. Bow to senior classmates. Bow to junior classmates. Bow when stepping onto the mat. Bow to the instructor, especially when asking a question. Bow after receiving instruction. Bow at the beginning of class. Bow at the end of class. Bow before you engage in any drill, be it sparring, form, etc. Immediately disengage and bow if an injury has occurred as a result of something you’ve done.
AND, bow to a classmate outside of school, or, if not considered appropriate, give him/her some sign of greeting.
AND, whenever entering another school, always bow, show that you have studied the martial arts, and that you are aware of martial etiquette.
Sounds like a lot of bowing, yes? Well, it is, but let me offer an insight. I can’t imagine not bowing, I strive to bow the most, to set the best example of being polite. I am constantly running into students who are surprised when I bow to them. But, it encourages them to bow. And, it makes you feel good.
Imagine walking into a school gymnasium, or an auditorium, with 500 people present. Imagine yelling out… HI EVERYBODY! And having them all yell to you… HI, AL!
After near 50 years in the arts, that’s what it feels like to me when I bow.
And I like to think that maybe I’m as competent as I am polite. One can hope.
Here’s a link to the martial arts I have been studying for near 50 years. Take a look, and see if I’ve made any inroads, if the changes i have made from the classical have value.
Gonna be a 100 degrees this week!
It’s time to really sweat!
So turn off that air conditioner
and get ready to ROCK!
Release of final volume of Matrixing Karate Series! Click on the Cover!
Let’s talk about matrixing.
In fact,
let’s talk about the big bugaboo of the martial arts…
MISTAKES!
Mistakes are not actually mistakes.
If you block something wrong,
for instance,
it’s not because you made a mistake,
it’s because you made a calculation,
a computation,
based on your current data.
When all the input finished,
when you finished calculating
the trajectory of the fist,
the angle of the block,
and so on,
and got hit in the face,
it is because you did what you trained yourself to do.
You didn’t make a mistake,
you responded according to your training.
This is actually true of everything in life,
but since martial arts are a microcosm,
a small classroom,
let’s look at the martial arts potentials here.
A student is trained to do a block.
He practices and practices,
until it is ingrained.
Until it becomes the intuitive response.
Then an attack happens,
and it is the wrong intuitive response.
This,
incidentally,
is why so many arts fail.
Take Kenpo,
for instance,
two arts,
the art of the technique,
and the art of freestyle,
and they have nothing to do with each other.
The training,
you see,
has left reality.
Then it takes twenty years or so
to make the intuitive work.
Maybe.
So here is the question:
How do you create a correct intuitive response…
EVERY TIME!
And that brings us to matrixing.
In matrixing a mistake is never a mistake,
it is an opportunity to learn something.
So consider this.
A right fist to the face can be blocked four ways.
Use your right hand to push it to the right
Use your right hand to push it to the left
Use your left hand to push it to the right
Use your left hand to push it to the left
I know,
there are lots of potentials here,
lots of other blocks.
But we are keeping it simple.
You can apply what I am telling you here
to other techniques and arts later.
So you practice the first one:
Use your right hand to push it to the right
and you practice it because it is the right one.
It is the one that works best.
And you practice and practice,
and then,
one day,
you are attacked,
and it doesn’t work.
WTF!
The reason it didn’t work might be anything,
a slight curve on the punch,
a delay in timing,
a sneaky distraction,
who knows and who cares.
What we care is the solution.
Instead of practicing just one defense,
you have to practice all four.
And practice and practice.
Sometimes,
if one of the potentials almost works,
you have to practice it a lot.
Sometimes,
if the potential is a disaster,
you just have to practice a little,
every once in a while,
just enough so that you realize…
here it comes…
WHAT DOESN’T WORK!
You see
it’s not enough to know what works,
you have to know what doesn’t work.
Not to make what doesn’t work intuitive,
but so that you can see what doesn’t work in the middle of combat.
This is a different level we are talking about.
We are not talking about being cause and effect,
we are talking about causing the cause and effect.
We are talking about a ‘master viewpoint.’
When somebody punches you shouldn’t react,
you should move with them,
in tune with them,
developing the block or counter or whatever
in the middle of the moment.
This is mushin no shin,
or mind of no mind.
This is when your memories
memories that you might have implanted yourself,
don’t distract you.
This is when you do purely and truly.
And it is really amazing
when you find yourself in the middle of one of these moments.
I was working out with a couple of fellows the other day,
using sticks.
These two fellows had worked out for years,
knew each other well,
knew the material well,
but when it came time to demonstrate,
the teacher turned to me,
because he could feel that I was more ‘in the moment,’
and showed the technique on me.
Simply,
I didn’t hesitate,
or make mistakes,
I just stayed with him,
moving in time with him,
moving in tune,
and even when he started deviating the technique,
there I was,
sticking with him,
making it work.
So you see,
you can’t just practice the martial arts,
you have to understand them.
You can’t just practice a technique,
you have to practice ALL of the techniques,
all variations.
You can’t train yourself to just respond,
because then you are training yourself
to be effect to the other guy’s cause.
Instead,
you have to train all the potentials,
even the mistakes,
then mistakes won’t fool you,
or otherwise trip you up.
The best place to do
what I have told you about here
is the Matrix Karate Course.
The Matrix of Blocks,
which is just one small item on this course,
goes directly to the heart of this.
You will then understand how blocks work,
how they work together,
and how to define what mistakes are
so they never trip you up.
This is turning out to be the best summer ever! The reason is simple…I’m teaching again.
150 Kenpo Techniques matrixed ~ Click on the cover!
It feels so good, after the shoulder injury and surgery, to get back out on the mat. If you don’t recall, I fell off a skateboard and killed a ligament, and the whole shoulder went south.
BUT, doc said surgery would get me back to 99%, and he was right. He was really right, because he had no idea of the rigors of the martial arts.
What I did, when I decided the time was right, was go to a place in town, walk in, and ask if the guy needed help.
He said yes, and after a few classes of helping, I am sometimes being handed the class and told to have fun.
And, as all you guys know, there is NOTHING as fun as the martial arts.
Here’s the interesting stuff, the martial arts have totally changed since I learned them. I don’t consider all changes bad, but there are things I have to accept if I want to teach. And, there are things that have stayed the same, which leaves a huge door for me to introduce stuff that is so old it has been forgotten.
It is fascinating to pull out an old drill, hand it to the students, and watch their eyes bulge.
But, I have to present the drill differently than how it was handed to me.
When I was learning, the teacher gave you something and you were expected to do it. Didn’t matter if it hurt. I mean, so what if it hurt? You’re here to learn karate, so don’t waste time sniveling, just do the drill.
And we would do the drill with manic intention.
Now, when I teach those drills, I have to make them soft, and very, very gently lead the student to harder versions and real workability.
Currently, I am working on a series of drills to bring fighters in freestyle closer together, to cut down reaction time, and make sure that blocks work, and punches have the desired effect.
All without giving nary a bruise.
But, I can’t tell you, it is more fun than I have had since…since I don’t know. After being sidelined for a couple of years, limited to nothing but forms, the feel of working techniques on real bodies is absolutely and totally and utterly exhilarating.
So, I get letters sometimes, from people who can’t find workout partners.
I tell them: teach your wife, work with your brother, or cousin or nephew or whoever. Put up a flier at the local gym, or the Y, or just be seen working out in the park.
There are 7 billion people on this globe of dirt, all will turn their head to a car crash, many will become instantly fascinated by martial arts, and you are telling me you are alone. That nobody cares.
Don’t make me sigh.
Just get out there and do it.
And, as this newsletter indicates, you can always just walk into a school, ask if you can help out. You won’t make money, but you can do the martial arts, you can play with other people, and the information will trade back and forth like magic! That is a supreme blessing, on this planet or any other.
Here’s the obligatory page that you DEFINITELY need to go to…
I feel so-o-o good!
And it is all because of a work out.
Have you done your work out today?
You have?
Then do another one!
And feel double great!
Click on the cover!
I was going through my wins
came across this one.
I meant to print it a month ago,
but things happened,
and I lost it in the basket.
So here it is now,
an absolutely GREAT win!
I’ve trained on two continents officially hold 1 black belt, and unofficially am that level in 2 others. I am currently working through the purple belt level in your Kang Duk Won course. I have to say that the workout is as tough as anything I did in Hapkido. The KDW material is filling in all the holes I had in my training. It’s really amazing how much stuff the instructors leave out or don’t even know. About a year ago I was at the place where you started in developing matrixing. I was looking for ways to bridge all my training into a logical system apart from the individual styles. I am lucky I found your site. I saved myself about 40 years of headaches! Just keep up the good work. ~ Jason W.
Thanks
Jason W.
I truly appreciate your win.
And,
for everybody,
as Jason indicates,
after you get the basics of Matrixing down,
what do you do?
You look for places to fill out your training,
ways to put matrixing up against the classic.
Those old guys knew things,
they are not to be discounted.
And,
the Kang Duk Won was my first real art,
and understanding it through Matrixing
really makes it work.
It’s true that a lot of people
just can’t get to black belt.
There are too many holes,
too much incorrect data,
things out of place,
all sorts of things that are gone wrong.
But if you’ve done some Matrixing,
and especially Matrix Karate
and the Master Instructor course,
then taking a look at classical karate
is more than just crucial,
it is the next breath of martial arts
demanding to be taken.
Now you can study Kang Duk Won
through Temple Karate.
It’s got several of the forms.
And you can find it in Evolution of an Art.
And I believe the book I wrote on KDW
might be available on those courses.
but you should check out the courses first.
BUT,
the absolutely BEST way
to study Kang Duk Won
is through the mail order course,
which is at:
http://kangdukwon.com
I included all the old drills,
all the theory and concepts,
absolutely everything I could remember
concerning the Kang Duk Won.
It’s inexpensive, too.
If you’re not interested in matrixing,
it is still an amazing poke in the eye.
But if you have some matrixing under your belt,
then you have the tools to REALLY understand
what those old guys were saying
when they taught this incredible art.
It is,
BTW,
one of the purest,
if not the purest,
example of True Karate in existence.
Anyway,
check it out.
http://kangdukwon.com
HAPPY WORK OUT!
Al
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Click on the Cover!
Good afternoon!
Good weekend,
and great work out.
Just released a new Martial Arts book.
But,
it is not for everyone.
I recently read a book which claimed that
martial artists are dying young.
It was a very well researched book.
Went over the history of the martial arts,
traced the ages of death
and pretty much proved that
the martial arts are bad for your health.
Well, I can’t have that.
Even if it’s true its a lie.
So I wrote a book
proving that the truth was really a lie,
and that martial artists can live a long life.
If,
of course,
they do certain things.
So this book is about those certain things.
And,
it is not for everybody.
It is not a book of technique nor form.
It is not a training manual.
It is a serious discussion
as to what is wrong with the martial arts
that makes martial artists die young.
And there are recommendations
and data concerning things like energy (chi),
how you’re supposed to use the body,
and so on.
So it’s a brainy book.
Strictly for those who like to read and understand.
but it could have fantastic consequences
for those who want to understand
the principles behind adjusting your body
so it works properly.
And,
here’s some other news concerning it.
It is a kindle book, which means you download it and read it
on your kindle or iphone or whatever.
Now,
I am planning to write a few books strictly for Kindle.
The Kindle format is unfriendly to pictures,
so there won’t be tons of illustrations,
just a few.
And,
the books are usually about half as long as a regular book.
That is just the kindle format and problems.
But,
it is a huge market for me,
so I have to gear a few books over to it.
Incidentally,
the most well reviewed book I’ve got
is Outlaw Karate.
Five Five star ratings.
Nothing under five stars.
I recommend the paper version
because the kindle version comes in two parts
and isn’t always easy to read.
Good summer to you! It’s almost here, and do you have a plan? Have you selected what martial art you want to master this summer?
Hey, I was talking to this fellow today, He was a pilot, used to push B1s around. that’s right, he was carrying the biggest bullets known to mankind.
We talked about a lot of stuff, and veered into politics, and it was refreshing. He was from Arizona, told me about gun laws there, concealed carry, the incredible border war that is going on and that the news media doesn’t cover. I told him about sanity.
He made the remark, the old saw about:
insanity is when you keep doing the same thing over and over, and expect different results.
I told him that sanity was when you could observe reality. He blinked, and said I was right. Never thought of it, but I was right. And I am.
When you do the martial arts, you practice for some guy coming down at your head with a knife, and you have to observe the exact reality of it all. Observe something other than a knife coming at your head, and you get cut. Blood spurts. You know?
And here is what it all means, most people deal in opinion. Opinion is talk without the facts.
Most politicians do this. They pay no attention to the fact that every state that has fewer gun laws, has less crime. They call for more gun control, which, if you observe the reality, is asking for more crime.
Simple but true.
So on one side we have the relative insanity (all sanity and insanity is relative) of opinion. On the other side we have the relative sanity of observation.
The thing is, it is actually pretty easy to be sane. Just practice your forms, and practice the techniques in your forms, and toss out the bushwah, the stuff that doesn’t work.
But, and this is an example of insanity, many people don’t do that.
Look at the chat rooms, everybody has an opinion. One or two have the facts, and the other 98 or 99 has an opinion.
That, incidentally, is why I don’t bother going to chat rooms, and have even, thus far, eschewed a chat room of my own.
So, here it is again, if you can observe what is real, you can be sane, and the martial arts help you observe what is real.
If you can’t observe what is real, you can only speak in opinion, and the more opinion you have, the more insane you are.
I was doing the Outlaw Karate course, and tossing out bushwah techniques, and trying to find EXACTLY what worked. It really helped me to discover matrixing,
And, what martial art are you going to learn this summer?
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.
Go to the Testimonials in the menu and do a search for your martial art!
Hi Sensei Al!
(On the Black Belt Course) Everything is working great! Thank you for the quick responses. I am enjoying the one on one videos. It may be cliche, but I do feel like I'm there. I also like the conversational style and the way you explain how you're teaching and why. You've got a new student for life. Thank you. ~ Daniel
What's interesting about Al Case's writings and teachings is there isn't any emphasis on 'the unknown' or 'mystery' behind martial arts. Al will slam this information in your face! Quite frankly the data isn't hidden, you'll find you're blind. ~ WG
Al Case is a powerful presence to be around, but if you can confront it, then you will not be sorry, for there is no one like him, and it is an extreme privilege and honor.
I used to read your articles in Inside Karate and was excited when I found your web site. ~ RV
As an old timer with thirty-five years of experience I was really bored, but your works have peaked my interest and shown me that there is much more to learn. I Thank You Again, Sincerely ~ CC
Where was this information 24 years ago? This course is one of the best things to ever happen to me. Thank you Al Case for the gift of knowledge!
Be blessed my teacher, ~ Rev. Ernest R
I bought the Infinite Fist tape YEARS ago and you know? I Keep going back to it! ~ KS
You are a master. You have opened me up to things that I have never thought of before. ~ KFM
I purchased your course on "Create Your Own Martial Art" and absolutely love it. I believe that your matrixing system is very unique. ~ DW
In my entire experience twenty years as a student and an instructor since, no one has contributed more to my martial arts education than you have. I started following your works twenty years ago and although I was young then I knew you had the True Art it was obvious to me even then. ~ Charles C
Students will know longer be slaves of poor instructors and practitioners. ~ Lonnie M
Win from Master Instructor Course
Let me start out by saying thank you. Thanks from all the martial artists who asked why. Al, I'm in the Security and Law enforcement field and carry Instructor credentials, so effective methods in combat and teaching them is what I constantly look for.
Win from Matrix Aikido
I just had to write to you to say WOW. Your INSTANT AIKIDO is great!!! ~ SD
My students have started coming up to me after class telling me how much more they are enjoying it, and that the classes have stopped being so ridged and now flow in a kind of give and take between me and them. I have stopped being a task master and started having fun and letting them teach me as well.
I did the Master Instructor Course and it hit me. The Basics that are so concisely communicated in this course including the Matrix principle IS the solution. It doesn’t matter what “style” I call my art, because all styles follow these same principles. It doesn’t matter how hard I train or how many repetitions I do if I don’t train the right way. And I would never become a master if I didn’t know how it all fits together. Now I do! I can honestly say that I am now on the path that I have always sought as a martial artist. Thank you Al!
I conducted a Matrix Aikido training class for a Security Team at a local manufacturing plant. I tailored the training according to their Use Of Force policy. As you know they need control and takedown skills. I knew Matrix Aikido would be the answer. The training plan you shared was boss. The class went so smoothly. The participants learned very quickly. By the end of the class you could see techniques of Monkey Boxing coming through. They were also able to create their own techniques. There was one female officer in the class who asked to become my private student. She was throwing, locking and taking down guys twice her size. The Security Supervisor wants me to come back and with more participants! I'll keep you posted. ~ L M
Have found your books and dvds excellent. My background is mainly in medical qigong but I practice Sun Style Tai CHi, BaGua and HsingI as well as Eagle Claw, Snake Style Kung Fu and several Wudang weapon styles. This is the first time I have had the underlying principles so clearly explained and in a way that they are immediately workable and demonstratable. I have worked through the Master Instructors Course, Aikido and Butterfly Bagua and have started to breakdown the Sun Hsing I using your matrix method. I was even able to teach a 70 year old friend of mine with no martial arts background your instant aikido where she was able to do some very accomplished locks and throws after the first lesson
Search the testimonials for your martial art!
Free Martial Arts Books
HERE'S SOME FREE MARTIAL ARTS BOOKS, MY THANKS FOR DROPPING BY.
Includes books on Bruce Lee, the Truth About Matrixing, the first Martial Arts book sold in America (It's a real hoot!), and much more!
