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.
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
go to and subscribe to this newsletter:
https://alcase.wordpress.com
Remember,
Google doesn’t like newsletters,
so this is the best way to ensure you get them.
Newsletter 802
What’s Happening in the Martial Arts!
Good afternoon!
Think I’ll do a Tai Chi workout,
those always make me feel so large.
It’s funny…
large on a peaceful scale.
Got an email today,
asking where the newsletters have been.
Here, read for yourself…
Hey Al,
Haven’t heard from you in a while. Are you okay? I miss your newsletters. I’m sorry you’re catching flak from a bunch of little cowards spouting their worthless and unqualified opinions from the safety of their mother’s basement. I’ve been playing this game for a long time (since 1978), and I see you as nothing less than an innovator (if for no other reason than your unique ability to systemize that which has always been chaotic). We live in a unique time where the sharing of information is easier than ever. It’s easy to put people on a pedestal and idolized those who went before us as more than men. But the truth is, they only had a narrow perspective and worldview, and while they did the best they could with their extremely limited access to information, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they are deserving of worship. Just like grade school, only about 5 people out of a hundred actually studied hard and put in the work. The rest either ostracized them, or agreed with them and parroted their phrases to appear more intelligent. I think this phenomenon is seen in the Bible, with William Shakespeare, & in the martial arts. Five percent actually understand what the hell they’re reading (or have read it at all). Most of us do not understand or have not read it, so we agree with those who have and praise the brilliance of the work. The rest think it’s just a bunch of bullshit. My friend, you are among the 5%… No, you are one of those that the 5% study. The difference, is that we have access to more tools than any of our predecessors have had. There will always be the few that create change, and the lazy masses that first violently oppose, and then blindly parrot. You can’t be extraordinary by being ordinary. Keep on pressing on. I value and appreciate your perspective.
-Sean
I thank you, Sean,
from the bottom of my heart.
So let me explain what,
exactly,
has been happening,
and why I am so slow these days.
When I came down from Monkeyland
I was pretty broke.
No place to live,
no job…
no prospects.
Well,
it’s against the law to whine,
so I took on a bunch of jobs.
I drive Uber in the morning,
tutor kids in the afternoon,
do the martial arts in the evening,
and have a janitorial business on the weekend.
And I make sure I work out every day,
and multiple times a day,
if I can.
So that’s what’s been happening.
Survival on the stupid level.
the need for petty, crass cash.
A couple of things happened because of this,
a person gets tired if he isn’t doing what he loves.
So I’m tired all the time.
Poor me.
Whine…whine.
But,
there will come a time when I can shift everything back around,
focus on the martial arts,
and keep going.
After all,
at the end of the road is Monkeyland.
A place where people can go to study martial arts.
Anyway,
it’s not the small people who whine about what I am doing.
There is one common factor in these people:
they have never read what I am doing,
never seen a tape.
They offer opinion without facts.
They think they know everything
based on their own experience,
and they don’t need no durn facts.
So how can I get upset about a bunch of fellows
who offer ignorance as their stock in trade?
It’s sort of like listening to fourth graders
whine about how tough math is,
when the truth is
they just just don’t want to do the work.
And,
the root of the matter,
I’m just stuck in a boring spot,
should be out of it one of these days,
and doing more martial arts.
Then my chi kicks in,
my energy swells,
and life is great.
So that is what is happening.
That is why I am slow in coming out with the newsletters.
It’s my own durn fault,
for putting myself in this situation,
and it continues to be my fault
until I figure out how to right the situation.
So I thank you Sean,
and all the others,
the fifty,
and even the passersby.
Thanks for writing me the email,
encouraging me,
and even chastising me.
I apologize for being a lazy…fellow,
and I guarantee it won’t last forever,
nor probably even long.
In the meantime,
it is up to you.
Work out every day.
Don’t make ignorance your comfort zone,
but delve in,
buy books and videos,
enlarge your cranium with the swell of martial arts.
Put them to work with your friends.
Understand that their is perfection of the spirit
in the study of martial arts,
and that it makes the world a better place.
It calms the spirit,
it undoes undue excitement,
it gives lazerlike insight into the problems of the world.
I’ve been around for a while,
and I will go away,
but the martial arts are your true teacher,
they are the liberator,
the educator,
the enlightenment.
They last forever.
Enjoy.
Now,
I’ll try to work a bit harder,
and stop being a lazy…fellow.
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.
Great morning to you! A great work out to you. A year full of great work outs to you!
Here’s a few martial arts thoughts to start off 2016
I asked this question last year, and I’m going to ask it again. Where do you want to be at the end of 2016? What martial arts do you want to be expert in? How far do you want to go?
Mastery comes from two factors, hard hard you work, and how scientifically correct is your art.
To make yourself work hard, put notes up around the house. Make yourself do fifty punches before you open the frig. Do two forms before you go outside. And inside. Practice your applications as you walk to the bathroom. And so on.
Heck, do your forms before you eat, before you sleep, and upon waking.
If you want to make it this year, if you want mastery, you need to be dedicated.
And, here’s something to think about. I was talking to somebody about the difference between fighting and the martial arts.
You can be a fighter but not a martial artist. You can’t be a martial artist without being a fighter. You can’t be a good martial artist without giving up fighting. It’s true.
It’s also true that in a sport you attempt to defeat the other person. In a martial art you attempt to control yourself.
You should know a minimum of two martial arts. One with lots of force, one with lots of flow. Do that and your mind won’t be trapped by being compelled to move in only one direction.
To win a fight the first thing you must do is control the distance. While there is an art to fighting, the true art is in control.
When it comes to augmenting your studies… Some people learn best from a video. Some people learn best from a book. The best people learn from both.
One thing you should do, if you really want to make it to mastery this year, is sit down and make a list of polite things you can do. Fighting is easy, being polite, especially when somebody wants to fight, is not always so easy. But it is the way to the true martial art.
Okey dogley. That’s enough for now, but think about spending a whole year doing nothing but accumulating wisdom. That’s going to give your martial art real legs.
Have a great work out, and don’t forget to check out the video on this page
Happy Sunday morning! It is perfect, is it not? For a Sunday workout. Peace. Quiet. A time in which to make yourself stronger. More enlightened.
Okay dokay… I was thinking about fantasies and the real world. A fantasy is when you think, ‘I’m going to do this!’ and it bears no reality to the real world.
You practice the martial arts, you mock up defenses for everything from rape to atomic wars and you think you are prepared.
But that’s not what it is all about.
The average person will get in three fights in his life. That’s the actual statistic.
Now, some people have more than that. A lot more. A guy who trains in boxing might have a dozen fights, A cop might have a dozen fights. The guy who trains in a dojo usually doesn’t have any fights.
It’s true! People who train, and especially in the classic martial arts, almost never get in fights. The fights happen around them, but somehow they walk the walk… right out of the confrontation.
You can’t believe how many people have verified this for me.
‘I started the martial arts and now nobody bugs me.’
And the truth is that they have learned to face their fellow man, and themselves, and they don’t have that certain set of fears that results in fighting anymore.
True.
And it lasts their whole life.
True.
And this is what happens when you go through the fantasy of the martial arts. Your fears fade and you are left with the reality of you.
So, let me change pace, because, if you think about it, what I have just said is the truth, and there is nothing more to be said.
Let me bounce around a bit.
Hanakwanmass to you. Whether you believe in Happy Hanukah, Krazy Kwanza, or Merry Christmas, let everybody around you feel the joy you have found in the martial arts.
Give yourself a present, or give somebody else a present, this year, of martial arts.
Let everybody know, just by your calm attitude and peace of mind, what you have by giving it to them.
If we had a planet full of black belts we wouldn’t have any wars.
True.
That is such a totally inescapable conclusion.
And, get ready, next newsletter will be my yearly rendition of The Night Before Xmas.
And here’s something I have never mentioned, every time I recite that Xmas poem, every year, I get people jumping the newsletter. It’s true. I send out my rendition of The Night Before Xmas and people cancel subscriptions at a mad rate.
Makes me laugh.
See there are two responses to the thought behind this Martial Arts Xmas poem.
You can laugh, and embrace the insanity.
You can get mad, and struggle against the insanity.
But the insanity will be there until you do enough work outs. Do enough work outs and the fantasy leaves, and you are left with the truth of the martial arts. All I’m doing is showing the way.
The Way.
Have yourself an incredible HanakwanMass.
and a fantastic work out!
Al
After 50 years in the martial arts, these are the forms I study…
Good Evening! Feel tired after a long day’s work? Go stand in the ready stance. Don’t burst into motion, just wait. Let your body fall into the first move. then the second. Soon you will be working out full bore, and feeling tremendous amounts of energy. Just don’t push it… let it happen.
Okey dokey! I was talking with a fellow this past week end, and an interesting subject came up. Revenge.
I don’t know why. We were just talking, and then…revenge.
Now revenge is very over rated. if you want revenge, then you have already lost. Already been beaten. So get over it.
But, that said, if you are the kind of fellow who dwells obsessively on all the things that people have done to you… the best cure is hard work, attention to details, and dedicating yourself to the goal. In this case, the goal of revenge. Of beating him. Of teaching him a lesson.
And that brings us to an interesting saying.
‘Revenge is a dish best served cold.’
You probably heard it in a Steven Seagal movie, ‘Hard to Kill,’ I believe is the name. The one where he goes through a seven year coma only to wake up and kick ass, and have revenge.
So this old saying an oriental saying and… except it is not oriental. Do a google, and you’ll find it is French!
That’s right. French. And, there is some argument as to which novel it appeared in first.
But, it sounds oriental. It sounds like them evil slant eyes with their insidious plots, said it.
I mean, it even sounds sort of…zen!
But… French.
But here is the trick, it doesn’t really mean what you think it means.
Everybody think it means you take twenty years craft a glorious payback, and laugh evilly over the dying foe.
Nope. That’s downright silly. It’s silly because in 20 years a lot can happen. The guy might die. Your plan might fail. You might evolve and realize that he was right to win, and he isn’t such a bad guy.
But assuming he is a villain of Darth Vader’s stature… why would you want him to enjoy himself for 20 years? I mean, get your revenge and get it while the getting is good! Right?
So here is what the saying REALLY means. Mind you, this really is going to be zen.
Served cold refers to having a calm state of mind.
If you laugh maniacally as he lays dying, then you have become him. You have become the evil. And where is the enjoyment, when the mind is fevered? You aren’t enjoying, you are giving in to your own base urges. But, if you can have a calm mind, then you have beaten him, not just with your revenge, but you have ‘out-evolved’ him.
So, don’t wait, get your revenge as quick as you can, but cool your mind down so you can actually enjoy yourself.
Of course, as for myself, I think I would rather dedicate myself to training before I lost, before I ever needed a revenge. Win the first time. That’s the real key.
Have a great work out and HanaKwanMass!
Al
BTW here’s a course that will help you take control of your hot to trot, fevered, out of control mind.
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!