Category Archives: free karate

Learn how to Arrange Karate so it Works for Modern times!

Newsletter 811

How Karate was Mistranslated

Man!
Aren’t summer work outs the best?
You cleanse yourself
through the purity
of plain, old-fashioned sweat.
Glorious!

learn karate the right way

Click on the Tiger!

Okay,
let’s talk about how Karate was messed up.
I’ve talked about how Karate was
mangled by people with vested interests,
power hungry students,
nationalism, religion,
just about every thing under the sun.
So let’s talk about one specific way Karate,
and this is going to touch upon just every art there is,
was truly messed up.

When Karate was developed
people wore armor.
They carried swords.
And to use your fists,
to get your fists dirty
on the body of an enemy
was downright disgusting.
Think about it,
this is simple:
karate was developed to handle samurai,
with their swords and armor.
Karate was empty hand.

So,
do you crack armor with an empty hand?
Maybe,
but while you’re doing that,
the fellow is using his sword.

Do you block that sword with an arm?
Nope.

Do you get the point?
Now,
here is where it truly gets messed.
When the American servicemen were taught karate
they were taught a random variety of throws,
of defenses for weapons,
of specific techniques for specific attacks.

And not many of those attacks were real for this modern age!

So some instructor taught a student
how to disarm a sword.
But when you look at the technique,
there is no sword,
and the fellow the karateka is defending against
is punching the crud out of him.

Punches.

Here’s the funny thing,
Karate rose to the occasion.
All the arts rose to the occasion.
They managed to make fast punches and kicks,
and adapt to striking.

Even though striking was a small part of the whole art.

So Karate,
and other arts,
became skewed
to meet the demands of a punch crazy society.

okay,
summation:
Karate was designed for complete combat,
but then shrunken and warped
to fit the precise punches
of a different culture and time.

And that’s why Karate,
and many other arts,
just don’t work.

It’s like using metric wrenches on a 1950 Chevrolet.

So,
Karate,
and other martial arts,
are broken.
Mismatched.
Outgrown.
And here comes the funny part:
what was the solution provided in America
and in other parts of the world?

The solution was to teach boxing
and call it Karate.
Go on,
visit a few schools.

You will find people doing boxing,
or kick boxing,
or some other thing,
and calling it Karate.

I went to a school the other day,
the instructor had the children hold their hands
in boxing position.
They were taught to bob and weave.
It was not Karate.
There were no stances,
no blocks,
a few kicks,
including fancy ones that looked so cool,
but would get a person killed on the street.

But it said ‘Karate’ on the front window!
Big letters,
too.

And there are other solutions,
some pretty bizarre,
some effective,
but all deviating from what karate really is.
And,
deviating from kung fu,
or other types of arts.

What was my solution?
My solution was demanded
by the fact that I could not box
and call it Karate.
I couldn’t leave behind the energy,
the subtle throws,
the powerful way of developing the mind and body,
not to mention the spirit.

So what I did was rearrange everything,
made it 1, 2, 3 logical,
so that one step led to the next.
So that one didn’t learn a punch,
then a fancy hold,
and let’s throw in a cartwheel kick here,
cause people would really dig it!

I arranged the blocks
so they made as much sense as 1, 2, 3…
and everything is adapted for striking.

But I didn’t throw out the locks and throws.
Instead,
I teach the strikes,
classical strikes using energy,
and you end up in a specific position,
and then I show how each position ends up
in a lock or throw,
if you just continue the motion…logically.

Everybody else is teaching the classical forms,
trying to adapt them to strikes,
when they were not meant to be adapted to strikes.
Strikes were only a small part.

When you do Matrix Karate you learn everything logically,
and that includes the throws which have been put
at the end of the strike.

Think:
in a fight distance closes.
The kicks and punches are done,
the bodies come together,
and that is where the throw should be,
when the distance collapses.

I don’t teach how to fight from six feet away
with a lock or throw.
I teach how to logically close the distance,
using the punches and kicks logically,
and then do whatever throw you are in position to do.

And this is an important point:
after a strike or block,
you will find yourself in a specific position,
and there are only a couple of locks or throws possible.
That is true for every position.
So you don’t search through your mental database,
ransack your memory,
looking for a throw,
or trying to figure out how to throw
from an awkward and not appropriate position.
Instead,
you move forward logically,
and the result is a flow.

Maybe you’ve read some wins people have sent me
from doing some of my forms.
People talk about there being a specific flow
to the forms and techniques.
This is the result of logic.

Anyway,
I could talk forever,
but it’s all written down,
all video’d,
in Matrix Karate.
And if you don’t see the throw,
you can find all the throws,
logically,
so they fit into specific positions of any art,
in Matrix Kung Fu (Monkey boxing.

So,
‘nuff said.
You guys have a great summer work out,
three months working hard
in the heat,
sweating your b***s off.

HAPPY WORK OUT!

Al

For logical Karate:
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-karate/

For logical throws:
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-kung-fu/

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http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-karate/

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The Secret of the Karate Block

Newsletter 807

How Karate Blocks Make You Better

May you have the best work out of your life.
Really.

karate black belt

Kindle version of Matrix Karate (vol 1 of 6)

Speaking of blocks…
When I was in my teens I was studying Kenpo.
I learned all these neat tricks,
was excited about fighting,
and I kept having these weird ideas about strategy
and how the martial arts were shaped.
Oddly,
I couldn’t make these strategies work.
I could fight well,
but these things I was thinking about,
they just eluded me in combat.
And it was because there wasn’t much
in the way of blocking,
in Kenpo.

In my twenties I joined the Kang Duk Won,
I bashed my arms for years,
and I learned about pain.
I learned that pain is a warning device.
And it was all because of blocks.

Funny.
Most people won’t use a real block in freestyle.
I can,
and do if I am teaching somebody
and there is a lesson in it.
But it’s easier to just hit the other fellow
than it is to block.

But I never would have learned
how to slide in and hit somebody
if I hadn’t learned how to block.

I always remember the specific technique
where it all came home.
It was the technique
from the first move of Batsai.
Batsai is spelled a few different ways,
but it means
‘defending a fortress.’

In that technique I had to do three blocks.
And I had to do these three blocks with hips twists,
I had to twist the hips
to align the body
so it could support the impact
without collapsing.
And I had to do it faster
than somebody could throw three punches at me.

For months I tried to get that technique.
I would practice it and practice it,
get guys to give me that attack,
but I just couldn’t move my body fast enough.

One day,
I did.
Just like that.
One second I couldn’t,
and the next second I could.
Like a switch had been thrown.
But here’s the interesting thing:
I felt like I was behind my head.
I felt like I was out of my body,
just a little bit,
and watching my body move without me.

Well,
it was moving because I had mastered
the thought pattern behind the blocks.
I had practiced that mental circuit
until it broke,
and what was left was me.

From there I moved into other things,
hitting without blocks because,
darn it,
I had gotten so good at them I didn’t need them.
And I moved into concepts
of how to move the energy in my body
just by thinking about it.
Which is understandable if you realize
that learning how to block
had taught me how to influence my body
with just thought.

I began to be able to accomplish
all those odd ideas I had had
way back in Kenpo.
Which led to Matrixing.

Nowadays people don’t practice the blocks.
And if they do,
they don’t practice them with the proper hip movement,
the proper alignment,
the proper breathing and thought.

I know this because when people
come to me for lessons,
they show a complete lack of understanding,
no knowledge of the drills,
of how blocking works.

The thing is
there is a whole realm of thought
that goes with learning how to block.
You learn all sorts of things,
and it builds a springboard
for moving into other concepts.

Think about it,
you can box,
and learn how to take a punch,
but that doesn’t teach you
how to run energy through your body.

Nothing wrong with boxing,
it’s actually pretty good stuff,
fills in a few gaps
that are in the martial arts,
but it just doesn’t have the energy theory
that goes along with the martial arts.

Anyway,
I’m working on the Matrix Karate
for a Kindle version.
Kindle is very unfriendly to photos,
so I have to take some out,
and rewrite the thing.
It’s be good,
but not as good as a book,
or a video.
Heck,
even the other electronic readers are better,
because they take PDFs easily.

But one of the things I focus on
to make up for that lack,
is the specific blocking in the forms.
Not the matrix of blocking,
which provides a logic
which blasts one to intuition,
but the old way,
learning the blocks,
making them work,
until the art does you,
and you become the art.

You guys are lucky.
You understand something the Kindle readers
may never understand.
You get everything on these courses.
On the other hand,
the kindle readers may understand something you don’t
because they will be seeing the art
in a more bare bones viewpoint,
that will let their mind fill in the blanks,
which is very healthy for a student.
Well,
who’s to say.
The real lesson is in the work out.
Getting the material and doing it,
thousands and thousands and thousands of times,
until it becomes you,
and you become it.
That will teach you the art,
no matter which of my books or courses you get.

Here’s the full Matrix Karate course.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-karate/

Have a great work out!

Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/matrix-karate/

Don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter at
https://alcase.wordpress.com

http://www.amazon.com/Matrixing-Tong-Bei-Internal-Gung/dp/1507869290/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423678613&sr=8-1&keywords=tong+bei

Do Boxing and the Mixed Martial Arts Really Get the Job Done?

Is there a Disconnect in Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts?

Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts? A disconnect? Something tells me I should stop right now, before people get mad at me.

Click on the Cover to find out the truth...

Click on the Cover to find out the truth…

Except, there might actually be something in the question.

When you box, or perform Mixed Martial Arts, you wear gloves. You don’t wear such gloves on the street.

When you do the ‘Sweet Science,’ or battle in the Octagon, there are ‘fences,’ which means a cage, or ropes, to enclose the fight. There are no such barriers in real life.

When you are down, there is a referred to save you. No ref on the streets, bro.

When you fight in a public venue, such as i have mentioned here, the rounds end and you have a chance to recoup in your corner. No end of round, no corner, no recoup on the street.

I know, this is all unfair, I’m picking on your favorite gladiatorial sports.

Except, I’m not.

Look, I’m not saying these things are bad, I’m just saying they are.

The real disconnect is when you train for things that are, and they might not be. If that makes sense.

The real disconnect, when you study boxing or the Mixed Martial Arts, is merely the ability to break away from your training when you have to.

Training is to enhance the martial artist, it is not to imprison him.

So don’t object to what I say, just consider it, and come up with plans for times when you have to defend yourself and you are not in the ring, in the Octagon, doing Mixed Martial Arts or Boxing.

If you want a real slice of reality, check out ‘Binary Matrixing in the Martial Arts.’

And, if you want real training for reality, check out ‘Blinding Steel.’

Al Case has been studying martial arts for 50 years.

Is Kick Boxing a Good Sport?

Kick Boxing…is it for Everybody?

The exact history of Kick Boxing is pretty easily explained.

Boxing was the sport of gentlemen for hundreds of years, backed up by Marquis of Queensberry rules, and promoted to popular acclaim and lots of tickets sold. After all, this was the manly test, the proof of the pudding, and election of the true top dog.

kickboxcoverkarate kickboxing courseIn the 1960 Karate hit the shores s of the US. It took the country by storm. Dojos popped up by the score, tournaments rippled across the country, and a new sport of gentlemen threatened to take over.

Except that boxing wouldn’t go away.

And, upon examination, there appeared to be good points to both practices.

Boxing had quicker trained methods, was better for immediate self defense, improved the body in a more aerobic fashion, and so on.

Karate, however, had those durned kicks.

Kicks used to be considered ‘dirty fighting.’ But now they were in vogue. And they were MUCH better for street self defense because one well placed kick to the family jewels and a thug was bankrupt.

So, how about if we put karate kicks with boxing punches?

And Kickboxing was born.

It became popular first in tournaments, then became a popular form of defense and conditioning in the gyms of America.

Now, there are a couple of problems with Kick Boxing.

The punches are thrown in a circular fashion off the shoulders, kicks use a more linear type of movement. This is actually an awkward combination, and the result is that the kicks of karate have degraded. People now throw kicks and let the body swing around (exposing the back). Further, when throwing the kicks the energy comes from the Tan Tien, which is an energy center located in the body some two inches below the navel. Boxing does not use this energy center.

So there are differences.

So what is the solution?

Study both. Study a good form of boxing for six months. Get your cardio, pump up the muscles, learn what it feels like to be in a fight (subject to the rules of the ring and your particular kick boxing club). Then explore the classical martial arts. Look for a better relationship between punches and kicks, explore the energy centers used in the practice of Karate.

Al Case began studying martial arts in 1967. His website is MonsterMartialArts.com. You can learn more about theories such as the one expressed here in his book ‘How to Matrix Kick Boxing,’ available on Amazon.

Women Will Fall at Your Feet!

…and bullies will bow down!

The one thing that gets me concerning the Martial Arts, and it shouldn’t, but it does, are ads like the one right below.

I Couldn’t Believe I Froze Up … What’s Really Ridiculous Is That I’ve Been Trained In 13 Martial Arts Since I Was Only Four Years Old, So I, Of All People Should Have Been Able To Do Something, But I Couldn’t – I Didn’t Know What To Do In This Exact Situation, Even Though I Practiced Many Similar Situations. This Was A False Sense Of Security.

karate instruction manual to black belthey_skinny_adThis ad is off the internet, it’s part of a big pitch designed to empower people with ‘invisible force fields’ that enable them to handle multiple attackers with their bare hands, to tear apart whole mobs, and without any martial arts training.

Or, as in the case above, the guy had studied lots of fighting disciplines, but they didn’t work.

Okay, so let’s look at the real facts here.

Fact Number One: I doubt if the guy studied Karate, or Kenpo, or Aikido, or even a smidgeon of Shaolin. But if he did, he better ask for his money back because…They weren’t the real thing, they weren’t real fighting disciplines.

Fact Number Two: In spite of the hype of ads like this, ads which actually degrade the real martial arts in favor of making money for some bum who studied no martial arts, or martial arts that weren’t real, there is no substitute for learning a real martial art.

A fake, comic book, internet scam martial art is a handful of tricks that look neat, but have little relation to each other.

A real self defense method is a LOT of tricks, tied together with effective theory so that everything relates, and which then can work on you to change your mindset and make you a better human being.

Consider this: a real art, like Karate or Gung Fu or Krav Maga develops intuition. It develops a sixth sense. Let me tell you this: if I was that guy I wouldn’t have awakened when the bad guys so much as stepped on my property. The hairs would have stood on my neck, I would have been wired, I would have been more alert than Defcon Five! Because THAT is what a real fighting discipline does to you. It wakes you up, it makes you intuitive, it gives you that sixth sense. 

Consider this: when you study a real discipline, like Jujitsu or Wing Chun or good, old Karate, when somebody holds a gun on you…you instantly wake up! You are more alert than you have ever been, and you can’t stop the scenarios from enfolding in your mind. I can do this, I can do that, and you sort through them and wait, because you know, when the time comes, that you won’t be thinking, you will be doing.

Concerning the above two considerations, the above two chapters, I speak from personal experience. This is not a hype, or a war story, or some whimsical comic book supposition.

So the conclusion is this: if you don’t know a real form of self defense, a classical method that’s been formed through the centuries, then you are a sitting duck. You have no discipline for emergencies, you have no plan, and you likely don’t even have the conditioning.

Yes, sometimes a form of self defense like Karate or Kung Fu might have some mistakes in it, maybe defenses against weapons that are no more, maybe a poser technique, but even these problems tend to make you think, condition your body, give you alternatives in the extreme. Everything is an education, and it really all depends on what you do with it, whether you make it real enough to save your life.

And, here is the truth: don’t bother with the hype, don’t bother with comic book ads. Only seek out real martial arts, real forms of self defense. Learn them fast, and learn more than one, because what one doesn’t teach another one will.

To do less is to stand on the street in the middle of the mob holding hundred dollar bills and scream ‘Don’t take my money!’

You’ll end up in the gutter faster than fast, and it’s your own fault for not being prepared, for not getting in shape, for not giving yourself a real Martial Arts education when you could have.

About the Author: Al Case has studied Martial Arts since 1967. He is the originator of Matrixing Technology, which is the only science of the martial arts in the world. People who learn Matrixing can absorb classical martial arts three times faster, and make them work three times better.

If you want to learn a real method of Self Defense, the best place to start is Matrix Karate

Horse Stances and Karate Punches…

It’s the wind up, it’s the karate punch, it’s the…oops!

Good Lard is it a beeootifull day, especially for the ultimate karate punch..

Good day to work out, limber up the muskles, knock the fat off yer frame. Get healthy. Ya know? Are ya ready to talk martial arts?

kata unsu

Matrixing your horse stance training with Matrix Karate. Click on the pic.

Click on the book to find out about the man who killed Kenpo Karate.

Click on the book to find out about the man who killed Kenpo Karate.

One of the drills I hated the most, but got the most out of, was the simple horse stance. We would spread the legs, get the thighs down to where they were almost parallel to the floor, and put up one high block, and extend the other hand to the side in a chicken beak, and look at our finger tips. We called this position Kima Chasie. Horse Meditation.

And we meditated on the pain it would cause us.

Now, forget the pain, forget the stronger legs, forget everything but the real purpose of it. Get out of your body.

After a couple of years of dabbling with horse Meditation I decided to do it right. I decided that pain wouldn’t cause death (in this instance) and that I should just do the exercise until I got what it was all about.

So, I hit the stance, looked at my fingers, and concentrated on breathing. Time passed. Minutes seemed like hours. My mind began to still, the world slowed down. Seconds seemed like hours.

And, suddenly it all stopped hurting. No pain at all. The whole universe was one peaceful concept that i could live with forever.

How long did it take me to get there?

Five minutes.

That’s all.

Zingo bingo, instant enlightenment.

Doing the Horse Stance Form and techniques at 61.

Now came the problem. When I tried to move, I couldn’t. My whole body had locked up. Man, I was freaked. Tried to wiggle backwards, couldn’t move, couldn’t even rock. Tried forwards, ah, there we go, I could fall for…oh shit…ah! Landed on my face.

So, enlightenment is possible through the old training methods, but sometimes it can be weird, freaky, and even as significant as a karate punch on the nose.

Hey, any of youse guys feel like coming over to see me, I live on good old Monster Martial Arts. Brings your friends, the doors are open, leave your old life outside.

See ya.

Al

Here’s a great article on how to be Karate tough. If you can take it. Grrr.

Speed Drilling in Karate

Newsletter 703
The Secret of Speed in the Martial Arts

Let’s talk about speed in the martial arts.

We used to have this exercise
back at the Kang Duk Won
it was called ‘Speed of speed.’
And,
it was brutal.
You faced your partner,
and there was only one attack:
a chop to the neck,
you turn the hand
so the flat of the hand strikes the shoulder.
What made it brutal was the times
when you collided with your partner.
Neither of you was faster,
and you both ended up hurting.

making faster karate techniques

speed kick in karate


 
Believe me,
as stupid as it sounds,
you won’t see this exercise
anywhere in the martial arts.
It just hurts too much.

Yet,
here’s the thing,
after a few months of doing this,
of suffering bone bruises to the forearms
you found that you were faster.
Some lower belt would come in
and he’d just start to twitch
and…WHAM!
you were hitting his shoulder so hard
his head near fell off!

Now,
I tried teaching that,
and people didn’t want to learn it.
Man,the groans and moans.
So I persisted,
and had small classes
of REALLY tough martial artists,
but I kept thinking about speed.

I thought about the kenpo
circularity of motion theories and drills,
but hitting somebody ten times in a second
didn’t allow one to get the body behind any of the strikes.
Hmmm.
So you have to be fast in the intuitive sense,
in the sense that Speed of Speed built up,
of seeing when somebody was starting to move,
and moving before him.
THAT was when you could get the whole body behind the strike.

So,
have you ever watched the Magnificent Seven?
The scene where Yul Brynner claps his hands?

I started out with the hands apart,
standing in a back stance,
and the partner has to close the distance
and punch the chest before the hands clap.
Worked like a charm.
Easy to do,
not so brutal,
and directly applied to increasing power through weight.

And,
there were variations I tried,
one of them,
of unusual interest,
is standing to the side with a stop watch.
Tell somebody to punch when they hear the stop watch click,
and click the stop watch a second time when the punch touches the target.
Interestingly,
times were being measured in a full second.
Yes.
That long.
No chance at all
of the punch being fast enough to work.
But what turned the trick
was to stand behind the person being punched,
and let the person watch you click the stop watch.
Man,
then they sped up,
and that was because you got rid of all reaction time,
and the puncher could see and anticipate.

But isn’t that what it is all about?
When somebody is about to punch
you don’t wait for the punch,
you look,
you examine,
you analyze,
you predict when it is coming.

Usually it starts with some kind of emotional set up,
but with the stop watch there was no emotion
and guys could get past the idea of emotion,
get past fooling each other with twitches and tells,
and directly view the factors of the strike.
People got fast real fast,
and we could tailor the strikes,
increase speed in everything
from blocks to kicks to whatever.

Now,
you can use this data,
do the exercises,
make your own exercises,
have some real fun,
and get past a lot of stuff,
and increase speed in the one area
that really matters,
putting weight behind a real strike.

And,
if you have a little extra hair on your chest,
you can always try speed of speed.
To this day
I know that that exercise,
as crude and brutal as it was,
was the one that made the real difference in me.

Okay,
if you want to increase speed
because you have perfect alignment in your body,
and perfect alignment WILL increase your speed,
then check out the Master Instructor Course.

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/4-master-instructor-course/

AND,
BTW,
I’ve been fooling around
making a few sites just for grins and giggles,
so try this one…

http://combatselfdefence.wordpress.com

It’s aimed at explaining things about matrixing and neutronics,
and how they apply to the martial arts.
It’s not for everybody,
and I’m not done with it,
I’ll be working on it as time goes by,
but it’s at a point where
I thought people would appreciate it,
maybe even have some insight as to what they would like on it.
Feel free to leave comments on the site,
what you think,
any advice,
whatever.
It actually gets to me
faster than an email.

Okay,
it’s the middle of summer
so act like it!
Work out till you sweat COPIOUSLY,
and enjoy an occasional beverage.

Have a great and work out filled weekend!
I
Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/4-master-instructor-course/

Don’t forget to subscribe to this blog…top of the sidebar.

Why We Wear Martial Arts Uniforms…

To Gi or not to Gi, that is the Martial Arts Question…

I put on my first gi back in 1967. It was pretty cool, my school had actually found a company that could supply us regularly. Very difficult to find sometimes, back then. We didn’t mind the $15 we had to pay.

It was yellowish, too short, looked ridiculous, but I found something interesting: it taught you how to focus. When you punched right it ‘popped!’

So I made everything I did pop, every kind of kick and punch and even block that I could…I popped.

I bought my first Tokaido, and it was a day in heaven. I’m not a clothes hound, but when I stepped on to the mat in that Tokaido, I felt…BIG!

And, my techniques were better. It took more power to pop, the material was thicker.

Of course, I had to buy the Tokaido, I had been made into an instructor, and I was told to look the part, or else!

I wore that uniform til it literally disintegrated. I went through the ‘don’t wash’ period, for a couple of weeks. Then the smell made me realize that I wanted to wash it, and I used to wash it and press it and fold it with absolute devotion and respect.

Yet I knew, always, that it was always in my mind. It was my uniform, my way of ‘preparing’ for my mock combat, my lessons in mortality and immortality.

Don’t want to wear one? That’s cool. Choice.

But look inside the uniform first, look under the skin. Check out to see whether you have the requisite pride, and in the proper degree and form, before you hold them in disregard.

As for me, they’ll have to pry my gi from my cold, dead…body.

Have a great work out! Al from monstermartialarts.

Check out the new Kenpo Karate book!

How to Defend Against Dogs with Martial Arts

Martial Arts Defense Against Killer Dogs

Is this going to be a GREAT week or what?
Eh?
I mean,
the stars are in alignment,
the tea leaves are propitious,
and,
if that isn’t enough…
you get to work out!

best karate kung fu chi training manual

Click on the cover!

Of all them prophetic devices…
only the work out is the sure thing,
so I think I’ll work out twice!

Oinkly doggie.
Let’s leap right into the good stuff,
let’s talking about taking out attack trained,
killer vicious curs called…
guard dogs.

I was ten years old,
was cutting across a neighbors estate on my bicycle
and a big, old weimaraner
who I had known and played with,
attacked me.
Dragged me off the bicycle
and I managed to steer the falling bike
towards the property line,
and I fell into the street.
Off the property.
The guard dog,
who I had known and played with,
petted and wrestled with,
growled and snapped at me,
but was stopped by the property line.

Okay.
Guards dogs gone wild.
you know?

So I was afraid of dogs after that.
Then,
when I was eleven,
my older brother gave me his paper route.
And,
on one of the streets,
you guessed it,
a dog.
Not a guard dog,
but he would run into the street
and chase me.
I would peddle and cry.
And I asked my brother what he did about the dog.
“I kick it.”
It’s got to reach you,
so when it jumps,
I kick it.

I envisioned kicking,
even practiced it a bit,
and,
the next day,
I was delivering papers,
and,
you guessed it,
the dog comes chasing after me!

Man,
I stomped that sucker right in the face.
He yipped and ran.
And,
a half hour later,
I rode past that house again.
I was feeling a bit proud,
maybe even a bit blood thirsty,
hoping that dog would attack me again
so I could nail his face with my
Sunday go to meeting shoes.
(They were the only hard soles I had)

There were teeth on the ground!
I had actually knocked his teeth out!
HAHAHAHA!

And,
over the years,
I think about the A$$whole
who owned that dog.
Cause it’s the owner that should be kicked,
not the dog.
I’ll bet the owner thought it was funny,
his lights were on,
he let the dog out,
laughed when the paper boy ran.

Well,
he was feeding that dog mush with a spoon now!

Okay.
That sets us up.
Let’s talk about Monkeyland.

We have dogs up here.
Truth,
I LOVE dogs.
I hike all over with them.
I throw sticks.
I even swim with them!

Nothing is better than a big, old mutt
with a wet, sloppy tongue.
Nothing.

So we’ve got three dogs.
One is a hundred pound lab.
Big frigging tongue on that boy!
The other two are Mallenois.
Mother and pup.
Mallenois are like under sized german shepherds.
And,
they are highly prized as guard dogs.
My partner brought them up,
introduced the mother,
who was highly trained,
as a killer.

Well,
that’s not really what we’re about at Monkeyland,
but he’s my partner’s,
so now we have a highly trained attack dog.

Here’s the bad news.
The mother is loving,
one of the most loving dogs I have ever seen.
It is…
over loving.
Frantic.
Desparate.
You can’t go outside without the dog leaping on you,
hugging you,
trying to curl around your feet,
prostating itself and
…just wanting love.

The trainer,
you see,
has done a number on her.
Probably a good trainer.
My opinion,
however,
is that the dog will protect instinctively.
Doesn’t need to be trained to harm a human being.
In fact,
I think the training,
to harm another human being,
is a crime.
And what it has done to that poor dog…
Lord.
That poor dog is just out of its mind.

It’s always the owner,
in this case the trainer,
you know?

Anyway,
before I rant on a$$wholes who train dogs,
let’s talk about taking out a dog
that has been trained to harm human beings.

I went out on the front porch to do a work out.
Beautiful out there.
A mile of green valley and blue skies.
High, puffy clouds wafting across the sky.
A hint of breeze to cool off the work out
and let it go even longer.

Paradise,
you know?

BUT,
the dog wants love.
Is desperate for love.
And it crawls under my feet,
tries to jump on me.
So I practice my footwork,
anticipating directions,
and the dog is falling into space,
can’t keep up,
even falling down.

Hey!
This is fun!
BUT,
somewhere in there,
the attack responses are triggered.
The dog leaps at me.

Remember that dog I played with?
And who dragged me off my bike?
Man,
here it as,
all over again.

Not quite vicious,
but the line between love and hate,
usually large,
has been slipped over.
The dog leaps at me,
snapping at my wrists.
I realize that this is one of the devices
that the trainer must have used.
Play,
slap around,
get it to go lightly vicious.
A game,
you know?

But the A$$whole trainer
obviously didn’t know martial arts.

I was doing Tai Chi at the time,
the first move,
ward off.
The dog leaped,
I shuffled back slightly,
bowed my belly in,
and held my arms out,
the dog was in my space,
and I lowered my arm so that the forearm was at the neck,
turned my hips,
and threw the dog.

Man,
you have never seen such a quick and efficient throw.
That dog just flipped on its side.

It leaped at me.
I did golden rooster,
a simple knee,
and the dog bounced off the point of the knee and fell back.
Yipping!

I smiled,
cocked my head,
and held my hand out and motioned to the dog like Bruce Lee.
Come on.

The dog went for the feet.
I was wearing soft shoes,
so I merely stepped in front of my left foot with my right,
then,
when the dog was fooled,
slapped it in the head with a left sole behind the right leg.
Came right out of nowhere,
rocked that momma like there was no tomorrow.

Now,
I was being incredibly soft.
I LOVE dogs.
Even attack trained vicious guard dogs.
It’s the owner,
you know?

But I moved across that porch,
befuddling,
confounding,
confusing,
and threw that dog this way and that.
Didn’t use any force.
Just slipped and turned,
gave the dog the target,
then withdrew it.

And,
after a while,
the dog wasn’t sure what to do.
In the game it had been trained in,
it won,
got a cookie for savaging a wrist or ankle.
Got loving for biting the padded mid section.
Here,
there was no midsection.
And the ankles bit back and were gone.
And the wrists,
oh Lord,
going for the wrists
was a fool’s errand.
That always resulted in a disappearing target,
and a dog body flipped on it’s side,
and a series of Karate punches to the belly.
Soft punches.
And,
grin,
I avoided any of the Tai Chi strikes.
I didn’t want to kill the dog.

So,
that’s how you handle an attack trained
vicious,
killer guard dog.

Karate will work fine,
or any other art,
but remember that it is play here,
and that you are,
in essence,
undoing what the dog has been trained to do.
And,
remember,
it is always the owner.

The guard dog,
any dog,
is just one of God’s critters,
and we are charged with taking care of them.
Not using them against our fellow man,
beyond their natural protectiveness.

And,
it makes me think,
there are a few people I’d like to ‘de-train’
a few politicians.
Hmmm.
Maybe that’s a story for another time,
eh?

Have a great and glorious work out!
And don’t forget to pet your dog,
and play with him every day.
especially if he’s been attack trained.
Grin.

Al

Here’s the link for Matrix Tai Chi Chuan.
That’s the stuff I use,
and I recommend it HIGHLY!

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/2ba-matrix-tai-chi-chuan/

Breathless Martial Arts…Empty Karate…Silent Aikido

The Value of Silence in the Martial Arts

Karate, Gung Fu, Taekwondo…no matter what martial art…they need silence to grow.

My first hint of this was the ‘empty’ in Empty Hands, which is the literal translation of Karate.

Empty hands, and empty mind. A zen thing.

kung fu karate

Be silent, my friend, and hear yourself think…

 
Not how many tournaments you can win, not how ‘bad’ you are, but how silent you can be.

A light bulb depends on space to create the spark that lightens society. Is not space emptiness? Silence?

The human being is a light bulb, a machine through which sparks energy. But he blathers so much that there is no silence, thus, he never turns on those extra sensory perception tools like telepathy.

He is left with the sound of his body, a noisy thing that obscures his real thoughts.

A human being must create silence, and then the light bulb can go on.

When there is no sound he can create silence.

When there is no sound he can listen…and hear.

Hear what?

Hear his own thoughts.

Hear the thoughts of others.

When I was in the city I found it difficult to work out. I had done martial arts in such a way, and for so long, that I wasn’t interested in speaking, and the speaking of others disturbed the silence.

Humans are a loud variety.

Their heads actually make enormous noises, but the noises are beneath the human band of hearing. Thus, he is guilty of noise pollution, a machine trundling through life making squeaking gurgling sounds that are deafening to animals, but nothing to himself. He has made sure he can’t hear his own noise.

A polluter.

When you create enough silence the world speaks to you.

You can hear the animals look at you.

Animals are silent. They know how to listen. They never bothered to learn how to speak. Their ‘speech’ is more in action, pose, posture, grin.

Humans are so miserable.

They talk and they talk and they talk, and the world never listens.

Try the martial arts.

Try them blindfolded in a room without lights late at night.

Move by using your imagination.

Do your karate or kenpo or aikido in silence, lessening even the slither of bare foot over carpet, doing without noise.

Until not even your breath can be heard.

Breathless Martial Arts.

When you finally succeed in making perfect silence, then will you hear the true martial arts.

Then will you hear the world.

Then will you hear yourself.

Al Case has been studying the Martial Arts since 1967. Tai Chi Chuan is perfect for creating silence in the Martial Arts.