Who, or what, does the changing in Karate. Interesting question, eh? I’ll give you more of an answer right after the video snippet.
Can you see any changes? Is it different than your Tekki or Horse Kata?
We study a fixed art, don’t change those forms, and that changes us. We adhere to a program, and become the program.
Yet, if we don’t change the martial art, the art will eventually stop changing us.
The art is a a manifestation of the spirit, and the truth of a spirit is that it must keep changing. This is the fact of creation.
So if you are an old dog who won’t alter a move to fit a situation…the porch is over there, go crawl under it.
But, if you are one of these rebel types, willing to put your chin out and risk a wallop, as long as you get to learn something, then you’re in the right company. Here’s a win.
Al I have enjoyed studying your work. I love how it is changing the way I look at Karate and Hapkido. Respectfully James
This is a guy who’s learning Karate, and learning himself at the same time.
Check out my Evolution of an Art page. It offers three complete arts for cheap. Do the arts and you’ll understand how big an art can be. Pick up a free ebook on the home page while you’re there.
Most Karate instructor courses are boot camp, or an accelerated form of ‘monkey see-monkey do,’ or just a bunch of extra forms to learn. Actually, an instructor has to know specialized data, none of which is taught on the instructor courses I’ve seen. Here’s what happened when one fellow saw the data on the Master Instructor Course.
“As I started reading the Instructor Course things that I had been teaching started to become clearer. I could see why you had chosen one move over another in each form. And for the first time I could really explain to my students not only the whys and hows, but how to take the core moves and expand it to fit any situation.
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 also now found that I can more easily critique techniques that I see others as well as my own. I can almost feel what is a pure technique that belongs to an art and one that someone just threw in because they thought it looked pretty.”
This is the mark of a good teacher. The ability to see technique or form and know instantly what is right with it, and what is wrong.
Feel free to check out my Master Instructor page. It works not just for a karate instructor, but for any art, because it deals with the true principles of the MartialArts.Pick up a free ebook on the home page while you’re there.
I wrote a blog the other day, I think it’s on the Matrix Martial Arts blog, that talks about world peace, putting down the sword, and I had the most terrible thought afterwards.
The real meaning of Budo, when you go into the root of the hieroglyphics, is to ‘lay down the sword.’ To make peace.
In other words, you learn how to fight in order tolearn how not to fight.
In other words, you have to pick up the sword before you lay down the sword.
And here is the terrible realization: I have to convince a thousand people to go to war, to create one man to go to peace.
Man! That’s ridiculous!
but that’s how many people start the martial arts, and nevermake it. Actually, the statistic is quite a bit worse than that. But…there it is.
I have to convince people to be warmonging savages just to get one fellow to believe in peace.
Oh, if only we weren’t all warmonging savages tobegin with…then I wouldn’t have to do anything!
Well, having dispensed that bit of cheer, go ahead and drop by Monster Martial Arts, pick up a free book, and learn to (choke) kill.
That picture, of two young guys hunched over and reading, is the greatest martial arts picture of all time. Well, at least for me it is. Weird, eh? I mean, you can’t see my face, the other fellow (Doug) doesn’t care about the shot, and we’re just hunched over trying to figure something out.
In the closets of certain old men you will find, hanging amongst the starched shirts, a fresh pressed gi. A karate uniform. Clean and ready to go. Guy might not have stepped out on the mat for twenty years, but there is something in the closet of his mind that is ready to rock and roll.
His youth was spent becoming a man. Sweating and snapping his muscles till he could hardly stand. Contesting in fiercest and most friendly manner with people he truly loved. And he did not want to put that youth away. He wants that gi, and it is always ready. What he learned, you see, is writ on his bones, and it is a hope and a contagion of competence that outshines the world.
In my favorite picture I am sweating to my core. Even my brain is sweating. And I am becoming the greatest martial arts writer in the history of the world. I have done the physical work, and I have found my friends in combat, and now it is time to record it.
These writings, that picture…they are the gi in my closet. They are my inspiration, and I wish only that the world would understand. I mean, a picture is worth a thousand words, so surely the greatest martial arts picture of all time should be worth a million words?
You can pick up a free ebook, maybe even a few pics in them, at MonsterMartialArts.com
This is the first Classical Karate Stance I learned, and it turned out to be the worst.
The stance, you see is a split between a horse stance and a back stance. Thus, the intention goes to the side, nd to the front. It is split, and reduced in effectiveness. This is because the Japanese fell in love with power.
The correct positioning of the stance should be more weight on the rear leg, and the rear leg turned more in the direction of the stance. Thus, the leg is better ‘coiled,’ and the intention of the stance aligns with the physical nature of the stance.
Now, Shotokan, and other types of Japanese Karate do it the wrong way. Look to Shudokan, or some of the old Korean Kwans (Kang Duk Won) for the right way.
But, even then the stance may be wrong, as schools of thought change, and not always for the better.
Really, the true teacher is physics. Pay attention to the physics, and align your stance, your posture, and your functionality accordingly.
Anyway, if you want more data on correcting classical karate stances, or anything on the correct way to use the body, per physics and not mysticism or bad teaching, you’d have to check out the Master Instructor Course.
I’m going to tell you three reasons exactly why Classical Karate Techniques Don’t Work. Some of these reasons you’re going to be able to fix. Some of them you’re not.
The most obvious Karate Bunkai, and I’m talking about the ones taken directly from the form, don’t work is that they are poser. A Poser technique is one wherein the attacker makes his attack, then holds his pose while the defender makes the technique work. Of course, that’s not really making a technique work.One can go through his martial art and toss out poser techniques, but therein lies a huge problem.
The reason you don’t want to throw out posers ties directly into the second reason bunkai often prove unworkable, these poser tricks are often an evolution to a technique that does work. In fact, while there are many posers that should be tossed, the fact is that many of the posers lead directly into the techniques that are so Fng unstoppable it is unbelievable. Remember, one of the original talents that the originators of Karate had was the ability to disarm a samurai. That takes some kind of technique.
And we come to the third reason, which ties back to the second and first reason. People don’t understand the basics. They don’t take the time to look into the poser techniques until they understand the higher evolutions of art. Actually, when I say basics, I mean basic/basics, the reasons underlying the basics. Heck, when I watch some classical karate classes it is obvious that many instructors don’t even know that the basic/basics exist.
The point of this blog has been to point out three reasons Karate is sometimes less than workable, and to help you deal with them. The unfortunate news, as you will find out when you start shuffling your posers around and trying to eliminate them, you can’t just throw them out. Throwing a low ranking poser out will toss out the higher evolution technique that really works.
This is where Matrixing comes in. Matrixing doesn’t just throw out the exact posers that should be thrown out, it restructures the art, reconnects the lower evolution moves with the higher evolution moves. But it doesn’t do this for you, it gives you the knowledge so that you can do the restructuring. No art, no method, has ever done this before; there has never been anything like Matrixing in the martial arts on this planet. Ever. But if you use Matrixing, you’ll be able to resurrect the power of the original Karate, make all those Classical Karate Techniques work, and without destroying your art in the process.
You can find out how to Matrix your Karate at Matrix Karate.
Training a Karate Instructor is something nobody knows how to do. They either assume that the fellow knows how to teach because he has been studying a long time, or they put him through some kind of boot camp toughen up training. Both methods are absolutely lacking, and have nothing to with learning the precise methods of how to teach. Sad news is that I have seen almost no instructors, no matter how many belt ranks they give themselves, who actually know how to teach. Let me give you a win, then tell you the three things an instructor has to know.
‘When I was helping other students with Matrix Karate, and going through the matrix of blocks one-on-one with them being the attacker, I always had trouble fixing their blocks and stances that had something out of alignment. I understand now that I had a hard time because I was in the action. I think if I had been outside the action I would have been able to fix the problems more easily.’ Thanks for the knowledge, Al. Howard J.
The Instructor has to know the viewpoint of the dummy, because he has to know what the technique feels like. He also has to have the viewpoint of the attacker, because he has to know what to do. But a real instructor actually has to be both attacker and defender, and this is the third viewpoint.
Here’s is the tragedy, 90% of the people reading this say, ‘I knew that.’
No. I am not talking about ‘knowing about’ something, I am talking about a viewpoint of technique that enables you to actually permeate the space of both students, and actually be both students. The unfortunate truth is that no matter how many boot camps you attend, or how many years of experience or belt ranks you go up…the only place on the planet where you can learn to be both attacker and defender, while staying ‘outside the action’ is in the Master Instructor Course. No other school even talks about this, let alone understands it, let alone can get you to do it…but that is the secret of a good Karate Instructor, or of being able to instruct in any martial art.
If you want to learn how to be a karate instructor, or an instructor in any art, the principles of how to teach martial arts are the same, and they are listed exactly in The Master Instructor Course.
The Master Instructor course applies to all martial arts, and not to just Karate systems. Heck, there’s all sorts of things about throws, effortless throws, principles to be applied to karate katas, kung fu forms, martial arts applications any art, and so on and so on.
I think it’s a little easier to understand if you have a karate background, but still, any person from any art is going to be enlightened as a result of reading and doing this material. Here’s a win…
I received my Master Instructor videos yesterday. Awesome information and right to the point. LM
I get these wins from Karateka, kenpoka, aikidokas, kung fu-ists, Ninpo-ists, and on and on. These are the underlying principles, and they don’t just illuminate and make locgical any martial art, they put the martial arts together. Make one picture out of all of them. First time that has ever been done.
Anyway, if you want a taste of martial technology that applies to all arts, and not just Karate, email me for a free karate book.
It’s pretty obvious that this concept, of defining art by the workability of Karate Bunkai has to be pushed through every and all martial arts. Call it Karate Application, Karate Technique, or whatever, if it doesn’t work, don’t do it, and throw it out of your art.
If it is a poser, get rid of it.
If it is bushwah (hit him in the big toe to disable him), get rid of it.
This is not to say that you should get rid of beginning or intermediate techniques which build response and lead to the real thing. This is not to say you should strip your system of energy or breathing techniques, but you should define them more exactly. But…here’s a win.
…has allowed me to perfect the function of my system. Thats the difference between the True Art and everything else. ‘Function.’ Now I have a martial art system that functions at a very High level I might had. I highly recommend this course to anyone who aspires to be an instructor of True Martial Arts.Sincere Thanks Again, Dr Charles R Cashmere Md.,Phd Founder Chung
You do your system, find out what works, what can be kept because it will lead to increased workability, and you define the bulk of your system. Again, be careful, you don’t want to strip the art entire, and just say you’re going MMA, you’d be losing out on the true art. But do get lean and mean and make your art work, and the best way to do this is to make those Karate bunkai work, or to analyze and work them until they do work. Period.
If you want to take a look at a stripped down, functional work of Karate, check out Perfect Karate. It’s absolutely free.
We memorize, you see. We memorize the karate kata, we memorize the Karate technique, and we monkey see monkey do without ever thinking about it.
The proof is that you are saying, ‘Oh, I know about that.’ Everybody says that, until they come across Matrixing, and then the light goes on. That’s why so many of these wins are about people scrambling to readjust their systems once they have matrixing technology at hand.
There is knowing about, and there is knowing, and that is the difference between somebody working out, even after multiple degrees of black belt, and somebody who has found the true art. Here’s a snippet of me doing a karate kata. The techniques are not memorized, they are not practiced, they are created on the spot. They don’t look polished because they are real, which is a very difficult concept for some people to understand.
Here’s a great win.
“After studying the material and applying it to my art of Chinese Kenpo Karate, I feel that its concepts and principles have truly been a benefit as they have given me the key to understand thoroughly what I have been mindlessly practicing for all these years. No more monkey – see, monkey – do karate, I now have the keys to mastering every technique from the most basic, to the most advanced. I have actually coined a phrase for my students; ‘knowing a technique comes from understanding ‘how’ it is performed (outward mechanics). Mastering a technique comes from understanding why a technique is performed and all of the concepts and philosophies involved to make it work’. Mastery is something that is seldom taught in today’s martial arts schools.”
When you understand the difference between ‘knowing about,’ and can move into ‘knowing,’ then we’re on the same wavelength.
