Category Archives: karate kata

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/

go to and subscribe to this newsletter:
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so this is the best way to ensure you get them.

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

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

How the Ignorant Defend their Ignorance

Ignorance in Kenpo, Karate, and other Martial Arts

March,
what a wonderful month.
I’m going to work out every single day,
right into April.
You do, too!

I was checking my stats on Amazon,
and reading the reviews people write about me.
Interesting reading.
But crazy.
Let me explain.

I’ll get two reviews for a book,
one is a five star review,

VERY Interesting.. and I like the “creation” theories and methods… JUST what I was looking for.
and one is a one star review.

Waste of time if you are a serious martial artist…poor illustrations…bad

The five star talks about interesting ideas.
The one star just says ‘stupid.’
Hmmm.

How could one book provoke two such dissimilar reviews?

Well,
let me tell you.

I received an email a while ago,
the fellow said:
I don’t understand all the writing,
but when I see the pictures (videos),
then I get it.

Well,
of course,
a picture is worth a thousand words.
BUT
the real key here
is that he didn’t understand the writing.

Here are some frightening statistics.

50% of adults can’t read at 8th grade level.
45 million people are functionally illiterate.
and,
one that is very important,
6 out of 10 households don’t buy a single book in a year.

Let’s consider the implications of these statistics
as they relate to my books.

Out of the 50% adults that can’t read at 8th grade level,
there are going to be a substantial number
who are passionate about the martial arts.
They are going to read what some people see as five star material,
but because they don’t understand it,
because there aren’t enough pictures,
they are going to perceive it as worthless.
At best,
they are going to sense that something just passed them by,
and they are going to be pissed.
Pissed enough to give one star.

Out of the 45 million that are functionally illiterate,
some are passionate,
they live in blogs with small words,
and they are,
again,
angry.
A rich life is passing them by,
and though they feel that something is happening,
they can’t see it.

But here’s the kicker,
6 out of 10 don’t buy a book in a year.
But they do read on the computer,
and they are vocally upset,
when they don’t understand what somebody has said.

This is the defense mechanism of the ignorant:
get upset when you don’t understand something.

Now,
why do I bring this up.
Because I get a few low reviews,
that discourages others from buying,
and the vey valuable knowledge
that is in my books,
is then removed from the hands of the consumer.
The intelligent consumer who needs to know,
but is being waylaid by the ignorant.

Feel free to give a review.
I prefer nice,
but honest will do.

When you see a bad review,
especially if you have read the book,
and disagree,
answer them.
I can’t,
but you can.
Set the record straight.

And,
make sure you are literate,
that your children are literate,
and that knowledge can be passed down.

This world is not Rep v Dem,
it is not haves v have nots,
it is ignorant v intelligent,
and if the intelligent don’t set the ignorant straight,
then the intelligent lose.
So do you want the world to get more intelligent?
Or more ignorant?

Here’s the book which received the reviews I listed above.

http://www.amazon.com/HowCreateKenpo-Creating-Kenpo-Create-Karate/dp/1500930245/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457201795&sr=1-7&refinements=p_27%3AAl+Case#customerReviews

Have a great work out!
Al

 

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

Karate Before You Were Born

Zen Karate Summed up by One Question

It’s hot here in LA,
and you can really sweat those toxins out.
The best way to sweat?
Work out!

I was driving down the street the other day,
and I saw all sorts of martial arts studios.
MMA, Muay Thai, Boxing,
Karate, Kung fu, Kenpo,
Judo, Aikido, Taekwondo,
and on and on and on.

When I began,
in 1967,
which is near 50 years ago,
there was judo,
which was taught in a few places,
and there was Karate.
Interestingly,
Karate was undergoing a boom.
This was just before Bruce Lee,
and the Tracy Brothers had breathed fire into marketing,
and Karate schools were opening every where.

I began Kenpo,
went every day,
became an instructor,
and so on,
and I had a lot of questions,
and nowhere to get the answers.
The only magazine was Black Belt,
and they sort of circled the arts,
talking about,
but never delving in.

And there weren’t many books.
There was the outlandish Super Karate Made Easy,
Ed Parker had a book out,
Robert Smith wrote his book on
Shaolin Temple boxing.
But these books were either techniques books,
or they talked in mysteries,
and there was no way to understand what the heck
the martial arts were all about.

Then I came across a book called
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.
I had left kenpo by then,
and was in the Kang Duk Won,
and this book was a Godsend.

Not a book about technique,
not a dissertation of mental tricks,
rather questions and tales
that made you blink,
and look for the real you.

One of my favorites was the old question,
‘Who were you before you were born.’

Now you might be wondering,
how can an art built of physical routines
answer that question?

The answer to that wonderment
lies in the simple fact
that we were not distracted.
Karate was not infected by boxing,
throws weren’t an active part.
And so on.

On the surface,
looking back,
reading these words as I write them,
I can understand
why people might wonder,
how can you call that an art?
How can you think of that stripped down sapling
as a wondrous forest of spirit?

Easy.
We weren’t distracted,
and we practiced those few techniques we knew
until we could make them work.

Enlightenment is when you do one thing
without distraction,
until you see the truth of that one thing.

You have heard people like Bruce Lee say,
in the end,
a punch is just a punch,
a kick is just a kick.

But,
here’s the bad news,
if you haven’t found that out
through doing a simple kick,
or punch,
without distraction,
for tens of thousands of times,
then the truth of the statement evades you.

You know about water,
but you’ve never been wet.

That is why,
except for a few logical changes,
and the nudging of matrixing,
the karate I do now,
is virtually the same
as the karate I did way back when.

Pinan one through pinan five,
the iron horse,
a few others,
I do them almost the same as I learned them.
And,
here’s the interesting thing,
the way I learned them was only a couple of generations
removed from the way they were taught before Funakoshi.

I go into modern schools
and I don’t see what I learned.
I see forms infected by boxing,
distracted by MMA,
slanted by tournaments and kick boxing.
I see techniques discarded because people can’t make them work.
I see people fighting,
instead of painstakingly being taught the drills that lead to…not fighting,
to scientifically assessing an opponent and shredding him without waste.

Most of all,
I don’t see the calm of mind,
the calm that comes not from knowing about lots of arts,
but from knowing one thing well.
And, in these modern times,
if people do know one thing well,
it has been slanted by ‘reality fighting,’
by the desire to beat up your fellow man,
not to calm yourself,
and find the truth of yourself.

Not to find out who you were before you were born.

Here’s the art that I was taught,
unchanged except for a few logical tweaks,
and the ‘de-slanting’ of matrixing.

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

Hope you enjoy getting back to the ‘zen’ of it all.

Have a great work out!
Al

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

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

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.

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!

Karate Breaking Will Smash a Man’s Skull!

Break that Sucka!

Karate Breaking Techniques were the rage back in 1967. This was because Karate, and other martial ars like Kung Fu and Taekwondo were new to the land. Nobody knew anything back then, and darn, if you could break a board…why, you could break a man’s skull!

There are some interesting things about a skull, and let me preface this article on karate breaking methods with a rather fascinating datum.

karate breaking technique

It takes Great Karate technique to break a skull!



While a skull is hard and rigid, it is easy to break. To prove this take an egg out of your refrigerator, hold it in your palm, and…without using the fingers!…squeeze.

As hard as you squeeze, that egg is going to laugh at you.

Now, use your fingers, and clean up the gooey mess. If you squeeze a skull it ain’t gonna break. If you poke it soft enough, it will. How soft? Fifteen pounds of pressure per square inch is enough to break a skull.

There are a lot of variables, of course. The skull bone differs in thickness. Hair cushions. And so on. Which puts the real force required somewhere between 16 and 196 pounds. Hit a fellow in the side of the skull, right behind and above the eyes, and the bone is thin, and it might take only 15 pounds of pressure to break that puppy. But thee are some places where the bone is thick and the pressure could take 200 pounds easy.

But, that said, a karate strike, properly done, will range from 300 to 400 pounds of pressure. That should be more than enough to crack up a skull.

So what stops a skull from being cracked when a karate punch is applied to it?

First, a skull in motion is harder to break than a skull in place.

A karate punch will frequently glance off a head moving frantically out of the way. In other words, you have to have the intended target hold still so that a perfect karate strike can be focused exactly if you wish to increase your breaking chances.

Second, speaking of moving out of the way, if a surface is pliable it will resist breaking much more than a surface that is rigid. This is to say that a skull being karate kicked will move back, thus dissipating force; which is to say that if you want to do your karate breaking techniques on a human style head, it would be nice if that skull would lay down on a concrete surface with no give.

And, speaking of karate breaking techniques, we come to the juice of this martial arts article. If you want to break a cranium, you need to practice your martial arts breaking techniques on similar objects first.

Start with Karate board breaking.

To build your break a board technique, start with one board. Number two pine, an inch thick, 12 by 12.

Once successful, go to two boards, three boards, and so on.

And, do not put pencils between the boards. Putting pencils at the edges creates space in the material being broken, and while a bunch of boards makes it look like karate breaking is awesome, the truth is that you can only break five or six boards with no spacers, but you can break up to 20 boards with spacers.

So be honest. Don’t go for the yell of the crowd at a karate breaking demonstration…go for the inner satisfaction of being able to break only a piddling five or six boards with no spacers. This presents the question of whether you wish to impress impressionable young minds, or build your inner strength of character.

And, speaking of honest board breaking techniques, don’t go leaving your boards out in the sun for a few days prior to your breaking exhibition. Dried boards break easier than regular boards. Like kindling, as a matter of fact.

But, on the same token, don’t let your boards get wet before you break them. Your iron hand kung fu technique will turn into mushy hospital visitation rights.

And, that is about all there is to breaking boards, and, if you insist, upon karate breaking human skulls.

But…if you wish to do karate breaks on skulls, let me offer the obligatory caution: detached retinas, brain hemorrhage, fractured bones, and permanent neurological disorders. All of which translates to slurred and halting speech, let alone cauliflower ears and big, old puffy noses and…over 6 deaths a year in the boxing ring.

So practice your karate breaking technique, and do it for real, as if you really had to break a skull, but settle for perfection of character by resisting the urge to violence.

Here is an hilarious anecdote about a fellow who knocked himself out with karate breaking techniques. If you want to actually learn Karate well enough to break skulls, click on Matrix Karate at Monster Martial Arts.

Here’s a great article on Karate Breaking Techniques. If you want to start work on really advanced Karate, here’s a book on how to Build Chi Power.

Basic Karate Kata Revolutionizes How to Teach Karate!

Basic Karate Kata Introduces New Teaching Method!

Let’s face it, most basic karate Kata are boring, and couldn’t boredom be the reason many people quit their karate class early on?

With this in the back of my mind, I decided to make a better basic Karate Kata. Simply, I wanted my karate class to be fast and fun. I wanted a karate form that would include all the basics, and actually involve the student.

best karate form

Does your karate form look like this?

 

Before we get into the form itself, consider that most forms are basically step and block drills. Step and strike. A piece of a karate technique, and not the whole thing. Thus, in addition to being boring, the forms have little value except for indoctrination into how to learn things rotely.

Can anybody spell second grade? How about behavior modification? Both good reasons to put aside long used teaching methods and find a better way of teaching Karate, or kung fu, or whatever your martial art is.

beginner karate

Or does it look like this?

In making the basic Karate Kata called ‘House’ I decided to use three basics, the low block, the outward middle block, and the high block. Those are easy enough for a beginner to learn quickly, and real enough for simulated fighting.

I then placed these blocks on a line, and put a punch after each block. Thus, there is stance change, weight shift, basics, and the idea that you can actually block and then offer a karate punch, or martial arts counter of some kind.

Now, to be honest, Chinese Kenpo, as presented by Ed Parker, had a good idea in their short one basic karate kata. The unfortunate fact is that while the idea of facing all four directions was good, it needlessly complicated the basic function of this kenpo form.

So, in line, three blocks, strikes right after each of the blocks, and you have something that works in real fight simulation, and can be learned quickly and easily, and, here’s an important element, can be upgraded into a more difficult variation.

Let’s say you begin the student on the first step, a low block and punch, and he can’t quite get it. That’s okay. The martial arts are new to him, and he’s confused by all the data. Let him be confused, drill him only on that one move until he gets it, then give him the second piece. Then, drill him on the first and second movements till he gets them, his own confusion will keep him entertained, and, finally, he can progress to the third move.

Thus, the karate student learns the whole kata.

Now, want to keep him learning? Want to make sure he does the form enough to get the deep down essence of the moves? Have him drill it in two man fashion. This is just like one step blocking movements done at the beginning of a traditional Karate class, except that it is a two man form, and the reality of the movements, that is to say the form, is being re-inforced with every single strike. More important, it takes no excessive teaching, you just have the student do the basic karate form and feed it strikes. He will have realization within minutes concerning how to do this, and he will be off to the races!

The Karate student thinks he knows it? Ask him to speed up. Ask him to do it without stepping,  while standing in place. Ask him to do it with a (rubber) knife or stick!

The possibilities are endless, and this simple, basic karate Kata is suddenly opening doors that are refused to students who learn in the same old same old mass education manner.

If you would like to do this form yourself, click on Basic Karate Kata, if you would like to learn an entire karate system taught in this manner, go to Matrix Karate at Monster Martial Arts.

Entering the Mind of No Mind

One thing karate does is enable a person to enter the mind of no mind. The method of karate enables this as a pretty distinct fact. Unfortunately, society has destroyed true karate at a relatively fast rate, and so you should pay attention to this article, and implement the principles in your karate training.

Mind of no mind is also called, in Japanese, mushin no shin. While held up as mystical in the orient, it is actually pretty straightforward, but it does require a person to become somewhat enlightened. The real key here is to see things as they are, not as one wants them to be, or as they have been in the past, but as they are now.

zen karate

A perfect circle has no corners

 

The key to mind of no mind is to isolate the now, to actually exist wholly in the moment. Thus, when the punch is thrown, or the kick is launched, or the sword whistles through the air, you perceive it actually happening, and time actually slows down. Although, what is really happening is that you are becoming calm enough, being outside your mind, and seeing time as it really is, as it really happens.

There are a few things you need to isolate and cultivate this ability to see time as it happens. One of the most important things is to experience CBM, or Coordinated Body Motion. CBM is when you move all body parts at the same time, and stop them all at the same time.

Another necessary item is correct body alignment. The parts of the body must be lined up so that they are in the correct order, and this must be done with full CBM. This is something that should be built into all forms practice, and is necessary within forms practice to achieve mind of no mind, and enlightenment.

The real key here is that forms are a method to enable the individual to control his body. This is heightened, and quite different from something like ballet or gymnastics because the pieces of the form must be used to control another individual. Thus, the secret of mushin no shin, and enlightenment in the martial arts, is not to destroy, but to control.

To not destroy, although that ability is necessary, but to control. If you destroy, the game is over, and where is the enlightenment in that? And this is why Gichin Funakoshi did not hold freestyle, specifically of the tournament variety, up as part of the True Way.

To control will eventually separate the individual from his mind and body, and thus enable him to see the universe, and time, and life, as it really is. The truth is that things aren’t what they seem, they are but a shadow, and your mind obscures this shadow tremendously, and obscures methods for shedding the shadow and leaving the mind. And the truth is that this potential is within the martial arts, one of the four ways of enlightenment, but in todays tournament infested mind it is as good as lost, unless you read and apply the principles detailed in articles such as this.

The Ultimate Method for How to Learn a Karate Form

Learn a  Karate Form the Right Way from the Start!

When it concerns Understanding the best ways to Do a Martial Arts Form, the typical mistaken belief is that that you go into a class with twenty additional individuals, you perform kicks into the air maniacally, then you are a martial artist.

pinan one low block

No, you are a martial arts fan, and you are no place near to being an artist.

A lot of martial artists have not the faintest idea as to the best ways to do a martial arts form. The martial arts just occurred too quickly in the nation, and coaches were fresh off the airplane and either didn’t talk the language, didn’t have adequate experience, or an assortment of additional things.

So right here is exactly how you do a martial arts form.

You find out the very first motion. This typically includes something like standing in one location, stepping in a direction, and doing a low block.

Now, do not acquire the 2nd motion. Work on the very first motion. Take that very first motion home, stand in the center of your bedroom, and do it.

Do not do it quickly and maniacally, do it slowly and gradually. Work on making the hand and the foot move at the same time. Work on ensuring the hips are turning with the hand and the foot. Work on relaxing, then tightening up the fist at the moment of block. Work on breathing. Work on making that karate block or kung fu block the only thing you are doing. Rid the mind of interruptions till there is just the block. not even a thought of you.

Now close your eyes and do the motion. Feel your balance, feel your breath, feel your coordination and weight drop and anything else.

The function of a form is not to discover the best ways to block. An idiot can easily block. the function of the form is to free the mind of distraction, and to make that block the only thing that you are doing.

When the carpenter strikes the nail, is he thinking, or doing without thinking?

And, speaking of carpenters and nails, right here is an innovative, little activity to assist the novice, the other who does not comprehend exactly what I am asking right here and desires to, or also the other with thirty for forty years martial arts experience in a variety of martial arts.

Stand 3 feet away from your automobile with the keys in your hand. Close your eyes. Step forward and place the keys into the doorlock.

Within a short time, I’ll bet, your pretty, bright automobile is going to have a couple of scratches around the keyhole.

I always remember when I was doing this, but sitting in the vehicle and only placing the keys into the ignition with my eyes closed. The spouse comes out and asks just what I’m doing.

Martial Arts, I reply.

Okay, got that block down? Really good, go be taught a 2nd motion, and do the exact same thing all over once more. And do not forget to duplicate the very first lesson so you will not forget it.

I assure that discovering your martial arts forms in this way will certainly tremendously increase your progression in the martial arts. All those amazing motions, you see, are nothing but polished basics. And by utilizing the technique I explain right here you are finding out ways to polish from the get go.

Keep in mind, it is not exactly how many times you do something maniacally and with frenzied energy. It is doing it once with reduced energy and high understanding. Opt for the understanding, that’s the best ways to do a martial arts form.

Discover the best ways to do martial arts the right way, and in the privacy of your very own house. Go to MonsterMartialArts (dot) com.

Baguazhang Karate Cross Training Idea

Baguazhang Karate

Pa Kua Chang, or Bagua Zhang as some describe it, is a peculiar martial art where in one participatings in walking the circle till one discovers the actuality of one self.

Like a pet dog chasing his tale till he discovers Buddha.

baguazhang

Like Black Sambo converting leopards into … liquid gold.

Like exactly what is the race of men racing to?

Dong Hai Chuan was a likable chap with a fascination for martial arts. He engaged in Shaolin Kung Fu, so the tale goes, and reached a point where he was so great he took to the road and started roaming, looking for instructors able to educate him more.

His search led him throughout the Wudan Mountains of rural China, back where the mystic holy places stood, and legends had it that archaic expertise existed in pure design. His search led him to a rare religious sect whose specialists thought that one could certainly uncover the reality of the universe by … walking the circle.

So Dong walked the circle, day in day out, in search of his divine nature. For 9 years he walked the circle, and one might well picture the taunts of passersby.

“Examine the old man chasing his shadow!”

“Hey buddy! Place it on a straight line and you could get somewhere!”

“Har de har har!”

Yet, rain or shine, under blazing sunshine and during freezing snow, Dong carried on his trek, looking for the reality of himself.

At last, some 9 years into his voyage, he stated to the monks of the mysterious sect that … wasn’t it odd that … the tree he was walking around appeared to be chasing him? That the tree in fact appeared to bending over?

Was the tree bending over? Or was something in his mind bending over? Or was something in his mind just coming to be … unbent?

The monks eyed one other, and one lightly put forward, “An additional 2 years.”

So on went Dong, round and round, circle after circle, nose after tail. And possibly this is where he integrated his Shaolin with the unlimited walking of the circle. Probably this is where the circle came to be imbued with the art of violence, and came to be not simply a repository of religious fanaticism. Probably this is where the creative mixture of self with the fanatical seeking of God comes to be … whatever it comes to be.

Did Dong at last manage to catch the reality of himself?

No reference of ‘the bolt out of the blue’ striking the formerly young lad is made in the histories. Just what is recognized, nevertheless, is that he attained a high degree of proficiency, that he was so profound at circle walking that he had the ability to defeat the Emperor’s bodyguards, and come to be main coach of that celebrated ‘clan.’ And there are tales of him fading away under the attacking hand, of tiing up mighty warriors in fragile knots exactly to view them fall, of consulting his followers even after passing.

Bolt out of the blue or proficiency, this author thinks that proficiency is the more valued. However, that stated, we reach the heart of the fable.

We understand not whether Dong discovered himself, however we do understand that an individual who walks in a circle is insane. Such purposeless endeavor, specifically in this godless globe, is the heart of insanity. Yet … is insanity not simply a quality that others can not discover? Does not one have to go ‘in’ sane to discover real sanity?

The man who pounds his palm upon a stone, hour after hour, every day, year after year … does he make powerful the hand? Or at last divine that the universe really is created of space?

That young child who will come to be old doing his kung fu forms, does he battle hordes and legions in his mind? Or does he unburden his mind of all hordes and legends?

That acorn … will it truly come to be an oak?

The acorn may fall down a deserted gopher hole, and it could root into fertile ground … however it is time that makes the mighty oak, and the limitless and insane urge to grub into the ground … simply to view the sky.

We are all grubs … however have we got a hold of the earth? Will we see the heavens?

Trust Dong Hai Chuan for the answer to that one, yet only ask if you are walking the circle, if you are pursuing yourself with Pa Kua Chang, round and round, year after year, breath after breath.

The writer walked the circle, did Pa Kua Chang for 2 years, till human beings started to bend over, lightening filled his legs, and energy stripes barber poled out his arms … you can easily discover his Pa Kua Chang at Monster Martial Arts.