The Six Best Procedures To Learn Martial Arts
Almost as bad as the screen, and it might even be considered a toss up with these two, is the web. While there can be pearls in that there computer stream, the dreck is overwhelming. Dial into the internet for the purpose of actually trying to learn something (as opposed to just surfing around for fun) and you engage a common brain that doesn’t know any better, pseudo experts, overwhelming amounts of information with no real instruction or even organization of data, what’s neat, advertising that hasn’t and can’t be tested for worth, and etcetera.
The third weakest way to educate oneself would be to try to learn from magazines. Now, this is not to be discounted, magazines do give you an overall viewpoint of what’s going on–and not just in the classical arts–and can give a good education as to what is out there. Good writing and the dedication of the magazine to find out what the reader is really interested in, and the tendency of the worthwhile ads to stick around, makes this a good source of finding out about different martial arts.
Fourth weakest would be martial arts DVDs. Now, I should say weakest, but third strongest, because one can dial into a specific art, delve into that art in detail, and really get some great instruction. Honestly, it’s a toss up between this and the next item on the list, almost a tie, but I settled on the order you see because there are just so many bad DVDs out there–it’s just too easy to string some fighting techniques together, slap a pseudo scientific label on it, and use internet marketing to blast it past common sense.
Second best and of very high value, when it comes to the learning process goes to martial arts books. With books you might not get the visual look, but if you have any instruction in a training hall, books will do the trick. Furthermore, you can get the most detail, in depth theory, the most fully thought out concepts in books–and if you can get a video to go along with it then you really are on to something.
The best method for learning the the combat discipline, no doubt about it, is to take a martial arts class at a good training hall, one where they teach not just the blood and guts, but the heart and soul. You’ll find friendships that last a lifetime, styles of combat that stuck around for thousands of years, and some pretty darned good times. Add to that that you can ask a question about anything you want right on the spot, and the worth of this method is undeniable.
People study according to their opportunity and means, thus, none of the methods I have mentioned can be totally discounted. And, the smart student will do a mix and match and educate himself so that there are no weaknesses in his arts. In the end, every man is self made, and learning Martial Arts is the best method for making oneself.
Whether you want to study Karate, Shaolin, Aikido,or some other art, Monster Martial Art has the best DVDs in the world. 1
The Six Degrees Of Insanity Uncovered Through Real Karate!
There was a goju ryu karate club in my hometown when I grew up, but knowing about something didn’t immune me from the chaos of the educational institutions. I was treated to the teacher father figures, bullying school kids, and an education that didn’t have much to do with anything. So I needed Goju, or another art of similar value, but didn’t know it.
As I traveled through the educational experience people began taking drugs, lots of drugs. Man, a good fighting discipline really would have worked to protect me from people who were intent on going unconscious and crazy, which is the real purpose of drugs. A good karate club would have helped me to retain my natural worth and sense of self at a time when I needed it the most.
Eventually, society turned to the Viet Nam War, and this war had to be the craziest thing on the planet. The bumper sticker used to read, ‘Journey to strange, exotic lands, meet interesting, wonderful people, and kill them.’ Fortunately, at about that time I was rescued from the chaos of society…I happened across the Ed Parker Chinese American kenpo karate system.
I worked out ruthlessly, doing karate kumite by the hour, but, eventually, I was to be disillusioned by the martial arts techniques I was learning. I was learning hundreds of fighting techniques, but they didn’t have to much to do with the real world. Kenpo, though it was wonderful, was based on combat fantasy scenarios.
I went to the Kang Duk Won for my next step in evolution towards a rational world, and it was to prove the ultimate answer for all my problems. Here the training was rigorous and deep reaching, and the energy we created was all consuming. I learned that all my sweat and bruises could be focused on one single item: the handling of the incoming fist.
One, single incoming missile, and I had to handle it, but that one incoming missile represented rage and anger and chaos. Thus, in handling the fist, I was handling the rage and anger and chaos of a world that believed in war and drugs and misinformation. As I understood this I began to develop my matrixing methods.
Through this science of Matrixing I ordered all my martial arts techniques, put them in a logical arrangement so that they represented a whole science, and not an out of sequence something. The art became a science, and through the combative sciences I made my final break with the gods of insanity, So for me there were six degrees of insanity: school, drugs, war, kenpo, classical karate, and matrixing…and this is the path I chose, this is the path I discovered when I discovered Real Karate.
The path the author followed is well laid out at Monster Martial Arts. You can download a free ebook which explains his Matrixing theories. 2
The Truth About The Karate Yell!
First, practice of Karate yells is real, and taught in most karate kata in existence. The karate yell (hihap, or ki Hap, in Korean) is learned by the new student to help focus the techniques of the karate kata into precise moments of time. This increases the mental abilities, and eventually moves the student slightly out of his body.
Don’t get freaky with me on this. To be removed form the body means merely to assume a slightly different viewpoint of the body, to have the spiritual ‘I am’ that runs the body maybe a few inches above or back of the body. It is a gentle thing that happens to everybody as they live, but can be encouraged to greater degree, with a variety of effects, through the study of the martial arts.
Now, the body is not shouting, the spirit is shouting. As I said, the ‘I am’ that operates the body is shouting, and the body seems to actually get out of the way of the spirit shout. A shout directed by spirit and not body is infinitely more powerful than a shout powered by just the body.
With a shout by the body all that moves is the air. When the spirit is involved emotion will move, and not just massed air molecules, and this can be testified to by any good artist who knows the value of emotion when performing. Eventually, a martial artist will move intention, which is far above simple air, or even emotion, this is the stuff of legends and great abilities.
Thus far we have been discussing kiai from the viewpoint of being slightly outside of the body, but now we must discuss the effects of a spirit shout on another body. Yes, there is probably measurable impact by waves of massed air, which can put out candles and that sort of thing, but only at short distances. These usually depend on body movement, a fist, for instance, to help propel the mass of air.
But there is also the fact that a being can grow his size, when outside his body, and actually touch the body of another human being, and this is a direct touch that can wither and blast an attacker. The body is made up of liquid, and air is molecules, but spirit is intangible. Spirit is a perception of reality from beyond reality that can stretch through the apparent space filled by air particles and cause that liquid to wave, to ripple, to vibrate…to shatter.
I know there will be people who scoff at what I have said here, but they are people who have not done the martial arts for over forty years. The fact is that the martial arts don’t just forge the body, they cause a person to realize who is doing the forging,–oneself–and therefore to assume a removed viewpoint from the body. In summation, the martial arts take long years and intense effort to reach the stage I am talking about, but if you understand what I am saying here, and are willing to dedicate yourself to endless practice and a higher ethic of life, then you can achieve the Karate ki-ai of which I am speaking.
Learn more at Monster Martial Arts. Pick up a free ebook at Monster Martial Arts. 6
Doing Sanchin Kata And The Liberation Of Energy Through Circular Flux
The form was originally brought to Okinawan from China, where it was part of a system called Pan Gai Noon. While PGN is no longer taught, that first kata is taught in such arts as Goju Ryu and Uechi ryu. It has also been altered and presented in Shotokan as Hangetsu.
The original Chinese pattern, as simple as it is, was taught over the course of years. Students would spend hours a night just stancing, learning how to sink their weight, before they were shown even the most basic of hand motions. This fact, of being taught to sink the weight and stabilize the stance, should give even a slow karate student a significant clue as to the correct way to execute the pattern and create the energy.
In Uechi Ryu Sanchin, which is the first manifestation of this form beyond Pan Gai Noon, the emphasis is on muscular tension. Thus, the intent of the sanchin stance is translated from the creation (and sinking) of energy to the creation of muscle. Muscle is temporary compared to energy, and thus the form is diluted and made less.
In Goju ryu Sanchin the intent of the form is proper breathing. Thus, the purpose of the form is to create the sensation of karate energy in the body, but without the emphasis on sinking the weight the reality of usable energy is forsaken. At this point one can see that the Sanchin form has been altered sufficient to make it but a shadow of what it should be…the story gets worse, however.
In Shotokan, and like systems of traditional karate, the actual structure of the form has been rendered into common self defense moves. Mind, there is nothing wrong with this type of structure, except that it has nothing to so with the generation of serious internal chi energy of the usable variety. The form in this type of school is called Hangetsu.
To be done correctly. this incredible form must be taught in simple fashion, and with simple concepts. One must throw out complex notions of breathing and muscularity and self defense except as they are drawn along by the fact of chi energy generation. Thus, the simple instruction, “sink the weight, and ‘swirl’ the motion so that it creates a wave of energy which circles the body and shoots out the arm,” is the only instruction a student should be given.
Done with this easy bit of teaching, for months and years, the generation of internal energy becomes real, and the internal energy becomes usable. Though this writer would not propose combat as a solution, it must be remembered that Kanbun Uechi, the founder of Uechi ryu and a man who had studied the actual Sanchin in the ancient manner recommended in this bit of writing, killed a man with one strike. No, don’t kill people, but do realize the true power of the ancient arts by practicing sanchin kata by sinking the weight and swirling the body energy so that it may be shot out the arm.
There are articles and courses at Monster Martial Arts which will help you return Sanchin Kata to its original depth and power. Pick up a free ebook while you’re at Monster Martial Arts. 4
The Toughest Karate: The Toughest Karate Master
Motobu was born in Okinawa in 1870, and descended from the royal lineage. As the third son, he was actually not supposed to be involved in the fighting disciplines, but that seemed to make him want to study all the more. He spent much time striking the makiwara board, lifting heavy objects, and training as he could.
Eventually, because he developed such a high degree of agility, people called him Motobu the Monkey. He also was looked on as a fierce, though untrained (brutal?) street fighter. Though he was held in low esteem for his brawling, instructors took him on as a student, probably because of his lineage.
His instructors read like a Who’s Who of early Okinawa. Among the masters who taught him were Ankō Itosu, Sōkon Matsumura, Sakuma Pechin, Kōsaku Matsumora, and Tokumine Pechin. This would be like somebody who studied under Morihei Uyeshiba, Bruce Lee, Gichin Funakoshi, and Ed Parker.
Motobu eventually made his way to Japan, where some fighting instructors were earning a living teaching. Motobu being a rough character, and not succeeding at business, signed up to fight in a ‘Judo v Boxing’ match. He was fifty-two years old the night he stepped into the prize fight ring, and he was about to change Karate for all time.
His opponent is said to have been a strongman from some western country. Strong or not, Motobu is said to have moved forward with a single punch to put the fellow down for the count. People were astonished at this incredible win, and newspapers gave the story coverage, and here is where the tale takes an odd twist.
The newspapers didn’t have a picture of Motobu, so they printed the only picture they did have, which was of a young instructor named Gichin Funokoshi. That’s right, Motobu won the fight, proved karate was the best, but his fellow countryman, and competitor, Gichin Funokoshi, got the fame. Thus, Shotokan circled the world, and Motobu went home to his island.
Motobu Chōki, brawler and roughneck, is responsible for the spread of Karate throughout the world. He was a karateka of tremendous punching power, and he founded the Motobu Ryu Karate system. People may have forgotten about him, but they shouldn’t, for he is definitely in the running for toughest Karate Master of all time.
If you would like to learn more about Karate, and a totally new method for teaching that wonderful art, go to Monster Martial Arts. Pick up a free ebook on Matrixing while you’re there. 2
The Toughest Karate Master In The World!
Sensei Oyama was born into Japanese occupied Korea in the year 1923. He took his first martial arts instruction from a Chinese worker named Lee when he was 9 years old, he was told to plant a seed, and to practice jumping over it as it sprouted. It is said he could leap incredible distances because of this practice.
After the Second World War Mas made his home in Japan, where he was looked down upon because he was Korean. In 1946 he became a student at Waseda University and took karate lessons from the second son of Gichin Funakoshi. Because of his Korean heritage his training was very lonely, and many would claim his solitary lifestyle would keep him dedicated to his karate and free of distractions, and enable him to achieve a very pure and elevated level of martial arts.
From Waseda University he migrated to Takushoku University, and from the son he went to the father, for at Takushoku he took instruction with the father of modern day karate, Gichin Funakoshi. After shotokan he began lessons in the style of Goju Ryu, studying with Chojun Miyagi. He was eventually given the rank of 8th dan in that martial art by head instructor Gogen Yamaguchi.
During this time Mas Oyama picked fights with anybody and everybody, specializing in fighting the US military police. He was in so many fights that his picture was on virtually every police station wall. Eventually, and probably because of his notoriety, he was advised by a friend, Mr. Neichu So, to retreat to the mountains and live a life of seclusion and hard training.
Mas Oyama spent 14 months in hard training on Mt. Minobu, then, later, another 18 months. He returned to Tokyo a polished and fierce fighter, and became quite famous for being unbeatable. During this time he took to fighting bulls, knocking the horns off them, or killing them outright, with nothing but his bare hands.
Eventually, Mas established the Kyokushinkai, which became renowned for its brutal and tough training. One of the hallmarks of this type of training is the 100 man kumite, in which a fighter faces one hundred opponents in the roughest type of freestyle imaginable. The schools of this toughest Karate master are now spread throughout the world.
If you would like to learn new training methods, and really make your Uechi Ryu Style truly powerful, check out Monster Martial Arts.
Internal Karate, Matrixing, And The Strongest Punch!
I’m going to start with the warnings for the simple reason that I don’t wish for my methods to cause damage to anybody. I found that it was very easy for over exuberant students to damage the shoulder when throwing punches. This destruction of the rotator cuff and associated elements can be avoided through classical studies.
When somebody throws a punch and lets the arm bang against the confines of proper shoulder construction the tendons and ligaments finally give way. If you practice holding the shoulder back, however, as in classical karate, the structure remains intact and is not damaged. I recommend that you search for classical movements which do not hurt the body, but which utilize the whole body (turning the whole body into the motion).
Also, I discovered that as the energy mounts it is possible to give oneself whiplash. This is the result of throwing so much energy through the body that the neck is not able to handle the sudden increased magnitude and flow of energy. I caution that people learn to minimize their effort, and this through the study of energy as practiced by some internal styles such as Hsing i.
There are other warnings I could give you, specifically to be careful not to grind the knees by pivoting on weighted feet, over throwing the hips when kicking, and that sort of thing. The warnings I have given you here, however, especially in the previous sentence, should educate you as to how to avoid such problems. Thus, let’s move into intrinsic energy.
Get a plastic pipe 18 inches in length, place a golf ball in it, and cap the ends. Tape the pipe to your arm, and execute punches in such a way that the golf ball smacks against the end of the pipe at the same moment you end your strike. I know it sounds goofy, but soon you will learn how to thrust the golf ball smoothly through the pipe and cause a good impact upon, uh, impact.
This is what intrinsic energy feels like, and you can take this concept and apply it to blocks and kicks, and the movement of your whole body. Now toss the pipe and ball and practice getting the feeling of moving weight through your arm so that you feel energy wooshing through the arm and impacting in your fist. Heck, just understanding the ‘energetical’ physics of what I have said here, you probably don’t even need that silly pipe and ball thing.
Pipe and ball or not, you need to learn the small motions that will help you build and use your energy, and, if you are smart, you will look to such things as classical arts. The classics of karate, Wudan, or other arts, have been developed to give this type of power. With the corruption of art in the last score of years, however, it is only through a study of Matrix Martial Arts that the true technology of the martial arts is starting to come to light.
Al Case has analyzed martial arts 4O+ years. You can learn how to have The Most Powerful Punch, or just pick up a free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.
The Secret Of How To Make Your Fist Law Into Power Kenpo!
The concept of Power Kenpo is something I coined many decades ago, and have never really talked about. It actually grew from an incident in 1968 in which I asked my instructor to take a look at a form I had been working on. My instructor stepped on to the mat and I took a position and began to move.
I had learned the form from a series of books on Japanese Karate, and the name was Heian Five. It is a traditional kata, with solid stance and big, significant movements. As such, it seems to stand against the concepts of the fast whirling arms of Parker art.
When I ended the kata my instructor observed, “Yes, definitely a Japanese form.” He didn’t say much more, and I had the feeling that there was an opinion he wasn’t voicing. Many decades later, I understand why, he was trying to teach me one thing, and I was working in a completely different direction.
To be honest, Chinese Karate does not fit well with classical Shotokan Karate. Kenpo, as I have intimated, relies on fast hands and circling motions. Shotokan holds a disdain for subterfuge, and preaches the power of a strong stance, facing your enemy squarely, and attacking in a linear manner.
Each system has its strengths, and its weaknesses, but they don’t fit together. It is difficult even to shift from one art to another in the middle of combat. The funny thing about all this is that original Parker system was built upon the Heian forms of classical Karate.
Most people blink when I say such a thing, but it is true. If you can find a copy of one of Ed Parker’s first books you will find that it is nothing more than a sequence of the applications of the Heian forms. Indeed, if you link the applications in his book, you are actually doing the Heians.
In conclusion, now you understand what I mean when I remarked about Power Kenpo and being true to the footsteps of Ed Parker. The fact is that true and dedicated martial artists should study as many systems as they can. The truth of the matter is that if you want power in your art, or accelerated weapons, or better kicks, then study a separate system that has what you want, and let the power of that other art bleed back to your art, and that is how you will have Power Kenpo.
Al Case made his Power Kenpo out of such martial arts as Karate, Aikido and Wing Chun. You can find it on the Monkey Boxing pages of Monster Martial Arts.
The Secret Of Sixth Sense Abilities In The Martial Arts
Unfortunately, not all martial arts work in this manner. There are some arts that are incredible, and they open the spirit up and enhance abilities like nobody’s business. But then there are arts that are just thuggish cockfights, backroom brawls so low they make animals look high.
This difference, the difference between low and high martial arts, can easily be understood. It is very simple to discern why some arts excel when it comes to creating magnitude and finery in the human soul, and some don’t. This is actually not just a matter of philosophy, but a mechanistic condition relating to the nature of a human being.
Consider the human spirit a light bulb. There is the grungy, dingy one, maybe filters the world through red glass, that hangs in the basement of some dungeon. Then there is the light that is sharp and shiny, a laser, able to illuminate anything for a million miles around.
A dirty light bulb stops the light, and we are talking about dirt as in anger and rage and the desire to hurt people. A laser light is not covered with filth, and the very waves of light have been aligned to make that light brilliant and infinite. So the first thing in this matter of gaining heightened sixth senses is to clean off the light bulb that you are, get rid of the rage and anger, and make all the parts of the body work together.
To coordinate the parts of the body so they work together, and are not possessed and filtered by anger, is something the human being does. The spirit, the real person, the actual being, must endeavor to accomplish this. Thus, to be a spirit, to ‘use’ the soul, in the simple act of coordinating the body parts, will cause the human being to shine brightly and put him on the road of increased abilities.
The second thing is to matrix the martial arts one is engaged in studying. This, again, is the act of alignment, but now one aligns the pieces of the art, and makes the arts into one unit. Again, the spirit must be clean, unfettered, and used to create this alignment of art.
Interestingly, alignment is nothing more than the fact of organizing, and it is a cleansing process. But in aligning body and art, one aligns the very spirit that one is, and when the soul is aligned the sixth sense abilities will come to the fore. Alignment of body and organization of art, this is how you Matrix Martial Arts and achieve greatness and magnitude and sixth sense abilities.
Al Case has 4O++ years analyzing martial arts. You can find out how to Matrix Martial Arts at his website, Monster Martial Arts. Make sure you pick up a free ebook when you are there.
Finding The True Art in the Kang Duk Won
Kang Duk Won Korean Karate was born of a classmate of Gichin Funakoshi’s, Toyama Kanken, and therefore it is one of the purest representations of Karate in existence. It took root in Korea, and was tempered in that countries harsh winters and boiling summers, all of which made it an art for men to study. Eventually it came to the United States, and I studied it in San Jose under the guidance of Bob Babich.
Next to the Kang Duk Won was the Towne Theater, which immoral cinema had the everlasting honor of showing a movie starring a gal name of Linda Lovelace for over two years. Other businesses included sweat shops and bars and nothing yuppie at all. In front of the Kang Duk Won, like as not, you would see a score of Harley Davidsons, courtesy of the Hells Angels, Gypsy Jokers, and just about any other Outlaw Biker gang who wanted to put aside war to learn the real art.
The front window was cracked and the pieces held together with duc tape. Visitors sat on a picnic bench placed under the window to watch classes. Bob’s office was a telephone booth just big enough for a desk and two chairs, just don’t try to open the chairs.
The mat was made out of sailboat canvas, and a big seam ran up the left side of the mat. It was a dirty, filthy thing, and where forms turned you could see strips of duc tape. And it was small, maybe 15 by 25, but classes of 20 and more would work full bore in their pursuit of the art.
In the back hung the bag, and Bob filled it himself, made it extra heavy. He was always taking it down to get it sewn back together, the darned thing looked like Frankenstein’s manhood. We used to kick that thing till it bounced, and the whole building would throb and shake.
Now, you might wonder why such a place deserves my infinite admiration, and the answer is simple. No excuses, no whining, no bottles of designer water standing at the sides of the mat. Just men working, sweating, giving everything they had, and building an energy indescribable.
I look at modern schools today, with all their amenities, and I shudder, for I don’t feel the manic energy, I don’t feel the intensity and the comradeship. I don’t think I am being old, I am just terrified that when I die, when I come back in another body, I won’t find a group of people that are willing to suffer for the True Art. I won’t find something, dirty, ragged, gasping for breath, and yet willing to suffuse my soul with the true spirit of the martial arts, I won’t find something like the Kang Duk Won.
Al Case has studied martial arts for over over 4O plus+ years. His CD/DVD course, Evolution of an Art, has Kang Duk Won and two other arts. Or just pick up a free ebook at his site, Monster Martial Arts.
