Matrix Martial Arts Understood Through Three Analogies

[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/AlCase26.jpg]To understand Matrixing one must understand that Matrix Martial Arts is a technology. It is a logical way of thinking applied to martial disciplines such as kenpo, Tae Kwon Do or whatever. The good news is that the effects of logic on the martial arts are beneficial.

Matrixing is important because the oral tradition of learning the martial arts has resulted in thoroughly mixed up martial disciplines. People spend much time copycatting random strings of data, but this leaves vast areas of unexplored technique. The random strings of data thus become hard to extract for use, and martial intuition takes decades to cultivate, if it ever is.

The first analogy of matrixing was one of numbers. Learning an art, be it karate or kung fu or whatever, was like trying to learn how to count when you had no 2, 3 was upside, 7 is put before 1, which is inverted, and there were no more numbers except…what is that shaved cat doing in there? Matrixing laid out the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9…and then anybody could find 10, and 11, and so on.

The second analogy of Matrixing uses language. Use the Matrix Technology and speed of learning is increased, and this because there is an alphabet, and even phonics. The martial arts can then be generated with techniques as words, forms as sentences, and whole systems as simple textbooks.

The third analogy used to define Matrix Martial Arts is a simple three dimensional form. Using the logic of matrixing you can establish the geometry of each art, and establish that geometry for all potentials of motions, and define each art as separate and unique. One then merely places the layers of art in a three dimensional cube.

Thus, the individual arts are conceptually aligned, and a student can change arts simply by selecting the right layer of art from the cube. This puts all the martial methods in a specific and logical order that is true through all the arts. Depth of art then is not mysterious and difficult to understand, but rather a straightforward process of understanding the ordered and inter-related geometry of all arts.

Several things happen when one understands matrixing science on this level. Intuition becomes obvious and easily tapped. Students learn at a much higher rate of speed, for the mind will not refuse concepts when they are simple correctly ordered.

Of course, students are unique, and how much matrixing technology it is going to take for each is a variable. A high number of practitioners make the breakthrough on the first course or two, a few students need all the courses, and there are going to be one or two students who are going to need all the courses…and a kick in the pants besides. However much matrixing it takes for the martial mind to kick in and start truly functioning, and for the student to enjoy all those fabulous, advanced abilities that students of the True Art have come to know, the journey is well worth it.

Al Case has examined martial arts for 40 years and is a writer for the magazines. If you wish to find out more about Matrix Martial Arts visit Monster Martial Arts and ask for his free ebook, Matrixing: The Primer.

How I Used Karate to Get Out of My Body!

[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/AlCase28.jpg]Turn up the mysterious music, burn a mystic for Christ, we are about to get out of our bodies. Oooo, floating motes of intelligence, able to float into bedrooms and bank vaults everywhere! And it is all possible through a common place martial arts drill, common in systems of Karate and Kung Fu, and especially wudan arts.

If you can turn down the Outer Limits music for a moment, I\’ll explain. The out of body experience I am talking about is possible through Kima Chasie, or, Horse meditation. In this article I am going to tell you exactly what that exercise is, which will include exactly how to do it.

Back in the early seventies I was working on my black belt, and I was frustrated with this horse meditation thing. We would stand in the horse stance, one hand in a high block, the other hand in a horizontal, hooked back beak hand. We would concentrate out awareness on our clenched fingertips until our legs shook and sweat burst forth upon our innocent foreheads.

Yet, I knew the two minutes we were doing was insufficient. I had heard the stories of guys who would stand in the stance for two hours, and how they became superhuman. And, not to reveal my adolescent dreams, I wanted to be superhuman.

The way to immortality, to be honest, is just to go ahead and do it. So I began doing Horse Meditation with a desire and will uncommon. I would hold the horse stance until the ache became too great too bear, and then break, and know that I had not made it, again.

I decided that I had had enough, I was going to do the big breakthrough. I was going to become the most immortal martial artist in the world…uh, other than Bruce Lee. I mean, I would be more than a God, but…Bruce is Bruce, you know?

So I assumed the deep horse stance, and when the pain started, I told myself one thing…it isn\’t going to kill me. Sweat, shakes, dire thoughts of having my legs fill with blood and burst. But, having made the decision that I was going to do or die…POP…I did it.

I floated in space over my body, disembodied, the world brilliant and forever, the source of immortality revealed. I had succeeded in using the martial arts, and this would work whether you studied karate or kung fu or whatever, in realizing that I was a spirit, and that I was immortal, and that bodies were temporary things that you put on or take off as simply as one puts on a coat, or takes it off, or pants, they go on or off, too, and shoes, and socks, and…I was myself. Then, after a few eternal minutes, I decided to get back into my body, so I did, and I lost control, my stance fell forward, and I couldn\’t figure out how to move my body quickly enough, and I fell right, smack dab, square…on my face.

Al has forty years in the arts, and is a writer for the magazines. You might not get out of your body, but you can get a free ebook if you pop on over to Monster Martial Arts.

I Used Kung Fu to have the Strongest Mind in the World

[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/AlCase7.gif]Try that on for size! The Strongest Mind ever to exist in the Whole Wide World, maybe the whole galaxy! Able to woo any dame and trounce any bad guy, and…sounds a bit too good to be true, doesn\’t it?

Oddly, the thing that I did worked, but not in the way I had anticipated. So let me tell you method I utilized, for free, and see how you do. Are you ready to have the Strongest Mind in the World, maybe in the universe?

I once read that a man who can concentrate on one thing for three minutes can rule the world. The point was that to stay focused on one thing, to put it simply, blows up the brain power. Having read this, and wanting to have the most fully functional brain allowed, I decided to do it.

I was doing doing Karate at the time, and exploring side avenues of Sticky Hands from Wing Chun Gung Fu, and various other martial things, and I really thought that I had the mental horsepower to pull anything off. I did my forms, I could remain calm during combat, and I had the discipline. Now all I had to do was apply that discipline to seeking enlightenment, pursuing Nirvana, or whatever you want to call it.

I decided to use a simple, little rock to shape the ultimate concentration and the resulting explosion of pure mentality which, I hoped, wouldn\’t shatter the universe too badly. A rock, after all, was what the earth was, and the shape of the thing was round, like the whole darned universe, and it seemed so neat and appropriate. So I went into a nearby field and chose a well shaped rock, and prepared to turn on my enlightenment.

I sat down under a tree, placed the rock before me, and focused on it. I tried not to think, I tried to just be aware of the rock, and to ignore all those silly little surface thoughts, like what was for lunch and what the latest movie was, or what I was going to do that weekend. I was, after all, going to shatter down the doors to heaven, so what use could such mundane thoughts have for me, right?

After three minutes I tossed the rock aside, got to my feet, and started walking away, totally disgusted with how boring the whole thing was. I mean, to think that I was going to enter Nirvana just by being able to think at a rock, how stupid, how boring! Suddenly, I was jerked to a stop as a sudden thought overwhelmed me.

It wasn\’t the rock that was boring, it was me. All that boredom was being generated by me, and I realized something…I would never be bored again. And I suddenly realized, in this moment of self revelation, the thing had worked, but not at all how I thought it would.

Want to have the most powerful Kung Fu? Pick up a free ebook written by Al at Monster Kung Fus.

Real Karate Does Not Look Like Karate!

[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/AlCase20.jpg]This concept, that working Karate does not resemble the Karate that people are taught in schools, is actually true throughout the martial arts. Shaolin done in combat does not look like wu shu taught in the kwoon. Forms Kung fu doesn\’t resemble fighting kung fu, and so on.

The reason for this is that there is nice to look at, and then there is functional. A fellow teaches, or learns a martial art, and the instructor gives him something that looks good. Once one starts applying real world potentials to the technique, however, the technique must sometimes change to work.

Take a look at the traditional kung fu back stance. The stance is so bent on the back leg that the ankle is unable to support the weight of most attacks. Thus, one must change the shape of the posture in order to really make it work.

Or, take a look at the basic middle block in Karate. It swings sideways, and there is no real weight behind it. The correct way to do this block is to shoot it out from the tan tien, which would put structure behind the move.

The examples I have just given you, incidentally, represent the reasons why many classical arts fall apart in the Mixed Martial Arts ring. The artists have been trained to look good, and not to make it work. To make something like Karate work in the MMA, or the UFC, one is going to have to change the whole structure of the thing.

Changing the structure of a martial art is not bad, if it makes the art work. Unfortunately, many teachers will scream, and one has to wonder why this is. After all, the fact that an art now works should be proof and satisfaction all in one.

I suppose what is at the heart of some teacher\’s inability to change is the love of the mystery. What is happening in their minds is that they don\’t understand what they are doing, but they have become convinced that if they just keep doing what they are doing, they will, eventually, understand it. Thus, they become blind to change, to what works, and, sadly, the potential of the true art.

The good news is that most martial artists I have encountered are not so blind. I show them basic matrixing principles, for instance, and they embrace the change. Thus, hold to the old only so long as it works, change to the new when the old fails, and watch the True Martial Arts explode across the face of this planet.

Al has forty++ years experience and his website is Monster Martial Arts. Go there and pick up a free book on Matrixing, Find Out if Matrixing is for you.

The Truth Behind the Development of Classical Karate!

[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/AlCase11.jpg]The very first move of Karate, as taken from the first Heian or Pinan form, is a step to the side with a low block. But Karate was not designed for blocking. Yes, there are blocks in the art, and it can be adapted to blocking and striking modes, but it was not designed for blocking except by the way.

Karate was designed to guard the ruler of the island of Okinawa. The Imperial bodyguards trained to use their art in a room filled with a variety of different warriors. Soldiers with different weapons and ways of fighting, while the Okinawans had no arms to rely on.

Thus, would you really use a high block against a samurai sword? Would you try to shunt a bullet aside with a shuto? Because these were the types of weapons that the Okinawan bodyguards had to confront.

Consider also that the first order given troops in such a situation, if they were to attempt to kidnap the king of Okinawa, would be to restrain the bodyguards. This means that samurai would step forward and grab wrists, perhaps preparatory to tying the hands of the bodyguards, or merely moving them from the throne room, or otherwise controlling them. And this means that the first defense of the bodyguards, as described by the first technique in karate training, would be to step in, dropping the weight and arm, thus escaping from the technique, and possibly head butting those who tried to grab them.

That\’s right, an escape from a grab, then a violent step forward to close with and punch and shove the samurai, or whoever the warriors were. This would cause chaos and confusion. This would allow the king to escape.

Now, take a close look at the form. This is the only application that really makes sense. This is the start of what the Okinawans who created Karate-do had in mind.

If the samurai was going to draw a sword, the bodyguard had to get close. This is the reason for the big steps in the form, to enable the bodyguards to jam the samurai so they couldn\’t draw their swords. This explains the moves of forms that have been adapted to block and counter methods of training that don\’t always make sense in todays modern world.

If a samurai attempted to grab a bodyguard, break the grip, head butt, then push into them. This is the truth behind the first technique, and this is how the art was designed to work. Thinking about the movements in this manner reveals an art that is true beyond belief, but you are going to have to put aside the way you were taught, and take further steps down this path if you are going to find the true art of the art known as karate.

Al Case began his study of karate 4O plus plus years ago. He has been a writer and columnist for the magazines. He uses the science of Matrixing to uncover the Truth about the Martial Arts. Get his free ebook about Matrixing Technology at Monster Martial Arts.

The Truth About the Failure of Classical Karate!

[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/AlCase20.jpg]Karate, as it is practiced in modern times, is absolutely nothing like the Karate invented centuries ago. There are many reasons for this phenomena, cultural, historical, vested interest, and on and on. This article will pin point the exact reasons the art of Karate has changed, and why it is considered a failure in the eyes of many people.

Karate was developed to defend the emperor of Okinawa. The techniques gathered together were specific in their intent, and that intent was shaped by having to deal with a variety of different weapons and soldiers. Interestingly, Karate was not specifically designed for blocking and striking, though that can be considered as workable, and more to do with disarming and maiming.

The Japanese eventually forced the King of Okinawa to leave Okinawa and reside in Japan, where he was treated like a guest, but was still nothing but a prisoner. With the king gone, what reason did the Imperial Bodyguards have to pursue their martial art? Thus, lessons were taught to children to give strength and good health, but the maiming and butchery that was part of the original art was left out.

Eventually, Karate migrated to Japan, where it proved more than comparable to the arts of the Japanese. One must take into account, however, that the Japanese had stolen the imperial king. Thus, if the teachers of Karate even knew the truth behind their art, would they be willing to teach the people who had stolen their king?

The next step in the growth of Karate came when the Americans conquered Japan. They did this by dropping an atomic bomb on two different cities, and now we have the same scene as described in the last paragraph. One has to ask whether the Japanese, if they even knew the true art, would teach the people who had destroyed their cities with atomic weaponry.

Finally. the art reaches America. It is commercialized, made less deadly for children, and geared around tournaments. People are more concerned about getting promoted and the latest fight night than they are about the potential for knowledge through the art.

Finally, the art starts to fail as a system of valid self-defense. People laugh about MacDojos on every corner, and the brutality of MMA, at least workable, is held up as a new standard. Yet, the question must be asked at this point…what was the original art?

What is that art that was invented to all manner of warriors and weaponry in defense of king and country? What is that art that explores the human soul and reveals the depths of the true artist? I say it is still present…the true student just has to be willing to look for it and work for it.

Al Case has examined martial arts for over 4O years, and has been a writer for the magazines since 1982. If you want to explore his theories concerning what has been to Karate, and what to do about it, visit him at MonsterMartialArts.com. A free ebook is offered on the homepage of the site.

The Secret of Using Matrix Martial Arts to Read Minds!

[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/AlCase7.gif]There are times in life when it seems as if you have actually looked into someones mind. Maybe you just blurt out the phrase at the same time, or have the same thought on a hamburger stand. Sometimes, however, it is as if you have looked into somebodys mental process and know exactly what they are thinking.

The martial arts enhance this ability, and a good martial art does it in a quite speedy manner. Indeed, if you aren\’t effectively reading minds after a couple of years, there is probably something wrong with your martial art. If this is so, you should look into applying some principles from Matrix Martial Arts and fixing your art.

The first time you realize that you can look into somebody elses mind is usually during freestyle. You intuitively know what technique your opponent is considering using, and, as time goes on, you begin fitting intuitive responses to whatever he does. Many people think this is because of the freestyle, but it is really because of the forms that you have been perfecting in your martial arts.

Yes, freestyle provides the situation where you can realize your abilities, but forms provides the energy and context for developing those abilities. Without forms, you won\’t be able to read minds in the martial arts, except on the lowest level. Give up doing your forms, and you are left with fighting, and fighting does not lead to reading minds.

When doing a form one learns how to control their body so that it can do things that one couldn\’t make it do before. Then, one learns that it is the control of the mind that is really enabling him to make his body do things. Lastly, one starts to understand that before there can be motion in this universe, there must be a thought.

The universe is nothing but a space filled with objects that float around. Being able to read minds, you see, is being able to predict the path of objects. Predicting the path of objects just means that you start looking further out in space to see them coming.

What the matrixing procedure does, as practiced in Matrix Martial Arts, is organize the data so that one can see beyond the confusion. Matrixing analyzes and handles force and direction, and thus, one can take in more space, and analyze and handle more force and direction. Once one can do this through the practice of the martial arts, one can begin doing it to the rest of life.

Want to get a better deal when you trade in your vehicle, or maybe get the girl of your dreams? You can do so if you use matrixing to analyze and handle the forces and directions involved. And whether you study a form of kung fu, be it fut ga or tong long or monkey boxing, or whether you study karate, such as wado ryu or kyokushnkai or whatever, you can use Matrix Martial Arts to align it, and to align life itself.

Al Case has studied martial arts for 4O plus plus years. A writer for the magazines, he had his own column in Inside Karate. You can read about him, and get a free ebook on Matrix Martial Arts at Monster Martial Arts. Make sure you watch the video and see him put out a candle from over a foot away.

The Three Essential Levels of Karate

[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/AlCase3.jpg]If you are into the Martial Arts just to fight, to beat people up, to beer over the latest UFC results, this article is not for you. If, however, you think the martial arts are a vehicle to become not just physically stronger and mentally more awake, but maybe even enable you to evolve as a human being, then this is the article for you. This is a straightforward and logical look at the three major steps of the martial arts.

The first step of the martial arts is the body level. This is nothing more than making sure you have all the necessary body parts to do the martial arts, and that they are in working condition, or close to it. To get started on the first level one need merely understand that, on a base level, the martial arts are nothing more than calisthenics.

To make if from the first level to the second level, however, one needs to accomplish something called CBM. In the past masters would refer to this as using the body as one unit, which was correct, but lacking in working description. CBM means Coordinated Body Motion, and it is when you use all the body parts together.

With CBM all body motion must intiate at the same time. And, all motion must halt at the same time. And, all in between motion must coordinate the size, mass, length, arc, and so on of individual motions and parts.

When one accomplishes CBM, especially through a classical martial art, one\’s intention is realized. Intention is your desire to achieve something, the working part of the essential idea of whatever end goal you are aiming for. This is the thing that is commonly, and with varying degree of error, described as Chi. That chi, or intention, can be described from so many different viewpoints and experiences is what makes it so confusing.

Having CBMed one\’s body, the next step is to CBM one\’s art. I call this process Matrixing, and it involves an actual science. When one starts to matrix their martial art they must examine all moves, all forms, and follow certain scientific principles to align that art. Like CBM before, one must take into account all motions and align them to the concept of the form.

One could make the broad generalization that Coordinated Body Motion is for inside the body, and Matrixing is for outside the body, and while this isn\’t entirely accurate, there is a sizable amount of truth to the statement. The Martial Arts, you see, while they have achieved a high degree of functionality, could work a whole heck of a lot better. There has been so much interbreeding of cultures and interests and viewpoints and so on, that the martial arts are fair well banged up.

When one finally succeeds in matrixing his martial arts, the true grandeur of the arts is revealed. Senses go outward and take in a whole new world, people see what they weren\’t able to see before, and the blind awake. Coordinated Body Motion, Matrixing, human desire to undertake and succeed, these are at the heart of the martial arts, and these are what the true martial artist must seek to understand and employ on his journey to the truth of his soul.

Having studied the martial arts for 4O+ years, Al has written for the magazines and had his own column in Inside Karate. If you want to find out about Coordinated Body Motion, or how to Matrix the Martial Arts, Al has written a book which you can get for free at Monster Martial Arts.

How to Put Out a Candle Using the Martial Arts!

[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/AlCase23.jpg]I can put out a candle with a martial arts technique at about two feet now. This article is about the techniques I use. I\’m hoping other people out there will want to share their methods, and we can all experience improvement at this little trick.

Now, just to be clear, it is a trick, but there are benefits behind the trick. Mental concentration skyrockets, and you learn different things about how to use the body. The body and the mind are things that we have barely begun to understand.

First, I learned the cheap shot of putting out a candle. If you flick the finger in front of the flame, the flick is enough to rob the flame of oxygen. Try it, just hold the hand a few inches back, then flick the finger as if you are flicking off water, as if you are merely snapping the fingers, and focus it on the flame.

Next, I worked on the method of stopping the fist right in front of the flame. While there is mental focus involved in doing it this way, it is still a simple rob the flame of oxygen trick. You are robbing oxygen, not projecting any kind of serious chi power, but it takes mental control of the body to make it work.

You have to be able to stop the movement of the body precisely, exactly, and with no shake or shiver. This leads one to the conclusion that it is not just the muscles involved in this thing, but control of muscle, that is important. All those hours of standing in a horse stance in front of a candle do have a very real physical blessing, but it is the mental benefit that is of most value.

When I put out a candle at two feet I use a tai chi posture which is labeled Brush Knee, and I work on shifting weight, turning hips, and using all parts of the body to do so. The most important thing, the thing that showed me gradual and increasing success, was to take all the energy out of what I was doing. I do it karate style, and I learned to use less physical effort and more mental focus, I do it tai chi style, and my success comes when I can take almost all energy out of the body and move the body from outside.

Yeah, it takes me a while, but as I remove energy from my body, concentrate on not snapping muscle, but emptying frame, I tend to get a little back of my body. I\’m not out, a floating, disembodied intelligence wafting through the universe, just a little removed, comfortably removed, seeing my body from a viewpoint a little behind my eyes. The patience and mental resources are quite pitched at this point, because I am trying to move a body without using muscle, except at the lightest points.

I still encounter problems with the method I am using. In spite of the mental sharpness I am building, it doesn\’t feel efficient. Also, there seems to be a limit to the effective distance I am able to put out a candle at, and I can\’t get beyond about three feet. But at least I am experiencing limited success, and time and patience and resolved efforts will give me more.

Al Case has taught martial arts for over forty+ years. He has written dozens of articles and had his own column in Inside Karate. If you want to learn learn more about hitting harder in the martial arts, pick up his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.

Power Martial Arts Kicks in Five Logical Steps

[I:http://www.weightlossdietinformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/AlCase15.jpg]It makes no sense to let an attacker get close enough to punch. If he\’s got a knife or club, or just a fist that is fast, the best strategy is to kick low and hard and keep him out of range. The problem is that many Tae Kwon Do schools do not teach the right way to use the legs.

A couple of things to remember before we get into making your kicks into powerful tools of destruction. Practice kicking high so you have strength and flexibility, but keep your kicks low in a real fight so you don\’t get a leg grabbed and tossed. And, the best strategy is to avoid the fight altogether.

Practice kicking over a chair. This will train you to raise your knee high. When your knee is high your foot can go straight in and deliver the goods, and not arc up and scrape the body.

Turn your hips into the kick. Always turn, or tilt, your hips so that the weight of the hips is committed to the action. This will also give you a little more reach, and it will help put the whole body into the action.

Kick with the ball of the foot. I know many people like to bash with the instep, but they end up spinning around out of control. Kicking with the ball of the foot forces the artist to be an artist, and it concentrates more weight into a smaller striking area.

Bring the foot all the way back after kicking. Snap that foot back so that an opponent can\’t grab it and throw you. This also tends to leave more power in the target, consider it a type of follow through.

Practice planting your foot on the target, then pushing your partner. This usually means you will alter the kick, for this training drill, so that you can place the heel on the body of your partner, then push. This trains the exact muscles that are actually used in a kick.

Kicks are your first line of defense, don\’t just practice your kicks ten or twenty times and forget about them, practice them hundreds of times a day for each kick. Whether you are training in Karate, or Tae Kwon Do, or Kung Fu, or whatever other art, a well placed kick can go a long way towards saving your life. So practice, and look at your kicks, study the physics of a kick so that your kicks are effective and end the fight before it can even start.

Al Case has examined martial arts for over more than more than 4O+ years. A writer for the magazines, he had his own column in Inside Karate for several years. You can find out how to have the most powerful punch on the planet, or how to have the strongest kicks on the planet, by picking up his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.

categories: hit harder,hit stronger,knock out,kick harder,power kick,powerful punch,martial arts,karate,tae kwon do,kenpo,uechi ryu,kyokushinkai,shaolin,self defense

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