Republished a Martial Arts Book!

I republished Chiang Nan as a video course book.

It’ll be available on Amazon in a day or two.

It has links to about five hours of video.

So far I have several books repub-ed as ‘video course books.’

How to Fix Karate 1

How to Fix Karate 2

Shaolin Butterfly (the butterfly form) (Kindle)

Shaolin Butterfly

Nine Square Diagram Boxing

Hidden Techniques of Karate (Chiang Nan)

Sales are good, and I thank you.

and I’ll be doing more books,

and writing new ones.

I have a couple of hundred hours of video

that have never seen the light of day,

so I’m looking forward to that.

And,

the courses are still the best source of information.

They have all the videos,

the best videos,

and all the bonuses.

Anyway,

I had a fellow asking about the usage of the hips in the martial arts.

The hips are the cornerstone of the martial arts,

because that is where the major weight of the body resides.

If you hit somebody, 

try to get your whole body behind the strike (block)

If you have to move out of the way,

you have to move the hips to effectively move the body.

Unless you want to bend at the hips and be out of balance.

We used to have an exercise.

We would hold a broom stick across the front of hips

then slam the hips back and forth,

pivoting from one front stance to another.

We would judge out effectiveness

by how well the tips of the broom stick

would snap into place.

Really got us centered down.

But here’s the funny thing,

each art has a specific to the hips.

Consider that there were only three directions that the hips can go,

forward, down and rotational.

In karate you thrust.

You drive the hips forward and align them with the strike or block.

In Pa Kua Chang you rotate the hips.

In Aikido you rotate the hips.

But in all arts you must sink the hips.

Sinking the hips connects with the ground,

braces your technique on the earth itself,

and you might consider a small study in physics

concerning the idea of grounding.

Understand what a ground is in electronics,

what it is in architecture,

and so on,

and suddenly you have the idea.

You see most people don’t understand

that their body is a machine

and that it must function as a machine.

Instead, they get emotional,

they start putting their attention (intention)

on their head,

and the body becomes up rooted easily.

One of my big kicks

was to show somebody how to ground.

I would push on their shoulders

and show them how to let the force

go through their bodies and into the ground.

Then,

when they had it,

I would simply say ‘look up,’

and they would fly away.

The col thing was that after I had done that a few times,

people started learning how to put their intention down,

and not be distracted by up.

In other words,

they learned not to be dependent upon their eyes.

They learned intention

without the distraction of the earthly senses.

Very interesting.

Want to know something REALLY interesting?

I would take a student and deliver strikes and have him give the blocks.

Easy peasy, he’s got it in no time.

Then I would have him close his eyes and I would say,

‘I am striking you slowly,

block when you feel it.’

Sometimes my strike would touch them.

Sometimes they would feet it coming too soon.

But eventually, and we’re talking about an hour or so,

even spread out over a couple of classes,

they would feel me coming and get it right.

Blew their minds.

You don’t need your eyes.

You don’t need your ears.

You just need to know where you are

and forget about what is happening.

It’s that easy,

and it changes everything you do.

It’ll change the way you move.

It’ll change the way you fight.

But don’t believe me.

Try it, you’ll like it.

But you should practice your forms a whole lot

before you try it.

The forms enable you to learn control and discipline,

and control and discipline

is what the martial arts are all about.

Anyway,

I’ll talk more on this stuff some day,

but for now,

check out my books from above

and have a great day.

HAVE A GREAT WORK OUT!

Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

BTW

I’ve got nothing but five star reviews on 

The Science of Government.

It’s really nothing more than applying matrixing to politics.

Matrixing + Politics = Sanity

I told you matrixing works with anything.

Here’s the link…

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

Fighting Without Fighting!

I want to talk about 

fighting without fighting,

but first…

Thanks to everybody for making How to Fix Karate a Success!

It’s on Amazon.

Now then…

Fighting without fighting.

First, you have to learn to fight.

Nothing stops a fellow from trying to mug you

like him knowing you’re going to come out on top.

Get your black belt,

get zen confidence,

nobody is going to bother you.

You learned to fight so you don’t have to fight.

This is the crux of the second amendment,

for those of you who wondered.

So, 

somebody STILL wants to fight.

This is the one that it took me years to figure out,

and that nobody knows.

I figured it out while figuring out Neutronics.

In this universe there are only objects that move around.

So you’re sitting there peacefully,

and some guy starts moving towards you

and he wants to conk you.

I simply say,

‘you’re coming towards me.’

And he goes away.

Isn’t that weird?

His body is part of the universe,

and his motion has been detected,

and let me tell give you a little bit of data.

The guy that wants to hit you

doesn’t want to be hit.

Except for the truly insane,

nobody wants to be hit,

and the insane don’t really want to either,

if you dig into them a bit.

So you can defeat anybody

simply by observing that they are coming towards you.

They know you see them,

and they don’t want to get hit,

so they leave.

Now,

here is the truly amazing thing about this,

it works against almost any sentient thing.

I’ve used it when a dog wanted to bite me.

A couple of times.

I’ve used it against salespeople.

Isn’t that a kick in the head?

But salespeople who seek you out,

or are a little too much in their sales pitch,

are trying to bully you into something you don’t want.

you just look at them and say,

“You’re coming towards me.”

I’ve used it against people who were bullies.

I’ve used it against people who simply bugged me.

I’ve even used it against those most dangerous of souls…Karens!

However, 

it might not work if you haven’t studied martial arts

and gained that peace of soul

that is the end result of the real martial arts.

And I would be careful in a combat zone.

People in riot are not sentient,

take a look at the Kyle Rittenhouse situation if you doubt.

You can use deviations.

‘I see you’ is good.

And there are others.

But the main thing is to see them,

and let them know they’ve been seen.

Okay,

hope you have fun with this one,

and here’s the obligatory ads,

this for the two two volumes I just published…

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

HAVE A GREAT WORK OUT!

Al

And don’t forget to check out the interview

BTW

I’ve got nothing but five star reviews on 

The Science of Government.

It’s really nothing more than applying matrixing to politics.

Matrixing + Politics = Sanity

I told you matrixing works with anything.

Here’s the link…

Beat Corona with Martial Arts!

Newsletter 996

Two for One Corona Martial Arts Special

Hey! hey!
How you all doing?
Lot of people got some time off
and you know what that means…
Training Time!

It’s funny,
I get people who ask me
if I’m worried about the Corona virus.
“Why?” I ask.
“You’re over 70!
You’re at risk!
One out of 10 people over 70…DIE!”

I’m gonna die,
okay,
I’ve known that all along,
everybody dies…
so what?
What is important is not that I’m going to die,
but the quality of my life before I die.

Did I work out every day?
Did I use the lessons of the martial arts?
Was I polite?
Did I make friends instead of enemies?
That’s the important stuff.

And,
news flash for the bozos
who want to get into the death stuff…
after working out every day
for more than 50 years,
I’m in fair good shape.
In fact,
I would put me in the 10-20 age group for risk.
That’s what happens when you work out.
That’s what the martial arts do for you.

So,
let me ask you…
have you worked out today?
Did you work out yesterday and the day before and…so on?
And, if you didn’t…
why not?
Why the F not?
What good is your life
if you don’t make yourself strong,
compassionate,
and learn how to enjoy your life
and the lives of everybody around you?

I guess you can see where this is going.
Yep.
Anybody who orders a course
between now and March 21
can get another one of the same or lesser price.
Two for one.
Yep,
the Corona Martial Arts special,
to encourage all you lazy couch potatoes
to be all the Bruce Lee you can be.

Just put in an order,
then email me at aganzul@gmail.com,
tell me what course you want,
got to be of equal value.
You order a $30 course
you can’t order a $50 course as your second course,
got to be a $30 course (or less).

This is my present to those of you
who want to survive not just the Corona thing,
but for life!
If you want to be stronger,
smarter,
have more friends,
be the one people look to in an emergency….

Two for One until March 31st.
April 1st and i will just write you back and say…Don’t be an April Fool!

Here’s a link

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/kung-fu-package/

Have a great work out!
Al

http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/kung-fu-package/

Finding Your Soul Through the Martial Arts

Newsletter 983

The Windows to the Soul of the Martial Arts

I’ve talked about where you put your eyes before.
So let me say it again,
and give you a rather phenomenal martial arts drill.

My first school,
kenpo,
held the belief that you should focus on the chest,
develop peripheral vision when fighting.

My second school,
kang duk won korean karate,
was of a similar opinion.
My instructor,
the best martial artist I have ever known,
took it a step further.
‘Don’t look at the eyes,’
he said.
‘They will fool you.’

Well,
both schools were wrong.
Even the best martial artist I have ever known was wrong.

The eyes are the windows to a man’s soul.
The eyes are nothing but devices.
‘binoculars’ for the spirit that drives a man to look through.
What does the looking is the ‘I am.’
The spirit.
Who you really are.

I find it absolutely fascinating
that so many martial artists will hold to caveman theories
of watching the body,
and refuse to see who they really are.

So,
I get newbies pretty regularly,
and I teach them martial arts,
and I teach them to freestyle.
Shortly after they begin freestyle
I always do the following drill.

I have them stand with their back to the wall.
I tell them to look me in the eyes.
They are always staring away,
looking elsewhere,
it has become hard for man to look his fellow man in the eyes.
Used to be easy.
I met old timers and that is all they did.
Eye to eye,
a firm handshake seals the deal,
an honest day’s work,
that sort of thing.

So I have this fellow standing back to the wall,
I make sure he is looking at me,
and I punch him.
The first dozen punches are easy.
I swing roundhouses.
I punch fast,
but they are easy to see.
Frequently the student will close his eyes.
I do this easy method until he is able to keep his eyes open.
Then I speed up.
I spin and back fist,
I throw an occasional kick,
I have good control,
but the student’s eyes usually open up
as I put a little steam on the strikes.

He blocks them all.

That’s right.
the newbie student blocks virtually
EVERYTHING
I throw.

Why?
Because open eyes create intuition.

If a guy is looking away he is not seeing
and he might as well be unconscious.

If his eyes are open,
if the spirit of the man is actually watching,
there is no limit to what he can do.

From that point on I can teach him anything.
He will learn everything.
And easily.
And if he doesn’t,
I put him to the wall
and open his eyes again.

But…
don’t believe me.
Do it for yourself.
Put some bozo back to the wall,
go slow throw lazy rounders
and make sure he is watching,
that he doesn’t go to sleep with his eyes open.
Guaranteed,
you will have a fast learning student
who will staring looking at the world
in open eyed wonder.

This little drill has been brought to you
by the same fellow who gave you Matrix Karate

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

The totally scientific martial art
that opens eyes everywhere
and makes all martial arts quick and simple to learn.

Have a great work out!

Al

A WIN!

Creating Awareness Drills in the Martial Arts

Newsletter 975

The True Martial Art of Awareness

Got a student here,
having a rough time with Tai Chi.
When doing the form
she wants to go to a posture,
strike the posture,
and that’s all.
But the problem is one of awareness.

When I was doing a lot of Pa Kua,
one of the drills I made myself do
was walk the circle
while staring at my finger.
Focus on the finger.
And the point was this…
DO NOT GO UNCONSCIOUS!
In other words,
grow more aware.

When you strike a pose,
this is common in Karate and kung fu,
you have a moment of awareness.
When you follow the finger
as you walk the circle,
you create awareness at all times.
So striking a pose might result in 10% awareness,
but you need to achieve
100% awareness.
Awareness at all times.

If you go to a party,
and you are aware 10% of the time
and a fight breaks out,
there is a 90% chance
you will get struck.

But if you are aware 100% of the time
you will probably avoid getting struck at all.

People think the martial arts are about fighting.
Or building the body,
or quickness or strength,
or winning tournaments,
or making an image to impress the girls.
Martial arts,
TRUE martial arts.
have nothing at all to do with that.
They are about building awareness.

You have to break through the obsession with the body,
then even put aside energy,
and just become aware.

When I walk the circle in Pa Kua
I hold a finger and stare at it without break.

When I do a Tai Chi form I create circles
around my body with my hands,
and I never have a corner,
never pause or speed up,
just hold awareness in every motion I do.

When I do a freestyle drill,
the point is NEVER to beat the other person,
it is to create awareness,
to create a shield of awareness around myself
so that nobody can penetrate,
so that I can deal with anything
because I am aware.

And,
forgive me for the obligatory ad,
but if you are interested in Tai Chi especially,
but any art,
Matrix Tai Chi creates awareness
about ten times better than the classical form.
It is a simple matter of applied logic.
Maybe I’ll go into this in a later newsletter,
but for now,
remember this…
if you want your martial arts to be true
you must create awareness.
Period.

Here’s the link…
http://monstermartialarts.com/martial-arts/2ba-matrix-tai-chi-chuan/

Now have a GREAT Fourth of July!
Al

A WIN!

Al, Very early this morning I downloaded the Matrix Tai Chi package and wow! I read through the manual and am very impressed. I cant wait to start practicing what I am reading. The posture matrix and the application matrix, it makes so much sense. It took me a long time to learn the Yang short and long form as well as the Cheng Man Ching 37 form. Using the matrix I could have learned that all much quicker. I also glanced at the form video that came with the download and it reminds me of both Yang and the Cheng Man Ching forms run together but it all makes such perfect sense having read over the manual. I will read the manual over and over as I go through the course. I did the 5 Army Tai Chi course first and love it but I am seeing a lot more in the 5 Army form now having read the manual and all this after a quick read! This is great, I cant wait to get heavy into this program. I will keep you posted and as always, Thanks! ~ Kurt

“If you want to learn to swim jump into the water.
On dry land no frame of mind is ever going to help you.”
– Bruce Lee

Five Ways the Martial Arts Became Degraded

Newsletter 949

Five Steps of How the Martial Arts Failed!

I’ve spoken before of this,
some of my advertising is aimed at this,
so let me detail some of the exact steps
of how the martial arts degraded.

FIRST,
PROTECTIVE GEAR
One day the head instructor walked in
had a box of protective gear.
So we geared up,
and started hurting each other.
But we hadn’t been injuring each other
before!
Simply,
putting on the gear made us think
that we had to hit harder to have effect,
and,
we thought,
‘oh, we can hit harder,
they have protective gear on,
so it won’t hurt.’
But it did hurt,
and we started getting sprains and deep bruises,
even breaks,
so the protective gear didn’t work,
but the head instructor kept demanding we wear it.
Protective gear meant more money for him.
Interestingly,
protective gear works now,
but that’s because people aren’t teaching the real art,
which you will understand
as you continue with this little essay.

SECOND
EXPANSION
When I started martial arts,
there were maybe a dozen schools.
As the number of schools multiplied,
hard core martial artists stopped coming together
in the few schools,
and were spread out in the many schools.
in the whole SF bay area.

THIRD
KIDS
As the number of schools grew
instructors couldn’t pull in enough people,
but parents were willing to enroll their kids
at an astounding rate.
The art was quickly watered down,
drills were changed,
and protective gear was sold.

FOURTH
TOURNAMENTS
Tournaments were a wonderful way
to enroll people and keep them enrolled.
Unfortunately,
a technique that wins in a tournament
bears little resistance to a real technique.
Also,
there was grown a false sense of ‘penetration’
when it came to striking people.
My own instructor took the to a tournament
this was back in the late sixties,
and walked out mid-tournament.
The techniques were simply so degraded
he couldn’t encourage his students to learn them.

FIFTH
POLITICS
Back in the very early 70s
my instructor was sitting at his desk,
and two Koreans walked in.
They told him that
The Korean Martial Arts Association was being disbanded,
and if he joined the new Taekwondo association
he would be promoted two belts
(he was sixth black at the time)
and every black belt in his school would be promoted one belt,
and they would all get to learn brand new forms!
Forms that would replace the old ones,
which, according to these two Koreans,
were old and didn’t work.
Interestingly enough, this same association,
since that time,
has gone through two or three new sets of forms,
and there are even people who have returned
to those bad old forms
taught at schools
such as the Kang Duk Won.
This was politics,
TKD, sad to say,
was an invention by a military general
so Korea could have its own
more national art.
And so what if it didn’t work.

SUMMARY
So,
that’s the truth.
If I have stepped on toes,
sorry,
but I was there.
I saw this stuff first hand,
I experienced this stuff first hand.
It really happened.
And if you don’t like what I have said,
do some research,
if you can find histories that weren’t written
by some school for advertising,
you will come to the conclusion
that I am not kidding.

Now,
does that make the martial art bad?
No.
People have overcome bad training,
politics,
tournaments,
and other misfortunes.
The art is about people,
and the deeper a person delves into an art,
the more sure it is
that they will find the truth of the martial arts.

But there are systems which are ALL messed up.
and which are being sold as the next great thing.
And they CAN be fixed.
But you need a bit of matrixing.

But,
I don’t want to push matrixing here,
I want to push history,
I want to push actual,
physical martial arts.

I wrote five books,

Pan Gai Noon
Kang Duk Won
Kwon Bup
Outlaw Karate
Buddha Crane Karate

You can find them on Amazon.
Or,
better,
if you go through the website
you can find video courses in which I show these arts.
These courses often have the books (in PDF)
bundled in with the videos.
That’s your best deal.

Now,
I am not pushing remembering dates,
who taught who and why it matters.
I am pushing an actual progression through history,
China to Okinawa to Japan to America…
…to matrixing.
You can actually do the very techniques of which I speak,
you can see how they evolved from art to art,
country to country,
concept to concept.
Kung Fu to Karate to Matrixing.
And that is better than reading a thousand encyclopedias.
This is a PHYSICAL history of the martial arts.
This is the martial arts being written on your bones,
not a bunch of significant words on paper,
which may or may not be important,
but are definitely slanted to whoever writes them.
Better to do than talk about.

Okay,
end of push,
thanks for listening.

Here’s a list of some of my books,
including the ‘historical’ encyclopedia.

http://learnkarateonline.net/karate-books/

Have a great work out!
Al

http://learnkarateonline.net/karate-books/

Here’s a great win…

A WIN!

Al,

I have gone through many of your courses and am currently going through blinding steel and eventually on my way to forty monkeys. I recently went through your book Matrixing Tong Bei. Several things clicked and the martial arts universe opened up after finishing that book.

Respectfully,
Tyler K

Iron Fist, Iron Body…the Truth

Get Yer Iron Fist Right Here!

We’ve all heard the Kung Fu stories, guy hits the master and hurts his hand. Knives are blunted upon the master’s body.

The Age of Kenpo Karate

And, during the Boxer Rebellion, bullets bounced off bodies. And, over the years, most stories have been proven full of crap.

People died in the Boxer Rebellion, victim to bushwah propaganda and fantasy. And, if there are any fellows out there who would like to blunt the tip of my Cold Steel, send me an e-mail and a release form.

However, bushwah aside, there are very real gains to be made from developing iron bodies, fists of steel, and so on.

We all want more effective blocks and strikes, and some of these methods do have incredible value. The question, of course, is which method works the best?

Chinese Kung Fu preach various iron palm potions, if you soak your hands before and after working out, the tissue remains pliable and yet still retains the value of the work out. Thus, you can pound on beans and sand and pellets of iron until your cup runneth over.

My only problem with this method is that I believe in methods which don’t rely on the body, I prefer methods which use the power of the mind. Tai Chi, for instance, speaks of a pliable body which whipcracks with power, soft on the outside, hard on the inside.

I think this is probably preferable to bruise potions, but one would have to spend a lot of time studying the various Tai Chi arts to attain what one is seeking. Be prepared to study Chen for power, Yang for workable posture, Wu for subtle motions, Sun for twisting effects, and so on.

Now, to be truthful, just doing karate forms is going to give you an ‘iron body.’ The problem is that most people do the forms wrong, the actual technology of doing karate forms the correct way has, for the most part, been lost.

But, if you can find the correct way of doing forms, then you can, within the space of about two years, learn how to maximize energy within your body to withstand a strike, and concentrate energy into your hands for striking.

The best way of developing power, not needing esoteric knowledge or magic potions, is simply to set up a stand which supports a brick, and drop the palm on it.

Place a folded wash cloth over it to protect the palm, and don’t strike too hard, and just drop the palm. The trick is to be willing to do it for an hour at a time.

I know people will have other methods, and I am always fascinated by what people prefer in this matter. The things I have said in this article I have formulated over four decades and through a variety of experiences with a variety of arts. So feel free to respond to this article, or to write your own article and offer your own opinion.

About the author: Al Case has near 50 years experience int he martial arts. Check out his book, ‘Matrixing Chi,’ at MonsterMartialArts.com.

Boy Wears Tin Skull Cap to Avoid Shaolin Gung Fu!

Kung Fu Builds Strong Minds!

Yes, unbelievable but true, a young boy, who definitely didn’t want to learn Shaolin Gung Fu, has taken to wearing a tin skull cap.
The boy’s father apparently wanted to teach him good Shaolin, and he would say things like, ‘if you don’t study martial arts you will have a weak mind, then the government will control you with their radio frquencies.’
The boy thought that if he wore a metal cap as protection against the radio waves he wouldn’t have to study kung fu. Which is to say, he wouldn’t have to have a strong mind.

The Best Way to Learn Shaolin Gung Fu! Click on the Cover!

The scientific truth behind this odd tale is that the body is a like a machine, and the brain is like a radio station.
Unfortunately, the radio station ‘brain’ is victim to so much static that it starts to generate its own static. The old ‘garbage in garbage out’ theory.

A study of Kung fu, such as Shaolin, focusing the mind on ‘one thing,’ will train the individual to ignore the static, and the mind will come under control, and then the radio frequencies broadcast by the government will pass right through the ‘empty mind.’

The static that is absorbed by the brain can actually come from several sources.
Drugs tend to unfocus the individual, encouraging a form of static.
The government puts out special frequencies at places across the globe in order to control mankind on a mass level.
Even education is a culprit in this sad saga, as modern education is so lacking in even basic common sense that the result is more confusion among students, rather than competence and clarity, resulting in an ‘educated’ population that will do as they are told, and not what is right.

Thus, the boy’s father was right, and the boy was wrong, but, if he persists in wearing a tinfoil beanie he will doubtless remain stupid and prone to distractions and become just one more ‘mind number robot’ having existence as a human being.

The solution? Study Shaolin Kung Fu, or Karate or Aikido, or any other form of body discipline…for to discipline the body is to discipline the mind.

A good place to start would be the martial arts lessons available at MonsterMartialArts.com. They are very logical, easy to do, and will cause the body, and mind, to become strong enough to resist any form of distraction.
Remember, good Shaolin Gung Fu results in strong human beings.

Shaolin Kung Fu, From Hung Gar to the Butterfly

Shaolin Kung Fu Gets a New Set of Wings!

Shaolin Kung Fu is one of the oldest of the Martial Arts. It was started back about the time of Buddha, rode through many changes, and is still pertinent and powerful. The question we ask in this article is: can anything new be added to Shaolin Kung Fu?

The original Shaolin Kung Fu dates back to the time of Buddha. Buddha came to the Shaolin Temple from India and began to instruct the Shaolin Monks in sacred scripture. Unfortunately, the monks were of weak constitution. They fell asleep, they were easy pickings for bandits, they just couldn’t cut it.

Symbol of the Shaolin Butterfly

Buddha began teaching the monks traditional exercises to help strengthen them. These were chi developing exercises, and the exercises he was teaching them bears strong resemblance to martial arts exercises. Thus, the exercises slowly turned into forms and techniques that we now know as Shaolin Kung Fu. The bandits in the area around the Shaolin Temple began to finding that the monks were no longer easy pickings, began to leave the area.

Time passed, and Shaolin passed through many trials and tribulations. Emperors came and emperors went, but Shaolin persisted, and people who studied the traditional Shaolin Kung Fu lessons came to be in great demand. They would leave the temple and train people to protect themselves, train bodyguards how to fight off bandits, and even became involved in training warriors for battle.

At last, the emperor had had enough, these Shaolin Kung Fu people were causing too much trouble, and he ordered the temple burned.

Five monks manage to flee the destruction of the temple, and they began to teach martial arts on a broader scale. Some of the systems that came about as a result of these monks teachings were Hung Gar, Fut Ga, Wing Chun, and so on.

That brings us to modern times, and state of modern Shaolin Kung Fu. While the art persists in some areas, under the hands of dedicated teachers, all too often it has been transformed into tournament arts, flowery styles that mean little, and, of course, the Wu shu of the People’s Republic of China, which is not true to the original Shaolin Kung Fu, but was made up by physical education coaches after the Great Revolution, and spread for the glory of the state, and not because of a desire for understanding the spiritual teachings originally taught at the Shaolin Temple.

One of the modern styles of Shaolin, a trim and tight system that yet encompasses the majority of the original teachings, is the Shaolin Butterfly. This art holds to the original concepts, such as animal modes of fighting like the tiger, the dragon, the snake, and so on.

It is begun with a study of six basic steps, which steps take on a twining, mixing character, and which are then place upon standing bricks. Thus, the student has to keep balance, all while learning how to kick and punch, how to cling to an opponent, how to entrap and take down with a variety of locks and throws.

There is a logic to this approach, a blessing of western culture, that enhances the eastern origins, yet enables the student to learn much faster than ever before.

That is the history of Shaolin Kung Fu to the present, and while it is a rich history, it manages to avoid the degrading of the art due to influences such as tournaments, commercial interests, and so on.

Here’s a good article on Shaolin Kung Fu. If you would like to actually learn how to do this incredible art, check out the course at Monster Martial Arts.

Certification Requirements for the Shaolin Butterfly

Earning a Black Belt in Shaolin Kung Fu

I often get people asking me about certification requirements for the Shaolin Butterfly. Since Monster Martial Arts is one of the few totally valid schools for promoting people in such arts as Karate and Kung Fu, and this through the internet, I thought I should take a moment and answer the question totally and utterly.

First, as with any courses I offer certification in, and that is virtually all the courses offered at the monster website, one has to get the course they wish to test for, and the Master Instructor Course. They then have to do the material, including applications, and send in (upload to private channel on youtube) their test. I will grade the test, using the specific course they are testing and the master instructor course for all corrections.

Now, obviously, one needs the course they are going to test in, but the Master Instructor Course is necessary because it gives the exact data that one needs to know to have perfect form and technique. This is provable perfection, and once one has the data on this course, no matter which art they might study, they will be as perfect as they can apply the data on the Master instructor Course.

Now, that said, there are nine forms on the Shaolin Butterfly. The first five forms are shorter forms with two man applications. Thus, one can take a beginner and drill him mercilessly, and the beginner will be astounded at how fast he is picking up the material.

When I teach classes in Shaolin Butterfly I usually refer to these first five short forms as the prelude to Brown Belt. This means that once the student has finished these forms he is solid in basics, intuition is starting to rear his head, and he has built a solid base of technique.

And, I should say at this point that I know that a brown belt is a karate term, as is a black belt. The correct term would be brown sash, or black sash. I use these terms interchangeably, for they stand for about the same thing in the personal develop of a student when you compare the different arts, and especially when you compare the arts once they have been matrixed.

I use the remaining four forms, the longer ‘nine square’ forms, for the brown to black belt period. These are rich forms containing the wealth of kung fu. The difference is that the older, more traditional forms tend to be random collections of technique. They are wonderful, even phenomenal, but by categorizing techniques through use of matrixing, and by condensing them into more efficient patterns, one can learn much, much faster.

I should say that I don’t go into weapons. The reason for this is simple…once one has learned good kung fu, and I emphasize the word ‘good’ here, then one can siomply pick up a weapon and plug it in. Thus, I give students weapons once they have completed the nine forms, and ask them to do their forms (including two man forms, with the weapons. this gives an amazing depth to the art, and the student begins an education beyond  education, for he must make many decisions as to what works and what doesn’t.

I hope this article has helped the reader to understand more concerning the certification requirements of the Shaolin Butterfly.