Martial Arts I Study after 55+ Years!!

Happy Summer!

You should set a goal,

choose an art,

and learn it this summer.

Let me be specific in what I study,

the martial arts I practice.

I get this question every once in a while,

and if you’re not not interested,

pass on by and I’ll talk to you next month.

I do Sanchin.

I don’t do the rock hard version

where people beat on you,

where you learn to ‘take it.’

The reason for this is that 

there are two sides to the martial arts,

avoid…or get tough.

I prefer to mix the two,

seek a type of harmony between them.

So the Sanchin I practice I will…

…sink the weight

…turn the hips

…execute a slap and grab motion

…and punch.

And,

I use a matrix of blocks

in applying the slap grab,

and develop the slap grab

from strike to lock to takedown.

This makes the art totally workable.

Now,

I play with other forms.

I practice with weapons 

and I do other arts,

but…

Sanchin is my gold.

It gives me breathing,

dynamic tension,

grounding,

loose-tight,

a whole body,

energy,

and so many other things.

For the soft side of the art

I do the material from…

The Last Martial Arts Book:

Nine Square Diagram Boxing

It includes concepts from Tai Chi and Pa Kua Chang,

and follows the matrixing logic of Sanchin.

It is a complete ‘soft style’ art.

And,

to round out the art,

and to make sure I  can use everything I study,

I do…

Rhythmic Freestyle,

lop sau (aș originated by me and described in book/video)

sticky hands (from wing chun)

Push hands from Tai Chi chuan.

And,

of course…

freestyle.

This is the actual training routine I do.

Every day.

Every day.

This routine is totally defined in two books,

How to Fix Karate (comes in two volumes)

and

The Last Martial Arts Book: Nine Square Diagram Boxing

All the instructions are in there.

including instructions on what the forms really mean,

how to make the applications work,

complete instructions on matrixing,

and so much more.

I wrote those books so I would have a path

should I choose to come back to this planet

after I die.

It’s the best I could do.

And, I should mention a couple of things.

There are two versions of The Last Martial Arts Book.

One of them has five hours of video instruction.

And,

How to Fix Karate has hours of video instruction.

And,

you shouldn’t discount the other books and courses I’ve done.

I sincerely hope that somebody gets excited

and starts researching,

seeing how I came up with this stuff.

Research is how you go deep in your understanding.

Anyway,

I thought I would mention all this

and encourage you to

learn a totally different martial art this summer!

Have a great work out!

Al

Don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

Highest Level Martial Arts!

Good morning!

I’ve always felt that

Karate is like chess

and boxing is like checkers.

They are played on the same board,

or in the same ring.

In essence,

they are games that analyze motion.

The motion of the body

the motion of the limbs

the motion of the opponent

In boxing,

the motion is dedicated to 

collisions of the fist with flesh.

In karate,

and the majority of other martial arts

the motion is dedicated to 

collisions of the fist and foot with flesh,

entangling limbs to trip, lock, throw, etc.

Some arts specialize more than others.

But,

still,

it is all about the analysis of motion.

And here we come to something interesting.

The highest stages of martial art

are dedicated to non-motion.

Simply,

you analyze motion

until you enter a state of non-motion.

The easiest example of this

that I can think of.

You and Joe Blow are playing soccer.

You are racing for the ball.

You are running next to each other 

at the same speed,

and you notice that you and Joe are motionless

compared to the background moving behind you.

You and Joe are in your own world.

Strange things happen when you are in your own world.

Time can be manipulated.

Between the two of you

you can agree to a passage of time

that is different from

the passage of time in the ‘real’ universe.

Now,

if you practice long and hard

you can create this sense of time without Joe.

You just look at an opponent

and different rules apply.

Motion becomes different.

it becomes uniquely adjusted by one person

agreeing for both people.

Read that one again,

it’s so damned simple it’s difficult.

It took me decades to find that reality,

that different sense of time,

that place where my sense of self

was strong enough to affect

the universe outside myself.

So,

how do you find this place?

First,

meditate through forms.

Second,

meditate through form applications (techniques).

Third,

when you freestyle with somebody,

eschew violence for staring at them so hard

that you end up feeling like you are in a tube.

One day I asked my instructor

if he had ever had any mystical experiences.

He said that one day

he was working out

and was looking down a long tube at his opponent.

He said the tube felt like it was 60 feet long.

He could see everything before it happened.

He even knew what his opponent was thinking.

When I was in my fifties,

some twenty years ago,

I had that experience.

I only felt like I was about 10 feet from my opponent,

but it was a stable experience,

not a one time thing.

At that time I started doing a mental drill.

And I think it helped me.

I would do forms,

often with my eyes closed,

or in a dark room,

and visualize myself as fifty feet above myself;

looking down ast my body.

I would tell my body,

 way down there,

how to move.

This brought an incredible sense of peace to myself

and I truly felt like I was expanding

as a martial artist,

and as a human being.

Have fun with this.

And, have fun with this little video clip.

MB 114 slap grab options

And don’t forget to drop by

http://www.monstermartialarts.com

Have a great work out!

Al

Hi, Kumar.

Don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’

ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

And don’t forget to drop by

http://www.monstermartialarts.com

Have a great work out!

Al

Hi, Kumar.

Don’t forget to check out the interview

How to Fix Karate! (volumes one and two)

volume one is at

And volume two is at…

‘The Last Martial Arts Book’ has 11 ratings for 5 stars.

(There is a video version of this book with no stars yet)

My two yoga books have 9 ratings between them  for 5 stars.

‘The Book of Five Arts’ has 7 ratings for 5 stars.

‘The Science of Government’ has 6 ratings for 5 stars.

‘Chiang Nan’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars.

My novel, ‘Monkeyland,’ has 5 ratings for 5 stars

That’s a lot of good ratings

so hopefully you’

ll find that useful

find the book/course that is right for you,

and matrix your own martial arts.

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…

Newsletter 1006

Extra Bonus on Nine Square Diagram!

Hi guys and gals,

I just put up a couple of extra bonuses

on the Nine Square Diagram courses.

The hard side gets a video

with more data on lop sau.

The soft side gets a video

and more data on push hands.

I included a video

on how the three freestyles fit together.

It’s a freestyle sequence,

and it will help everybody understand

how matrixing works with freestyle.

If you are getting this email

and don’t know what I’m talking about

check out this site…

https://9squarediagramboxing.wordpress.com

It’s got everything you need to know.

and a great work out, too!

Al

A Martial Arts Night Before Christmas…

Newsletter 993

The Martial Arts Night Before Xmas

Here it is,
my annual Xmas poem,
the Night Before Xmas,
adapted for Martial Artists.

I won’t make apologies for it,
but I will ask one thing,
a present to me for Xmas,
if you will.

If I have offended,
sent the wrong order,
dropped a communication,
offended you in ANY manner,
even with this poem,
please forgive.
It’s a new year,
help me start it fresh,
the world is too wonderful a place
to carry around ANY ill will.

Now,
with no further ado,
here is…

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS!

Twas the night before Christmas
I was in my shack
primed and ready
for the red fat attack.

my weapons were loaded
the windows were barred
all would be safe
while I was on guard

The chimney was decked
with concertina wire
I crouched by the couch
ready to fire.

I had an M60
with ammo to feed
I didn’t care
if the red fat did bleed.

A loaded shotgun
and grenades to spare
when red fat came down
I’d blow him out of there.

Throwing stars and knives
and a really long sword
and if that didn’t work
I knew a bad word.

Sitting there late
my eyes started to close
when suddenly I heard
a bunch of ho hos.

Off with the lights
safety off, too
I  watched the fire close
and heard a sound from the flu.

‘Ouch and gosh darn it
who put the wire here
those are my undies
starting to tear!’

Then a shower of soot
and a grunt and a groan
he landed in the fire
and gave out a moan.

He was rubbing the place
where the wire did tear
so I held down the trigger
and lead filled the air.

belt after belt
did I deal the red fat
he danced and he jumped
I knew he felt that!

then quicker than spit
I ran out of lead
but enough was enough
he had to be dead.

Boy was I shocked
to see him stand tall
stepping out of the fireplace
not bothered at all.

So I grabbed up the 16
to mow him down
he had to be hurting
cause I saw his big frown.

Then I was empty
and he came straight for me
I pulled out my knives
and sliced him with glee

He jumped to the side
moving real quick
disarmed my knives
with a well placed kick

then he dropped the big bag
he had on his shoulder
reached forth his arms
and his anger did smolder

He grabbed hard my neck
and held me up high
I tried kicks and punches
but I was like a fly

Not karate nor judo
no art did work
and he grinned a mean grin
and called me a jerk

‘Don’t you know
you stupid little man
Christmas is forever
in spite of your plan.’

Then he threw me aside
and proceeded to work
giving presents to all
and to me a great smirk

And when he left
the great big red fat
he left me a lump of coal
the big red fat rat!

HANAKWANMASS TO ALL
and to all a great work out.

Have a great work out!
Al

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

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!

Bruce Lee Died Because of One Thing!

Newsletter 977

How Bruce Lee Died

One of the biggest questions I get,
year after year year,
is how did Bruce Lee die.
At first I didn’t know.
I searched through all the theories,
his family was cursed,
he was poisoned by jealous masters,
he had a bad reaction to
marijuana, tea, speed, aspirin, etc.
None of these worked,
all the theories fell apart under close examination.
Recently,
however,
I found out the real reason Bruce died.
It is totally logical,
backed up by facts,
makes sense,
and I fell it is the real reason.

Did you know that Bruce had his sweat glands removed?
That’s right.
He was trying to get rid of ‘underarm blotch,’
which looked terrible on the camera.
Now,
sweat glands are important,
and the ones under the arms VERY important.
It is a way of cooling down the body when it is overheated.
Overheated like working out,
shooting films in 100 degree heat under lights,
and so on.
In the months before Bruce died
word has it that he had fainted several times.
His brain is supposed to have swollen.
Again,
a byproduct of heat.
So Bruce Lee died through overheating his body,
which was caused by his having certain of his sweat glands removed.

Can I be totally, 100% sure?
No.
But I can be 99% sure.
His history,
the condition of his body,
the effect of removing sweat glands,
it all makes sense.

I would love to have a doctor exhume the body and find out for sure.
Except,
it’s done.
Whether it is misadventure
through the removal of sweat glands,
or Triad masters giving him repeated overdoses of aspirin.
Bruce is gone.
Thank God he was with us for a while,
he sure left us some gold.

Here’s a link to a site filled with Bruce Lee info.

http://freebrucelee.com

Have a great work out!

Al

A WIN!

I’ve come to the same conclusion as Bruce (Lee):  I no longer believe in ‘styles’.  I believe every martial artist has to create their own personal martial art.  Even if they are a die hard ‘traditionalist’ they still do it their own way or their own interpretation. ~ Matt R

“The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.”
– Bruce Lee

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

How to Empty Out the Martial Arts

The Empty of Martial Arts

Gichin Funakoshi changed the name of karate.
It was naha te, which means ‘China Hand.’
He changed it to Karate, which means ‘empty hand.’
There have been all sorts of interpretations
regarding the ‘empty’ in Karate,
and why Gichin did this.
There have also been a lot of interest
in the significance of the word ‘empty’
for the whole martial arts.

I think it is Kenpo that says something to the effect
that no matter if you have a weapon,
I come to you with empty hands.
This is not born out,
however,
because Kenpo, and karate,
and other martial arts
have a lot of weapons.
So what does the word ‘empty’ mean.

Take a look at a sentence from The Tao.

‘Do nothing until nothing is left undone.’

This weird statement of redundancy
and a sort of a ‘double negative’ concept
gives hint to the true meaning.
But to understand the true meaning
one has to study both the hard and the soft.
Study just the hard and you are only studying one half the art.
Study just the soft and you are only studying one half the art.
You have to study both,
then put them together,
then think a lot to figure out the significance
of the word,
of the concept,
‘empty.’

In Aikido,
you empty the space in front of the punch
so that the person falls into the empty.
That’s easy to understand.
Defines a concept of harmony.
though it is sometimes harder than stuff to make work.
But that is the soft side of empty.
Works for Aikido,
Tai Chi,
and other arts, and techniques, of that ilk.
and understanding that kind of empty
leads to a lot of hard to explain abilities.

The empty in the hard side of the art is harder to explain.
First you learn focus.
Your whole body becomes rigid with power
but just for a moment.
Before and after…the body is empty.
If the instruction is good,
or the student is unusually smart,
he figures out that he need not make the whole body rigid.
He makes just the fist rigid,
the rest of the body is empty.
And,
I should add at this point,
the mind learns to become empty to make this step.
It is hard to empty the mind,
to focus on one thing (an opponent)
to the exclusion of all else.
But that is what is needed.
Then,
if the student happens to be blessed,
he figures out that he need not even make the fist empty.
He can just empty his fist
and stick the sticks of his bones
through the watermelon body of his opponent.
You find out all about this,
and all the necessary drills to make it happen,
in The Punch.

And,
to reach this level you have to understand
a few rather incredible things.
Stuff like:
the body is nothing but space…empty.
Or:
the universe is backwards.
But I will leave that for another time.
The truth is that,
unless a person has figured out how to make an ‘empty’ punch,
this stuff tends to be very scary.

anyway,
the subject of ‘empty’
is crucial to the martial arts,
and really needs to be understood
if one is going to get past the pain of bashing,
and into the true sublime nature of the martial arts.

Al

A WIN!

I’ve ordered several courses from you, but didn’t feel like it was time to write in until now. When I first got Matrixing Chi, it didn’t really make sense to me. Then I got The Punch and things started to click. The two flowed together and complimented each other incredibly well. I began to feel energy inside me, and my punches were beginning to pack a bit more power. But it wasn’t until I ordered The Master Instructor Course that things really changed. I began to notice (and fix) mistakes I hadn’t seen before. The most noticeable was the back stance. After correcting it, my punches have become much heavier as I’m able to more efficiently channel energy up my leg, through my arm, and out my fist. ~ Mylan B

“The less effort, the faster and more powerful you will be.”
– Bruce Lee