Tag Archives: black belt

How to Get Your Matrix Black Belt at Monkeyland!

New Method for Getting Your Matrix Karate Black Belt

Okay, so I’m going to Monkeyland, and top of my priorities is getting people to their Matrix Karate Black Belt.

Now, this is going to be fierce, so hold on to your undies and get ready to make a decision. Here is the first, official program being offered to live in students at the Church of Martial Arts.

Matrix Black Belt
Official Emblem of The Church of Martial Arts


To set this up, let me explain something.

Currently it takes about 4 years to get to Black Belt. This time frame has resulted because:

people have added on to workable systems, and thus confused them.
karate has been geared towards tournaments.
karate has been dumbed down for teaching children.
karate has been slanted for behavior modification.
karate has lost control by using protective pads.
karate has been…changed, altered, modified and…corrupted.

But…people like Mike Stone and Chuck Norris were getting to black belt in a year to a year and a half. This was back before Karate became such a financial success, and self destructed.

Now, it is no secret that I was getting people to Black Belt in one year. I detailed the system I used in the ‘Outlaw Karate’ course.

Then I started Matrixing, and things got REAL fast.

Let’s consider the time involved.

Most people take 2 – 4 hours of instruction a week. It they work out an hour a day that is considered a lot.

In a year, the, you are getting some 300 hours of work out.
But how much actual instruction are you getting?
Most people get five minutes of instruction a day, and the rest is sweat with no explanation because ‘the form will teach you.’

But the idea that the forms will teach you is a lousy one. Because the forms have been corrupted.

Have you ever heard the phrase ‘Practice makes perfect?’

It’s a lie.

The real truth here is that ‘perfect practice makes perfect.’

Simply, if you practice a corrupted system, and virtually all martial arts these days are corrupted, then you will simply monkey see monkey do (memorize) a corrupt system.

No wonder Karate sometimes gets a bad rap!

Now, I have brought a person to Black Belt in three months. This is 120 lessons, which was actually maybe forty hours of instruction. Maybe less.

But the instruction was perfect, because it was based on The Master Instructor Course!’

Yes, I had the student do the Master Instructor Course, and I backed it up with my instruction. So he was getting perfect karate…perfectly!

So…30 – 40 hours? Something like that?

So, here comes the Monkeyland deal.

Come live at Monkeyland for a month.

I will do my best to get you to Black Belt in that month.

Mind you, we are talking about maybe 4 hours of instruction a day. This is variable, because there is a lot of stuff that has to be done up there to make it self sufficient.

But, 4 hours a day for 20 days is…80 hours! I say 20 days because I will run classes intensively for three weeks, then I have to gear down and see to other things that are going to be happening.

Do you think I can get you to your Black Belt in Matrix Karate within 80 hours?

I sure do.

Heck, most of you have martial arts experience, and the learning curve is going to be astonishing!

But even if you don’t have martial arts experience, I think I can get you there.

Mind you, I don’t guarantee, but you know that my reputation is on the line, and the reputation of Monkeyland itself!

Simply, I have to make a certificate from Monkeyland mean something.

There are three requirements to being accepted as a live in student.

1) Write a letter (email) to me listing your experiences and why you think I should accept you as a student. Make sure you tell me about your life experiences, jobs you have held, any injuries you may have incurred during the course of your martial arts training.

2) Get and do the Matrix Karate course before you get here.

Get and do the Master Instructor Course before you get here.

And, here’s the BONUS…enough students make it to Black Belt I will run a Matrix Aikido Seminar!

This will be a complete seminar, a course based on the curriculum listed in the Matrix Aikido Course. This means grab arts, punches, weapons. If you want to be considered for this course, then you have to get and do the Matrix Aikido course before you get here, and you have to get promoted to Black Belt in Matrix Karate.

Now, this is a tough game I’ve outlined here, and it is for tough people. People who aren’t afraid of work, and who can get the job done.

Here are a couple of things to think about.

If you lie or misrepresent yourself in any way you will be asked to leave Monkeyland.
If you don’t follow the rules here you will be asked to leave. And there won’t be many rules. I’ll write them out in a later blog.
Heck, if you have bad character I’ll probably pick up on that in your letter, and you simply won’t get invited.

And, here’s another thing to think about…

How much does it cost to live for a month?

Let’s see, rent, food, clothes…whatever…can you live for $500?

Heck, $500 might cover your food, if you don’t eat too much.

But you could live here for a month for $500.

Out of work and got a couple of thou saved up?

Why the heck aren’t you at Monkeyland?

Think about it.

Living for cheap, doing martial arts hours a day, and you walk away with a certificate, an official Church of Martial Arts certificate, enabling you to teach Matrix Karate anywhere.

Even if you don’t intend to become a teacher, that is an incredible and fantastic thing.

Now, I am doing this for a very short while, prices will go up, but this will enable me to prove that Monkeyland works. And it will give me a bunch of wins that I can use to get more people up here.

And, let me be plain about it, there is an ASTONISHING amount of work that needs to be done up here.

There isn’t much water, so we need to set up a water catchment system. That means leveling off a mountain top and setting up drainage so we can catch the rain.

The mountain needs to be cooled down. We need to plant rows of shady trees, not to mention fruit trees, and irrigate them (with water that we don’t have because the catchment system isn’t in place yet!) and so on and so on.

The road needs leveling, with a side drain so it won’t wash away.

We need to chip granite off some of the rocks and use it to make the road passable in wet weather.

Simply, you’re going to be getting martial arts up the wazoo, but you’re also going to get worked until you are exhausted.

And you’ll be sleeping where you can, so bring a sleeping bag and a tent.

Sound like fun?

No. It’s more than fun. It’s actually growing up and being a pioneer, and learning a way of life that will change you forever!

And, every once in a while, there will be somebody who will be selected to stay on for free.

Somebody who thrives on the load.

Let’s be honest. Many people will be worn to the bone by the time a month is over. Even with the lessening of the load at the end of the month. It will be soul satisfying to the max…but many people will be ready to return to the work a day world.

But there is going to be that odd duck who says, ‘Gee, chipping granite and running it uphill three miles to make the road passable was fun. I liked it!’ Or, ‘Can we terrace the mountain top and make the water catchment system bigger?’ Or, ‘I like making adobe bricks and stacking them to make a house!’

Yes, there will be those kinds of ducks, and I will search them out, and I will enlist them. They are born monks, and they NEED to be at Monkeyland.

But, whether you are on vacation to make yourself the best martial artist in the world, or whether you are looking for a low paying career that fits your soul, Monkeyland is the place to be.

So, think about it. If it sounds like something you’d like to experience, then make a decision. Write me an email. It’s only a month, but it could be the most important life changing month in your entire life!

Write me at aganzul@gmail.com, subject line: I want to Come to Monkeyland because…

Here’s the link for Matrix Karate and the Master Instructor Course.

Restructuring the Martial Arts from the Black Belt Up

The Need for Black Belt Standards in the Martial Arts!

When I started the martial arts I wanted to be a black belt in the worst possible way. I thought that was mecca, the ultimate, better than anything in the world

So I went to work. I signed up at a Karate school and I put in the time. Interestingly, I was to learn that it took more than time. It took a precise bit of knowledge.

perfect karateTo be precise, I spent a couple of years in one system (Chinese Kenpo), then several years in another system (Kang Duk Won Korean Karate), before I achieved Black Belt. When I got it, however, it was better than I had ever imagined

Interestingly, as the years passed, I realized that I had struck it rich, that all Black Belts were not the same, and that I had lucked out.

You see, the standards of what it took to reach Black Belt were all over the place. One fellow I knew got a black belt cause he could fight good. Another got it because he lent the instructor money. Honorary black belts were passed out to people who didn’t even study the martial arts. To be honest, real black belts were actually, in spite of there being so many of them, a rarity.

Eventually, in spite of hype and glamour, being a black belt didn’t mean much.

Oh, it meant somebody had sweated a lot, maybe, if they were lucky, but there was no single standard whatsoever.

Now, when I achieved a Black Belt in the Kang Duk Won, that system was directly derived from the instructors BEFORE Funakoshi. It wasn’t infected by the folly of tournaments, the shame of politics, or put together with other arts to corrupt its pure workings.

When I achieved Black Belt, when I studied at a specific branch of the Kang Duk Won where the art had not been corrupted, something happened to the students who made it. Simply, they changed.

They achieved something I called CBM, or Coordinated Body Motion. When this happened they began to move their bodies in totally different ways, and there was a feeling of massive energy within. This was usually accompanied by other phenomena, such as dreams, intuitive experiences, and so on.

All of what I have said here has guided me to establish a different standard for Black Belt.

monkey kung fuTo be sure, if somebody CBMs, I consider them a Black Belt in the old sense. I value that, I prize that. I consider that art of the highest form.

But, interestingly, I don’t make that the thrust of my teachings.

You see, so many people can’t make that step, or, at least, it will take them too long. They don’t have the proper teacher or teaching, even if they are a good student.

So, in putting together my temple (Church of Martial Arts dot com) I am focusing on making sure the student has the knowledge, and therefore the best possible chance, before I start pushing him towards any kind of CBM focused study.

I know that some will disagree with my path, but consider the alternative: 999 out of a 1000 students not making it, being shunted into some weird idea of what a black belt is, putting the emphasis on winning trophies…versus the forging and perfection of character that the Martial Arts are.

Thus, consider the steps necessary to progression in the Church of Martial Arts.

A Postulant is somebody who seeks. This is a fellow who is casting about, and frequently doesn’t even know for what. He encounters Monster Martial Arts or one of my other sites, is intrigued and orders a course or two. If he is ready, if he is a seeker of the true martial arts, something will ignite in his soul. I always know these people, even if only by email, because they start ordering more courses. The courses are inexpensive, they are usually whole arts, and the student starts to ‘drink’ them.

bagua zhangSometimes people write and tell me what is happening, and sometimes they remain aloof and afar, yet their interest is flaming. Whatever the type of student they are, they are learning the truth about the how and the why of the martial arts. They are learning the physics, and many write to me and tell me how they have changed their art, restructured it, in piece and in whole format, to make it make sense.

And sometimes I receive letters telling me of experiences they have had that let me know that, whether they know it or not, they have CBMed.

Oddly, I get a big kick out of this anonymous relationship we have. I don’t have to be standing over somebody’s shoulder, and by this I mean I don’t need a big organization, to make sure that they are getting the truth of the martial arts.

The art is an art, and though we often, and especially in the beginning, study it as a group, it is a personal undertaking. You are becoming an artist, you are becoming something more than human. You are forging and perfecting your character.

These people who ignite, who begin ordering courses and learning the truth of the martial arts, I call Novices.

A Novice, or novitiate, is a beginner. More important, he is not now a seeker, for he has found the truth; now he is running up the path of the martial arts to the truth of himself as fast as he possibly can.

Now, if a person was to visit me, study under me, and by this I mean at the Church of Martial Arts, the course would be quick and to the point. They would be put on a list of martial arts forms and techniques that are all and completely matrixed

If a person doesn’t have the opportunity to study with me, they need merely go through the eight original Matrixing courses.

Do you see what I have done here? I have resolved the martial arts not to a random, whimsical study of what somebody thinks is cool, or has a bit of workability for an odd variety of people, but to a comprehensive and complete body of knowledge.

Knowledge. Art becomes science. The Way becomes a series of steps that are complete and to the point.

Once a student has completed either of these two methods, either the checklist at the church or the eight matrixing courses, they are considered a monk.

And, a person who has completed novice training in the Church of Martial Arts has a sure and certain knowledge of the complete martial arts, and this includes Karate, several varieties of Kung Fu, Pa Kua Chang, Tai Chi Chuan, and more.

The standard here is in the comprehensive knowledge that can be found nowhere else, and certainly not in the speedy frame of time I recommend.

At any rate, once a person has become a monk, and having a thorough knowledge of the martial arts on the whole, he is ready to pick his specialty. Perhaps he will delve into esoteric Kung Fu, perhaps he will concentrate on Karate, perhaps he will shift into weapons, or some other field of martial arts.

Whatever the Monk chooses to do, he will be well prepared, and he will be assured of his success in his further studies.

For a list of the eight original Matrix Martial Art courses go to MonsterMartialArts.com