Category Archives: aikido

Think and It Shall Happen…Through the Martial Arts!

The Power of Mind over Matter…

May the force be with you. Did the Egyptians levitate those pyramidal building blocks with their minds? I wanna have the power of mind over matter!

if you don't have a mind it doesn't matterHey, who doesn’t. The problem is, you don’t see anybody else who has it, either. Even the bible, translated through seventy different special interest groups, is not entirely believable when it comes to matters of the mind over matter.

That said, the first stage in learning how to have powers of mind over matter is to learn that the body is a machine. This can be done through many different methods, but the best one I have found is good old martial arts. You have to translate a lot of stuff into physics, and there is a lot of bushwah out there, but if you stick to the empirical method you can actually isolate True Martial Arts.

The second stage is learning how to use the mind. The first stage, in teaching you that the body is a machine, opens up the mind, but most people misunderstand what has happened. They think they have to build their bodies more, when, at a certain point, they have to use their bodies less, and energy less, and let their mental powers transcend any desire for physicality.

The third stage, interesting enough, deals with an analysis of flow, such as in Aikido, or Pa Kua, or others of the soft arts. Once flow is mastered, the third stage starts to manifest, and this is a stage of imagination. Can you make people back away from you just by looking at them, can you fall somebody down with your intent, as opposed to actually touching them.

The fourth stage is going to be available after you have achieved the abilities I’ve just described. This is going to be where you make stones levitate. Can you take imagination and make the things of the world do what you want them to do?

Can you imagine a stone lifting, and it lifts solely through your imagination? This is not muscle, and is, in fact, in a direction opposite to muscle. Though, remember, it is necessary on the first stage.

The real key is in understanding, not in mysticism, for mysticism is the fact of words and concepts not really being understood and therefore not really usable. The real key is in running imagination through your body on the lower levels, and then being able to manifest that imagination outside your body. Of course, at this point, you should probably find a workable method for isolating the exact physics of The True Martial Arts.

But to start from scratch, go to MonsterMartialArts.com and find a course on good Kung Fu.

Don’t forget to subscribe to this blog at the top of the sidebar.

The Zen Simplicity of Martial Arts

To Be or Not to Be Martial Arts Style

To the beginner the martial arts, and this includes Karate, Kung Fu, Aikido, Tai Chi Chuan, and all other martial disciplines, can be less than simple. There is simply an overwhelm of information, a ‘disgruntlement’ of the mind at the massive influx of new materials.

The simple truth, however, is that the truth is simple.

martial arts discipline
The answers are in you…if you have the discipline to look.


 
Why these subjects, be they karate or jujitsu or whatever, would not be simple, once once absorbed, is merely the result of engaging the mind to try and describe what is ‘not mind.’

For instance, in the beginning one must wade through instructions concerning physics, anatomy, history, philosophy, and so on. This is made more complex as different arts propose different structure and on many levels, and then often disagree.

The harmony of Aikido is similar to the absorption of Tai Chi Chuan, but there is sufficient difference to argue the terminology.

The striking methods of Wing Chun and boxing, though at heart still just a strike, can be argued ad infinitum.

But in the end, proven by simple and direct experience, a human being is constructed of flesh (body), mind (memories), and spirit (awareness). Thus, all physics, which is the heart of all sciences, can be rendered to a fine simplicity.

The fact is that the discipline of the martial arts focuses on doing to the exclusion of the mind, and thus is achieved enlightenment. Enlightenment is considered, from the unique viewpoint of an accomplished martial arts discipline, to be aware of the self as awareness.

And, yes, the above statement, so simple, is the summation that can be applied on any and all levels of all martial arts.

To do a single act, a kata or technique, a kick or throw, until there is no thought (no interference from the mind), and is intuitive, opens the door to enlightenment.

For once one looks at a fist approaching the face in terms of simple survival, one will begin to look at the approach of the universe in the same way.

Not an overwhelm of factors to be adjusted through eternal tweakings of computations, but a simple ‘Is it going to hit me or not.’

Followed by a simple, ‘Do I block or get out of the way.’

Not complex at all.

The unfortunate truth, however, is that man insists on his own significance in the universe by creating endless paradigm for his actions.

Thus we have reasons of physics, disagreements of anatomy, descriptions of philosophy, and all filtered through the various misunderstandings inherent in unaccomplished and divergent martial arts.

And these are all justifications for one’s existence.

‘To be or not to be,’ placed in endless loop.

But the simple truth is if one practices the discipline, and this of widely varied arts such as Karate or Aikido,Tai Chi Chuan or Kenpo, then one is engaged in ignoring the mind; one is functioning in an emptiness of reason and a purity of awareness.

Survival blots out psychological ramifications, and puts an end to philosophical meanderings – and justifications – of the awareness trying to look at itself, but so very unable.

To sum, it is not all the reasons, but the source of reason, the ‘I am,’ that is responsible for conundrum, and the resolution therewith.

The easiest way to cut through the fog of the martial arts, to ignore the mind and to find the truth of the self, is through the logic of matrixing. To matrix the martial arts is to rid the art of silly significance, and to place all the elements and pieces in the correct and easily assimilate-able order.

Matrixing can be found at MonsterMartialArts.com. Further juxtapositions of martial arts philosophy, real as opposed to the justifications of students mired in the endless mirrors of their own minds, can be read at ChurchofMartialArts.com.

Matrixing v Neutronics

Motion v Non-Motion

Let me explain the difference between Matrixing and Neutronics.

Matrixing establishes an overall grid
by which you can ascertain the truth of motion…
in relation to the universe.
You’ve got to understand this,
in Matrixing you are still limited by the universe.
Do enough matrixing,
and you aren’t limited,
you get to Neutronics.

jj3uiT

Now,
stay with me here,
I’m about to take a left turn.

If you matrix the human spirit enough
you end up with the truth of spirit.

I matrixed religion,
and that gave me virtue.
Virtue is the statement of human experience in this universe.
Stand with virtue,
and you grow larger.
Discard virtue,
and you grow smaller.
It’s an interesting truth.

But that is only religion,
and religion is not always right.
Religion is too often slanted
by personal interest,
by the quirks of the human soul,
sounds a bit like the write up on Matrix Karate,
eh?

So,
I matrixed the human spirit,
and I found something interesting.
Matrix the human spirit enough
and you end up with the truth of spirit.
You can’t matrix any further at this point,
because the spirit has no motion,
and the universe is the illusion of motion
that one has created to give oneself experience.
Thus,
Neutronics kicks in
that one might understand this state of ‘no motion.’

Get it?
Matrixing is for motion,
Neutronics is for no motion.

In essence,
Neutronics is matrixing at the spiritual level,
but the transformation of understanding that occurs here
makes the normal matrixing graphs invalid,
and demands a different but senior set of datums.

This,
in my universe,
was backed up by my experience of enlightenment,
by doing sticky hands and getting out of my body,
seeing the universe as motion
from a motionless point.

So experience backed up theory.

Now,
here is the problem.
I wrote the books on Neutronics
removed from the martial arts.
I was interested in the datums,
and how they related to the universe,
and not through the slant of martial arts.
What this means is that if you get any books on Neutronics,
your mind gets blown,
but there isn’t a lot to connect it to the martial arts.
So,
how do we relate Neutronics,
how do we USE Neutronics
when it comes to martial arts?

First,
we seek that state of motionlessness
that is the truth of you.
We find the viewpoint that is apart from your body,
that exists forever,
and puts on bodies like suits of clothes,
and discards them when done.

We do this by finding perfection of motion through the forms.
We find perfection by having the right data..by applying Matrixing.

Second,
by doing the above
you increase your awareness.
This is crucial and even the point of it all.

And,
before I give you my example
of how to use Matrixing in the Martial Arts,
I want to say that everything I say here
is also backed up in religions texts.
Specifically the Patanjali,
though,
if you know enough Neutronics,
you can see what all the religious texts are talking about.

Now,
here is an example of neutronics,
bear in mind that if you use neutronics
no situation can become physical.
People on the Matrix level still need the physical,
People on the Neutronics level
can defeat attackers without moving the body.
Here goes.

I walk into a room,
there are a dozen people there,
I scan them,
make note of all positions,
then I say something in a loud, booming, commanding voice, like…

‘How are my slaves today?’

Or,

‘The reason I called you all together…’

And,
I watch them.
There are three potential responses,
and only three.
Towards me,
away from me,
or with me.

One response is,
‘What you mean slave?’
Aggression is directed towards me.

Another response is,
‘Who’s the crazy guy?’
Pushing me away.

Third and last response,
the guy who smiles,
grins,
says something like,
‘We’re fine, massa.’

You see,
He didn’t go away or towards,
he maintained balance.

He is sure of himself,
he is in the moment,
instead of reacting to my borderline communication,
he stayed with it,
engaged it,
never lost himself,
and he is the one I will gravitate to.

So,
let’s say I’m talking to the balanced one,
and the guy who got aggressive comes up to me,
I know he’s coming towards me,
and I have done enough matrixing
that I never have to resort (grin) to martial arts.
still,
I have choices.
I can go towards him,
away from him,
or,
I can just balance him.

To balance him all I need to do is pick a direction
that will establish a distance
and maintain it.
Often,
this is a circle.
He closes,
I sidestep,
circle circle.

Now,
I know somebody out there is going to think,
oh,
Kenpo,
is he a blocker, a jammer, or a runner…
Or,
oh, Al is doing Aikido or Pa Kua or…?

That would be the kenpo slant on Neutronics.
Or the Aikido slant on Neutronics.
Or some other stylistic version of Neutronics.
But Neutronics,
real Neutronics,
has no slant.
It is the truth,
the pure.
The simple.

Blocker, jammer or runner comes from Neutronics.
Neutronics doesn’t come from kenpo.
Circling comes from Neutronics,
Neutronics doesn’t come from circling.
You have to assess which is the truth here,
and which is the version.

And you have to remember that I am doing this mentally,
with no physical motion.
I circle or sidestep or go towards or away in my mind,
and that handles the reality of him
with no need for motion.

This brings us to an interesting point,
everything becomes weird
when you fold emotions into the matter.
Ever see somebody who is running angrily away?
His body is going one way,
and his emotions are going the other,
and how the heck do you handle that?

Well,
do enough Neutronics,
and you can.
And you can handle it with a sudden glow of spirit,
that pulls the plug on the twist of emotions,
and the odd manifestation of motion and emotion.

The trick is this,
everybody thinks they know about this stuff,
oh yeah,
it’s simple,
I knew that.
But they don’t.

They are still locked in systems,
running the maze of tricks and confusion,
arguing over styles,
or having opinions on techniques,
or just generally holding the opinion that they,
that their art,
is best.
And they have never gotten out of the maze
and achieved the overall viewpoint.
They haven’t gotten out because they have never done Matrixing.
Read the wins,
the fellows with the most experience,
the ones deepest into the maze,
are the ones most grateful for Matrixing.

But the point is this,
Neutronics is not a slant,
it is a moment of pure you
that lasts forever,
and enables you to solve problems
as they happen.

Neutronics is not be bound by a system,
but to be unbound in the moment.

Now,
I could give you endless examples,
for all life is but an infinite manifestation of neutronic principles.
But what is important is that you do the martial arts,
find the logic in them by matrixing.
Don’t settle for…
this technique connects to this one connects to that one…forever,
but establish a grid by which every martial arts technique has it’s place,
and the interconnection of techniques obvious.

Instead,
find the principles,
do the Matrix until everything becomes crystal clear,
and you will find yourself,
and then you will understand Neutronics
in a way most difficult to describe.

Neutronics is you,
it is the rules for operating this universe,
a universe that you didn’t even know you created.
Neutronics is the ‘you-niverse.’

Okley dokley…
here’s the URL

Neutronics

Have a Neutronic Work out!

Al

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

Learn Pa Kua Chang Crowd Walking Method

Martial Arts Crowd Walking Method

Many years before I did learn pa kua chang crowd walking methods, I was reading a martial arts journal, I think it was Black Belt, and I discovered this anecdote involving Morihei Ueshiba. O Sensei would go to different towns and put on Aikido exhibitions. I have no doubt the exhibitions were spectacular, however the thing that inspired the heck out of me was the story his uchideshi (inside student) provided involving O Sensei’s crowd walking procedure.

learn pa kua
Learn Pa Kua Chang Crowd Walking

When traveling across a train station (for example) O Sensei would just walk straight forward, emanating his chi, and the masses would part. Individuals might turn and stare at this imperious titan, then the masses would close up. The Uchi deshi, loaded with trunks and bags, would struggle through the closing people.

The thing that awed me about this relating of occurrence was not that a man could easily emanate effective chi and sweep back a masses, but that it reminded me of my very own crowd walking experiences.

When I was in eleventh grade I used to love to run through groups. I might be late for class, or simply playing tag with someone, and unexpectedly something would come over me and I would be in complete sprint. The halls would certainly be jam-packed, and I would be turning on the nickel, hurrying full tilt, not able to be tripped (and a couple of the teenagers might make an effort). Young women might gasp and also offer little shrieks as I ran full tilt towards them, then turned and spun around them. The ground resembled a magnet to my feet, I never ever slipped, it was like I was flash, yet with magic glue on my soles.

O Sensei’s crowd walking blew me away, however it was so different from mine.

Radiating chi like he was a walking heating system. It was the start of my martial arts calling, and control of chi in such splendid way was yet a dream. Still, I had my very own strategy.

As time went on I obtained the capability to emanate chi, though not to the degree of O Sensei, yet, remarkably, I started to hold my very own procedure up as perhaps not so scruffy.

The key, of course, was in engaging in Pa Kua Chang, in walking the circle. Especially, I would focus on walking EXTREMELY slowly. I would feel the chi go up and down the legs, and I started to comprehend a few things.

One, there was even more finesse in my strategy than simply turning it on and blasting individuals back.

Two, Pa Kua Chang in fact didn’t instruct individuals to crowd walk like I was doing it. Classic Pa Kua Chang was more into tricky hands, and not into fine tuning the walk itself. Walking slowly, concentrating the mindset on the generation and control of chi in the legs, made lightening in the legs. And this lead to the next understanding.

Three, I could guide individuals ways to walk through crowds ten times more effortlessly and effectively, and there was a WHOLE LOT more pleasure in the teaching.

Chi blasting a group is entertaining, however it is pretty much a bully strategy.

Understanding ways to worm through the people at high speeds thrills the creative imagination, it is subtle, it needs more entire body method. And this last is fascinating, and actually essential to the expanding martial artist.

Contrast it to a musical instrument. Chi blasting such as O Sensei did is comparable to the opening chords of’ 2001: A Space Odyssey.’ (Thus Spoke Zarathustra). Crowd walking such as I explain and explain with my particular Pa Kua Chang resembles playing Flight of the bumblebee.

One is spectacular, the other is elaborate. One is outstanding, the other is subtle. One is overpowering, the other is shading subtleties of hue unto infinity.

And, of course, when it concerns crowd walking martial arts methods, one should study both. Have the ability to be subtle, and blast at a second’s notice.

This page has a real short cut to learn Pa Kua Chang method for crowd walking.