What Really Matters

What makes success?

I suppose everyone has his or her own answer.  Some would say "intelligence" or "luck" or "skill" or "confidence".  Yet others would say "environment" or "having good teachers/mentors".  Still others might think it is about "timing" or "talent".  What would YOU say?

I have no doubt all of those things are contributors to success in some way.

However, the more I read about people's success stories, and think about the successful people I know, the more I am convinced that success is really defined by a person's level of effort.

It is true that people come in all shapes and sizes, some having greater natural gifts than others. It is also true that we all know plenty of people we think should have been successful but for some reason or another just did not apply their natural talents to the relevant tasks at the right times.  Many of them waited, expecting someone else to make the effort on their behalf, and ended up shocked and disappointed to discover that doesn't happen.  Only you can do it.

In martial arts, as in every other aspect of life, what matters most is your own effort.

It is singularly important to direct your energies and devote your time to those things which yield the best contributions to your success.  For this to be possible, you first need to spend enough time and energy discovering what success means for you.  This makes it very important to go and do as wide a variety of things as possible during your formative years.

However, make no mistake, even once you identify the things you love and that matter to you, only your focused and concentrated maximum effort will make those dreams reality.  The bad news is that there will be no one else to blame for your failures.  The good news is that those failures are only temporary reminders to increase your effort until you succeed.  When you do, you will know in your heart it is because of your own hard work.

Over ten years in the fast-paced securities business had me surrounded with smart people. Most of them were far smarter and better educated than I was.  It was a dawn-to-dusk pressure cooker that took a high toll on all of us.  However, only very few put the effort into learning the business completely.  Most people were content to do only the bare minimum required to get their bonus, or their promotion, or their next job in another firm.  If I had any advantage, it was that I already knew I would have to work harder to achieve success because everyone around me was smarter and more qualified than I was.  The good news is that this work ethic has allowed me to move almost seamlessly from industry to industry over the course of my career through real estate, consumer electronics, office imaging, system integration, securities and financial IT, having achieved a reasonable outcome at all of them so far.

In martial arts as well, I was not gifted with great natural athleticism.  I was always smaller, weaker, slower than the other students.  My assorted injuries and health issues meant I had to work much harder to learn the basics, and was never able to do many of the things the others could.  Learning each technique was a battle against myself.  After more than 30 years of struggling, it has started to make sense, and I am now able to teach a class and make the material accessible to and enjoyable for my students, which is my definition of success as a teacher.  I continue to work and train very hard, never forgetting that is effort, and effort alone, that makes success.

I am most grateful not for the fact that I never gave up, but for the fact that others never gave up on me.  Their belief in me has allowed me to continue to believe in myself, even when many times I have felt overwhelmed and unable to continue.  This has been true of my students and friends, but also co-workers and bosses --- most importantly, it has been true of my family.

For me, the greatest success I have achieved in my life has been to rise above my broken home and fragmented childhood and to achieve a family of my own.  This has involved no small measure of luck, confidence, environment and other factors.  It has also involved effort.  There have been many times the ghosts of my past have haunted me and caused me to become my own worst enemy and try to destroy my good life.  Despite this, I have made every effort to remember what is important and stay focused on my success - both personal and professional. Despair waits around every corner, and it is a constant and vigilant effort that keeps my demons at bay.

Every one of us - EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US - has in us the capacity to define and achieve our own success.  It is the destiny of our souls to do so, and doing so brings us the happiness that will sustain us throughout our lives.  We are born to achieve. All obstacles can be overcome by effort.

Be inspired by the people around you.  Most importantly, be inspired by your own effort.
Work hard and earn your success.  Make yourself proud.  YOU DESERVE IT.
I hope I can be there to celebrate it with you.

Why I Teach

(Thanks again for the inspiration KN)

My dialog with my old friend and fellow martial artist KN continues and it is too important not to share.

His next question: "what made you choose to teach?"

Hmmm...a good one.  I know plenty of martial artists who choose not to teach.  They simply train for themselves or are "professional students" travelling from one style to the next in an endless journey, collecting ranks but never really satisfied; never really willing to share what they know.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but it is not my way.  For me this always felt a bit empty.

When I was younger, I would have said my life was a challenge; a struggle.  Born into a broken family, placed into State care, raised in a foster family, bullied throughout school, consistently unpopular.  It seemed like every inch of progress required a battle.  Every step of my life felt like it was a test of my willpower to not just give up and accept my fate as a loser and an outcast.  Many times I wanted to, but I never did.  Martial arts came to me when I was 14 years old and began to show me a way I could excel.  It helped me create positive goals for a change and to recognize that my only real opponent would be myself; my only limitations would be the ones I chose to set.

Through my training I developed knowledge and confidence as well as skill.  For every hour I spent on the mats training, at least another hour of study was required.  My teachers forced me to read military history and strategy, philosophy and religion.  I was expected to do well in school if I was to remain a part of the dojo, which I did.  My training made me want to achieve, rather than just survive or endure.  Over the years, my teachers have appeared just when I needed them, always providing me the next set of keys to open the next set of doors in front of me.

From the discipline of my training, I began to set higher and higher goals.  I dreamed of one day going to Japan. Realizing this dream took me 10 years and I failed the first three attempts, falling into a life-threatening depression and despair after the third failure.  Somehow, I got back up and tried again and on the fourth attempt I made it.  I have never looked back.  Without martial arts I would have never been able to persevere.

In the end, Kali Majapahit and Punong Guro Fred Evrard are the reason I became a teacher.  I have 4 black belts including Kadua Guro rank in Kali Majapahit, but I have never formally taught the others and likely never will.  I encapsulate what I know into my expression of Kali Majapahit, and that is more than enough for me.  Guro Fred has an endless drive to discover new ways of delivering his message and content.  He is always evolving to find new methods of teaching, and looking for easier ways to help the students master the material.  This has been a huge influence on me.  Kali Majapahit helped me understand martial arts as a vehicle for personal development and as a platform for taking control of our lives and changing to become who we want to be.  This knowledge helped empower me to believe in myself.  I will always be grateful to Guro Fred, and to Guro Lila, for the chance to realize a dream I did not even know I would have.  Becoming a teacher has been one of the proudest achievements of my life.

I have been leading and teaching the Japan group of Kali Majapahit for more than 3 years.  In that time we have grown.  I have grown.  My students have helped sharpen me, and have given me a reason to keep training and keep teaching.  Their passion for Kali Majapahit validates what I do, and fuels my own fire.  In the times when I felt I had nothing to depend on, I could always depend on our Friday nights at class.  That rhythm kept me going. It still does.  Every new achievement makes me proud, and the fact that they love our class so much reminds me how valuable our training is.  Step by step they develop the confidence to challenge their own limits and change their lives for the better.  It is unbelievably inspiring and motivating.  I could not live without it.  

As a teacher, my fellowship with the other instructors has become a deep source of pride.  We have suffered together, we fought and trained together, making each other stronger, supporting each other. They all love teaching as much as I do.  We are truly brothers and sisters. Being part of such an elite group makes me feel very special indeed.  I try hard to remain worthy of such an honor.

I no longer view my life as a struggle.  I have come to understand my life for what it really is: A GIFT.
It is my privilege to be in this form in this time, and to have such a chance to share with others.
My life has never been easy, but my hardship can inspire other people who face similar challenges.
I can help them find the courage to fulfill their destiny as I have mine.  I never aspired to be a CEO or a movie star or anyone famous.  I have become exactly what I always hoped I would become:  a husband; a father; a friend; a teacher.  I have tried to be a positive catalyst in the lives of others so they can achieve their own definition of happiness just as I have found mine.  

Like all gifts, they should be given with love and received with gratitude.

I hope I answered your question.

Fighting Skills

* thanks for the inspiration HD *

Yesterday one of my friends asked me about boxing.  He has some ring experience, as do I, and he wanted to know if he should continue.  I asked him what the purpose was.  he said "fighting".  That got me thinking.  What skills would I really suggest developing for "fighting"??

First of all, I think some definition is in order.  There is fighting, and then there is Fighting.  But there is also FIGHTING.  What do I mean?

In my mind, boxing is not fighting.  To me, fighting represents self-defense.  It is a skill we need when our physical safety or that of our loved ones is threatened in a way that cannot be resolved except through violence.  Boxing does not qualify under this definition.  Neither do wrestling, fencing, muay thai, judo/sambo, BJJ or MMA for that matter.  This is not to say that these sports (and they are sports) cannot make you able to defend yourself or cause harm to an attacker.  Rather it is to say that self-defense is not their primary objective.  The primary objective is victory in controlled athletic competitions.  This is not self defense.

At the other end of the spectrum are true combat arts.  This is typified by those skills we teach our special forces and other elite military units.  These are taught for battlefield survival, involve killing/incapacitating an opponent as quickly as possible, and usually involve weapons.
This can be very effective for the military, and does constitute self-defense, but is unacceptable outside of actual battlefield combat, since the results are permanent for those involved. Society's rules deal with the use of potentially lethal force harshly and a battlefield victory in a shopping mall parking lot will more than likely end you up in prison, which is worse than just losing your wallet, getting a black eye or suffering a bruised ego.

To succeed in self-defense situations requires a specific frame of mind.  When there is no alternative to violence, we must be able to instantly harness our aggression and unleash it in the controlled bursts needed to explode into an attacker (or multiple attackers) and deliver enough damage to resolve the situation and escape with minimal harm.  This may require use of a weapon (even an attacker's weapon) and may result in serious, potentially permanent injury or even death to an attacker.  Mentally, we need to be prepared for what this means.  In self-defense, the first response needs to be the last response.  When we engage we must continue until the attacker(s) are out of the fight and we are out of danger.

When I talk about self-defense, I am not talking about the social "monkey dance" which happens when someone is simply expressing aggression, is drunk, or trying to define a social hierarchy.  In these cases, we are rarely justified in using real self-defense techniques, since the response is not consistent with the threat level.  These people usually do not truly want to harm us, they want to prove a point or express their emotion (usually fear).  Real self-defense situations occur when an attacker's principal objective is causing us injury or death.  This can often happen as part of a violent crime/assault rather than a social misunderstanding (although sometimes those can also escalate).

Real self-defense situations are spontaneous and chaotic. There are no rules or judges or points.
There is no sense of honor or fair play.  There is also no prize for second place.  Usually, we will be at extreme disadvantage since attackers will choose their terrain and environment, strength of numbers and weapons to favor their quick victory.  With the odds against us from the start, decisive, immediate action is our best chance for survival.  We must think fast and move fast to have any hope at all, and must be willing to use every means at our disposal to escape.  Again, this is highly likely to result in serious injury or death to those involved (hopefully not us).

Thus, since the results are always unpredictable, I would encourage every martial artist to have a strong moral compass and the courage needed to walk away from any confrontation that does not absolutely have to end in violence.  This is at the heart of what it means to be a "peaceful warrior".

In terms of specific skills, here's my opinion in order of usefulness in self-defense:

Weapons Training:  in a real self-defense situation, a weapon that can be easy/readily found and rapidly deployed can help even the odds considerably.  I will gladly hit anyone with anything rather than use my own hands (which can be injured).  Good training helps us recognize the every day objects around us that can be brought to bear when needed.  Yes, this is not fair. Yes, it is still the safest choice.  Yes, I would ALWAYS use a weapon if there is one available (and there almost always is).  In recent years, my preference is for impact weapons over edged weapons since whenever possible I want to avoid the risk of killing, and impact weapons have better optionality for submission than blades.

Kicking:  Strong, effective low kicking should be part of every good martial artist's arsenal.  The fact that we wear shoes (even women wearing heels) can add impact force to what we do and help resolve a conflict.  7-10 psi is all we need to disrupt the knee capsule, and this can be done very easily by most kicks.  While these on their own are unlikely to kill an attacker, they can disrupt the situation enough to give us other options.  Escape should always be a primary objective of any self-defense situation, and attackers with broken legs/feet ankles rarely give effective chase.  I also really like leg/foot sweeps as a way of breaking the attacker's structure and setting up a fast end to a situation.

Empty Hand Strikes:  I define this as being the use of non-fist striking to the opponent's body. It includes finger jabs to soft targets, elbows, palms, forearms, headbutts, knees and the like. These can be brutally effective in self-defense while offering little risk of damage when we deliver them correctly. The training emphasis should be on applying hard weapons versus soft targets and delivering the full body weight and shoulder/hip rotation wherever possible to add impact force.

The main downside here is the risk of very serious injury to the receiver.  This is acceptable in self-defense situations, but has definite moral/legal implication.  As with weapons, if you are not going to it deliver properly/fully, best not to use it at all.  These are still my preference over using my closed fist to hit something.

Groundwork: These can be formidable skills, and a good grappling repertoire is very important since many self defense situations end up on the ground.  Good skills here also help to immobilize attackers' weapon arms, which can add to our own safety.  For training it is important to develop quickly delivered, decisive finishing techniques which can resolve the conflict as fast as possible. I am a big fan of elbow/shoulder breaks and joint dislocations for ending confrontations. Chokes/strangles/neck cranks can be very effective as well but carry serious risk of permanent injury.  MMA is a sport, but we have seen how difficult it is to beat someone who has a good grappling background.  However, in self-defense this can be a serious disadvantage since it is not a good strategy versus multiple attackers, where upright mobility is the key to escape.

Under the right circumstances, throwing (including judo/aiki/jujitsu) can be very effective, but in a real self-defense situation we will be under extreme stress and probably unable to execute any intricate techniques/locks.  I am also not a fan of throws that project an attacker away from my area of direct control (unless they are being thrown down a flight of stairs or off a building, etc.).  I want to avoid the risk of someone getting back up with an awareness of my skills and training.  Also, given the time spent learning to breakfall, there is always the chance that an attacker has this training as well as we do.

Boxing: I am a huge fan of boxing conditioning and training, boxing footwork, and ring strategy.
Overall, boxers/muay thai/MMA fighters have some of the best physical/mental conditioning of any athletes, and better than most martial artists.

That being said, most boxers would not fare well in a self-defense situation.  Punching, even for trained professionals, has a serious risk of damaging the puncher's hands/wrists, and this risk yields a comparatively low percentage chance of incapacitating an attacker (compared to the other skills listed above).  Boxing is basically a sport of attrition, where well-conditioned athletes gradually wear each other down while scoring points, in order to discover fight-ending KO opportunities.  In a self-defense situation, time is always of the essence and points/rounds do not exist.

Given the dynamics of self-defense, I have an affinity for well-rounded systems that teach a combination of the above skills.  The goal is to develop abilities in a balanced way, and in self-defense adaptability is very important.  I prefer arts which have weapons training (especially improvised weapons) at their core, and which emphasize practicality throughout.

Let me be very clear in saying that I do not ever discourage students or athletes from passionately studying and training as they wish, in accordance with their beliefs and goals.
Rather, I am stating my personal opinion as a martial artist concerned with self-defense and ensuring my own safety and that of my loved ones.

"When two tigers fight, one is certain to be maimed, and one to die."
Master Gichin Funakoshi - founder of Shotokan

  

The Reason Why

(thanks for the inspiration KN!)

Today I got asked a question from an old friend and fellow student.
He wanted to know why I chose to be part of the Kali Majapahit family and to represent KM here in Japan.  It's a valid question, and given that my Kadua Guro black belt is my fourth black belt, did I really need another one?

To be clear, it was never about collecting belts.
Of course, I was proud to test when Guro Fred asked me, and even more proud to do so in front of my students.  The testing pushed me to the very edge of my endurance and skill - just like it should.  In the end, I stood exhausted before a room full of people I deeply respect, all of whom in one way or another have contributed to my success in Kali Majapahit and in life.  No victory could taste sweeter.  I was humbled and grateful.  I still am.

It was never about lineage or accreditation.  I consider myself to be focused on knowing others as individuals rather than titles or ranks.  I have been blessed with the chance to meet and train with some of the best martial artists in the world, and I am not done yet with that. However, now when I travel, I travel with the Kali Majapahit logo, and I carry the responsibility to represent us as a truly non-partisan seeker of truth.  I have love and respect for every martial artist that feels the same.  No politics, just training.  Who we are on the mat is who we are off the mat.

So why did I choose to be part of Kali Majapahit??
  

I chose to be part of Kali Majapahit because it stands for the things I stand for:  personal development, health, martial arts.  It is about freedom of expression, exploring inside and outside, and about taking responsibility for ourselves.  It is about making our lives what we want them to be and becoming who we can really become - reaching our fullest potential to be happy, constructive human beings.  It is about sharing and fellowship.

Kali Majapahit is about using the training as a vehicle to learn and develop awareness of the body/the self, the environment, and other people.  Kali Majapahit becomes a container I can use to encapsulate all other arts I have studied and a lens for viewing every new style, system or technique I see.  I love the fact that the curriculum grows and changes - Guro Fred spends an incredible amount of time obsessing over how to make the knowledge accessible and enjoyable for us - and this method is at the heart of how we understand and teach Southeast Asian Martial Arts.  I want to share this with everyone.  This is my religion.

I sometimes think all my other training was preparing me to meet Guro Fred and take this journey together.  The other teachers, my brothers and sisters, have inspired me and kept me firmly on the path.  They want the same things I want - from myself and from my students.  Our art is not about violence, it is about self-expression.  It is about confidence and developing ourselves to be more than we were before.  Honestly, any well-taught martial art could be a vehicle for personal development and growth, but Guro Fred has DELIBERATELY put Kali Majapahit together with this objective firmly in mind.  It is no accident. He planned it to be like this.  

This is the MARTIAL ARTS R-EVOLUTION.  

I am proud to be a part of it.  See you in class.

Looking Out The Window

This picture was posted by Punong Guro Fred with the caption "Choose Your Seat".  The French means "look on the bright side of life".  Immediately this got me thinking.

Look at the picture.

Two people, one happy one sad.  One looking at the cold, dark, blank wall.  One enjoying a lovely view of the sunrise or sunset. They are on the same bus; on the same road.  Maybe even going to the same place.  However, they are travelling in very different ways.

There are plenty of seats, but the sad man stays right where he is and does not move to the side where he can enjoy a lovely view.  He chooses to stay on the dark side.  Why?

If I take this bus to symbolize our journey through life, the picture becomes even more insightful.

We are all going the same direction, toward the same destination - Death.  However, we are not all going there the same way.  We are not driving the bus most of the time.  Instead we are riding in the back.  More often than not, even if we cannot change the destination, we can choose where we sit in the bus.  We can choose to enjoy the view along the way.  If we have a bad view, we can at least choose to switch seats, we don't have to stay in the same place.
WE CAN CHOOSE TO MAKE A CHANGE.

As martial artists, we must hold ourselves to a higher standard.
We must be brave enough to be happy; brave enough to change when we are not.
We must seek the light; the good; the sunshine.  We must not accept the cold, dark, and gray as unavoidable.  WE MUST NOT REMAIN FOCUSED ON OUR OWN TROUBLES.  We must look outward, not inward.  We are obliged to share our joy with those around us and make our lives an adventure, rather than just morosely going from point A to point B.

Life is about the journey, not just the destination.  ENJOY THE RIDE.  ENJOY THE VIEW.

See you in class.

Train-ing

Those of you who know me know that I live a long way away from work --- A LONG way.  That gives me over an hour each way every weekday to commute.  It sucks.  However, like many things in life, it is what you make of it.  Every day I see the people around my trying to sleep, daydreaming, listening to music, checking their blackberry and so on.

As a martial artist and kalista, here are some ideas to help make your commute time more productive and worthwhile.


Videos
I spend a lot of time watching videos on youtube or ones I have downloaded.  While funny cat videos, fail army, music videos, anime and so are fine and dandy, I usually use my commute time to watch martial arts videos.  Youtube has plenty to find in the FMA space. My top pick (obviously) are KM videos featuring Punong Guro Fred Evrard, our founder.  You can find the online training here.

Watch them all.  Watch them again.  And again.  Seeing the best helps make you the best.  It has to do with visualization and all that.  Pay attention to every little detail.

For free, you can check out the KM Youtube channel here if this does not make you want to subscribe to the Online Academy, watch them all again until it does :-)

Some other folks that are always in my playlist include:
Maul Mornie of SSBD (his seminars are CRAZY GOOD - and he will have a joint seminar with Kali Majapahit founder Punong Guro Fred Evrard in Jan in Paris!!)
The Kali Society in Sweden --- these guys are AMAZING!!  Guro Claes is AWESOME!
Dakilang Guro Jeff Espinous and Kali Sikaran --- one of Guro Fred's teachers and an incredible martial artist!
Doug Marcaida --- Kuya Doug is unbelievably good!
Luke Holloway of RAW
Kit Acenas of PTK --- Mandala Kit is a fantastic martial artist!!
Tuhon Ray Dionaldo of FCS --- especially love his karambit and barong stuff!
Pintados Stickboxing --- love their videos!
Dan Inosanto --- you cannot go wrong with his stuff
Peter Weckauf --- love his Panantukan stuff
Mark Hatmaker --- his training DVDs are fantastic!

Movies
While obviously choreographed, there are some movies which do a good job of highlighting FMA/MMA/JKD/Hakka.  I suggest:

Bourne Series --- Matt Damon/Jeremy Renner
Taken Series --- Liam Neeson (especially collapsible baton sequence in Taken 2)
James Bond --- Daniel Craig (watch Casino Royal for footage of Yamakasi Parkour founder Sebastien Foucan!)
Raid Series --- Iko Uwais
Ip Man Series --- Donnie Yen
Ong Bak Series --- Tony Jaa
Blade Series --- yes, it's kali
Batman Begins --- The League of Shadows obviously do kali
Hannah --- great job of showing empty hand and blade work
The Hunted --- Tommy Lee Jones/Benecio Del Toro (cool Sayoc Kali bladework)
Warrior --- Tom Hardy
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon --- too beautiful to miss
Mission Impossible 3
Daredevil (if you can stand the rest of it)

Any Bruce Lee Movie (watch Dan Inosanto in Game of Death!)
Any Chuck Norris movie (I especially like The Octagon)
Steven Seagal (Above the Law was the his first and his best)

Books
get a Kindle Paperwhite.  These things are great (and cheap).  I have tons of books on mine, the battery lasts a long time, and they are easy to read.  My favorites are books about martial arts/martial history and books on philosophy and personal development.  Ask me if you want some recommendations.

Meditation/Breathing
Always a great idea when you can get a seat.  I put the headphones on to help eliminate distraction.  Kitaro (especially Silk Road) is some of my favorite instrumental for this.  Try not to fall asleep (I know you're tired), and concentrate on your breathing --- try to breathe using your full lung capacity and match inhale/exhale duration.

Grip
I carry a squeeze ball and do consecutive right and left hand grip strength training (see how many sets of 50 squeezes you can do).

Just some thoughts.  Let me know yours.

See you at the station.

Let's Dance

Today I enjoyed my first lesson in social dance from two of the top ranked amateurs in Japan: Minato-sensei and Nao-sensei.  I have always wanted to do try social dance, and I am lucky to have a chance to attend a small group lesson coached by these outstanding champions.

We learned the hold, prep and initial six-count step series of the basic waltz, which is the staple of social dance.  It was a lot of fun, and immediately got me thinking about how this relates to martial arts.

It is no secret that many professional sports teams in baseball, football and basketball have used dance/ballet training as a way of improving the performance of their athletes.  Dance develops strength in the legs, hips and back, and creates a strong core.  Since all sports involve movement and coordination, dance is an excellent addition to the usual weights and cardio training.

Given my own background in aikido/aikijujitsu and other similar Japanese arts, I found a lot of similarity, which made social dance easier to understand.
These concepts relate to any combat art.

Using The Large Muscles
Social dance is mainly done from the waist down, meaning that the driver and center of power is the hips.  The upper body is used to hold position, but the real strength is in the core.  For the waltz, it helps to imagine the partner connected to/resting on the hips, while kept in position by the arms.  For the movement to be efficient and to keep dancing for an extended period of time, the body's large muscle groups are bearing the loads and doing the work.  In fighting, it is exactly the same: we never use a small muscle for a task when we can use a large muscle - this usually means being aware of how to engage the legs, hips and back.

Posture and Structure
In dance, posture are structure are what make the dancers look elegant, and what allows them to move without falling or losing balance.  Many movements have a centrifugal force element to them, which will not work unless the posture is long and tall.  For Kali, we avoid looking "tall" as such, however, the same principle of lengthening the spine and keeping the back straight always apply.

Connection
Social dance is done with with a partner.  We must be aware of their position relative to us, and yet move as if they are not there - in effect, taking their space once they leave it.  I step forward just as she steps backward, and vice versa.  At all times our hips remain connected at the same level so we look as if we are one unit moving in perfect harmony.  In combat there is also a rhythm and connection - we become aware of it so we can break it.  We consider the line of the hips so we can keep our center of gravity below the opponent's.  In aikido, there is no technique without connection.

Footwork
It could be said that proper footwork is the essence of all martial arts.  Mastering the footwork, without ever looking down, is essential in both arts.  Our patterns allow us to effortlessly move in and around our partner, or our opponent, into the most effective physical relationship.  There are complex patterns in both, and both begin with learning strong fundamental steps.

Taking the Space
As I alluded to above, in dance our feet take the space given to us by our partner.  To do otherwise makes the movement awkward and clumsy.  A good dancer does not wait for the space, but instead takes the space and causes their partner to vacate it in order to continue.  In throwing techniques this is also exactly the case.  We are always in the center and moving the opponent around us, or taking their balance by taking the space their hips are in.  Both martial arts and social dance require decisiveness to become skillful.

In summary, I think a study of social dance will greatly improve my martial arts skill. It may do for yours as well.

Shall We Dance?

Make the Moment Perfect

We spend so much of our lives waiting.
Waiting in lines.  Waiting to speak. Waiting for the right moment.  Waiting to be shown. Waiting to be taught.  Waiting because we are afraid. Waiting for something to happen...ANYTHING to happen.  Sometimes we don't even know what it is we are waiting for...

Waiting has an important place in our lives.
It teaches us patience and helps reinforce our discipline.  Waiting calms the mind and deepens our sense of humility.

Even in combat, waiting has its place.  Waiting is a luxury that can yield insight into the situation, the opponent, the environment --- waiting can show us the enemy's weakness; it can allow us time to plan our strategy.

All that being said, it is possible to wait too long.  Sometimes, waiting for the perfect moment keeps us from experiencing each moment as it unfolds; it prevents us from taking control and making each moment perfect (which is within our power to do).

Martial arts training yields many benefits and the keys to many doors both inside and outside the dojo.  One of these is decisiveness.  This is the ability of the determined heart to act with resolve; without hesitation.  Decisiveness means "right action in the right moment".  This is akin to the pounce of a jungle cat on its prey...waiting calmly until the right moment, but not longer than that.

If you wait for the perfect moment you will wait forever.
Be decisive and create your own destiny.
See you there.

Small Talk

We have been talking a lot about the guard and footwork in the current cycle.  Since we are doing knife work it seems especially appropriate.

One point I have been repeating again and again is the fact that we don't really have rising motions in FMA - in fact, just the opposite.  FMA is, in a certain sense, the art of being SMALL.  What do I mean?

In the guard, our main objective is to offer no unintended opening to an opponent.  This means that we want to hide as much of our body behind our weapon (empty hand, stick or blade) as possible.  To do so, we necessarily must make ourselves smaller in order to maximize the coverage of our weapon.  In a knife guard, this means rounding the shoulders and trying to keep as much of our the area between our four "gates"  (both shoulders and hips framing our torso) behind our forearms as possible.  With a stick/blade, it means keeping the weapon in front and our head/torso concealed behind it as much as possible.

In our footwork, this means that we never step with a rising feeling.  When we move in our triangles or replacement footwork, the goal is to make every step a coiling step, that is, to step to the ball of the foot and bend the knee, so that the weight transfer can load to the stepping leg and give us a prepared base to explode from.  Proper footwork means not needing any additional step/shift to go forward into the target.
If we had a rising feeling to our footwork, we would have to let our weight "settle" before moving - and that takes time we do not want to spend.

Even when we employ elastico, moving our hips away and back to protect the low line, this is not done with a rising feeling.  Instead, we try to keep the head and body low, and just shift from the waist down without giving up the position of the hips/pelvis close to the opponent.  This is an important way to create distance while staying close.

While it is very important to develop the skill to stay small and compressed when moving, I have to emphasize that this must be done without compromising the posture and structure.  It will simply not do to bend, lean or twist the body in order to achieve "smallness".  Smallness is achieved by keeping the knees bent, the weight on the balls of the feet, and the shoulders rounded.  This must be done while keeping the spine straight and the head in alignment (chin tilted slightly downward is OK).

Even the simplest and most basic of movements have lessons for us.  Sometimes you need to think small to see the big picture.

Hubud

In this cycle we are working on some hubud lubud drills and their variations.  Hubud Lubud or simply "hubud" as they are often called, refer to a series of predominantly empty hand drills found in most of the major FMA styles.  These drills are commonly taught as sensitivity drills, and considered as being similar to Wing Chun's famous chi sao or "sticky hands".

However, using that label sells these drills short of their true value.  There is a wealth of training locked in these drills, and they are worthy of focused effort and regular practice.

Hubud drills generally have a basic three-step sequence:

• Receive
• Redirect
• Return

First, we receive an incoming movement.  This can be done with block or parry, but intermediate and advanced variations receive directly with a gunting.  Secondly, we redirect or move the attack off the center line and control it.  In the drills, we usually use just a small motion, but in reality, this redirection can already take the opponent's balance/structure and give us a vital moment to enter and resolve the situation decisively.  Some variations also involve trapping as an element of the redirection, also providing a split-second of opportunity that can be sued to strategic advantage.  Lastly, we return.  In the drill, this is feeding the partner back so he/she can also train, but in reality this can be any kind of strike or attack.  In hubud, we are able to express and practice both passa (going with the incoming force) and contradas (going against the incoming force) principles effectively.

In Kali Majapahit, we use hubud drills for a wide variety of training.  Here's some of the major skills you can learn from them:

Co-ordination/Ambidexterity
by working hubud drills, particularly the intermediate and advanced variations, you can greatly improve your co-ordination and ambidexterity, which are essential traits of all good FMA practitioners.  We place a lot of emphasis on the "living hand" or non-dominant hand in Kali Majapahit, and the hubud patterns are a great way to keep both hands moving in and around each other smoothly.  The drills allow for switching sides as frequently as needed to develop both right and left equally.

Hand-speed/Re-activity
The drills can be slowed down or sped up based on the partners' confidence and skill level, and once both are comfortable, speeding up the drill can be good training to improve the hand speed and decrease reaction time.  We use hubud to burn in muscle memory so that in a surprise situation our automatic response is to block or gunting, redirect, and return an attack of our own. Under stress, this patterned movement can be the difference between life and death.

Stress Management
Real fights cause a rush of adrenaline and create high levels of stress.  Hubud drills are an excellent way to gradually introduce some stress and pressure (by increasing speed, pushing a little harder, etc.) and allow us a chance to become used to contact and close proximity while consciously suppressing fearful or panicked responses.  In these drills we can slowly build our confidence until even full-speed drills do not cause us to become shaken.  This is extremely valuable in an actual encounter.  

Peripheral Vision
During the drills, it is important to keep the eyes focused on the upper chest of your partner, along the line of the collar bones.  Our peripheral vision is faster for the brain to process than our fixed gaze, and we want to develop the automated response of picking up any aggressive motion from the shoulder line, since shoulder rotation is the critical beginning of any movement.
The more we train in hubud, the better able we are to judge which arm will move and be ready when it does.

Timing
Hubud has a rhythm.  We use this rhythm to establish a connection with our partner - a connection we would break in a real encounter.  Although above I suggest that hubud drills would have a three-count rhythm, this is only for absolute beginners.  The reality is that there should be at most a two count timing involved (receive - redirect/return).  As you pass intermediate into advanced, everything is done on a single beat simultaneously.

Distance
Hubud drills are done at corto distance or close range (at least when done with empty hands).
The closeness of the drill gives us a great chance to train how to create some working distance in and around our partner, which in a live situation gives our opponent a feeling of being smothered and crowded, while we feel free to move with ease even in close quarters.  Variations on hubud can teach us to open outside and inside lines, as well as low lines inside the drills.

Posture
In Hubud it is very important to keep the shoulders relaxed and low, and to have a solid, balanced stance.  If you focus on receiving with the arms, they quickly tire out.  Instead, the drills should teach you to keep your arms relaxed at all times and use your feet and hip rotation to provide speed and power.  In some variations popular with our friends in Sweden doing Kali De Mano, hubud drills are done very strongly, which force us to keep good posture during the drills or be knocked off balance.  These variations also get us used to the type of arm contact likely to occur in a real fight, and make for excellent training.

Gunting
These "scissors" attacks directed at the opponent's arm are one of the trademarks of kali and include strikes done with the knuckles or phoenix fist, as well as a variety of elbow strikes to the hands, forearms and biceps.  Some variations flow effortlessly into locking series as well.  Since all of these techniques are integral to good kali flow in kadena de mano (empty hand fighting) the more you practice hubud the better your kali will become.

Weapons
FMA are all blade-base arts.  Thus, hubud patterns have their equivalents (usually almost exactly the same) using blades.  It is another hallmark of good kali training that all concepts are easily transferable between sub-systems meaning that skills gained in empty hands improve stick and blades, and vice versa.  It is especially easy to put knives or karambits into these flows.

Adaptation
Hubud drills are not fixed in stone the way katas or poomse or forms are in other martial arts. It is best to think of them as a framework or skeleton around which you can explore all of the above ideas and more.  Once we begin to randomize movements in hubud drills including many different types of attacks and angles, the drills become extremely advanced and very spontaneous - causing the receiver to adapt instantly to rapidly changing stimuli and offering endless variety to keep the training lively and engaging.

In summary, hubud drills contain a treasure trove of possibility for interesting training and skills development.  I consider them to be very...well..."handy".  So should you.

See you soon.

Trains

What a great weekend.  Saturday the weather was warm and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom near our house in Yokohama.  We spent the day in the park having a picnic with kids and dogs and relaxing under the pink canopy that is Japan's annual ohanami, or cherry=blossom viewing season.

Monday morning it was bright and sunny, and I made my way to the train station ready to go back to work.  Some people had different plans, however.

Yesterday morning there were three different train suicides on three different train lines.  In Japanese, jinshinjiko 人身事故, suggests a "accident involving people", but it is generally no accident.  When this expression is used, it means that someone has committed suicide by jumping onto the tracks in front of an oncoming train.  I am sure this happens in many places around the world (my photo is actually a train in the UK), but for some reason this phenomenon strikes me as uniquely Japanese.  Japan already has one of the highest rates of suicide of any developed country, and suicide is the leading cause of death for males aged 20-44.  Japan is also first among G8 nations for female suicides.

People tend to do this during the morning rush hour commute (the Chuo Rapid Line in Tokyo is legendary for it), although it can happen at night as well.    In Japan, the train schedules are very precise, some say the most precise in the world.  Many commuters also make multiple connections to subways or other train lines and depend on everything running on time.  When this kind of accident happens, the stations nearby have to be stopped while police and company staff investigate.  Typical delays can be 1-2 hours, and sometimes over 100,000 people have their routes affected.  If it is done at night, some people have no other way to return home or end up getting home well after midnight because of the delays.

It seems odd to me that for a country that takes such care to be polite, train suicides represent the ultimate affront to other commuters.  Doing this in the rush hour may be because some people are unable to face their upcoming day at work or school or whatever, or it may be just a type of social outcry.  Top reasons are listed as work-related, financial-related, or other social pressures.  At the office, someone darkly joked that three in a single morning might be because Japan is raising its sales consumption tax from 5% to 8% from today.  I hope people don't get that upset about it.  Other studies suggest it may have a correlation with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) or other weather events such as prolonged periods of cloudy/rainy weather.

I suppose when it happens, like yesterday, and we are all stuck on the trains for hours while officials sort everything out, all we can think about is our own inconvenience.  I was guilty of that as well.  In retrospect, I feel somewhat ashamed for not being focused on the victims and their families.  Japan is increasing spending on counseling for troubled people, including teens, but it is well behind other developed nations and still far from the social support network that is needed.
Especially in Tokyo, Japan can seem like a grim and foreboding place where it is not easy to make new friends or develop social connections.

No matter how bad things appear, there is ALWAYS a way forward; ALWAYS a way to find happiness.  The world can indeed be a harsh and cruel place, but there is a lot to be thankful for every single day, every single breath.  More and more, I learn that it is the simple things in life that give me the most joy - my family, my friends, my dogs.  I have been lucky to find my life passion in Kali Majapahit, and to be able to share this gift with the people close to me.

I pray for the souls of those who died yesterday and wish them peace.
More than that I wish there had been some way to sit down and talk it over before they made the fateful decision to do what they did.

It's another beautiful day out today, with a gentle breeze across the cherry trees.
I wish you could be here to see it.

Don't THINK you are, KNOW you are

I was watching The Matrix again on my way into work this morning.  The dojo fight scene is one of my favorites, because Morpheus gives some very good advice to Neo.  Neo awakes from his uploading stating "I know kung fu", to which Morpheus says simply "show me".  They load the sparring program.

Neo starts off with the mistake of overconfidence.  Eager to show his new skills, he doesn't even consider that Morpheus may be better than he is.  Neo's style is aggressive, while Morpheus toys with him and looks for openings.  In reality, we never know who is better than we are.  Pride goes before a fall.  We see immediately that Neo is outmatched.

After being kicked, Neo ponders Morpheus' question "How did I beat you?"  "You are faster", Neo says.
"Do you think my muscles have anything to do with speed in this place?" Morpheus challenges.  "Do you think that's air you're breathing?...hmmm..."  The reality is that while the physical body is important, it is no excuse for poor technique.  Our goal as martial artists is to transcend our physical limits and improve our technique, not just our bodies.  Martial arts techniques use good physics, but are somehow more than that when we invest our energy (ki or chi) in them.

When they spar again, Morpheus pushes Neo harder.  "You're faster than this.  Don't think you are, know you are".  This is not pride, it is CONFIDENCE.  The two are very different.  To truly excel, we have to break past our own preconceived limitations.  We are capable of so much more.  In a sense, The Matrix itself is a movie about learning to ignore the limitations of our world and breaking through to "set your mind free" and embrace the truth with no illusions.  A very Buddhist interpretation, to be sure.

Lastly, to lead Neo to awareness, Morpheus scolds him in classic zen-master style. "stop trying to hit me and HIT ME!"  We spend a lot of time in the dojo trying to build muscle memory and natural reaction.  To reach this level, we have to go beyond "thinking" or "trying" to just "doing" and "being".  Initially, of course, we look at each technique and over-analyze it;  we break it down into discrete movements and patterns and try to remember where our feet, hands and body go.  We step through each technique again and again, like a baby trying to repeat new words.  Our minds are very busy and our bodies are not moving freely.

At some point, however, we must LET GO and FLOW.  This is the essence of Kali Majapahit specifically, of most FMA as well, and of every martial art generally.  This is also one of the central life lessons our training gives us.  We must learn to disconnect our rational mind and allow the body to MOVE with what it knows.  We must transcend technique to experience the ever-changing moments of CONNECTION with our partners.  This freedom is at the heart of good martial arts training and a great lesson on being in the moment.

Go ahead and enjoy The Matrix for what it is, a very entertaining classic Hollywood blockbuster.
However, if you look a bit below the surface, there is more.  We can learn from what we see.

FREE YOUR MIND.

FIGHT CLUB

(thanks for the inspiration David)

Recently, a few of my friends have enrolled in Executive Fight Night/White Collar Boxing.  This is a charity event held in various locations and usually sponsored/attended by people in the broader financial services community.  This one is scheduled for May 23 in Tokyo, but I have seen events like this in Hong Kong and Singapore over the past several years.

Since most of the fighters are bankers and other office types and not professional fighters, the event serves to be a great opportunity to get in shape, learn some boxing basics, and "live the dream" of getting in the ring for a few rounds.  The rules appear to be standard boxing rules, with three 2-minute rounds.  All proper headgear is used and the chance of percussion/concussion injury to the fighters is relatively low.

The boxers will train at Club 360 in Tokyo several times per week to prepare for the fight and will have an experienced boxing coach, Jan Kaszuba, on hand to assist their preparation.  If it were up to me, how would I train for this event?  What advice could I give?

Cardio is KING
To fight at full activity for three 2-minute rounds requires the stamina to box 10-12 2-minute rounds (30 sec rest in between) continuously.  What many people don't realize is that round 1 has a huge adrenaline kick, which quickly wears off and leaves both fighters exhausted.  I see a big difference in the guards and activity levels in rounds 2 and 3.  Bright lights, deafening noise, cheering crowds all contribute to high stress and high adrenaline responses, which use up energy reserves quickly.  Thus, constant cardio training is key.

Footwork
I have discussed this in other posts, but footwork makes the difference between success and failure.  Ali was not the hardest hitter, but he had great hand speed, and his footwork set him apart from every other boxer who has ever set foot in the ring.  In particular, the 45 degree Filipino footwork we use is very helpful in cutting angles on the opponent, adjusting range/distance, and driving the other guy into the ropes and corners.  Good footwork, as Mike Tyson proved, can take away the advantage of reach by a taller opponent, since the zig-zag entry helps a smaller fighter to get inside the guard to deliver the devastating hooks and uppercuts.  Good boxers spend endless hours on this, so should you.

Guard
Having a good guard is a basic skill that everyone should have before stepping into the ring.  This means having a strong stance, and the gloves well-anchored to the cheekbone or forehead.  The eyes should not be covered, but allow you to see between your gloves to find opportunities for fire back when you are being hit.
Gloves should always return to guard immediately after being thrown, and one glove must ALWAYS be back to protect the head.  "One glove out, one glove back" is the rule.

Reaction Timing
Usually, if you can touch the opponent, the opponent can touch you.  This means that anytime the opponent reaches for you, something must be open for you to hit.  A good drill is to work with the feeder so that every time you are touched you instantly respond with a jab or jab/cross of your own.  Shortening the response time in this drill will help you take advantage of counterpunching and not just stand and take hits.

Body Shots
Although most fighters will reach decent condition before the fight night, they are not professionals and do not have the professional fighter's core.  That means that body shots will be more effective than they would be in a fight between two pro boxers.  The liver and spleen both represent great body targets and can help get the gloves to drop.  One good way is to work these body shots in behind lead jabs.

The Importance of The Jab
You can never throw too many jabs.  During a fight, the jab should be out all the time, annoying the opponent, probing the guard and looking for opportunity.  The jab always stays in his face, obstructing vision and keeping him from getting settled.  If the jab touches something other than the glove, the cross should come immediately.  That is another good reaction drill to train.  In training, you should spend as much time as possible throwing jabs.

Clocking
Footwork is never straight back or straight forward in boxing.  When we need to give ground we always work to the side angles either clockwise or counter-clockwise.  This helps avoid getting moved back onto the ropes or into a corner. In training, working around the heavy bag in both directions throwing punches is a key way to develop this skill.  Going forward, we advance on the 45 degree angles to close distance and start getting around the guard and into the body or head right away.

Move, Set, Fire, Move
This is the pace and rhythm.  Never punch while you are moving.  Move, set, punch, move.  You need to be stationary when punching to you can get hip rotation and power from your legs into your punches.  Muhammad Ali could fire with power while moving, you can't (don't feel bad - neither can I).  After punching (and of course immediate return to guard) your move will usually want to be 45 degrees angled away rather than straight back, as this makes it harder to get countered.

On the Ropes
When you get someone on the ropes, avoid simply hammering into their gloves/guard, which just makes you tired.  Ali used this in later years to wear down his opponents when he was on the ropes, before firing back and ending the fight.
 
Instead, take a short shuffle 45 degrees to either side, and you will find the body shots and head hook start to go around the gloves and contact the side of the head/ear or the liver/spleen.  When the opponent adjusts, use your other hand to go down the middle again.  Conversely, if you find yourself on the ropes, your goal is to pass the opponent's hand and get out forward away from the ropes, not along them (since you will end up in the corner).

It is incredibly brave to get into the ring and face your fear.  Much respect should be given to any man (or woman) for showing such courage, especially for charity.  That said, a few basic tips and boxing common sense can help to get a better outcome.

we buy things we don't need
with money we don't have
to impress people we don't like
-Tyler Durden

Waist Not, Want Not

As the next installment in looking at some of the mechanics of good technique, I want to discuss the importance of the waist line (especially as it relates to hip rotation).  Recent previous posts have looked at footwork and distancing, and the waistline is another key aspect of good technique.

In 2007, I wrote a post about the use of hips in Yoshinkan Aikido called "hippy hippy shake", In that short post I was interested in the way we connect our partner to our hip line and then use that connection to drive momentum via our hip motion.

In the past 7 years, I have come to understand this being a universal principle of martial arts, having now seen the same concept applied in Kali Majapahit, SSBD, Baguazhang, Kali De Mano, and a host of other styles.

Of course, we can focus on hip rotation as a broader concept, but this is well-known even to advanced karateka who emphasize it as part of their punching drills.

Instead, I want to look at a few aspects of the hip line as a destination for creating distance, taking balance, and exerting control over an opponent.

In Kali Majapahit, when we work knife disarms, I am often asked where to bring the opponent's hand as we take it clockwise.  There are two answers: one is a very small, very fast circle directly 45 degrees away from the lead knee.  This disarm works because it is smooth and fast. It also (usually) involves ballistic contact to the hand to ensure the disarm happens.  For this reason, I prefer to use this small circle to strip the knife (meaning I take it) rather than to disarm, especially in training, where I don't want to injure my partner.  The second and more powerful variation involves connecting the extended knife-arm to our waist line as we pass.  This is a bigger circle, and dynamically takes the balance as we move.  Note that there is no actual contact of the knife against our body (since we could be cut), but rather, the circle is large enough to extend from the line of the shoulder to the line of the waist, giving plenty of room to develop momentum.  Combined with the replacement footwork, this can be an extremely powerful movement and very hard for the other person to resist.

Likewise, in punyo sombrada, we destination for moving the opponent's stick when we pass it is our waist line.  All FMA seek to sink the body weight rather than to rise the body weight, and this is a great example of how anchoring the opponent's weapon to our waistline definitively takes it out of the fight.

In silat as well, when we pass the hands (as we would do in FMA's basic hubud lubud drills) there are two circles: a very small, very fast circle and a wider, more powerful circle which connects to the waistline.  Again, when combined with replacement footwork this movement creates distance, takes away the opponent's balance and generates powerful momentum.  Baguzhang uses the same principle when passing/controlling the arm for an elbow lock.  When combined with their spiraling footwork, the effect is devastating and it is effortless (at least when Sifu James does it).

From a body mechanic point of view, our goal is always to move and use our body efficiently. This means less focus on strength and more focus on good structure and use of larger muscle groups such as the back and hips.  Yoshinkan definitely teaches this, and as I mention above I have seen it shown in a lot of other arts.  We will be drilling this concept in class in the coming weeks - I suggest you to do so as well.  A good understanding of how to use the waistline to generate power and take balance will serve you well.

See you soon.

Feet First

Going back to a talk that Guro Fred gave some years ago, I have been thinking about my feet these days, especially given my last post about distancing.

The feet are of critical importance to martial arts training.  If you have any doubts, go and step on a nail or a piece of broken glass.  You'll get the point (literally).  Feet contain a relatively large number of bones/joints/muscles/nerves compared to other parts of the body.  In addition, the foot contains all major meridians of Chinese medicine and is a dedicated focus in some schools of treatment in shiatsu and acupuncture. It stands to reason that taking good care of your feet is an important key to mobility, health and longevity.

One point Guro Fred raised is that the proper shape of the foot is an inverse triangle, where the three points represent the big toe, the little toe and the heel.  The broader the triangle, the stronger the base.  Accordingly, weight should be flexed from the broadest part of the base (across the ball of the foot between the big toe and little toe) with the toes gripping into the surface for traction.  When lifting heavy weights or resting for long periods of time, weight should be concentrated on the heel where there are fewer joints to carry stress.  This is why proper Olympic lifts all focus on driving from the heel rather than the ball of the foot, like fighters do.

When you look at your foot, you should be able to clearly see the outline of the triangle, and the toes should all face forward, with gaps in between them.  The joints of the toes should fully articulate and allow for mobility upward and downward as needed.

Here are some guidelines for foot care:

Awareness

It starts with just being aware of the importance of your feet.  Take time to examine them and keep nails neatly trimmed.  Pay attention to how you walk and keep balance AT ALL TIMES.  Most people "fall forward" rather than "walk forward". It is important to push off with the back foot and step with the front, rather than shuffling or dropping weight on the heel.  Most of us have not been taught how to walk properly, so no shame in learning it now.  Your knees and back will ultimately thank you.

Skin Care

At Bali, the skin on my feet started to crack and split, especially between my toes.  Regular applications of aloe skin lotion did the trick, though.  Athletes feet and other viral/fungal conditions should be treated right away.

Toe Articulation

Mobilize your toes forward and backward every day, preferably twice a day ---morning and night.  I do this in the shower (AM) or bath (PM).

Shaking Hands with Your Feet

In this exercise, you interlock your fingers and toes and mobilize them.  This can help restore the proper spread between your toes, especially if your usual shoes are too tight.  In fact, have your feet checked by a pro.  I move up a half size after doing this.

NO HEELS

Nothing is worse for your feet and ankles than heels/pumps.  Avoid them whenever possible (applies to guys and girls).

Foot Massage

Singapore is great because every shopping mall has a place that does this and it is usually cheap and effective.  I suggest getting this whenever you can, since it will also help stimulate the energy flow in your overall body.  You can use Japanese "health sandals" or a Chinese medicine stepping board to activate the points on the sole of the foot.  I prefer foot massage.

Go Barefoot

Try to go barefoot whenever possible.  If it is not, at least wear open-toed sandals which do not have a constricted toe box.  Be careful where you walk, but barefoot is best for walking.

Five Fingers

For runners, Vibram's Five Fingers shoes can be a blessing.  Apparently they take some getting used to, and are not cheap, but offer a much better health experience than traditional heel-centric running shoes (which can lead to a variety of knee problems).

A shoe that is too large is apt to trip one, and when too small, to pinch the feet. So it is with those whose fortune does not suit them.

Horace

Long Distance Relationships

OK, before you suspect this is going to be a Skype commercial or a Hallmark Card advert, let me clarify.  I am talking about fighting distance.

Guro Claes raised some interesting points that I have been thinking about since the incredible Bali Camp 2014.  In fact, I have been thinking about them since Guro Maul of SSBD discussed them at one of his excellent seminars that I attended.

As we start a new cycle in Kali Majapahit, I want to raise a few points about distancing and its importance in training.

We spend time, especially with the beginners, it trying to help develop good footwork.  What this means for us in SE Asian martial arts is that we are able to use our triangle (male and female) and replacement footwork to have good position relative to the attacker.  The practice involves getting the hips and body to align so the spine is not twisted, and so that the hips face into the target (except angle 5, where we shift the body sideways).  We use triangles to create some distance and allow us to remain in contact with the opponent while at the same time moving away from the attacking power or the non-attacking hand.

There can be some confusion on how to define distance in FMA, so for purposes of clarity "largo" or long distance refers to a relationship where I can touch my opponents arm/wrist/hand/fingers with my weapon, but am out of striking range.  "Medio" or medium distance is where I can touch the opponent's arm/wrist/hand/fingers with my hand, and can reach the torso with my weapon (note this implies the opponent can reach me as well).  "Corto"  or close distance refers to when my punyo and hands can touch the opponent's torso directly.  Corto is often where disarms, sweeps and close range weapons (elbows/knees/headbutts) take place.  Corto is also the distance where we engage for Dumog (Filipino grappling).

Good footwork allows us to move from medio to largo when needed, or from medio to corto when needed.  The sad reality, as Guro Claes pointed out, is that we often drill from medio, which is probably the worst place to be in a fight.  In medio, we are in easy striking range of an opponent, being neither inside their strikes (corto) nor outside and attacking their arm/hand/wrist/fingers (largo).  As beginners, we spend some time in largo when we drill De Cuerdas, but after the beginner phase we should already understand that medio distance is really just a transition from either largo or corto, which are preferable.  Of the two, largo has advantages in that it can offer ease of escape, lower chance of being hit, and lower chance of the opponent being able to grapple.  Corto offers a lot more possibility, including ease of control of the opponent.  Thus, I usually suggest an emphasis on drilling movement from medio to largo for beginners, and from medio (or largo) to corto as skill improves.

Guro Claes rightly pointed out that even when fights start at corto, which can happen, we may want to withdraw to largo immediately to assess the situation, and good footwork will allow us to do this quickly and safely.  In training, I suggest a variety of drills to close in from largo to corto, and open out from corto to largo.  In every case, if we find ourselves in medio distance, we should move into corto or out to largo distance without hesitation.  Staying in medio is very dangerous and should be avoided.

To give a boxing example, largo is the distancing used to float away from the opponent while delivering jabs.  It is used for picking apart the guard and opening up opportunities to land a cross or overhand and hopefully end the fight while staying out of range of the opponent's similar punches.  Medio is the bad situation where boxers go "toe to toe" and surprise upsets can often occur.  There is no safety for either fighter in medio.  Corto happens when a boxer steps in and closes the distance, usually to deliver the devastating hooks or uppercuts that end so many matches.  Good boxers have good footwork.  There is a reason why they spend so much time training it.

Creating distance is very important, since we need room to work our techniques, and particularly as we internalize the fact that we need to use our weapons to their fullest potential.  This means receiving contact close to our hands (base of the stick) where we have good structural support, and striking near the tip of the stick to maximize centrifugal force.  This is especially important in circular movements like abanico or witik.

As our distance control improves, we can do more than just use our footwork to have mobility in and out around the opponent.  As we see in advanced applications of Hakka styles and Silat, the footwork evolves into foot trapping, misdirections, sweeps, siba, ghost kicks, and other ways of directly attacking the structure and balance of the opponent.  Even though we have activity on the higher lines, it is these low line steps that are the trademark of the master, and which often times decide the results before any punch or strike has even connected.  We saw this at the Bali Camp again and again, through the detailed instruction of Guro Fred, Guro Claes and Sifu James.

Learn to love these basic drills - they make everything else so much easier.
We will be spending a lot more time on these footwork drills in class - I suggest you do, too.

See you soon.  

Make a Difference

Post by PreventDisease.com.

Watch the video above.

A few takeaways from me:

1) It's All Relative

$1,000 may be a lot for you - It may not be much at all.  To this man, it was EVERYTHING.

The money was not really the thing; it was the KINDNESS; the fact that a stranger went out of his way to share the hope of a better future, and was selfless in giving that hope to this man.  We never know how our actions can influence others.  It is important to make every effort to make those actions POSITIVE and to use our actions to INSPIRE others and create a positive difference.

2) The Power of Dignity

When we lose our self-confidence, we lose our ability to stand tall as a human being among others.  Our eyes look down and we can't make eye contact.  Our shoulders slump and our posture degrades.  You can feel the negative energy from people when they get this way.  ALL CREATURES DESERVE DIGNITY.

This is the single most powerful thing you can give back to everyone, and the precious treasure you should never, ever take away from any creature.  When the giver engages this man with respect, he empowers him to reclaim his dignity.  By doing so he allows this homeless man to open up and overcome his situation.  He makes a REAL connection and can make a REAL difference and allow others to make a REAL difference as well.

3) HUGS not DRUGS

You can feel the power when those two men hug each other.  Guro Claes led us through a hugging exercise in the recent Bali Camp as part of our personal development.  It was energizing and created real connections between us.  Living creatures need contact - and hugging is a great way to engage the people we meet and those who are important in our lives.  We should not be afraid of our emotions, but rather be open and confident enough to use them to create deeper and better human connections.

4) STRANGERS
Why is it that we can be kinder to a complete stranger than we can to a member of our own family?
Never forget to give your love and attention first to those closest to you - make sure they know how much you love them - tell them often, but show them even more often.  Don't worry, you will never run out of love for other creatures.  REMIND YOURSELF TO KEEP LOVING EVERY DAY.

5) DEEDS not WORDS...BE THE CHANGE!

This poor man must have been ignored by hundreds, perhaps thousands or people over the time he has been homeless.  All the best intentions didn't make any difference at all.  What it took was someone to DO SOMETHING.   

Every day, make sure that person is YOU; make sure that time is NOW.

See you soon.  

  

Paper Dragons

I was inspired by my conversation with Eriko in London last week.
We were a bunch of Japanese (well, not ME, obviously) enjoying dinner at a lovely Japanese restaurant near Holborn in the center of London.

Like many Japanese, Eriko is very loyal to the company.  This is admirable, of course, but my perspective differs.  I explain.

What is a company, after all?
I have set up companies before.  When you do, you receive a piece of paper called a company registration.  That's it. No fanfare, no big deal.  Just a piece of paper (actually a stack of papers).
A company is a legal construct created by society for the purpose of making money in an organized way (I use the term "organized" a bit too freely perhaps).  Legally it exists, but physically it is just a piece of paper.

As I explained to Eriko, I am not loyal to pieces of paper.  Pieces of paper cannot be loyal to me.
Of course, human beings act of behalf of the pieces of paper, and I can be loyal to them (and I am very much so).  However, I never let the paper take the place of the people.  I respect people and their actions, and will never absolve someone who does something wrong by saying "the company made me do it".  Each of us make take personal responsibility for our behavior, and have full accountability for what we say and do, good or bad.

If we argue that companies are made up of people, I contend that this is not the point.  Neither are people simply their resumes.  The paper is no substitute for what it represents.

Since I don't pay much attention to pieces of paper, I find I have more time to focus on the human relationships that the pieces of paper underpin.  In the company, I try to engage people as human beings, rather than business cards, job titles, or powerpoint decks.  I try to solve the human problems, and try to engage my clients person to person, with my goals and theirs aligned, and not caring too much for the pieces of paper behind them. This means that even if someday we were to change companies, we could continue to enjoy and derive value from the human relationship we built and have invested in.

Irrespective of the person's place in the corporate hierarchy, I try to engage everyone as a peer and professional, equally worthy of my time and attention (until they prove me wrong).  Similarly, I try to lead in a human way, not because the org chart says I am the boss.  I try never to focus on the paper more than the person, since it is the human element that I have always found the most interesting and rewarding.

Just as in our weapons work, we try to remember that weapons are not the focus - people are.
When we engage the aggressor, the weapon no longer matters.  Likewise, we learn that almost anything can be a weapon if the attacker has aggressive intent.  Weapons provide context, nothing more.  Paper provides context, nothing more.

In our martial arts lives, too, there are lots of pieces of paper.  I have four black belt ranks (so far).  I am sure no robber or murderer will ever ask to see them.  Likewise, I have never had any of my students ask for them (or about them) after the first class.  In the end, I can either teach or I can't.  I can either do or I can't.  That is up to me, not the paper.  Neither the paper nor the belt can do that in my place.  People obsess over which master (or ultimate great grand pendekar or whatever) is better than whom.  Legitimacy comes from skill and knowledge, NOT from pieces of paper.

Many people spend far too much time worried about those pieces of paper.  So much so that they never truly enjoy the human element, the friendship, the love, the RELATIONSHIPS that in my mind make life worth living.  Humans are amazingly complex, funny creatures.  We have nearly limitless capability.  We are truly born of stars and have their essence within us - we shine brightly.  PEOPLE ARE AWESOME.  Paper is boring.

Please be fiercely loyal to the important people in your life.
Make conscious effort to create, build and sustain the human relationships that are important to you.  Never care more about the paper than the person, especially when that person is YOU.
Spend as much time as possible acquiring knowledge/skills and personal networks that will help you enjoy your life to the fullest.  Keep the papers in the drawer where they belong.

See you at class.