From The Desk Of Shaolin Warrior

   Dedicating most of my adult life to the Martial Arts, I have trained hard. I have spent on the average 25 hours a week working my material, illuminating the dark spots, learning to absorb the moment. Fear has become a familiar emotion as my flight or fight response has diminished. I have purged everything that doesn’t work for me from my workouts, and have taken what is left and torn it down carefully in order to examine the body mechanics and dynamics of every move. I now stand confident taking what was once misunderstood and making it my own. At 47, I am in the best physical and mental condition of my life. I have evolved. Martial Arts consume my every thought. I am ready. On the 26th of June 2010, I will test for 3rd Degree Black Belt. In my world this is still a low rank. Slightly more than novice,  still a beginner, but it is with my new found understanding of my training, I will continue to grow and evolve. I will tie on my new belt with humility, not pride, and I will continue to train.

It is important to realize that when we take a stance, we have 360 different possibilities as to which direction we can attack or defend from. Thats a lot of ground to cover, even for an experienced martial artist .These possibilities give us 180 degrees to the front and 180 degrees to our rear. Our forward and lateral movements are aggressive and our retreats or movements to the rear are our defensive movements. This becomes an important factor in self-defence because it determines whether we are to be more aggressive or more passive in our counter attack.

Most people will take the defensive steps, step back and block. This is because the natural reaction or our instinct is to withdraw as an aggressor moves forward. This is fundamental training for lower ranks. We teach colored belts to step back in a defensive stance,  block and then counter. This is certainly better than standing still, but it doesn’t have the same effect as moving forward to intercept our aggressors attack. Moving in on our aggressor not only allows the use of in close techniques such as elbows and knees, it also puts us in the dominant role and confuses the attacker and upsets his balance.When defending an attack, we are at a great and grave disadvantage. The attacker knows everything, when, where, and how they are going to attack. They’ve read your posture and know your body position and have chosen their attack and the strike zone. The defender knows absolutely nothing, most times totally unaware of the impending attack or its’ motive. This is why it is so important to be in tune with your mind , body, and spirit. When I say this, people must think that I’m talking about some new age spiritual revolution. Quite simply put, Harmony or balance between mind, body and spirit, means to be physically fit, mentally alert, and with the spiritual code of ethics as a martial artist that we never intentionally violate another human being unless it is to maintain the integrity of ones self.  Most attackers know that if they strike or step forward you will step backwards this allows them to continue the attack. That is why forward movement is critical or key to self defense. If you move forward as you block, you do a couple of things. First, you’ve change your position and avoided or interrupted the first wave of attack, second by changing your position you’ve forced your attacker into a defensive position, and for an instant, the instant that is critical to survival,the advantage of knowing when, where and how is stolen from the attacker and is in your possession.

I just didn’t realize it yet. Learning Martial Arts is more than numbered techniques or learning forms, it is a way of thinking. When we tied on our white belts for the first time we were excited, we learned combination 6 and 7. Good techniques, involving center line kicks with an evasive cross and cover. Learned the way it was taught to you, it is yours to keep forever. You learned some blocks, 8 of them to be exact, those are also yours to keep forever. You learned more than a dozen different strikes and kicks, a hand full of stances, and some martial respect. Again, all of these are yours forever; no one can take them from you. What you didn’t learn at white belt is that these are a complete set of all the principles you will ever need to become a Black Belt.

I know that my Black Belt students will take some offense to this and I hope that their egos survive this article with little collateral damage. But it wasn’t until I fully understood the mechanics and the dynamics behind the things that I had learned, that I realized that these very basic principles applied to all of my techniques. Allow me to delve a little deeper in order to substantiate my claim.

1. Proper stance for weight distribution (balance) is leaned at White Belt. This allows me to block and strike with maximum power and efficiency.
2. Proper balance lets me kick with power and eventually speed.
3. My ability to block or trap a punch or kick gives me a chance to counterstrike.
4. Critical Distance, or the range at witch my strikes become most effective is  realized at White belt when we get our first Kempo set.

Once these 4 basic principles become a part of natural reaction, you possess the skill sets necessary to become a Black Belt.

            Although our system has 26 numbered combinations, 22 Kempo’s and 11 forms necessary for the rank of Black Belt, these are just system requirements. Let’s look at the anatomy of any given technique;

1. We have the block, done with power proper weight distribution through our stance transition, this deflects a kick or strike and sets the critical distance necessary to counter strike.
2. We have the counterstrike, whether it is a punch or a kick, done with maximum power and efficiency, this puts our attacker into defense mode.

Let’s talk a little bit about the counterstrike; the timing between the block and strike needs to very quick, almost simultaneous in order for it to be effective. The target for the strike or strikes (multiple if necessary) needs to be the most vulnerable area where the most pain or damage can be effectively administered from your position.

1. Last but not least we have the takedown or the finishing move. This ensures us that our attacker or aggressor will not reemerge to begin a second wave of assault. This is accomplished by manipulation of their body through either a sweep or a joint lock.

I return to my opening paragraph, learning Martial Arts is more than learning numbered techniques, it’s more than just practicing forms and Kempo sets. It’s about taking our basic skill sets introduced to us at White Belt and working them through repetition until they become a natural reaction to the stimulus of fear.  Although we will learn many pre-arranged block , punch, kick, takedown sequences of events, we will only have four basic principles that we ever need to apply to any given defense. Now if you’ve been paying attention, I’ve only mentioned 3 so far. 1 the block, 2 the strike or counterstrike and 3 the takedown or disabling of our attacker, the last principle which should always come first in our mind is the most important and it comes in two parts. Part A, the decision that violence is the only way to handle the situation, and B, how much force is necessary to get the job done.

                                    Sensei Brian