Does your martial art restrict your beliefs?

I am not talking about your religious beliefs but your beliefs in your martial art. Most everyone can believe that their martial art will let move their arm in to an “Up block” to stop a strike coming down on them. This belief is that if I can can move an object(my arm) fast enough to stop another object(downward hammer fist) from striking me it will at least help minimize the damage. Maybe your art adds a few combinations after the up block to stop the attacker.

Some arts, will use the downward force of the arm into a throw and subdue the attacker. Others, teach you to do preemptive strikes: like a kick to the stomach takes much of the power if not all of the power out of a punch. These are pretty widely accepted beliefs in many different arts. We can see a cause and effect and it doesn’t contradict any of our other beliefs.

What about other martial art beliefs? Chi, energy throws, Death Touch, directing energy(chi) to parts of your body for healing or protection. These are beliefs from different martial arts like different styles of Kung Fu, Da Mak, Chi Kung and others. Many martial artists have difficulty believing in concepts like these because they cannot feel it or see it. They may see an attacker fall to the ground from a energy throw, but they don’t see anything physically do the throw. They call it fake or say the attacker was clumsy and they wouldn’t have been thrown.

I for myself feel that you have to keep an open mind. Explore different styles of martial arts, maybe even the ones you feel are “fake”. Many of these arts use concealing techniques so other “clans” couldn’t see how the techniques really worked. Much to the way I think about “Rumors” - there is usually some truth behind them, I would believe that many of these arts have more truth to them than many would like to accept.

For those with an open mind or what to add to their martial art knowledge you should look up Steve Smith - The Little Dojo. He has a Spring Seminar “The Power of Belief”. Check it out.

I have recently received my Black Belt, and for many reasons I have not plastered on here that I did it and how everybody should cheer for me. For my self, it is more of a personal journey and I wanted to take time to “feel” what it was like to be a Black Belt. As for the testing most of it was as I had thought it might be and some parts I had to dig deep into my soul, deeper than I ever thought I could. As for what that was, I will leave it as a personal triumph that I will never forget.

As the test was now over, my teacher told me, “Now Make it your Own”. Thats all he could say, he couldn’t tell me how to do that or it would not be mine. He is not saying to go create my own system, but to get my mind, body and spirit to understand and feel the art. It has taken me some time and thought to comprehend this more fully. I don’t make any claims that I have made it “My Own” yet, but as I have continued training I feel that it will come.

Recently I have been studying Bunkai not from Kata but from principle, and creating scenarios to create a Kata. This has been a great deepening experience for me. I am usually harder on myself than most people, and I didn’t just want to put “techniques” together. I wanted it to have a life of its own, a purpose and meaning. I am still working on it and I don’t know if it will ever be where I want it, but I can feel like I am starting to “Make it my own.”

– A Humble Student

Steve Smith from The Little Dojo.com has scheduled its Spring Mountain Retreat for Weekend of June the 6th, 7th and 8th.

The Power of Belief Mountain Retreat will cover areas of Human Potential as affected by the concept of Belief. We will be covering in depth, Energy Work for Martial and Healing work. As well as all areas of Martial Arts from Swimming Body to the Fighting Tomahawk from Infinity Knives.

This weekend is designed to bring body and mind together in a synergistic blend of power and focus. These principles are great in the Martial Arts and directly translate into everyday life.

Video of Previous Retreats and other clips

Steve Smith also has a “mini-forum” at Pragmatic Martialarts.com

Well, Jet Li must have changed his mind about not doing another Kung Fu Movie. Staring with Jackie Chan might have helped too. This does look like a good movie in the previews.

In a land where heaven touches earth. With an Empire divided by war. Two legendary warriors, an orphaned girl and a lost traveler must unite to save the Kingdom.

Master Duan Zhi-Liang Wuji Qigong

One of my son’s was looking on the Internet for “Jets” for a school paper and we got distracted on Youtube. I found this video and just had to share. I hope a few of you like the beauty of the Jets like I do.

P.S. I think I was on one of those jets landing in the cross winds. Well maybe not that one, but it felt very similar. I couldn’t see the runway in the direction we were pointing.

I have experienced a crash on my MySQL database. Yes, I was delequint in creating backups on my own. But the good news is that I get to start fresh, with maybe some better posts. If I had thought it was very important I could go to my host and request a backup of my database, but I am actually welcoming a fresh start.

I will tell you that if you get a “Table Crash” in MySQL, I would suggest to backup the database before you “Repair” the table.

I did save a few of my last posts with the help of the Google Cache. But I had to delete all of the comments because they did not match the posts that were previously there.

I have looked around to try to find anyone similar to what my instructor (Steve Smith - The Little Dojo) can do. As I train in Karate based Martial Arts - I am seeing and training in more of what he knows on the Kung fu side(aka The Little Dojo) of his training.

Dr. Yeung Demonstration is very similar in many ways what Sifu Smith teaches. I enjoyed this very much, I hope everyone does too.

Demonstration by Dr. Yeung, renouned master, teacher of Internation Champions who collectively took 370 gold medals from 1992 - 1998. Dr. Yeung’s demonstration includes Fa Jing, Monkey Style Kung Fu, Drunken Style Kung Fu, Northern Mantis Kung Fu, Snake style Kung Fu, Chin Na, and Wing Chun Kung Fu at the Newcastle University Sports Festival, England. See more at www.pathgate.org