Cool & Interesting

My son and I were talking about folks who like cosplay. Someone who had a booth at a scifi/comic convention invited him to visit. My son told me about the amazing costumes. There were Klingons, and Ironman(s) and characters I had never heard of. And these weren't vendors, these were attendees. "I was dressed in kaki's and a henley, and was completely out of place," he said.

As we talked about the colorful characters at that convention, it did not escape our notice (O, the irony) that we were wearing our karate costumes and spending the weekend in the practice of pain. As my friend Steve Cooper observed, "We're a bunch of sick puppies."

When people talk about the practice of martial arts they speak of many purposes and values. Some talk about the health benefits, and this is abundantly true. Martial movements (especially when done properly) move the body in ways that are great for maintaining health well into old age (just check out Hohan Soken doing kata as a very old man with a lot of energy). Other people talk about the spiritual and personal values of martial arts training. Discipline, self-control, courtesy, perseverance, and more, come with years of practice and training.

Self-defense is always a big reason for training. As a classical martial artist, I believe the movements of the old kata are for practical fighting (which looks almost nothing like the way in which those same movements are used by most modern martial artists). This even crosses over to my practice of old Okinawan weapons. When I do a sai kata, it looks the same as someone else's sai kata. But, when I use the movements of that kata, it looks like I am using an entirely different weapon. Yet, I will never be attacked when I am armed with sai. Nor will I ever be attacked by someone wielding the type of weapon sai was designed to deal with (except in the dojo, of course). So why would I practice sai-jitsu.

For that matter, why do I practice martial arts at all? Why do I spend so much time training in preparation for an attack which probably will never occur? The answer is simple. I think martial arts are really interesting and really cool. The first time I took a lesson, at age 12, and I was told, "Stand like this, bend your knee like this," I was hooked, fascinated by the complexity and intricacy, by the body of knowledge to learn, the specialized vocabulary, the unique methods. And for all the values I have received from my years of training, I train today because, 40 years later, I still find it really interesting.

So, I am like those die-hard fans at the scifi/comic conventions – the ones whose costumes don't look like costumes at all, the ones who have really invested time and energy into what they are doing, the ones who actually can speak Klingon, the ones who think it is really interesting and cool. I train, I speak the language, I wear the cool costume. In fact, when I practice weapons, I don't use the cheap crap sold by Ce•••ry. Noooo. I have the really good quality weapons. And I even wear a special costume for weapons work, a special blue hakama in the working style called nobakama, because, I think weapons training (kobujitsu) is really interesting and cool, and I want to look cool when I'm doing it.

Thanks for reading.

No, go train!

CT

The Taller You Would Build the Tower

Sensei George Dillman demonstrating an impressive knock out.

I was in Indianapolis, at an annual 3 day training with my sensei George Dillman (okay, I was only there 2 days, because someone had to work Sunday morning). The weekend is organized and sponsored by Will Higginbotham, one of my colleagues in DKI. Another of my colleagues, Matt Brown, was teaching some advanced work on manipulating internal energy (qi). One of the up-and-coming instructors, Shane Lear, was teaching material he has learned in China, which also focused on energy work. I got a chance to teach and experiment with the use of primary and secondary elemental stances (an extension of elemental stance theory worked out by Dustin Seale and myself). And sensei Dillman showed some quality technique and methodology (along with a stunning and unexpected leg knockout). All in all, the training was at a very high level, appropriate to the number of long-time and high-ranking students attending (as my daughter put it, "There was a lot of red in the room" referring, of course, to the red on the belts of the seniors).

Today (Sunday) was a work day for me, with church services and a burial. But, here and there I found myself with a few moments to play around and do what I call "restroom karate". I should explain that. The name refers to my habit of doing a few techniques anytime I find myself alone in a lavatory – right after I wash my hands, when I can still check my technique in the mirror. So, "restroom karate" is when you steal a few seconds of training here and there throughout the day. So, today, as I stole time here and there for a few seconds of training, I noticed that, following all that advanced work in Indianapolis, I was training basic stances and basic movements.

This might seem odd to others, who might assume that I would be practicing qi-gung and working on advanced material. But it doesn't seem odd to me for a very simple reason – the taller you would build the tower, the stronger you must build the foundation. When martial artists become excited about advanced material and turn their art and training into nothing but advanced stuff, they can appear impressive (even astonishing) and knowledgeable, but without a proportionately strong grounding in fundamentals of movement and posture and stance and alignment, their towering knowledge cannot survive the disturbances of combat.

So, it seems to me, that the more advanced material I learn, study and practice, the more I have to return again and again to fundamentals. In fact, I have come to believe that a master is just someone who fell in love with the basics.

Thanks for reading,

Now go train!

CT

I will be teaching in France in September. Here is a truly beautiful flier for Sept 25 seminar. Click on the image to download.

I was at a karate demo, and saw what contemporary martial arts looks like. Mmmm. At times, the demonstrators would use weapons. Their weapons sure were sparkly.

As I watched, I found myself thinking, What is that? Their movements occasionally mimicked traditional actions, but more often than not, didn't look like anything. For these players, weapons are fun props for their performances, and nothing more.

Just like empty hand practice, I find that most people who train with weapons have no idea how to hold them, much less, use them. So, it seems as if I am adopting another mission – to introduce the correct usage of traditional weapons to people who think they are "fun" rather than scary.

So, I will be conducted a Master Class on the correct use of sai on the last Friday of June, in Madison, WI. Just click on the image to download the flier. Hope to see you then. In the meantime

Go train!

CT

I'm offering a special and very limited bargain – my new Self-defense Rescripted DVD & the book Effortless Self-Defense for Women (co-authored with Kimberly Dillman Foreman). This is a $69.90 value for only 49.95. But, I have only 25 sets to sell (limited bargain). This should appear in the store shortly.

CT

I will be teaching a Friday evening seminar in the Milwaukee area. Just click on the image to download the flier.

Self-Defense Rescripted

Imagine this scenario: you are in fifth grade, and the annoying bully who sits near you likes to pounce when you are trying to write something. His method is to grab the end of your pencil as you are writing and move the pen around to make a mess on your paper. Of course, you have done all the usual, told him to "Cut it out," tried to pull your pencil away. But, nothing changes. So, one day, you do none of the usual things. Instead you place your free hand over his hand as he grabs your pencil and hold his hand to your pencil. Rather than trying to pull away, you pin his hand in place. Now, he is trying to pull away, because the situation has taken a completely unexpected turn, and he has somehow become stuck.

Imagine this scenario: you are playing with your favorite stuffed animal, and your older brother tries to take it from you. Your usual response is to hug your toy tightly to your chest, while saying, "It's mine! You can't have it!" However, this time, instead of pulling the toy to your chest, you grab your brother's arm (which is holding the stuffed animal) and pull it to your chest, saying "It's mine, you can't have it!" Now, being your brother, you feel justified in adjusting the balance of power somewhat. So, you sink your baby teeth into his wrist. Now, he is yelping and struggling to get free of the death grip you have on his arm. What started as struggle over your toy has been transformed into a struggle over your brother's arm. What started as you trying to escape him has been transformed into him desperate to escape you. This is what I call "rescripting."

When an assailant attacks he has a scenario planned out. He has already determined the time and place for action. He has tried to reduce the number of variables to basically two possible outcomes. Either his potential victim will play out the role of compliant victim, or the role of struggling prey. Rescripting means to change the plot, to take the encounter down an unexpected path, to alter the storyline. Change the narrative, change the outcome.

In a previous blog, I introduced the concept of "Single Scenario Tactical Solutions," which is an approach to teaching self defense by teaching one simple movement concept which can be applied to handle a wide variety of tactical problems. The core movement I teach is based on natural biomechanics and chosen for it's value as a method of rescripting. It is an amazingly powerful approach to self defense, and has become central to my teaching.

Of course, I can only introduce the concept in a blog, but I am happy to say that my new Self-Defense Rescripted DVD is completed and now available. I am really pleased with how it turned out, and even more pleased to see how my approach to self-defense has matured over the years. I'm sure you will find it a very helpful resource both personally and professionally. But remember, knowledge alone is not enough – there's no substitute for training. So…

Thanks for reading,

Now, go train.

CT