Those of you familiar with our Udemy courses, which can be found using the link on the homepage, should be made aware that they are probably being taken down. This is not something that is within our control, however it seems that the platform requires that the courses be constantly updated. I don’t know whether this is to free up space on there to keep only the most up to date and popular stuff on there, I’m not sure what their policy is. At the moment there is over a thousand students enrolled on there on our courses, which is great. No money has been made from these course, it’s simply to raise awareness and make what’s on the YouTube and website more accessible and to give it some context. At the same time, it makes everything else more clear in martial arts if it becomes demystified and common sensical, which is the aim of this intuitive martial arts business. When I say business, I’ve never been into the whole vulgar “I’m the best” mentality, or even competitive. I’ve competed only to gain knowledge nothing else.
The course themselves are very simple and require no particular training, they just introduce you to various concepts. Even so, Udemy have communicated that the content is going to be removed, so what will happen instead is that they will be re uploaded on here at some point. If I make any more, it is unlikely that they will be so organised and step by step. When I was making the videos I often froze in front of the camera, not because of nerves, but because I couldn’t think of what to say. Only when I just go through what I’m doing as it happens am I able to articulate it properly. This is because I learn by doing not by making it theoretical. So it is the experience as it unfolds that I am able to communicate, rather than memory of it happening. It tends to lose all its potency if I’m discussing what passed by attention last week or the day before. For the Udemy stuff I had to structure it is the opposite way, I had to present it in an organised conclusive way, rather than in an open ended one. This is good in some ways but limited in others.
In my opinion, the course are quite good, and there is enough there to get anyone started in martial arts. The feedback has been very good overall. However, there is some confusion about what it’s all about. I can keep going over the various points as I have been doing, but what I’m keen to do is not become misinterpreted. For example, if I say this is the way to do a kick, obviously there are other ways. However, due to industry standards, as an expert you are supposed to deliver one right way to do something. This is a huge shame for one who is seeking to expand rather than condense and dispense. It is even more shameful to turn it into an “I’m better than you” thing against others. So this is my disclosure, whatever I am presenting as a definitive answer, if relied upon as the truth it will just become a deception unless you evolve the practice further. The truth is an evolving process not a conclusion to stop you enquiring.
So I have been in a predicament not to dilute the content into something attention grabbing, but also to make it accessible enough that it appeals to the general audience. The whole point of martial arts as I understand it, is to seek it out rather than to become influenced by some marketing gimmick. In other words, to enter the training hall you need a certain commitment. it’s the same thing online, you need to be willing and to grab it, to become open to it rather than the click bait. This has always been the way, and it continues to be so today.
I’ve left things deliberately open ended and inconclusive simply because what a beginner does and what an expert does are the same thing with varying degrees of competence.The guitar virtuoso is going over the same simple notes as the novice. He adds speed, poise and variety within this simplicity. It’s nothing more than that. But it looks like something else entirely. In other words, it’s not like you do something special just because you are an intermediate or an expert, it’s just you do the simple things more fluidly as if they were totally different. This has to be experienced to be appreciated, and it is my wish that this happens to you. everything then becomes more clear. The effects are different in this sense but the process is the same. One thing the courses don’t offer is an easy way to do this, or a guaranteed way to do that. There are no promises, because it is fifty percent you in this partnership. This is not to make things unnecessarily complicated or mysterious, its just that anyone who practices a set of simple exercises over many years with commitment is bound to reach mastery, simply due to their commitment and dedication in the face of uncertain external conditions.
The message here is that it is down to your own individual will and effort to make ordinary things extra ordinary, in other words to make every day activity into a powerful possibility for yourself. So what’s on the course is neither simplistic nor complicated, it just makes more and more sense the more you practice the simple things. By digging deep into them, you evolve them in many different ways. It’s not about learning all sorts of techniques and then on to the next one. It looks like that, but really this is only operating within institutional boundaries which are not an experiential reality in practice. In this sense there are no secret techniques or step by step processes towards mastery, because this depends on the commitment of the learner, rather than some technical drill which removes uncertainty and discomfort in the learning process. The learning process is a path fraught with uncertainty, and only when you remain unwavering and single minded anyway, no matter what’s happening, will you make complete sense of martial arts teachings.
The original aim was to provide a library of content using the Udemy platform, however it seem there are too many pressures to conform to various industry standards and too much hinges upon casual reviews which may or may not reflect the quality of your experience. It was a huge effort for me to even figure out how to format it in such a way that it was aceesabll to the casual viewer. To me, whatever I’m talking about is to do with everything else, in other words there’s an underlying message which is the main point rather than the topic itself. So if I’m talking about kicking, I’m talking about punching. And if I’m talking about single-mindedness I’m talking about including everything within that. I get a sense that this has become clear over the years of delivering various courses, which makes them interesting even though there is no clear and organised structure most of the time. the Udemy courses were an exception, which is amusing for me to look at because I’m not about structure and organised formats at all. It just so happened that for a brief time I had the time to discipline myself to deliver them. The course link is below, there are more listed there too.
https://www.udemy.com/course/martial-arts-striking-techniques/learn/lecture/36153226#overview
