Category: Physical exercises

Integrating the Reaction

Posted on Last updated on by joeharman8 | 7 min read | 117 views

Most martial arts training begins with learning how to react under pressure. Yet true mastery lies in moving beyond fear-driven responses toward stability, awareness, and self-regulation. This article explores how traditional martial arts transform stress into resilience through posture, breathing, centred awareness, and the cultivation of a complete response to challenge.

How does one move beyond fear-driven survival and reactive training? Martial arts training need not be about reacting to perceived threats habitually. Many people believe that in martial arts, all you have to do is learn to quickly and effectively disarm or pacify and attacker with ferocity. This is true to some extent. Because of this, pressure testing came about, where one trains under externally induced stress to boost their reactions. In terms of martial arts, this often means training your fight or flight response, so that you take positive steps to defend yourself. This usually involves self defence against some sort of predetermined attack. There is an immediate benefit from engaging in such training. However, if one habituates themselves to just reacting to threats unconsciously, their response is just partial. 

When pressure is taken exclusively into the survival centres of the brain, the system narrows. Perception tightens, breathing shortens, and posture collapses or becomes rigid. In addition, energy expenditure rises sharply. In terms of self defence, this prepares you to either run away or hit back hard. There is nothing wrong with this. It is necessary and effective for immediate escape or stop an opponent’s attack. Moreover, a purely reactive strategy is particularly useful in the absence of more tactical and refined methods.  However, by itself, a reactive approach it is usually insufficient for long term learning, high performance, or sustained engagement in hostile or threatening situations. As such, a reactive approach is a partial solution to the wider problem of successfully navigating potentially hostile situations. To move beyond basic training, the martial artist learns to take what is partial and integrate it into a complete process.

The work of the martial artist is to translate this stimulus, which originates from a survival response, into a productive and useful kind of energy for universal application. 

Readiness to act is not simply about reacting to outside events and becoming tense. When the body is malleable to the environment rather than suppressed, the same stimulus that would create tension can be spread across the system, refined, and integrated. For example, if you spread ink across a page, it becomes less concentrated, but the same material is still there. Similarly, when fight or flight enters the system more broadly, it can broaden its capacity. External stress then becomes a stimulus, and a tool for distribution and refinement of energy. The work of the martial artist is to translate this stimulus, which originates from a survival response, into a productive and useful kind of energy for universal application. 

For example, if you are startled by a loud noise, the reaction does not need to remain localised, creating tension. In fact, it is possibly because you are not tuned in to the environment in the first place that you received a call to action and got startled. When the body is prepared and grounded, that same impulse that caused one to become immediately prepared, can be absorbed, transformed, and expressed as a stable posture. The same energy that would have become tension, leading to potential collapse later on, instead becomes part of an integrated structure.

posture and movement do not merely express mental states, they also help shape them. 

Because the body and brain are dynamically interconnected, a substantial portion of brain function is causally dependent on bodily regulation. This includes working with metabolic, physiological, and internal perception processes, not just the survival circuits. Rather than simply abstract ideas, the brain’s operating mode is continuously shaped by bodily state, so if one is in a perceptual state of survival all the time, then this potentially leads to one’s health becoming undermined over time. However, if the brain perceives that the body is stable and grounded, the feedback loop between perception and action begins organising the system toward greater coherence. In this way, posture and movement do not merely express mental states, they also help shape them. 

Traditional martial arts articulate the idea of becoming physically centred through concepts like the hara centre or dan tian. The Hara centre is the centre of regulation and maintenance of energy. While terms such as the Hara Centre are often treated as mystical, it describes something physically concrete: the body’s centre of mass. This includes all aspects of deep core engagement, diaphragmatic breathing, and integrated posture. These aspects of the physiology can be treated as inputs to the brain, much like external inputs such as visual or auditory stimuli. Just as a loud noise can startle you, good postural stability can act as a causal agent to make you feel grounded. So, when you centre your practice around a strong and grounded posture, this experience becomes directly embedded in a living system of nerves, muscles, bones, connective tissue, hormones, and feedback loops. When you bring awareness to this stability, there is no longer such a fixation on external chaos. On is then more able to face difficult situations more successfully.

Awareness towards The Hara Centre creates a powerful process of self regulation. When the martial artist focuses their attention on the Hara, there is no need for emotional stimulation to become driven. There is nothing wrong with activity which makes you driven and highly emotional stimulated necessarily. However, such states are often brought about by excessive engagement with external stimulus, which can cause burnout, particularly if such activity remains unregulated. This has always been the problem with sustained high motivational states. After a few years of being highly motivated and on the go all the time, people often crash. To avoid this happening, in martial arts they developed various internal systems which rely more on the posture and self regulation instead of constant external stimulation from the external environment. 

Regulating the body is one of the most direct and effective ways to regulate the brain because much of what the brain does is predict, manage, and respond to the body’s condition. When your behaviour consistently promotes stability and regulation, the brain gradually begins to expect these states as normal. In doing so, it adjusts its predictions, responses, and patterns of activity accordingly, reinforcing the very stability that produced them in the first place . In order to heighten one’s sense perception without becoming overly reactive, it is necessary to strategically develop self regulation so that you remain in control of the situation in front of you. 

The principle is simple, tension held consciously within the Hara centre, can effectively be distributed intentionally, so long as your engagement in this remains full. Conscious awareness is not merely attention, concentration, or mindfulness in the popular sense. It is becoming present in full participation with reality without fragmentation. When one is present, they are no longer reactive or partially conscious. Such an individual does not then merely react to outside events without regard for their internal state. In terms of martial arts, this means becoming better able to self regulate rather than just emote. To develop a complete response to danger, it is necessary to become observant and aware, as well as self regulated. 

Through observation and practice, the body itself becomes the medium through which clarity, resilience, and self-regulation arise in response to external stimulus. This response can be a complete one, or a partial one. If your response becomes complete, you are no longer wholly shaped by the external environment. Instead, your perception of the external environment becomes distinct from your internal state. This does not mean you ignore the external environment. It just means you do not identify with it. You stop reacting to fragments as though they were the whole. Your internal state is medium through which to develop a complete experience, whereas the external happenings are just fragments passing through it. A complete response sees the fragment without mistaking it for the whole. When those fragments arise, interact, and pass away, this is transformation. 

The Slow Fire: Training Beyond Fear, Thought, and Survival – Part 2

Posted on Last updated on by joeharman8 | 6 min read | 186 views

From Reaction to Regulation: How the Body Shapes the Mind

“Regulating the body is one of the most direct ways to regulate the brain, because much of what the brain does is to predict, manage, and respond to the body.”

The idea that mental health is separate from physical structure is increasingly difficult to defend. The brain is not an isolated control centre; it is embedded in a living system of nerves, muscles, bones, connective tissue, hormones, and feedback loops. Regulating the body is one of the most direct ways to regulate the brain, because much of what the brain does is to predict, manage, and respond to the body. In terms of martial arts, the work is to focus on the body through certain exercises, so that in the process you also take care of the mind.

Physical training offers a useful analogy—one that is also a direct cause-and-effect process. Bones strengthen through controlled stress and recovery. Muscles grow through breakdown and reorganisation. Movement patterns refine through repetition, error, and adaptation. Mental development follows similar principles. In addition to this, when you feel your body break down and recover, you will feel mentally more robust. I am not talking about breaking down completely, just reforming and replenishing the tissue anew, which is an entirely healthy process. Challenging misconceptions, forming new neural pathways, and reorganising perception require exertion followed by integration. This reforms neural pathways and a certain pruning of old pathways occurs.

Because the body and brain are dynamically interconnected, a substantial portion of brain function is causally dependent on bodily regulation. This includes working with metabolic, physiological, and internal perception processes. So when you work with this processes, you are actually working with both the body and mind through physical activity. This is not about emotionally charging your activity with motivational talk. With a strong intent to perform vigorous activity, you bypass motivation and go straight to energising the body. This is known as Kriya in Yogic circles, or simply working with the energy body. Rather than the body influencing the brain secondarily, the brain’s operating mode is continuously shaped by bodily state.

Without recovery, the system breaks down. Without challenge, it stagnates. Importantly, this process is inseparable from the body’s condition. Posture, breath, movement quality, and tissue health directly affect cognitive and emotional regulation. And when there is a healthy body, the signals which are sent upstream to the brain are also returned downstream to the body, metaphorically speaking. This is a circular relationship. Awareness towards this creates a powerful process of self regulation, and there is no need for emotional stimulation such as in high motivational states, which can cause burnout particularly if unregulated.

“Breaking the mind—understood not as damage, but as restructuring—is as fundamental as breaking down muscle fibres in strength training.”

There is a state called “No Mind” in Zen martial arts. Breaking the mind—understood not as damage, but as restructuring—is as fundamental as breaking down muscle fibres in strength training. It is not that you mindless go around over training and breaking yourself down physically and mentally. It is in this context that “no mind” should be understood.

Martial Arts and the Centre of Gravity

“The Hara Centre are often treated as mystical, it describes something physically concrete: the body’s centre of mass, deep core engagement, diaphragmatic breathing, and integrated posture. These aspects of the physiology can be treated as inputs to the brain, much like external inputs.”

Traditional martial arts articulate this understanding of becoming physically centred through concepts like the hara or dan tian. The Hara is the centre of regulation and maintenance of energy. While terms such as the Hara Centre are often treated as mystical, it describes something physically concrete: the body’s centre of mass, deep core engagement, diaphragmatic breathing, and integrated posture. These aspects of the physiology can be treated as inputs to the brain, much like external inputs. So when you centre your practice around a grounded posture and a developing a strong body, these often out perform purely cognitive interventions for martial arts based around performative technical execution, or even highly motivated and driven behaviour.

When stress or force is received into the Hara Centre, the system tolerates pressure more effectively. In particular, when the breathing is regulated through activity of the diaphragm, this pressure is able to be distributed effectively. For example, when there is a forceful exhale, and an engagement of the core, this signals smooth alignment of the system including the diaphragm and skeletal system into activity. This is why martial arts, yoga, and breath-based meditations emphasise coordinated exhale with movement.

“A strong exhale, particularly with full engagement, acts as a regulatory signal: it couples breathing, core engagement, and intention into a single force.”

Just as lifting a heavy object with the core distributes load and reduces fatigue, grounding stress through posture and breath spreads neural and muscular demand across the whole system. From a scientific perspective, this is training the nervous system at its foundation, not bypassing cognition or goal driven behaviour but stabilising it. A strong exhale, particularly with full engagement, acts as a regulatory signal: it couples breathing, core engagement, and intention into a single force.

As we have seen, it is important to distribute, contain, and circulate the forces of the body effectively. Without this grounding, stress remains concentrated—often in the head and upper body—leading to faster exhaustion, reduced perception, and poorer decision-making. This often makes moving the body a sluggish effort. So the idea is self regulation through movement and activity. Then, you do not need to worry about over learning the technical side of things, or being highly driven and confident about what you are doing. You do all of these things as well, but they become more of a side show.

“Just as a cake needs time in the oven to transform raw ingredients into a stable, palatable form, energy needs to “sit” in the system — contained, regulated, and integrated — to become effective, fluid, and sustainable.”

Martial arts is a whole body affair. In this sense, martial arts training is not merely about technique. Nor is it about developing the kind of cognitive load and mental saturation which is characteristic or overloading the short term memory when revising for an exam. This is what leads to stress, burnout, and a lack of self regulation. For example, during the exam there is a sense of relief and sudden expulsion of thought onto the test paper, but often not much is retained in the long term. Nor is there further inspiration to continue. This is because there is often just an immediate and tense effort. However, just as a cake needs time in the oven to transform raw ingredients into a stable, palatable form, energy needs to “sit” in the system — contained, regulated, and integrated — to become effective, fluid, and sustainable.

Oscillating Force in Martial Arts

Posted on Last updated on by joeharman8 | 4 min read | 102 views

“Energy transfer occurs as an
oscillation of dynamic energy”

If you perform a strike in an oscillating manner, the impact is often as though you were landing on the ground and absorbing the gravitational energy through your body. The only difference is that the impact is being absorbed through the striking limb. This means you can spring off of the opponent as well as stop them in their tracks with impact.


When you use an oscillating force, the energy you send into the opponent does not fully dissipate out of you and into them. It oscillates back and forth which gives you the ability to immediately spring into some other action, much like when you bounce a basketball on the floor and you dart off somewhere. This kind of rebound action is possible with the basketball because you send energy into the ball, which moments later is then reabsorbed by you after it hits the floor. When you correctly judge where it will go, you get into position and wait for it. It’s not that you lose the ball and gather it back again losing you momentum each time.


In martial arts, and elsewhere, a certain transformation of energy takes place from stored energy into movement energy. We call these different manifestations of the same force “oscillatory” energy. In martial arts, you hit the opponent or target and then re-position yourself during that moment when the energy is transferred into the target briefly. This frees you up for a moment to seamlessly transition into the next phase of action without having a large amount of stored energy to shift. This happens all at once without having to having to gather and reestablish yourself at each step, if it is done properly.


“A punch or kick is simply an inductor
which initiates the potential energy”.

In basketball, there is a moment when the energy transfers into the ball and away from you physically. This means it turns from stored energy to movement or dynamic energy. Nothing is lost in this process. The energy is conserved and remains constant throughout the oscillation back and forth. For example, in martial arts you hit the target, and this same energy from the impact is then released back into your own system when you pull it back. This involves a certain perception which is felt during the impact of a strike and which continues after.When the martial artists feels and anticipates this felt recoil after the initial impact, they align themselves physically to take full advantage of this energy before it dissipates.


When you launch a kick, it is not that you just passively shape the foot to brace for impact. You should find that your foot or fist shapes itself spontaneously to the angle it lands on the target, just as it would if you were to jump over a fence and land on an uneven surface. Your ankle might have to adapt spontaneously to land on terrain that could either be softer or more uneven than expected, for instance. This would be automatic if you were alert and ready, and would minimise injury.


You wouldn’t want to land on just the ball of your foot if you were to absorb heavy impact, because the ankle would likely get sprained. You would want to transmit this force through the entire system and align the body accordingly. Here you are not looking to unload energy into the ground. If you are preparing for an almighty crashing impact, it is best to use the entire surface area of the foot properly and absorb gravitational energy in such a way that it does not damage the ankle. This is just one example.


In martial arts, you are not looking to strike the surface with a part of the foot or hand and just unload energy there. Only in a very rudimentary sense are you doing this.


The strike you are doing, whether this is a punch or kick, is simply an inductor which initiates the potential energy. When it comes to striking a target, you are simply shaping the striking limb so that the energy is transferred effectively throughout the entire system as a whole. This energy transfer occurs as an oscillation of dynamic energy.

Liberating the Genetics: From Determinism to Determination [Part 2]

Posted on by joeharman8 | 15 min read | 104 views

Part 2 follows on directly from part 1. Here, we look at how the influence of the karmic structure and the genetic body influences our behaviour. We will look at ways which have been used in martial arts traditions to use this powerhouse of energy in a conscious and productive way. By using the energy body in certain ways it is possible to make the energies more malleable rather than concretised, which we will look at now.

Contraction and Extension

From the tightly compact seed, the truth unfolds into an infinite possibility of expansion.

Part 2 follows on directly from part 1. Here, we look at how the influence of the karmic structure and the genetic body influence our behaviour. We will look at ways which have been used in martial arts traditions to use this powerhouse of energy in a conscious and productive way. By using the energy body in certain ways it is possible to make the energies more malleable rather than concretised, which we will look at now.

The reason for various back breaking martial exercises was to put the body under such pressure that the bodies energies would recede inwards and concentrate itself more tightly. This had the benefit of increasing fitness, and harnessing will power and discipline into focused activity. At the same time, when the energies have been compressed and made more focused, it is possible to spread the energies in a more organised way. This may seem counter intuitive, but condensing and concentrating this force of energy increases its possibility for expansion. In this way it is said to be possible to wear out ones karma by contracting the internal mixture, and then extending it like baking bread. The bread transforms the mixture into something else. This is one way of looking at it. This is also known as internal alchemy.

So these martial exercises were a preparatory stage for influencing ones own genetic material, or the energy body. By concentrating this dispersed energy, the physical body becomes more malleable and more open to transformation from within. Otherwise, the energies remain reactive to the external environment predominantly and you never know the potency of their potential. At the same time, when you have shrunk the genetic influence over the body and reduced it down, you leave space for increased wave forms of energy, which bring about a sense of ease and pleasantness rather than agitation and reactivity. When you have reduced it down, particularly within the area of the Hara Centre, it becomes warmed up and more able to extend itself further rather than contracting the energy body. When it goes out again it disperses more widely and as a less dense layer, until it dissolves altogether. This is known as dissolution of Karma.

When the energy becomes concentrated in the Hara Centre, the seat off the self, it is experienced in a more intense way which is more focused and powerful. This awakens a powerful wave of upwards ascending energy known in Yoga as the Kundalini force, or Linga Sharira. In Chinese systems, the awakening of this energy is known as grand circulation, amongst other names. It is essentially the full fledged functioning of the energy body, which creates a fire in the belly, which is partly responsible for both activity and dissolution of Karma. By becoming a wave form of energy, like water, it no longer sticks so stubbornly to the body and mixes with the wider existence. At the same time it becomes part of your own existence. I realise this sound like nonsense, but I am attempting to make this mumbo jumbo into some sort of logical explanation to the best of my ability, so bare with me.

It is only because of fundamental misunderstandings of the energy body, that people have gone about handling it in limited ways. Because of the power of the kundalini force, traditionally certain behaviours and codes of conduct have been instituted in those trained in its ways. For example, it has been linked with increased sexuality or instinctive behaviours, but only in situations where the energy dissipates at the level of the Muladhara, or root chakra1. For this reason, disciples were put to back breaking work or held in protective atmospheres in temples, so that they could fully explore the spiritual significance of this rising energy without inflating its influence over other areas of life.

When you want to move to the ultimate possibility, without developing the right internal circumstances and scope for development, then you are missing a vital first step. This first step is including the necessary cultivation so that this blossoming happens naturally, rather than by force. This is why certain qualities and virtues were always instilled in disciples of martial arts. This is particularly the case when doing something like raising the energies a higher level of functioning, or dissolving ones karmic influence. Otherwise, it is possible to diminish ones karma to the extent that there is no stable root, or make the energies lopsided in the body.

The whole point of martial arts is to develop the relationship between our internal and external environment. This is symbolised by Yin and Yang. In martial arts tradition, this has always meant developing the qualities of self discipline and work ethic, in order to cultivate an attitude of perseverance and self transformation. If this determination to develop is cultivated, then the genetic component of an individual is brought to its highest possibility. From the tightly compact seed, the truth unfolds into an infinite possibility of expansion. This is the essence of life. For instance, the sperm cells are amongst the most potent and tightly packed cells, which means they have the capability to create a body, along with the egg. This is one example.

Everything must be done according to ones capability and understanding. And above all, everything can be used intelligently rather than excluded due to judgemental prejudice. This is why it is foolish to try to destroy something like ones karmic structure or instinctive nature, without putting it effective use. If in the process of self realisation it leaves you, then this is good. At the same time a certain necessary amount is needed to function properly. This is the reason for harsh austerities which masters impose on themselves, which seem illogical. They create for themselves a resistance, a karmic load to carry, which gives them a strong root. At the same time they don’t get entangled it the process, and routinely work through their karma, which becomes a conscious choice for them. This choice can de dedication to certain exercises, a certain diet, or just about anything which they deem appropriate. There is no right or wrong here, it is just that there are different life goals and orientations.

It is not usually advisable to attempt to handle powerful internal energy situations head on initially. It certainly cannot be mastered by force. Since childhood the genetic influence has been campaigning about how you have be be dictated too by them, and how they own you. Fighting them only makes you more identified with them. The best way is to leave them to their nonsense until you experience something more than they are. Then you will never take them seriously. This is why the Master would make sure the the disciple was serious before moving to serious forms of practice. It was not uncommon for the disciple to have to move in with the master of the temple, or to dedicate their entire life to a system of martial arts practices. Today, these practices would not fit with the social norms of society. However, the practices are still alive.

It is ridiculous to talk about liberating the mind from misconceptions, when a large percentage of social media content relies on misconceiving reality as some superficial appearance. It is for this reason that the authentic practices have been left out of mainstream thought, but at the same time they are to be found in certain hidden places in full view.

The Masters of today will encourage the disciple with rudimentary seminar classes, before inviting them in for more advanced programs. Before they know it, they have moved from a weekly course, to a weekend seminar abroad in the middle of Thailand, for instance. This is done according the the discipline which slowly builds in the disciple. It is rarely the case anymore that people jump right in from the start.

The origins of genetic determinism

The idea about genetics defining a person comes from the need to keep practices within certain clans. It has little to do with what nature has endowed people with genetically, because this itself is largely unexplored. Nature has certainly not made genetic influence the defining factor in most people, because it is in and of itself not capable of doing so. At the same time, it is open to any possible influence. This is because the genetic body is intermingled with the karmic substance, as well as the physical and mental bodies. This is according to traditional thought. So what you are looking at is a complex amalgam, which can be a different mixture depending on the person.

It is like, if you plant a seed into the soil. The plant itself will grow according to the soil in a certain minimal way. Whether the soil is good or bad will determine much. Along with that, much of its growth depends on the sunlight, and other environmental factors, which taken together are responsible for the majority of the plants growth. If it grows to full potential it will look a certain way, but this appearance is not why it grew to its full potential. In fact, it may look the same way if it is healthy or unhealthy. It is just the longevity and the susceptibility to certain influences may be different as a result of its growth. this becomes apparent as time goes on.

So the environment can influence the genetic body, or energy body, to the extent that it becomes intertwined with the physical body. This creates a powerful link between physical practices and disciplined lifestyle. In fact, it is not even true that you have an energy body separate from the physical body, or even a brain separate from the body. It is this energy, which is largely to do with environmental influences which is responsible for the organisms development and cultivation, as well as the expression of so called genetically determined factors. It is through pride that people have labelled themselves genetically superior, or other inferior, which has led to racism and ideas of genetic determinism.

The idea that genetics determines a persons future is flawed for several reasons. First of all, genes are said to be almost the same in everyone. That means that the genes of your grandparents, as well as relatives from thousands of years ago, are probably the same as you. Even in a chimpanzee, they are 98 percent the same. Yet, we still see a lot of variation in people. This is because the same soil is responsible for the cultivation of an infinite variety of life. This is what makes a forest the way it is, full of variation and organised chaos, where everything has its place.

Over the course of thousands of years, human experience has changed dramatically. Human experience has also changed dramatically in the last 20 or so years, with the massive development of technology. It has changed to the extend that modes of living from a few decades ago are now almost totally redundant. So factors such as these determine the transformation of our experience more than genes do. But at the same time they alter the expression of our genes. This is why it becomes complicated, and also this explains why the old ways can so quickly become redundant. At the same time this explains why timeless traditions can also remain relevant.

Various other factors aside from genes have played a vital role in determining the course of our development. You could say that genes provide the constant platform for infinite possibility. From this platform you would not make a roof or a window, for instance. So the platform is the fundamental constant. The rest you can play with any way you want. This infinite possibility is inside of our genetic code, rather than outside of us. At the same time we become intimately linked with our external experience, which we ourselves can gain increasing mastery over. So I am not down playing genetic influence, I am merely trying to demonstrate that its potency has been assumed to be something less than it is by making out that is defines the outcome of our experience. It is much more than that.

Learning from our environment

So genetic disposition is predominantly to do with the social norms and habits which themselves breed a certain kind of genetic energy within groups. These live beyond individual lives, so for this reason they are passed down from generation to generation. Nobody wants you to be liberated from this. It is an individual thing, which can none the less be done in a community. It is the tribal mentality of separatism which inflates the differences between peoples, as well as the genetically determined aspects of sticking with the tribe and loyalty towards certain causes.

Take the planet, for instance. It is the planets warmth and electromagnetic force which sustains life on the planet. This is what sustains its development, and this energy is what is passed onto life on this planet. It is not owned by the sun. In the same way, the habits and practices of people far outlive the physical body itself, but they are a consequence of the planet. These practices and the body itself are connected to each other, but it is the coherence between life and disciplined practice which determined the inevitability of genetic disposition. The other choice is to become liberated from this, by following the dictates of a more casual influence, which has to do with the greater existence.

Practices you can do

“The abdominal wall sends waves through the system which travel further than the abdomen, ensuring that the energy transforms appropriately rather than creating high pressure everywhere.”

This environmental energy can be an enormous factor in an individuals growth. This is why certain traditions have kept secret practices within their own ranks, because they either thought they created them, or they thought it was too dangerous to include people who weren’t receptive to the environments they created. These environments became entire cultures, such as in the Himalayas and India for example. These practices provide the driving engine for developing the necessary fire of the body, whilst at the same time offering a water element for its cooling.

The brain works best when it is cool and at low pressure. This is why nasal breathing has been recommend in order to send cool oxygen straight to the brain directly, rather than through the bloodstream. Try this exercise. Find a quiet place to sit, and simple breath through the nose in an upright cross legged position. Feel the nasal passage expands you touch the roof of you mouth with the tip of the tongue. If you sustain this position for around ten minutes or more, a sense of ease and energy will generate in the nasal area and enhance your sense perception, leading to increased well being.

The body’s physical centre, the Hara Centre or the abdomen can withstand more pressure and heat without overheating. In fact, the intestines have enough potential force to crack a Brazil nut. So when you create this pressure through abdominal breathing exercises, as well as other martial arts exercises, you create an area of relatively high pressure to the brain. In this way, it was understood that certain physical practices to develop the Hara Centre would naturally and sustainably cultivate the area of low pressure, which is the brain. This is based on the law that areas of high pressure naturally flow to areas of low pressure in waves. For example, the abdominal wall sends waves through the system which travel further than the abdomen, ensuring that the energy transforms appropriately rather than creating high pressure everywhere. Basically, this encourages bioelectrical energy, or neurological energy, to travel throughout the system at sustainable rates.

Try this exercise, which can be done at the same time as the nasal breathing above. As you sink down into the cross legged posture, into the sitting bones, utter or imagine the “ahh” syllable2. At the same time extend upwards, lifting the upper spine and stretching the lower spine. You can repeat this at least six or so times, or even for as long as desired.

So this is why the brain is always kept cool by certain modes of conduct and meditative exercises. If the brain becomes the driving force, then you are going increasingly by theory rather than experience. Keep the brain cool therefore, and the body (particularly the abdomen) warm, balancing out the Fire and Water elements. This is the idea behind the practices of abdominal and nasal breathing, taken together.

The brain is likely to become a source of entanglement in the aspiring martial artists, because it excessively complicates what the body understands genetically or in the energy sense naturally. It is this unwillingness to work with the body and go through the necessary disciplined practice which is scaling down the overall understanding in the energetic sense of the body. This comes at a huge price for the aspiring martial artists. In this way martial arts has become increasingly theoretical, because of hyper development of cognitive activity, and lack of involvement and aliveness of the physical and energetic expression.

References

1 Sexuality and Martial Arts https://intuitivemartialarts.com/2023/05/01/sexuality-and-martial-arts/

2 Sound and Form [Part 1] https://intuitivemartialarts.com/2023/12/20/sound-and-form-part-1/

Creating harmony within: Avoiding discord between yourself and the outside

Posted on by joeharman8 | 17 min read | 94 views

“Deal with your own situation and all its concerns, which at the same time encompasses anything from the outside which influences it”

Sometimes, when you enter a room there is a hostility in the air. For example, say you walk into a bar, you might get looked at funny. This might be because the person looking at you funny has become territorial and starts glaring at you. On the other hand, someone in a martial arts Dojo, which has within it a certain etiquette, might not even get noticed by anyone if they walk in there. So these two situations and the environments are highly charged. The atmosphere however, is completely different. The people in the martial arts Dojo will be too busy training and occupied with their own work to even notice. This is the sign of a proper martial arts centre. This tradition has today been lost in many cases.

In many martial arts centres, people might think it’s their duty to notice outsiders and make a certain impression on them. This is a marketing and promotional strategy. This can be good or bad. However, basically the way of dealing with problems is to become too busy with your own situation to deal with them. In this way, you deal with your own situation and all its concerns, which at the same time encompasses anything from the outside which influences it. In other words, the internal situation and all of the challenges eventually merge with the outside situation too. This is called creating harmony between Yin and Yang. This is one way.

Emotion or Intelligence?

“You first become emotionally attached to some form of practice, or view it intellectually. This is a way in, a starting point. Naturally, as you organise yourself around this goal, your internal structure also becomes more integrated and organised, so that the very need for rigid routines goes down.

The other way is to become so into the practice on an emotional or intellectual level, that you surpass the limitations of both of these dimensions of experience. So you first become emotionally attached to some form of practice, or view it intellectually. This is a way in, a starting point. Naturally, as you organise yourself around this goal, your internal structure also becomes more integrated and organised, so that the very need for rigid routines goes down. You are then able to stick with the practices, but if the life situation gets in the way, you remain flexible to that. This is the beginning of various ritualistic and sacred forms of practice. These then get handed down through generations of people, which have practiced and benefitted from them. They need not still practice these as individuals, they may have surpassed the need to do so. These forms of practice must be modified according to the times, but the principle form of energy orientation remains the same fundamentally.

So the external forms of practice aim to raise your energetic experience to a new level. This is the aim of the physical martial arts, such as competitive sparring and belt graded pressure tests. The idea is to overwhelm you to the point that you disintegrate. And yet, you are so much more. If you simply do the practices for social prestige, it’s not the same at all. When you do them to enhance your experience of who you are and what you are capable of, then your whole experience becomes broader and more powerful, whether you benefit materially or not.

This is how martial arts can be used as a way to overcome certain limitations. What you believed to be anxiety surrounding an event was your means of salvation and overcoming. It is like if you fall in love. Your whole sense of who you are drops away. And then, if it succeeds, your anxiety about impressing that individual or not living up to their expectations, fades into the background as you merge with them. In term of martial arts, this entails initially being involved with the external aspects of training, but then shifting to something more when the time comes.

The anxiety around training is natural at the beginning, but when you have raised the roof, this becomes a smaller aspect off the overall experience. It is a necessary part, but becomes less and less of an emphasis. At the same time, the sense of achievement, which was a small spec to begin with, becomes more and more. It is not that you chose this achievement to happen, any more than you chose to fall in love with somebody. But carefully the Master has put you on this track. Or maybe it within you all along. There is no way around it if this is handled correctly, because it lies at the heart of human experience. It is the law and the path is set.

Once you have raised the bar of your experience, naturally you are then left with only dedication and discipline to surpass yourself. The energy has been used up and a certain sense of clarity and orientation towards more remains. That is, once you have overcome whatever trial you have been faced with. In both instances, mediation or physical training, you eventually surpass yourself. It is just like how the mother surpasses who she was before she had children. In terms of martial arts, one way involves blasting off the breaks, and another way involves maintaining a steady speed to get there. Physical training often involves pushing oneself to the utmost. Mediation is a steadier ride. The key is to consciously deal with the pressures of each situation. Do not think that mediation is easy. There are unexpected twists and turns that you must consciously handle, just as against a physical competitor. Against an external situation, this may be physically more demanding, but both require full conscious commitment to transform the situation.

Become Air Bourne and Grounded

Whichever the path, the inner or outer, there is the same level of testosterone and other bio chemical processes happening, but these processes are happening in a completely different way. Let’s look at why this is. Do not think that a hulking athlete has more testosterone than the meditator. The expectant Mother has as much chemically going on within her as any other woman. In the same way, you could say that the mediator is developing a child within themselves by nourishing their energy body. Indeed there are many mediative practices which speak of these things. The energies are just being used in different ways. One person is sustaining the energy body, and one is sustaining or developing the emotions and physical functioning. So what the mediator is looking to shed, the physical athlete is looking to build.

When a mediator sits and observes himself with enough light on the matter, he eventually disintegrates the particles and energy forms which the physical martial artist is using to integrate within himself for physical strength. Just as the child within the womb uses up energy, so does the spiritual body. This is both life sustaining, in the sense that you identify with this role, or life taking, in the sense that you feel it is too demanding.

Studies have recently shown that light, or electromagnetism, can destroy carbon particles with sustained energy being focused on it. In the same way, when the human system is allowed to function at a sustained level of focus, the energy body, which is associated with the nervous system, can produce enough energy to burn away other hard to get rid of particles. This has been named the body of light in certain practices. The aim is to disintegrate hard to remove stains. These so called “forever particles” which are so called because they are tough to get rid of, include many forms of disease which we today consider irreversible. This is why certain internal practices of martial arts have been called forms of energy medicine, because they are a form of medicine which is non chemical and are often used as preventative measures.

So energy medicine is working at the level of the nervous system predominantly, where as the other is working at the level of the chemical processes. But the two are not mutually exclusive. Say you were to practice certain hard styles of martial arts. This would raise the energies of the body, which over time would cause of build up of waste product within the system. This waste product accumulates over time and leads to various injuries and disorders which tend to develop later in life with many athletes. This has happened to many athletes. So the same thing which once kept you functioning optimally has now become a hindrance without the right corrective practices. This is where mediative and internal martial arts practices come in.

It is like if a rocket takes off and discards its launcher. The launcher has been used up and sends off the rocket into space. The rocket is now out of sight and has discarded its shell. The shell was what got it where it needs to go, and was useful to this end. Now, the launcher appears to be going backwards, but really it still hurtling forwards. It will eventually catch up with the rocket if the rocket stops. It is just that the forward momentum of the rocket is so greater by comparison. This gives the illusion that it is the only one moving out of the two. No, both are moving as they need to. In the same way, when you mediate, it is possible to soar off somewhere away from you mind and emotions to a large extent. They are still there but you, the rocket, is not. This is how mediation creates a space, which can be enhanced, between you and you emotional and mental experience.

The emotions and mind are still there. They will catch up with you again, because they have not disappeared entirely. The rocket eventually reaches a point where is can go no further, and you come back down to Earth. So a certain amount of activity is needed to build the integrity of the system, so that it can sustain and power itself for greater possibilities. It is not a question of which is better, physical or spiritual practice? This is why I say the human system is like a multi stage rocket, which launches and breaks away from itself. This is why physical martial arts as well as the mediative side have always gone hand in hand. This is a journey which happens over and over within oneself. So this is why the martial artist must remain grounded as well as airborne.

The Art of Martial Art

“It is not a question of destroying your enemies, but of transforming yourself to make use of your enemies and therefore greater use of yourself.”

Martial Arts means war turned into an art. This does not mean some frivolous or egotistical art of self indulgence. The art of war means to turn the process of destruction and creative energy inwards rather than outwards. The best way you can do this is to transform an enemy into a friend. In doing so you transform yourself. As I was saying before, if someone “falls in love” with you, they are no longer there as an enemy as they have been transformed and so have you. This is a beautiful thing, it is only ugly when misconceived.

So energy itself is the same fundamentally, wether or not it is used to create or destroy. The question is, do you want to hunt an animal for days, or do you want to run after it with everything you’ve got in one sprint? Both work perfectly well. According to your own tendencies and development, this will alter the path you take. Either way can be used to unshackle yourself. The key is to hold the utmost respect for the process of your own development and unfoldment. It is not a question of destroying your enemies, but of transforming yourself to make use of your enemies and therefore greater use of yourself. There are 7 Billion candidates for this role!

“Martial Arts has traditionally opted for creating harmony within rather than discord amongst yourself and your enemies.”

Respect for this body of energy, yourself, and a competence to use it properly is the only important factor in martial arts. When you maximise this potential, you are on the path of authentic martial arts. You might go to a trainer in this system or that, but these are encyclopaedias of knowledge. This is very useful, because such people can point you in the right direction. However, the knowledge itself is out there for any one to see in modern day. What is missing is the discipline and self knowledge. The problem is that todays knowledge is presented in such a frivolous way online, that you are almost encouraged to access it so casually that no sense of discernment or commitment is required. What you need as well is self knowledge and discipline.

What is this self discipline and self knowledge? When you encounter an enemy, you can either externalise them or internalise them. Poorly internalising a problem leads to depression or anxiety in many ways. Excessive outer expression of energy can do the same thing, or creates other problems, such as compulsions towards someone or something for your gratification. As I said before, it is about transforming this need so that none of it remains. Simply moving from one stage to another is not enough. What was once a self defeating thought finds expression in some sort of repetitive activity which needs to be sustained for self validation. This is not the most intelligent way to handle the situation.

Competition or Cooperation?

The best way to handle the external situation is to respect foster a sense of dedication and responsibility. This makes you more fluid and flexible to changing demands, whilst fundamentally strong. This is so everyone can benefit and you are also included and fully involved. For this reason, any duels or contest between two people traditionally put respect for each other and dedication towards each other as training partners as the first priority. This means that whatever war is going on, no one exploits the rules or makes advantage of some loop hole which fundamentally undermines the process of self transcendence. If you are not working for harmony, then there is duality and discord.

It is like if you marry someone, you respect them and dedicate yourself, which leads to a happy marriage. Then, what’s the problem if you argue? Anything is a means for harmony if the principle binding you together is strong. The dedication is there that you won’t run off. If you just use that person as an object, and take them for granted, then resentment grows and you fail to see them for who they are except a superficial image or an expectation. This happens all the time mainly because you begin to see others in terms of what they can do for you.

So in many ways, fights break out due to a lack of respect towards the Opponent, or the environment. Say you walk into a seedy bar, with people in there who are acting purely unconsciously, intoxicated with alcohol or other substances. This is not an environment which fosters respect or trust between people necessarily. At the same time, the sense of “us against them” is high. So now you’ve walked in, you have a problem. If you walk in and understand this clearly, you can walk in and out by not creating much friction, or even leaving immediately without hesitation, as if passing through. Instead of thinking “I have the right to be here, what’s the problem?” You clearly see the situation for what it is. Most of the time, you can anticipate this sort of thing easily with the right clarity if you practice in daily life. If you have to act you have to act, that’s all.

Seeing the situation for what it is, rather than what you think it is, is important obviously. In most cases, people flock around overly stimulating places because they are bored and in search of excitement. Otherwise, there is no need. If they had occupied themselves before hand proactively, the attraction towards these situations goes down dramatically. This is true in many other instances. So whilst it is not possible to eliminate all dangers, it is possible to eliminate the need for seeking out such risky situations by handing your own situation properly and avoiding certain environments.

The enemy within

How often does it happen that we think an enemy has triggered a certain reaction in us, when actually this happens just as severely in the absence of that enemy? Of course the enemy may trigger something within us, but at the same time, this would happen anyway if we have not attuned ourselves and handled our life properly in a disciplined and effective way. Martial Arts has always said “The only enemy is within”. It is this enemy which we are trying to transform into a friend in terms of mediation. It is there before a particular person exists, because these pressures are inherent in existence before any particular form takes shape.

If you take an aggressive and hostile person and put them into an intensive activity where the process of work is more important than an outcome, this will transform that person. For instance, this happens in the army as well as in sports. So you have somebody who could be a big problem, becoming a big success. A change of circumstance has delivered them from there problems without fundamentally changing who they are. Any particular outcomes of this takes care of itself according to the dedication and focus on the task.

In todays world, many of the algorithms and ways of presenting oneself, particularly online, are geared towards attention grabbing. For instance, you might see a martial artists posting videos online. A lot of the time, there will be a focus on their muscles and body image. This is entirely different to viewing such a person under the pressures of working and seeing them respond to life’s struggles in a dignified way, for example, as you might see them in a martial arts contest or in the army doing drills. It’s not the the army or martial arts centre is better, it’s just that it can be a more productive way of managing ones time and energy. On the other hand, forms of practice which glorify certain egotistical personas, tend to distort ones energies over time even though it appears as though they are very successful and attractive.

Focus on the Work, Not the outcome

“Ones scope for development and self transformation occurs in direct proportion to the expansion they allow for it.”

So these were always the fundamental unbreakable laws of martial arts, to focus and strive for improvement. Whether or not martial arts worked in any practical sense was meaningless in this context, because not only does work and dedication cause results and progress, but assumptions tend to screw things up. For example, if you assume that you will be able to beat an opponent easily with a small amount of training, then this itself is an impediment to learning and progress. On the other hand, if you have clarity and strive towards whatever you know best, preconceptions come down drastically. You get to the point of attaining what you never thought possible, rather than what you thought about on day one. In other words, ones scope for development and self transformation occurs in direct proportion to the expansion they allow for it.

Of course, it is perfectly normal to go around making enemies of people. People do this all the time. But it is certainly not an optimal way to function in most situations today. There are more and more people populating the Earth, so a certain acceptance of this and methods of handling things more diplomatically are needed. This is why Martial Arts has traditionally opted for creating harmony within rather than discord amongst yourself and your enemies.

Hara Centre: Centre of Creation

Posted on Last updated on by joeharman8 | 16 min read | 109 views

“The earths atmosphere, which is electromagnetic, would not be possible without the earths core being the way it is. The Earths core is hot and high pressure, like our own physical centre. The surround electromagnetic atmosphere of the Earth can be likened to the nervous system. So the core directly affects the nervous system, and the nervous system is not possible without the core. So you can transform you energy and situation by working with this core in ways that are not possible otherwise. “

When you perform an action from the core, it radiates outwardly to the periphery. This is the case for any martial arts movement. In fact, it takes a lot more competence to do this than to perform the move superficially. So the idea is to move the core, the abdomen, and then extend out from there. It does not happen the other way around, that you start with the limb first, and hope that this creates a whole body motion.

It is like how the Earths rotation begins at the core, and this moves the mantle and the plates. The plates and the surface do not move the core. In the same way, the chemical receptors on a plants do not make its roots grow. If pesticide is used too much, then this just impedes the plants overall development of certain internal processes which produce these things naturally. The same thing goes on in the human body. In terms of movements, the internal signals which are related to the core, function much better if the core is the initiator of the movements. This helps you memorise and imbed certain movements more deeply. Even on a superficial level, it is better to perform core movements because the core leads all basic movements. In this way the only things that changes is the particular limb you are using when driving from the seat of the abdominal core. So your kicking and punching becomes very similar.

Knowing the Unknown

When you do a punch, it is only a punch from the core if it starts at the core. This is why in martial arts they say “Hit from the core”. This core is the abdomen or Hara Centre as it is known. “Ha” means Sun in Chinese. According to the Indian Sutras, “Ha” means the same thing too, and “Ra” refers to a radiant sun, the centre of the Universe. So together, “Ha-ra” can be taken to mean the earths centre, or the universal centre. It is from the centre that the rest of creation happens. You can only illuminate the vastness of the unknown from the high pressure centre which eventually creates light. In the Solar System, energy starts as non visible. This energy only becomes visible light after some time when it extends out from the Sun and certain particles react at a certain distance from the source as the pressure drops. This is the case with Martial Arts.

The Hara Centre, the physical centre of the body, is the only energy centre which can transmit itself anywhere in the body directly. It manifests differently depending on the action. In terms of technique, it can go to the arms, legs, or elsewhere physically. This is why it is universal in nature. In others words, it is not just located in the abdomen, the energy can be transported anywhere. The lower abdomen is the source. For example, if you drive a nail into a block of wood, you do so from the core, just as you do with say, a golf swing. This applies to everything. It starts one place and ends up somewhere else. All these things are driven from the core. It is impossible to start from the end, because this isn’t yet in your experience. This is why in the traditional arts they never rushed learning, nor were they given to over analysis.

It is just because you don’t know how to do a movement before you have learnt it that we say “drive from the core”. You cannot do a complex kick before you have learnt to do this. So you practice something you don’t know by doing something you do already know. This is why I always say “drive from the core” first. Personally I don’t bother with explaining all the details of a particular move because this becomes obvious over time with the right fundamental platform. This platform is a strong core. It is not necessarily an athletic strength, but the right energy and maneuverability. 

So develop the Hara Centre first. It is only possible from there to know the unknown. It is only when this unknown comes into your direct experience that you learn the mysteries of martial arts. The core functions much better in children. this is why they learn everything naturally. The adult core usually becomes lazy from excessive sitting and poor lifestyle habits which we develop in society. The point is that we can switch on this source to learn anything like a child does, even as an adult. So this core is like the little white dot in the Dark space of the Yin Yang symbol. This is called mastering technique, so that it manifests properly.

Drugs and Chemicals

The expression Energy takes can vary dramatically depending on a number of factors. But when it originates in the Hara Centre and finds expressions elsewhere, then there is some discretion and volition as to where it ends up. Otherwise, if it starts elsewhere, it is often an unconscious act, or simply accidental. Conscious acts are always intentional and consciousness is always a choice. Let’s say that the energy is taken in from external sources, such as some sort of chemical supplement. Such chemicals tend to inebriate the system so that it acts purely from a chemicals basis, or dampens other energy sources in the body. This is the problem with drugs and chemical supplements1.

So chemical energy is itself a manifestation of pressure and heat. These are naturally occurring when things begin in the gut. For instance, many chemicals can be created internally which people are now ingesting more and more because their system has gone taken a kind of backwards step. This takes a bit more time and particularly a mediative digestion, so that the body can rest and regenerate properly2. But people are “Go, go, go” all the time. It is for this reason that Excessive physical training can happen at the surface level, because the chemicals are just being replaced by supplements. It is like with plants. The soil quality is going down, so fertiliser and chemical sprays are needed just to get some fruit and ward off disease. None of this is necessary until you exceed the natural capabilities of the earth. The Hara Centre is like the Earth.

So chemicals come in, then they will run their course over a certain period of time and then dissipate at some level. Often, these chemicals are being abused, so the natural production goes down and a kind of external dependance happens. Of course, the biggest intoxication from outside occurs when greed and corruption take over in the mind. It is for this reason that in the traditional arts, they urged against competition and prestige. Competition is fine once you have develop the necessary mental fortitude. In my experience, there are so many life lessons which I have absorbed that it almost derailed me completely. So if I didn’t have the necessary inner tools of development, I would have been broken by certain experiences. This is why I stress “Meditation, meditation, meditation”, or some kind of meditative dimension and development of this. 

Overcoming Self Deception

The biggest deception if from the intoxication of conquest. The lust for conquest brings about the same disorders as actual chemical abuse in many cases. This is a false high. This is referred to as Maya in the Indian systems, or simply self deception. This is because when you overcome the need for these things, it is as if they never happened and the events become meaningless. This is not so with any reality which is learnt from the core of truth, which is the Hara Centre. There is nothing wrong with chemical supplements, they can be taken if needed. But the very same things can be created internally, setting in process and lasting mechanism. The results are often the same but more sustainable. But what a difference it makes if you can produce these things internally.

Inter Transformation

We have looked at how the Hara Centre can transmit itself anywhere in the body. With the other centres of the body, such as the chest or head, these act as relay points, so the energy takes a more roundabout route. There are exceptions to this, such as Martial Arts masters whose physical body’s have failed them but they have developed the proper energy channels. These are exceptions however. With the Hara Centre, it can reach anywhere. It is like how you can create a heater with the use of electricity, there are transformers involved in that kind of technical process to convert energy. If you want to create heat, movements is needed for example. Movements is a kind of transformer in the human body. There is all sorts of mind work that goes into it, such as knowledge and motivation to move. This is why in many ways, reality begins in the mind. Importantly, the mind is linked to the gut, not just the brain.

The earth itself transforms heat into water, and then water into steam. All of these processes are only possible because of the earths core dynamo, which is molten iron largely. This is like the Hara Centre. The earths atmosphere, which is electromagnetic, would not be possible without the earths core being the way it is. The Earths core is hot and high pressure, like our own physical centre. The surround electromagnetic atmosphere of the Earth can be likened to the nervous system. So the core directly affects the nervous system, and the nervous system is not possible without the core. So you can transform you energy and situation by working with this core in ways that are not possible otherwise. 

Let’s look at technique. If the punch begins at the shoulder, then you are not punching from the core. You can still do it, but a lot of additional steps are taken, often unconsciously. So the idea behind “using the core” or the abdomen, comes from this idea that from this centre of mass everything spreads outwardly. There is an inner intelligence that grasps this intuitively. So if you get this, then you are 90% of the way there. Why 90%? because the microorganisms of the body account for 90% of the body’s make up. And these guys are largely in the core and work according to the gut primarily. From the core, the rest radiates outwardly. In terms of cognition and learning, if the brain and nervous system attempt to perform a particular movement without the cores involvement, the results are limited. This can produce many problems, such as over use injury and a whole host of physical ailments, particularly later on in life.

From Gross to subtle 

If you point a finger, this can be performed from the core, or you can simply wave the arm out and point the finger. If the action is led from the core, then the finger pointing is just the final expression at the end of the movement. In other words, it is the end phase of a core movement. You might say, that everyone can point a finger, what’s so special about that? However, anyone who doesn’t pay attention and concern towards these things on the path of martial arts is setting themselves up for problems. This is why in the traditional systems, the master would look at how you conducted yourself in every aspect. So to take care of the large, you can pay attention to the small things, which is required if you wish to transform these initial steps into greater possibilities. The idea that you can do something carelessly but repeatedly and yield good results is completely wrong. You go from basic to complex, from gross to subtle expertise. 

So one initial movement sets up the possibilities for the next. It is the same with a punch. You rotate the core into the punch and there is a lot more power and transmission of energy as a result. This is because it began from the centre of mass and transformed into a punch as part of a complex process. It’s not like you get each phase technically correct separately and then it works. No, instead you have to transform one phase into another. It is like the pressure of the earth gradually dissipates as you move away from the core. This creates the complex physical reality around us. Due to this pressure release, other forms of energy, such as gravitational energy and electromagnetic energy, gradually express themselves. These act upon the physical word we experience. This is a complex process, but it is an intuitive one. Gravity can then act upon larger masses, whereas it is weaker the closer you get to the centre. This is because other more powerful forces of Chi energy, or radiation in Scientific terms are happening closer to the centre. This is also known as dark matter1. 

So in the human being, when you perform a punch, it is only possible because of a release of energy which gradually takes another form. This is how you create something from nothing. This nothing actually contains the whole possibility, it just that this has not been Brough to bare in your experience yet. But it will the more you work with it. This is why there are no set traditions other than oral transmission in most traditional systems. You have to work for it internally.

Self Creation

If you just swing the arm at the opponent, then there is an entirely different effect even if it looks the same as a punch from the core. This is why there is so much emphasis on breathing from the core, digesting properly from the core, and moving from there in the traditional systems of martial arts. The diamonds are produced there. In the Earths core, Molten Iron erupts out of the surface from the core. It is only when the atmosphere changes that we see the diamond formation of this same heat energy, which has now solidified. These diamond are what we create in martial arts, expressions of high pressure which have materialised. The Earth doesn’t think about it, it is an energy intelligence. These diamonds can absorb electromagnetic waves from the earths atmosphere. So the Earth itself generates an electromagnetic fields which sustains the outer surface. The same thing happens in us, and this is entirely intuitive when you develop the right perceptions through practice. When you rely too much on physical strength of the limbs, you can easily forget about using the core properly. This leads to various injuries, which although inevitable sometimes, become chronic and excessive. It is just like if you exploit the nutrients of the earth more quickly than they are created, you will likely have issues. 

Let’s take the example of digestion. If you eat whole foods, or healthy foods generally, then these have to be digested in the stomach properly. The thing about sugar is that it goes straight out of the stomach and into the blood stream. It doesn’t go into deep nourishment, such as bone and deep tissue regeneration. This is why it is linked with so many internal problems, even if it gives you a sugar hit. Healthy whole food on the other hand, goes into reproducing the cells and creating an entire person. Over the course of around seven years, Science has show the the entire organisms cells are likely to be replaced. This isn’t so if degeneration is happening too much at the same time as replenishment. So when anything is done at the surface level, whether that is learning or nutrition, there is a certain level of nourishment which gets neglected and undermined.. 

When blood sugar builds up too much, you can get a range of health complications, such as nerve damage, and inability to produce enough insulin. We have also looked at how osteoporosis may happen too, because the bones need nourishment, not just the muscles and blood. So when a person exists at the surface level, what you end up with is an irritable or excitable mood with a kind of frantic and compulsive disposition. This undermines health obviously. This can in itself lead many of types of mental health conditions, as well as physical ailments. The variety of these are countless, and exploding across the world. From this, we can see that a physiological problem can become a psychological one quite easily, once certain patterns of behaviour become habitual. So certain patterns of behaviour are thought replenish or undermine ones pre birth energy, or chi. 

The point is that what appears to be a mental health issue, often has its origins in the physiological or energy realm. So by taking care of the physiology, you end up taking care of the mental side. This is the same with martial arts. It is often the case that people train with all sorts of gels and sugary liquids, just to keep certain chemicals active in the blood stream. From a performance perspective this has some benefits, such as making one more aggressive and reactive. This comes at a heavy price, because it intoxicates your system just like a drug. Drug and chemicals are just a different part of the cycle. You take them in and perform some activity. It is possible to take in various supplements properly, but that is something else. It requires a level of self restraint and awareness to perform certain activities properly. From a health perspective, over supplementation is not only stupid but disastrous. So when the body eventually breaks down with age and wear and tear, the solution for many is to take a cocktail of supplements to keep the game going. But this only hastens decline or fails to get at the source of the problem to change things.

References

  1. https://wordpress.com/post/intuitivemartialarts.com/2227 Conquest at all costs: Drugs in Martial Arts.
  2. https://intuitivemartialarts.com/2024/02/02/how-to-use-stress-for-your-own-health-and-the-importance-of-the-hara-centre/ How to Use stress for your own Health, and the importance of the Hara Centre.

Udemy Course Update

Posted on by joeharman8 | 7 min read | 92 views

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

First There was the Word: Sound and Stillness.

Posted on by joeharman8 | 12 min read | 107 views

Martial Arts is an activity which can provide access to the inner most being of the individual. One way to achieve this is through sound. This is not really expressed through the industry as such. And so in this way what we refer to as martial arts should never be seen as an industry. What works and what doesn’t is not a matter of business but of experience. This experience can be sought well beyond industry boundaries. So there is an industry around martial arts, which includes trends, history, and commercial enterprise, but this is not martial arts. Martial arts itself is an internal form which includes a variety of factors. The industry itself, with multiple styles and forms of practice, may have become larger than the art form itself, whilst minimising the very nature of the art. But as an individual martial artist I don’t think you should ever allow that to become the main focus. One of the main focuses of the inner experience is sound.

One thing that is in everyones experience, but is not necessarily the focus of an industry, is the sounds you utter when practicing. For example, when you are performing a hard kick, the sound reverberation supporting the movement tends to match relative to the movement itself. Say you perform a hard kick. You send out a sound through the air waves, which transmits itself to some degree through the opponents apparatus. It also gives you some internal feedback. This feedback is felt internally, and also felt externally by the opponent. it is heard through the ears too once it is converted to a certain frequency. Otherwise you wouldn’t hear it. But really, It’s is all over the place, inside and out.

So the quality of the sound is important. When you express the sound, where is it coming from, and where is it being experienced? It is both inside and out. You don’t hear the inner sound because it is not tuned to the frequency of the ears. But it’s still going on. As soon as it is converted through the mouth at a certain frequency, you hear it. When the sound is converted appropriately into words or expressions, which also resonates with the interiority, then there is a sense of oneness about activity. Everything around you becomes a form of sound as well as everything within. It is difficult to put this into words, ironically, but it is an experience which unifies ones practice. So through working with sound, you create the basis for activity and a doorway to truth.

Some styles of martial arts focus intensely on the sound, and use it to perform various moves. They may demonstrate techniques very precisely, but these are not yet effective actions. Going through the motions of a technique is just a way through the door, to create an opening for the sound to travel and express itself. The Chinese systems emphasise the “Ha” sounds when exhaling. Thai Boxers tend to make a long “Shuu” sound to accompany the kicks. Both of these sounds, “Ha” and “Sh” are known sounds that make the exhale full and powerful. They achieve different results but the goal is to unify body and mind through sound. Instead of shallow sounds coming from the top of the lungs, the core is involved in the breathing to create these sound reverberations. These reverberations come from the depths of the core.

The effect of sound on the body is profound. You do not need to have any knowledge of a particular technique, but if you listen for the right sound and practice it yourself, you will be able to quickly learn a technique and perform it effectively. With some basic experience at this level you can transform your understanding of martial arts techniques, so that they are no longer empty just gestures requiring emotional force or physical strength to do the job. For example, if you listen out for a sound, this is an indicator of whether or not the attacker is going to do some serious damage. He need not express this through emotion or technical prowess. Everybody remembers the noise of a hard attack from a Thai boxer against the opponents body. This makes more of a lasting impression than the attack itself in many cases. The content, however, is not expressed solely through emotions or visual cues. This is because, actually, the sound and the technique are not actually separate. More than that, sound and emotion are not separate.

If you were to inflate a bag with air, it would lift off and make various forms. In many ways the human bag, the lungs, inflate and deflate which causes added or reduced pressure. More pressure means a greater sound potential for release. This makes you more or less grounded depending on your breathing techniques and practices. For example, if you exhale fully after a full inhale, you tend to make a loud noise conducive to a hard attack. This is why the exhale is so important in martial arts, because you are releasing the pressure, emptying the bag, in order to become more grounded. The sound you make as well as the loudness affects the output. Not only is air released, but there is a compression of the abdomen which allows you to sink down into the movement, whether that is a punch, kick, or whatever. All of these factors can be seen as supportive of sound. This is why in many ways martial arts is primarily to do with sound. Everything can become a sound.

So the most fundamental aspect of martial arts is the quality of the sound. Not only the audible sound, but the sound which goes above or below the frequency we can listen to with the ears. Whatever sound is being perceived cognitively is being interpreted through the ears and into the brain. There are still reverberations which occur elsewhere which go below the level of consciousness. For example, the sounds of the vocal cords aligned throughout the body are known to have an effect deep into the core muscles. So by creating the right sounds you are also training the abdominals. So they reverberate into the gut and organs, which relieve tension in the body and stimulates the organs by releasing pressure there. This need not make an audible sound, it can go on internally and still produce a result.

So we make sounds with the organs, bones, vocal cords and elsewhere throughout the body. So when you are making any kind of sounds to reinforce a technique, it should be performed with the entire body. What the Shaolin systems refer to as “Bone marrow cleansing” is just this, martial arts practice through the bones, transmitted through sound waves. It is said that the Shaolin warriors add weight to their bones rather than their muscles or tissue. This is a kind of practice with sound with is non verbal. In the same way there are techniques of organ washing, which transmit reverberations through the organs. These are all performed through breathing exercises primarily, supported by basic martial arts movements. Modern science is doing the same thing by transmitting energy, heat, and stimulation through areas of the brain and organs to counter act depression for instance.

So it is not a case of making a sound just with the mouth. If if you make no verbal sound at all, the sound can be transferred in many different ways. Everybody knows that bones are good conductors of sound, so next time you make an expression such as with sound to support technique, do so with the bones of the face and body. You will find that not only does the sound transmit and reverberate more successfully, but that it has an invigorating effect on the system allowing you to express movement and sound more effectively in general. In some situations it can be used to even transfer into and through an opponent. This is known as fighting without fighting when you send a positive energy through an opponent which reverberates in such a way that pacifies his nasty intentions towards you. In many ways, practicing self control uses energies of anger to transform them into an inner intensity which can be channeled and used to invigorate the system. This is not a passive acceptance but an intense energy which requires time, perseverance, and patience.

So there can be a pressure within the system, which builds up, and then is released through certain sounds. Otherwise it just externalises or dissipates at a low level. so what you want is to raise the pitch. This is the basis and reasoning behind mantras for instance. The sound A U M (om or aum) is used in yoga to create engagement throughout the body in breathing. Each sound relates to a particular area. A is related to the perineum, U or AU is related to the thoracic area, and M is related to the throat or neck. In addition, A starts off with an open mouth, and you gradually close towards M. There are different ways of looking at it. So together these sounds create a reverberation across the body and across the entire spine, which is also related to the jaw and head. The tongue is important here for articulating these sounds further into particular forms.

The syllables of AUM are not just a yogic phenomena, it is an existential reality that these sounds can be made without the tongue. So anything on top of these sounds involves the tongue and is an extension of these syllables. What kind of form this takes depends on the context and activity. We are looking at martial arts, but it could easily apply to music, performance, or whatever else. Whilst it is a fact that a word can be uttered which doesn’t contain these three letters, the truth is that without the tongue anything you say is one of these letters. In other words, they are a foundation for words and further sounds which we create.

Try this; close your mouth and perform some punching or other actions and feel the movement of the tongue. Do this subtly at first, because otherwise you are likely to need to open the mouth if you start heavy breathing. You may notice that the tongue moves to support the movement. If the mouth were open the sound would be expressed verbally to support the movement. As the mouth is closed, the tongue supports the interior by extending the possibilities of muscular action through a kind of soundless sound. This tongue movement is to extend the head or neck for example to support posture and an upright spine. Here, since the mouth is closed the non verbal sound happens internally and supports reverberation throughout the system in various ways. Where does this reverberation begin? It happens at the base of the spine, near the perineum, which extends to the tongue and even into the brain. This unifies top to bottom.

So even if you just sit there in meditation, you can feel this reverberation expressed through the breathing. This is why nostril breathing is important when the mouth is closed. This form of mediative practice may not be like a sound you are familiar with, but none the less it is an internal pressure through the system which is happening as sound at a band of frequency not experienced through the ears and brain in the same way. You are not creating a song to listen to verbally, or a noise through the air, but it is instead travelling internally through the breath. It is still music none the less. This soundlessness is what is known as the mute sound, or the door of muteness in Chinese scriptures, which is said to exit through the top of the spine or neck rather than the mouth. In stillness, no external expression of sound is produced so it is here you leave behind the noise of everyday life and plunge through.

When under extreme threat or pain, one tends to move from sound to soundlessness. Think of the deer in the headlights, ready to freeze and assess what to do next. They inhale air to prepare for an exhale. This prepares us to recuperate energy or conserve it to attack at a moments notice, like a cobra. Otherwise, it is quite possible that the venom we are experiencing may turn on us and strike from within. What this means is that when the stress hormone is released, further agitation through unnecessary movement is an expression of this stress but also lets everything in from the outside, making it worse. This includes impressions from the outside as well as conflict. It is like if you are attacked from the outside and you let the firewall down, you lose what you have contained within your system as well as exposing yourself to unnecessary attack. The firewall is there to shield outside dangers so that if there is a breach it is manageable. This firewall is the human discernment and wisdom to act effectively.

The Chinese scriptures say to lock the gate behind you when you reach the door of muteness, atop a twelve storied pagoda. The throat, where the door of muteness is said to be, is also the location of the Vishuddhi chakra in Indian systems, which is known as the filter. The throat lock, Jalandhara Bandha, locks this door and activates the filter. In other words, by performing jalandhara bandha you filter out the outside noise from within. This is done by raising the breastbone to the chin, extending the jaw slightly, and by using the tongue to reach for the upper pallet, sound becomes internalised as you focus on the rhythms of breathing. Touching the tongue at the roof of the pallet is known to produce vibrations towards the brain, which are used for mediative practices. In the video below, I go through various ways of using the neck to achieve internal stability through posture.

Bringing your training to life – exercises and principles

Posted on by joeharman8 | 14 min read | 86 views

Recently, the restrictive measures placed on society have reduced peoples access to gyms and other exercise areas. However, you do not need a gym or equipment to do the best exercises. The best thing to do is think about all of the opportunities in the day that you could be doing productive activity, such as gardening, housework, or DIY for instance. Such activities contain not only provide meaningful purpose, but also opportunities to get deeply involved. In other words, physical activities of any kind afford ample opportunity to practice mindfulness, which simply means conscious awareness of your movements and gestures.

To start with, it is a good idea to start activity by building a good level of strength and endurance. One way of building strength is by contracting the muscle in a given position of alignment for either a short or long duration. This is known as isometric strength. This will enhance the firing rate and strength of that  muscle region. For example, by walking around and pressing your foot into the ground, you can align the body in such a way to produce maximum force and tension. This can build strength, but more importantly awareness of internal connectivity. Such awareness can be developed when performing fast footwork, such as when skipping, or in a static position such as when holding a particular posture or stance. Simply by trial and error, and concentrating on the intuitive sense of energy and power, you will gradually find the alignments which produce the greatest balance and stability.

Which are the best exercises? Obviously there are many different forms of martial arts, such as boxing and Tai Chi. These are just different expressions of the same central idea, which is to build internal power. Whether or not this power is used to maintain health or to fight off enemies is another matter. The question is, how can these exercises be practiced effectively, whether in the gym or in everyday settings? 

First of all, it is important to train fundamental movement patterns to keep the body fit and supple. At the basic level, these fundamental movement patterns include stationary forms of kneeling, squatting, clenching, etc., as well as the more mobile forms of walking, jumping, and spinning for instance. When you combine the stationary movements of clenching the fist, for instance, as well as mobile walking, you are making something more complex which is used to create a martial arts movement. For example, a boxer walks around the ring in a particular form called a moving stance, which is based on clenching the fist, walking, and slightly stooping. The varieties of combinations are limitless. 

All of the dynamic techniques found in martial arts, such as throwing knife, launching a punch, rolling on the floor, etc., grow from the more basic forms. It is like when a flower grows from a branch. The branch gives the flower the basic stability to produce something new and beautiful, which later brings dynamic new life. In the same way, our basic everyday movements form the basis of more dynamic expressions. The flower cannot grow from a base without strong roots, which is why in martial arts you will find so much reference about working at the root level of stability. In a sense, the flower is of the same nature as the tree, but it does not look the same, it only resembles it. Before long however, the flower will attract other life forms to spread its seed more broadly, and then also drop back to the ground to fertilise the soil. This process of growth and renewal ensures life is experienced in its fullness.

Certain primordial actions and drives left by our ancestors have limitless creative expression. But only if used intelligently. Therefore, they leave room for adaption to modern day contexts. We are human beings, not humans finished. Naturally, our modern day equivalent creations of certain basic forms must build on the inherited forms, which are the foundation. Children who have not yet learned anything have no problem performing basic things like squatting and running. In fact, they often do them better than adults, who tend to over complicate what is profoundly simple. Obviously, children have youth on their side, but that’s not the whole reason. They also have greater capacity for imagination and a sense of doing things just for the joy of doing them. This is because the pituitary gland, the region of the third eye, is highly active in children, and they often have no problem using the creative imagination and then immediately switching back to objective physical reality. 

The adult often finds reasons why certain activities are not practical enough, or simply looks at other people doing it better than them and loses enthusiasm. The natural intuition of the child often becomes a dim memory, depriving the adult of a certain creative force if they are not careful to exercise this faculty. Much of what we refer to as culture is responsible for the decline in this area, which is also responsible for material advancement. This is not categorically good or bad. There is a trade off. However, if you want to develop the intuitive sense, the first thing to do is not worry so much about what progress you are making physically, but to do martial arts activity for its own sake, and to be present at that level. Then, because you are relying on nothing outside of yourself, results will naturally flow even in spite of your limitations. If you are absolutely determined to become totally involved in your training, nothing will be able to stop you. The key ingredients are time and energy.

Instinctive drives and motives underpin all martial arts movements. These are things that the adult has in abundance. The child is fairly powerless in this sense.Therefore, the more our innate instincts are experienced and applied to our actions, the more they will integrate within your system in a constructive way. Rather than letting the instincts control behaviour, and becoming subject to their whims, the instincts must be seen as the object. Children must develop their behaviour, and adults can learn to manage their instincts rather than become hijacked by them at a certain age. For example, if aggression is simply pacified, there will be little power behind a technique. On the other hand, if aggression is given free reign, screaming away without self control, then there is no discipline. 

If you apply discipline to the instinctive energies, they will eventually give up working against you. But only for a time, which is why eternal vigilance is important. Remember, the roots are solid and tenacious, they are full of energy, a rich source of energy which needs intelligent direction. Otherwise they simply deprive the soil of nutrients without producing anything of worth. Then, these potent energies can undermine the stability and health of the organism as a whole, because it’s only goal was to survive at the root level rather than to raise its perceptions of life.

You cannot rely on the instinctive energies to make wise choices, because they work within the physical limitations of the body. Anything which works constantly within limitations cannot perceive of reality outside of itself. The roots of the tree rummage around in the dark, with no thought about whats best for the tree overall. This is neither good nor bad, it just depends on how energy is utilised.The intellect relates to the imposed limitations on the body, and in the same way cannot be expected to find anything other than resistance and then temporary solutions to problems. Still, the intelligence level is a step above the instinctive level. Technical proficiency in training will never fulfil us totally, because the nature of the intelligence is to criticise and find only transitory solutions, and the instincts are there to provide the energy for this work. This is why in certain spiritual practices, the importance of the moment is emphasised, because each moment is a reality which can be perceived in its entirety. 

When the intellect and the instincts have achieved great things together, the very next day the whole process begins again, simply because the intelligence is never happy and the instincts are so tenacious. Together they are phenomenal, but limited to a certain degree. This is why there can never be a so called perfect form. The perfect form is formless, which is to say limitless and without dimension, where the inner master dwells. The inner master has a certain perception, and is the higher self which experiences life at another level. This is why it is better to relate to the work and effort involved in being totally absorbed in ceaseless evolution and progress, without worrying what the outcome is, because the outcome is not really important. 

Only life is important, and experiencing it at the highest expression.The disciple in martial arts must learn to sit back and let the instincts and intellect do their job, because he is not really them. He or she shows benevolence and kindness towards them, because this is the only true way to appreciate them and remain linked. In other words, you can transcend these two dimensions without leaving them behind by anchoring yourself firmly to the ground with a high ideal. This high ideal is to work with all that is limited, to unite it with the higher consciousness, the higher self. If this unification does not happen, the day will come when you no longer have motivation, drive, or the intelligence to work properly. If your intelligence fails to embrace the whole, and is no longer so consciously aware at all levels, then there can be no awareness or ultimate meaning behind activity.

The body has certain tendencies which can be observed across different movements. For example, you might squeeze a tight fist to create tension in the forearm and wrist. This action generally has the effect of causing the elbows to tuck, the jaw to extend, as well as other stabilising postures such as locking the neck for stability. If any of these particular movements and states are practiced, they will tend to provoke the other corresponding actions regardless of which part of the body initiated the activity. In this way, the more mindful you are of engaging the whole body, the greater the interaction of each part on that whole. In addition, there is a greater experience of the unity of mind, body, and will. It then does not matter what you are doing, because each separate aspect is just a way in towards feeling this state of unity across the whole. 

When the whole body and mind is involved at the maximum level of intensity, you will feel the sensation of power in the most subtle gaze or posture. From this, it is easy to see how basic exercises encourage not only full body strength development, but also translate to all aspects of life. The two considerations, of personal life and training, become inseparable when this reality is realised.  

When performing an action, you should try to align the body in such a way that you achieve perfect balance for the demands of a task. This is usually only for a moment, such as when taking a step, and the motion should be as economical as possible so that effort can be applied optimally from within the framework of the body. It is like water running through a pipe. You don’t want any of the water to escape, and you want the pipe robust enough to send high pressure through it, in the form of energy. The energy, the pressure, is felt throughout the pipe and is not concentrated anywhere. Then, the whole house can become warm and powered. 

The training should support the system as well as make it run efficiently. If you do that, what question can there be about the efficacy of your skills and abilities? As such, work in this direction and the technical aspects will take care of themselves. Do not listen so much to the chatter of the mind, or the criticism of opinion, these are all working within the limitations of the material. Instead, try to cultivate a playful attitude which does not take things to seriously, but works with intensity. This attitude, which works with an intuitive playfulness, will allow you to transcend any limitations you might think of. 

When you experience doubt, get into the habit of questioning whether that doubt is really there, or whether it is you giving power to it. For example, if you doubt that your hand can lift a table by itself, is this the reality? No, it’s a reality only for the hand alone, which never works in isolation. If it works with the entire mind, body, and will, it will find a way to lift the table. In the same way, the intelligence in isolation finds ways of reducing things to its dimension. Eventually, it might convince you that other people are simply there to be beaten up. However, this is not the reality for the master, who sees all the same limitations in others but views things differently. He sees the criticism from others as an anchor, an energy, with which to hold him to earth. If you simply beat others up, then they will run from you and get tired of your self centred behaviour. Let the brain chatter for a bit, and then it will become more subservient, because it’s useful as a tool. It forces you to learn discipline of the mind, body, and will. Just sit still and wait until the brain calms down, then just be as you are.

A practical example of movement principles in action comes from the Alexander technique. Here, practitioners are told to lift the crown of their head towards the direction they want to go. This encourages good alignment of the spine and posture. This is because within the ears there are sensors which ensure weight is distributed properly, controlling posture. This idea is central to Yoga and Tai Chi, which describes this kind of activity as being lead by a golden thread which extends from the crown. As such, you are encouraged to lift the head to extend the neck and body in whatever movements you are doing. This is to lift yourself upwards away from gravity, which tends to pull down. In other words, you lift the body from the ground, which is  simultaneously being pulled down by gravity. By doing so you are using gravity , which can be translated into energy, to maximise tension in the system through correct alignment. This is a dynamic tension, which keeps you grounded and out of harms way. These two polar opposite forces, of heaven and earth, are working together and feeding each other. This is all done unconsciously. However, by deliberately practicing this principle and becoming conscious of it, you can apply it to any kind of movement. For example, from throwing to punching. It is also a way of viewing the world more broadly.

Alignment of the body and muscle tension are two complimentary aspects of movement and activity. They work in unison to raise the body away from gravity so that you are able to move freely and without resistance. This makes one grounded and rooted, as well as free and buoyant. Therefore, the two opposite forces of gravity and anti gravity, make up one overall whole. I mentioned earlier that the mind can hold us back. However, without this holding back, the spirit and will power would simply expand and spread, and you would be so self sufficient that you would become isolated. Nobody would talk to you, and you would interact with nobody, like a hermit. This has been the goal of enlightened beings, but it is not without danger, because meaningful interaction with life is then under threat if one is totally without need of others. It is better to take a step down and anchor oneself to the physical body from a high position. This is the reason for virtuous conduct, because there is no other reason for a master to come back down if he has beaten all opposition within himself. The only reason is to express love and kindness to others by demonstrating self mastery. Virtuous conduct, and morality, are therefore the highest form of martial arts and the most difficult to develop, but once this effort becomes habit, it becomes effortless.

The Roundhouse Kick

Posted on Last updated on by joeharman8 | 1 min read | 117 views
Roundhouse Demo
Audio description

To do the Roundhouse Kick, the knee is brought up and forwards. It is as if you are going to push kick off of a wall. The grounded foot roots to the floor. The big toe is important in this grounding, as it digs and grips to the floor.

The Hip is driven accross the target, the leg extended through. You don’t need to be close, because you want full extention of the hip and leg. You make contact with the instep of the foot, or shin.

The standing leg turns out via the hip to open the kick. There is a forward tilt and lift of the pelvis to activate the entire hip. This principle is key in developing power and flexability.

Practice slowly maintaining proper timing, until you build up confidence.

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