Introduction
This Website ties together a selection of fundamental techniques and ideas to significantly enhance your martial arts skills. Learn how to execute powerful striking combinations with concentrated power. The self defence exercises are rooted in kickboxing but have universal appeal. The techniques covered here are applicable to all styles of martial arts. The courses on offer include Martial Arts Striking Techniques and and Power Striking which can be found on Udemy and Youtube. It is unlikely that these will be updated, and I am no longer willing to do so. On this website itself we learn how to take your practice to the next level by blending together various ideas seamlessly.
All martial arts techniques are compatible with one another, it is a question of allowing the body and mind to synchronise properly to allow it to just happen. Martial Arts is not a theoretical practice, but an active and engaging one where limitations are decimated by overcoming pitfalls over time. By remaining fully involved and creatively aware, you open up limitless possibilities for your ongoing progress. You then organise your awareness of body and mind in such a way that you create an atmosphere of optimal functioning. Whether you are big, small, athletic, fit, or otherwise, it is possible to enhance your functioning according to your present capabilities, and then blossom from there.
To stay fit, it is recommended that you practice regularly. However due to injuries and packed schedules, many people find regular sustained practice difficult. Furthermore, not everybody wants to become a fully fledged martial artist. But it can be hugely beneficial to learn Martial arts in order to increase your health, fitness, and power. Therefore, it is possible to practice in an mindful way, with an emphasis on feeling the internal forces working through you. This is the meaning behind internal martial arts. The external side of martial arts works at the level of muscular development. Choose the emphasis that suits your own needs right now. And do it at your own pace, wherever you like.
To be an effective Martial Artist, one must gain mastery over their four limbs. The fifth limb is the head. In the same way, we can learn to practice surrounded by the 5 elements, out in nature. So it doesn’t matter whether you are outside or in purpose built gym, we work with what we have. This includes practicing footwork, punches, kicks, knees, and elbows, as well as offensive and defensive skills. These are the physical practices. We will also look at spiritual and mental enhancememnt. In doing so, you will learn more about how to act effectively more generally in everyday life.
We learn by doing, and any amount of light practice can be beneficial. The more we align ourselves to an activity in a meaningful way, the better the atmosphere for progression and the more enthusiasm we have. Once you have established this atmosphere of body and mind, there is little more to do other than reap the benefits and continue on the path of self development. This is because it is the attention directed towards what you are doing which counts, rather than the physical motions which are by themselves lifeless.
Long term progress is ensured by sustained effort over time, rather than just one off all-or-nothing practice sessions. For example, just by going through these exercises for 10-20 minutes per day can positively boost your system. Just engaging in the warm up can give you a significant mental and physical boost! By practicing martial arts movements you will build strength and power, learn effective self defence, and invigorate your body and mind. This is the goal of martial arts, to bring the body and mind to peak physical condition, whatever your level of capability. By practicing the fundamentals regularly, you will ensure that your physical and mental tools remain razor sharp. This attitude of perseverance is the most valuable of training partners, so keep it as a constant companion.
No previous experience of martial arts required. It is helpful to have the training equipment, but the main thing is a willingness to learn and use what you have. You can even do it outdoors! Just remember to do a basic warm up and wear suitable loose clothing where possible. Ideally, practice should be done on a flat dry surface. However, suppose you live at the South Pole. Then this is the environment you have to train in, taking the necessary safety precautions to avoid injury and just using what you have. In everyday life for example, you often find yourself walking across uneven terrain. This can be turned into an exercise which requires your concentration in order to maintain equilibrium. You might be stuck in a flat unable to disturb your neighbours. Use this as a way of creating the least disturbance possible as an exercise in self control. Imagine that you are having to perform the techniques in a confined space, which has been the reality for many martial artists. Constraints can be used as a way of developing skills in creativity and problem solving for instance. Today, due to declining physical activity, it is more important than ever to regularly sharpen the body and mind by using them at their full capability according to your level of development and fitness.
How to Use the Site
Each chapter or blog post builds on and relates to the previous one. At the same time, they are are all talking about the same idea. This idea is that you dedicate the necessary time, energy, and concentration towards what you are doing, whether the it is everyday situations, or particular martial arts practices.
In order to get the most out of your practice, please ensure you have adequate time to go through the exercises. This includes reading the text. For example, the quality of practice will be adversely affected if you are distracted or your concentration is elsewhere. If you skip through the text and pick out what you believe to be true, or look for errors in it, then this only detracts from your experience. It is not my wish to misinform you, but neither is it my wish to bombard you with theoretical facts which have been scrutinised to death. There are people who are far more equipped out there within their specialised field of knowledge, so please use them as I do in conjunction with experiential reality which often defies established norms.
To ensure that you get the most out of your pratice, it is best to dedicate an allotment of time in which you are able to fully concentrate and pay attention. This is far superior than simply dedicating time and energy without concentration. In fact, if you can dedicate a small amount of uninterrupted time, then this is better than long periods of running yourself down without the requisite attention being paid.
With any physical exercises, it is best to perform them on a light stomach. For instance, if you are digested food and attempting to kick, then this will negatively affect your training. This is because the body’s energy demands for digestion are quite high. You may also notice that you are less flexible on a full stomach, particularly around the core area. It can also become difficult to concentrate if you are too full. So try to allow 3-4 hours after eating before you train as a guideline. This cannot always be done, so don’t worry too much, just moderate what you are doing according to your capacity and willingness.
It is useful to go through a combination of exercises, for example a combination of punches and kicks, without pausing for too long between them. This is because the body tends to switch off after bouts of exercise outside of a certain window of time. For example, if you engage in some high intensity exercises and then lie down, it becomes difficult to get back up and exercise again if you have rested for very long. When you sustain an effort for a longer time than you are comfortable with, you stretch beyond your limitations. This is the same as stretching and building a muscle, you push beyond the capacity to encourage growth.
Once again, you may be in the office and you have to grab a quick lunch and then do some exercises all within an hour. Because of this, you may have to rest for a short time and then get back to a certain exercise again whenever the next window of opportunity presents itself. There is nothing wrong with this, we can’t help the environmental constraints, but at the same time it is important to dedicate another time in the day, perhaps before or after work to engage in uninterrupted and sustained practice for the best results.
Lastly, it is important to be free from distraction, such as phones going off or people talking to you casually interrupting concentration. It is important to treat the training process as a process of transformation and self development. This means to set it as a high priority, just as you might an important life event. For example, the monks of the past would set aside uninterrupted time for self transformation in the most mundane of exercises. This was not because they thought the exercises were particularly special necessarily, but because they were consecrating themselves and bowing down before nature. What this tells us is that it is your attitude above all that determines whether something is sacred or a waste of time, not the importance placed upon it by society or a teaching authority.
General Guidelines
Before we begin, let’s go over some of the basics to help you make the most of the Site. The navigation window has a section about specific practices, such as videos and tutorials. These are presented to you in such a way that you can go through them in your own pace, using them as a reference. There is also a blog page, you will find links about where to find further information to take things further if you wish. The blog is regularly updated for those who wish to deep dive into the process of Martial Arts and self transformation. Some of it is not for the feint of heart.
It is helpful to be part of a live process of ongoing development in order to evolve your practice. For example, if you learnt how to use a computer five years ago, you wouldn’t use the same manual today. It would be completely irrelevant. In Martial Arts, what was being taught by the masters years ago must also be changed and adapted to the times. For example, no one could have expected that in modern times, one of the biggest threats to life is overconsumption rather than lack of nutrition. This includes over consumption of irrelevant knowledge which fails to enhance our life in any way. We thought we would be more happy with more information, but it has instead become a drain and burden on our resources.
On the other hand, the risks to life and limb for most people have gone down dramatically in recent years. Physical and mental health conditions have risen dramatically, emphasising a need to look after our health and well being. Fortunately, this is what martial arts is really about deep down. It is no coincidence that the affluent societies of the past, such as in the Eastern parts of the globe, developed tools for well being. Although there are legends, it is not about cutting someones head off or fighting in a war any longer. War is just one aspect around which entire systems have been made as if that were the only consideration.
There is a time for war and a time for well being and life enhancement. You don’t practice well being by engaging in costly battles endlessly. This is like conditioning yourself to death by living in a morgue. This will not develop life enhancement to flourish from within. In essence, this is what the website hopes to inspire, for you the reader to take life with both hands and enhance it to the maximum. To do this, you need tools of empowerment rather than step by step rules based on established knowledge. Whether this knowledge was established a thousand years ago, or simply yesterday, it makes no difference. This is because your present experience is of an entirely different order to past acquisition of knowledge or projected theories constructed by your imagination. We will look at this theme often.
With the physical practices, you will need a space of at least several metres as well as a solid floor. Ideally, you will have access to a large area, or an open outside space. It is difficult to feel appreciation of space when you are boxed in. However, in a life an death situation you may well be boxed in to a small area. Just as in emergency situations, we work with what is possible rather than what is ideal. In the end, we can wish for ideal circumstances, but they are never there. This is one of the fundamental realities in martial arts. Jesus Christ may have wished for better circumstances, more disciples, a wider marketing campaign, as well as various other factors which would have helped his cause. But in this example, he had to work with what he had, which made his situation all the more powerful and inspiring. You too must work with what you have and not complain about it too much.
With the meditative exercises and stretches, it is best to sit in a cross legged position, or a similar particular posture that you may have experience with, such as the lotus position for example. Here, the breathing and energy circulation the focus, which is why it is important to remain undistracted. During these exercises, focus on the breath and observe it moving in and out, rising up and down. It is not a question of forcing the breath, you just let it happen unhindered. You can stretch the spine by sitting upright to allow the breath to flow more properly.
We will also look at which energy centres to focus on, and how this can be used as a way in to enhance breathing. These centres are a way in to practice. What do I mean by a way in? I mean they are a doorway which you step through and then move beyond. Once you have stepped through the door, you close it behind you and take your focus back to the unfolding process once again. Rather than dwelling on the doorway, you have experienced what is beyond it. This will engage the breathing muscles and engage create movement in order to release tension, without encouraging excessive activity.
In a sense, this is what it means to walk through the door. You don’t walk through it and then step back to where you came from. This is a step backwards, although you might sometimes need to do it. Some in relation to breathing, you observe what you are doing, swaying and stretching slightly in order to relieve tension. You are then free from the need to move around because you have ironed out the creases and achieved a smoothness of motion and functioning. This isn’t a goal, but a first step. However, you want to get to some goal. The goal is stillness, which is in fact a dynamic motion in itself which appears still in the ordinary sense of perception. We will look at this on the site.
Threats to life due to erosion of mental and and physical integrity are now on the rise. This is a relatively new enemy which is now everywhere. This is why I say it is important to develop martial arts in everyday life and to achieve smooth functioning. Our own evolution is deeply connected to the times in which we live. For this reason, because of the changing circumstances, we must move according to the times and be ready for the unexpected. For instance, due to the rise of A.I., which happened almost overnight it seems, there is an increased need for clarity and sifting through rubbish rather than just absorbing everything indiscriminately. This is because what costly mistakes were made by people in the past due to misinformation or overthinking, are now vastly larger in number.