10 tips to improve any martial art

1. Practice.

2. Practice more.

3. Practice when you feel like it.

4. Practice when you don't feel like it.

5. When the weather's good, practice outside.

6. When the weather's bad, practice indoors.

7. If you are on your own, practice alone.

8. If you are with friends, practice with them.

9. If your friends don't know your martial art, show them.

10. When you're tired, sleep.

Programming fear for profit

"People are being kept in a state of fear and consumption" - Marilyn Manson

There is always a buck to be made out of fear. Whether it is the sensationalist newspaper articles about how much danger your children are in or the insidious little comments about personal hygiene or social status of the cosmetics industry.... We are constantly manipulated by our fears. Those who wish to be voted into power or make money from us (or both) know this well enough.

Why do we hate being afraid? Quite simply, it is how we have survived. Fear is our instinct for survival. It is the natural impetus that drives us away from pain and suffering.

Every marketer knows that to completely move our desires towards a product, it is not enough to tell us how much of a benefit it will be. They must also make sure we are moving away from pain - either real or imaginary. Take this is a quote from a recent deodorant advertisement. I desensitised it to avoid lawsuits.

"If you worry about personal hygiene, [product name] with it's unique formula [description of formula and how it works]...... [product name]... reach out with confidence all day long."

Words written in Red are designed to instigate fear. Words in Blue instigate positive attachment to the product. Usually these controlling words are said with emphasis, within a larger sentence that softens the message. These language patterns are cleverly placed to control feelings and desires.

Language patterns are common knowledge among neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioners and the advertising industry, but the general public are unaware that it is happening most of the time. Another person who uses language patterns is Barrack Obama. His speeches are literally full of very carefully placed leading statements, interweaved into sentences to soften or completely disguise their meaning.

So how do you avoid your emotions and survival instincts from being manipulated? Television is the primary delivery device of NLP. Reduce your consumption of this insidious media. You will find yourself becoming more calm and relaxed as a result. The less exposure you have to NLP, the more aware you become when it does happen.

How do you know you are being manipulated? As marketing is about "raising the stakes" around the purchase of a product, it gives you extra stress. Do you ever feel undue stress and worry when in a supermarket? You are being made to think that all those rows of product on the shelves are far more IMPORTANT than they actually are. You have been programmed. There's no use castigating yourself about it. Marketing is inevitable in our modern society. But you can do something:

1. Switch off the television.

2. Switch off the radio.

3. Be careful what you read. Become aware of political and commercial influences in everything.

4. Meditate.

Why is meditation so important? It allows you to rediscover yourself. To find yourself again after being repeatedly told what you "need" is this product and that product... you owe it to yourself to cut out all the NLP and find out what you truly want.

Don't call me Master

The title Shifu is often translated in English as Master. In China, it actually has two meanings. In martial terms, it conveys a person of exceptional skill. However, it has more common usage in China as a professional person or a learned scholar or teacher.

If you ask any of the top tai chi masters in China for a translation of Shifu, they will say 'teacher not master'. It is this humbleness that conveys their true skill.

However, it is hard not to notice in youtube and other forums, a form of 'master worship' in conversations. It is characterised by people arguing about how their master could beat another master (or anyone else for that matter). Such hiding behind your teachers skill is unrealistic, deeply vulgar and embarrassing for your teacher.

I have seen classes where students literally elbow each other out of the way, so they can practice next to their 'master'. While someone may receive personal validation from such behaviour, the real damage comes in their lack of skill. For when it comes to sparring and pushing hands, their selfish competitiveness is likely to result in them getting less-than-honest feedback from their fellow students. I have seen this kind of behaviour literally drive classes apart and destroy a professional teachers earnings.

So before you announce your master's greatness to the world, think for a while. Are you saying this because they are invincible, ................or is it just because you want other people to say it about you?

Don't call me master - I am merely an instructor.

Richard

Why all the quotations?

Anyone who has been to my classes knows that they are sensible, pragmatic and practical. There is very little in the way of psycho babble, and we all get on with it. However, I occasionally use quotes where appropriate. On twitter (follow me - my id is @taijirich), I have been using more and more quotes. So I guess you all deserve an explanation.

We all have a fight or flight mechanism that is constantly looking for danger. However, as we all know, the more dangers we focus on, the more trouble we will find ourselves in. One of the main aims of all martial arts is to dispel fear. You learn how to defend yourself and you condition your body for combat. These attributes give you a certain calm and ease in situations where untrained people would panic.

Some of the external martial arts have rites of passage. People who practice Karate and Taekwondo break wooden boards; Shaolin monks break sticks over their backs and lie on beds of nails. This is all great, but to quote Bruce Lee, "Boards don't hit back." And he is right. Breaking an inanimate object is not about winning fights. These are all achievable feats of strength and skill that are designed to give you a certain level of courage and confidence.

So without breaking boards, how can you empower yourself?

That's where the quotes come in. By telling stories and quoting famous people, your teacher can undermine any limiting beliefs, motivate the class and build up self esteem.

Just another reason why you should find a martial arts class and get stuck in. You don't need to be built like Arnie Schwartzenegger. As Henry Van Dyke said :

".. the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best."

See what I did there? ;-)

Rich

Tai Chi is more than waving hands in pyjamas and hugging trees

Check this out. It is Pao chui, which in English means "Cannon Fist". The New Frame is a style of Chen Tai Chi, and there are two sets

1. Xinjia Yi Lu (New Frame first set)

2. Xinjia Er-Lu (New Frame second set)

This was filmed at Chenjiagou - the birth place of Taijiquan.

What is Qigong?

Qigong is pronounced "chee gung", and is the cultivation of chi energy throughout the body. Chi is the energy that all life is dependent on. It is even more fundamental than oxygen. To have a demonstration of what chi is, have a look at the following video:

I was fortunate enough to meet a true qigong master in Zhiang Zhia Zhie national forest park in the 1990's. Master Li was just as elusive and careful with what he showed. I was cured of a recurring hip problem that I had sustained in my late teens.

Education - Is it right?

The present education system was developed in the late 1800's and has changed little since. It has been designed to do two things:

1. Create workforces to the demands of industry.

2. Create a self-perpetuating reward system around academic attainment and achievement.

Watch this vid. It's 20 minutes, but worth it.