World Of Swords

When I was growing up, in the middle of the last century, a strange discipline called hte martial arts appeared. People could study the martial arts and defend themselves merely through the use of this strange energy called ki. Heck, women could beat up mugs and rapists, and even children could do the bad to bullies using this thing called Karate.

I explored Kenpo, and Goju, and judo, and several other styles of the combative arts, and I found little trace of this mysterious energy. Mostly, you just took your place in class and hit the air, and I began to believe that ki might be more of a myth than a reality. Still, I heard the tales of people breaking bricks, and doing other things which, even though they seemed a bit muscular, touted this strange energy called Ki.

As years passed, and as I practiced my martial arts techniques thousands and thousands and thousands of times, something strange happened. I began to sense a world beyond myself. I began to understand the world without de[ending on eyes and ears, and with a sense of myself that went beyond body. Slowly, I began to understand there might be truth to this ki thing, and to understand that circus tricks were the icing, and enjoyable, but that real intrinsic energy was something else.

I studied Tai Chi Chuan and Aikido, and other internal arts. I began to feel a strange energy permeate my body, and I began to enjoy a profound health which made me feel more spry than even when I had been young. And I began to realize certain things about this mysterious subject called ki, or chi, which should be understood, should people wish to really delve into the truth of the subject.

When you do your forms you must lower your frame, for this will create a better energy connection to the planet. A better energy connection means more real energy will pass through the legs and into the tan tien. And the tan tien is nothing but a simple generator of energy on the body level.

If you can excite the tan tien through the use of forms, then you can cause an energy to filter upward through the body. This energy will excite a middle tan tien in the upper body, and then cause a person, through the excitation of the upper tan tien, in the head, to view his body from outside his body. Thus, the body is filled, point by point, and becomes a battery charged with supernormal energy.

The energy of the body can be used in many ways, and this provides a whole new education for a student of such things. To explore this education one should attempt to not use muscles, for energy locked into muscles stops the intention which drives the energy, and stops the emission of intrinsic energy. Instead, when striking, one should use ones body like a noodle, not even tightening the fist, merely driving it through the attacker, and occupying the space of his body, and to loosen the motion and sensitivity of the body so it is empty, and able to seek an imbalance of the attacker even in combat, and further the guidance of his energy in a profound and magnitudious manner.

Ki, whether it is called chi or prana or intrinsic energy or pneuma or whatever, is not mysterious. It is simple to develop and use, if one only pays attention to the simple things I have written in this article, and are willing to throw yourself into the discipline. Whether you study uechi or shotokan or goju, whether you practice tai chi or yoga, this thing called ki, or chi, is available to you, and it is The Truth of The Path of The True Art.

Al Case has practiced the martial arts for forty years. He has written dozens of articles for the magazines and had his own column. You can find out if his Ki is worth a darn by getting his free ebook at Monster Martial Arts.

Kicks are one of the best and most powerful weapons you can develop. Not only are kicks cardio intensive, giving an instant sweat during a work out, but they are one of the most powerful weapons you can have in a fight. After all, most people don't know how to use their legs, and if you do, instant advantage.

Of course, kicks take a little extra hard work if they are going to be great. But if you take your time and do learn the types of kicks in a certain pattern...you can have power busting kicks of the first magnitude. That said, let's go over the proper order of kicks.

The first kick is merely standing and doing the kick. You don't have to have a stance, you can even put your hand on the wall, and do them at a moderate and easy on the body speed. The idea here is to look at your body examine how it has to move to generate efficient and effective kicks.

The second kick is going to be done from stationary stances. Take a kick like a simple front snap kick, low level to begin, higher as you get better, and learn how to apply it from the rear leg while standing in a front stance. Go through all the stances you know, one by one, kicking with the foot you are not standing on.

The third kick is to use your weight leg for the kicking. This means you kick with the leg you are standing on. Again, go through your stances, but this time figure out how to hop so that the leg you do not have weight on replaces the leg you are standing on, and the leg you are standing on does the kick.

The fourth kick is to explore the direction you are kicking in. This is going to require some quick contortions of the body. Simply do the third kick, described in the last paragraph, but this time kick first north, then set up and do the kick to the west, then the east, then the south.

Now, there are a few things you should remember as you go through these four stages. Don't be one of these people who do ten kicks per kick and then quit. Do a hundred kicks, three hundred, even five hundred kicks per kick.

The idea is to develop your legs so that they are as light and easy to use as your hands. So concentrate on learning how to relax while you do your kicks. Soon your kicks will be second nature, light and easy, marvelous little things of quick flick, and yet able to instantly end any fight.

Time is a liquid that can be manipulated at will. At first glance, it is a measuring stick, measuring the universe. The truth, however, is that a little martial arts training can bend this ruler at will.

If a person has a certain presence of mind it is very simple to understand time. By understanding the theory I am about to give you, and applying it to the martial arts, a person can gain this presence of mind. There are four distinct stages, or steps, to this theory.

To see/think/react is the first step. Sees a threat, the beginner thinks about it, and finally reacts. One might call this the block and counter stage.

To see/react is the second step. The student eliminates having to think about a technique through practice, and goes from seeing a threat to reacting to it. Speed is picking up at this stage of understanding time, and the student is usually able to block and counter with the same hand.

The third step is to merely react. Becoming more polished, the student doesn't even need to see a threat to react, he begins to have a sixth sense when a threat is about and whirls to meet it. This is a simultaneous block and counter stage.

To go into action is the fourth step. A student moves before a situation can result in a launched foot or even a raised fist. The student is moving inside the moment at this stage, and he has eliminated rea-, which is reaction time.

Moving in the moment is what the Japanese called Mushin no shin, mind of no mind, which is manifest through time of no time. When a person achieves this stage he is not a victim of the world, only capable of reacting to a threat, but is a master of the world, able to see things before they happen, and act accordingly. This is a stage of immense and developing choice.

Time is actually a perception of the world, not just a way of measuring it. Training your perceptions is how you handle the world. When studying the martial arts this is just one of the many things that can happen.