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'Ki Power' is nothing special. It's just aspect of your body systems dealing with the peripheral nervous system, lymphatic vessels, and endocrine glands. Ki is a high state of homeostasis, nothing more, nothing less. It is not something to believe in. You can't decide whether or not to believe medical science. Yoga will work whether you believe it or not. A Xingyi sifu will break your bones with no effory whether you believe he can or not. An athlete will put in that extra burst of energy and win the game whether you believe he can or not. Someone out there will 'miraculously' recover from a life-threatening disease, whether you believe it to be possible or not. Fact is not something to be voted on.

A lot of people are worried that gun training would shatter the traditional aspects of martial arts. But in truth, martial artists of the Far East have been using guns longer than Europeans knew guns existed! Shotguns have been around since the 1100s; cannons and missiles are even older. Japanese riflemen have been part of fuedal warfare since way back when. And even today, Jiu Long Baguazhang, an art used by Chinese bodyguards, teaches gunfighting. It was originally with M10 Mausers, but they probably use something more modern now. Either way, to deny guns is ridiculous. Guns are a powerful weapon. They are not very useful close-range, but anywhere else, they're the ultimate weapon. That doesn't mean an empty-handed martial artist can do nothing against a gun, but a bullet should be respected as part of the martial arts arsenal.

That's why sensei Ueshiba decided 'Jujutsu just ain't right'. Ladies and gentlemen, enter Aikido

Zach, you've been around Madalena waaaaaaay too long. Anyway, I'm sure there's a few mantises at the local zoo.

I study some Shuai Chiao. Greeat for striking and grappling both, and fun, too. Btw, yes, I have a real name. But a rose by any other name is still fragrant, no?

Thank you. Now I feel all special and tingly inside I think the most important thing in any type of education, martial arts included, is understanding the training you are going through. Understand why you are doing kata, what the moves are for, and why you are doing martial arts in the first place. That's the only real way to progress.

Go with your instinct. If a style feels right, take it. Don't bother to analyze or dissect a style down to its roots. Just take the style that feels good to you, and go all the way.

The more you practice repeatedly, the faster it will be drilled into your memory. It's not really neurological memory that counts, but 'muscle memory'. Slowly, your reflexes shift to what you have been taught, maybe over the course of several years. Then you naturally react with the attacks and defenses of your style. Intense training and some good kihon is the key to it all. Sweat is the fountain of youth!

I think that if it's going to end up glamorizing violence the way UFC did, leave it out. In all truth, the best fight you'll ever get short of a busted nose is videogames. DOA 3 (not for kids, but great martial arts) Soul Calibur 2 (out soon) The Street Fighter series (the big daddy of all fighting games) Virtrua Fighter 4 (best of the best) From these four, you will get an excellent and accurate, if exaggerated, feel of the martial arts, and the fights are unrivaled. Better than seeing a couple of half-naked guys rolling around on a mat.

In all of history, ninja never succesfully carried out an assasination? Where are your sources coming from, a drunk shogun? The only reason ninja survived so long is because they were expert merceneries. They did not fail. If they did, they were ordered to commit suicide. This insured that only the best of the best were left alive to pass on their teachings. Try telling Nitta Yoshihada that ninja never carried out an assassination. Heh.

But when it comes down to that, all styles must have a theme. It is not something you can describe in words, but observe the following arts: Shotokan Karate Chen Taijiquan White Crane Shaolin Although their theme can't be described in words, each one has its own. The same punch will be different in all three arts, each fitting the theme of the art. The same gentle twisting movements that make up the White Crane blocks are the strong, smashing drives that make up the Shotokan blocks. The fluid, rolling punches of Chen Taijiquan are the same as the sharp, solid punches of Shotokan. The art itself is nothing. It is all in the theme. Any aspect that is incorporated into the art will take up that theme. Gentle and fluid, solid and harsh, snappy and quick, whatever it may be. Mixing themes leads to disbalance in the art, which is why so manyt eclectic styles amount to nothing much.

In our Aikido dojo, we walk in and began warming up. We can converse lightly and whatnot, as long as we remain focused on the excercises. After about ten minutes, our sensei walks onto the floor. The senior student announces that sensei is coming, and we all line up. Our sensei bows to us one by one, and then adresses us, starting class. At the end of class, sensei bows to us individually again, then bids us farewell altogether.

Bon, do you actually believe in or agree with a word that come's out of Peedee's mouth? That...thing is a disgrace to humanity. I don't know what kind of enviornment or psychological traumas could have possibly spawned something like Peedee, but he is the intellectual equivelant of a ******** neanderthal, to put it lightly. As I said on McDojo: You have to practice repeatedly to get good. Instead of practicing one move over and over, you get a bunch of moves and practice them together. You have a kata. Besides practicing a variety of moves, you also learn footwork, something which is not present in simple repetition training. Kata alone will do nothing. You have to practice alongside other aspects of the art, most importantly kihon, maybe even kumite now and then. That's what gets you good. Ignoring kata is only a result of being too dense to understand it.

Sanchin, 'cause some of y'all seem to be scared of it!

Sanchin, because it's great for learning energy conservation, and because so many people are scared of it Sweat is the fountain of youth!

It all comes down to the basic philosophy. Someone who uses martial arts in serious situations will usually have to maim or kill the enemy. This person will create a hard, physical style. Someone who uses martial arts in a civilized lifestyle will not have the option of badly hurting his opponent. This person will create a soft, force-redirecting style. The hard style will have smashing blocks, hard lunges, and strong thrust kicks to utterly destroy the enemy. These attacks will go to the large, crushable regions of the body such as the chest, head, and abdomen. The soft style will have redirecting blocks, momentum-based strikes, and disbalancing sweeps/throws, to immbolize or temporarily stun the enemy. These attacks will go to sensitive areas and pressure points. These attacks come from the philosophy of a style, hard fighting art, or soft defense art, for example. You can't take the sweeps of the soft style and mix them with the lunges of the hard style, or the smashing blocks of the hard style and the throws of the soft style. This will only result in inconsistency, and an inability to fight naturally. Find what works, stick with it. Understanding, not analysis, is the core of martial arts.

In a lifetime of slaying monsters, I myself have become one. ~Quote from Tolkein Maximinus became an emperor by crushing all opposition and proving himself as one of the greatest pankrationists of all time. He was eventually defeated and brutally beaten to death in the arena. Morihei Ueshiba proved himself to be a true warrior by embracing peace, making no enemies, and living out his long and prosperous life as a teacher, symbol of wisdom, and a legend. America is taking Maximinus's course, and trying to make the end justify the means. It never, ever does. Ever.

Amen.

It is a common thing for a country to fight when it has to, but what America does is unjustifiable. Basically, American militarism started with WW II. Let's have an overview: WW I: American doesn't fare too well. It realizes that war on this scale is not a good idea. WW II: America tries to stay out, but is dragged in by Japan. American makes a lot of money, gets a lot of glory, and wins. WW II aftermath: Europe, having taken the full impact of WW II, realizes that "Hey, war sucks!". So Europe does everything in its power to prevent another one, the latest measure being the Euro currency. America, on the other hand, sees that war makes it money. They never took much of a beating, so they don't see the real side of war. They just see cash and glory. Korean War: America tries its cash and glory policy. Things get ugly. It does NOT work out. Russia is pissed. Vietnam War: America gives it another shot. This time, it gets REALLY ugly, and does not work out. Wrapping up the Cold War: America glamorizes warfare, gets tangled up in the Middle EAst, and teaches some Arab millionare guerilla combat, to fight the Soviets. The US is now making lots of money off of the war, and is getting lots of media glorification. Persian Gulf War: America annihilates Iraq. The Middle East goes crazy. America enters a new era of warfare, one in which it can gly its pretty little planes over some country, drop bombs, and fly away unhurt. Kosovo: America demonstrates more of it's "oh, look, we're Superman, we help everybody out, as long as we get money from them" policy. America gets arrogant. September 11th: That Arab millionare who was double-crossed by America ten years ago and exiled from his home country is pissed. America gets a hard, solid kick square in the ass. What will happen now? Will America's attitude towards war as a money-making enterprise change, or will it simply go into a war-driven frenzy? Are the days of safe, almighty America over? Or did the treatment of the Taliban by US forces teach other would-be terrorists a lesson? Will America, seeing how war can rear its ugly head and strike back, resort to diplomacy over ammo? Or will tradtional American masochist ignorance prevail? To be continued...

Sensei Ueshiba studied Baguazhang for some time, which is a basis for Aikido. I believe he studied Gong Ting and Jiu Long, one made for bodyguards, the other for imperial soldiers. Aikido bears a striking resemblance to the Nei Chia/Nei Kung, the internal arts of China. Taijiquan (Tai Chi Chuan) Baguazhang (Pa Kua Chang) Xingyiquan (Hsing I Chuan) Maybe ChangWuJi can elaborate on this a bit. Prof. Chang? Your input?

http://www.shaolin.com http://www.wushulegends.com

Any martiala art done wrong can hurt you. As I mentioned on another thread, Chen Tai Chi's 2nd form can make you cough up blood, while some of the more advanced Xingyi forms can kill you. BUT ONLY WHEN DONE INCORRECTLY. That is the key. Get a good instructor, learn carefully, and pay attention. Either that, or don't risk it.

The essence of Tao of JKD is evolution. Let's use Shotokan as an example: Say there are two people taking Shotokan. A large, pwoerful guy and a small, frail guy. The large, powerful guy will stick with the hard, smashing blocks like Iron Hammer, and will blast straight into his opponent, beating him down with sheer size and power. The smaller guy will prefer to use momentum-based blocks like outside-in and rising block, and will probably use circular stepping and sweeping to finish his enemy. To these two fighters, certain techniques are 'useless'. The big guy might not have any need for the more intricate techniques, preferring to go with all-out power, while the smaller guy might not be able to do such techniques, and will need to rely on the more technical counters and parries. So are any of the Shotokan techniques presented useless. No. It just depends on the fighter. That's what the Tao of JKD is about. And kata is simply an advanced version of line drills. Let's say you have several moves you need to practice over and over. Instead of doing them one at a time, you make a set of them. This helps you learn how to quickly flow from one technique to the next, and how to use your footwork properly. You now have a kata. The kata in practice were created with the intention of teaching a set number of simple techniques, then moving along to the more advanced ones. The best kata for you is the one you create yourself, but you cannot simply deny the ones you are taught, because it's part of the teaching system, set up and tested over decades. Instead of trying to make the world adopt to your level of experience, try the opposite. You might get somewhere. Good luck in all your endeavours.

Yes, almost all internal arts, and many external as well, share this similarity. Any good fighter, regardless of style, will use his enemy's momentum, or lack thereof, against him.

Of course martial arts training can hurt you. Look at a well-conditioned Thai Boxer. Some of the tougher ones suffer from such horrible bone problems that they can't walk past the age of 40 or 50. Or Tai Chi. Everybody knows it as a peaceful health excercise. How many of you are aware that incorrect Tai Chi practice can KILL you? Anyone who doesn't believe me, try doing Chen Tai Chi's 2nd form incorrectly. The results range from dizziness to coughing up blood. Or worse, do any of the higher Xingyi forms incorrectly. The isometrics are so strong that you can literally break your back and shoulders by doing a punch incorrectly. All martial arts are dangerous to some degree, and Goju is no exception. If you can't do Sanchin right, don't do Sanchin, period. It will mess you up. I, for one, don't take Goju-Ryu, but was taught how to do Sanchin correctly. Coupled with Qigong, it has helped me sharpen my general reflexes and explosive (fast-twitch) muscle power immensly, as well as making me more concious of breath and energy conservation. Driving an Indy racer will make you a better defensive driver. It can also kill you. Same thing with excercises like Sanchin. Simply put, if you can't take the heat, stay out of the kitchen.