GrandMaster Art Mason's Martial Musing

Here are the six tenets that we teach our students in our school.

• Integrity
• Courtesy
• Self Control
• Commitment
• Perseverance
• Indomitable Spirit

Our students must know these, live by these and show them in all aspects of life.  So why is it then that so many martial artists and instructor are such egotists? The answer is simply, they practice what they preach. That’s right, they practice what they preach!

OK, now I know you are confused! Aren’t you supposed to Practice What You Preach? Well, if you practice what you preach you practing because this is what you are preaching. Thus the HUGE egos in the martial arts world! What should you be doing? Preaching what you are practicing in your life!

Think about it….

Great news for everyone interested in further study of the pressure point system know as Kyusho Jitsu. My advanced study eBook is almost complete. I am expecting to start officially selling this eBook (pdf format) on August 15th, with a Spanish Edition to follow very soon after wards.

This book is intended for anyone who has completed the Novice programs, or is just interested in learning more! So what is cover in this eBook? Here are a few samples.

• Alarm Points
• Associated Alarm Points
• Advanced 24 Hour Cycle
• Advanced Cycle of Destruction
• Colour
• Sound
• Emotions
• Much, much more!

Yes this is really only the beginning, this volume is full of theories and methods to take your pressure point study to a new level. But here is the great news! From now until the release date you can pre-order your copy for ONLY $25!!! That is 50% off the regular price of $49.99! To pre-order simply hit the order button below. Once the eBook is compete you will be sent a link for download. The book will ship no later then August 15th 2010.

Order today and get this amazing eBook before anyone else does!

Martial Arts people are some of the most generous people I know. That is why I am doing this blog post. Please read this article below and follow the links provided. It is your chance to make a difference.

Hello Everyone,

If you look to the right of this article you will find a donation button to help a good friend of mine in Romania with medical expenses. I met this lady about 6 months ago and she helped me to travel to her country to introduce the art of Kyusho Jitsu to martial artists there.

Approximately one week ago from the date of this article she took ill with a serious liver condition. Her life is currently in danger, however the situation is improving. I arranged on Wednesday of this week for a helicopter airlift to Bucharest to save her life. Without this she had no chance for survival. However the problems still exist. The medical system in Romania is very poor and very expense. The economy in the country is in ruins.

Currently I am fund raising and taking donation to help the family with these expenses. Any and all donations are welcome and ALL the money is sent directly to the family. If you would like to help please use the donation button to the right of this article. All donors will have their name added to a card for Miky which Master Art will personally deliver to her when he returns by request of her family as soon as she regains consciousness.

Thank you for your generosity in this matter! Please see UPDATES below.

Sunday July 18th 2010 As of this writing Miky is in stable, but serious condition in Bucharest. She is currently on a machine which is cleaning her blood since her liver is all but shut down. This is LIVER DIALYSIS which will help to regenerate the liver. The cost of this procedure is 3500 euro which is NOT covered by insurances. Please follow the link provided for more information.

To donate to this cause please follow this LINK.

Also note 100% of all Kyusho DVD and eBook sales will go to this cause.

Master Art Mason

When I do Kyusho Course in my school, the novice session is 12 3 hour segments lasting a year in time. We meet once per month. My success rate with these groups getting to Black Belt is very high, but there is a reason for it. We follow certain laws that pertain to learning a new skill or any skill for that matter.

There are 4 major areas we will talk about.

1) Who to listen too. There are many people on the internet who are claiming high ranks and understanding of the art. How do you decide? Find someone who is doing the things with Kyusho you want to learn to do. That simple, but often overlooked.

2) Am I teachable? This is an important question to ask yourself. How badly on a scale of 1 to 10 do I want to learn this information and what I am will to do, change or give up to do it!

3) Technical Balance - There is a certain amount of technical skill needs to be balanced with the information processed from Kyusho Jitsu.

4) Putting it together. There are 4 knowledge states to be considered. Your goal is to the reach the forth. This takes time and much word to achieve.

a) Unconscious Incompetence- This is not knowing you don’t know something
b) Conscious Incompetence – This is know that you do not know
c) Conscious Competence – This is know that you know something
d) Unconscious Competence – This is doing something you know without thinking about it. This is the ultimate place to be in any martial art or skill.

If you apply this these skills to anything you are learning you will find great success in the field in question. Kyusho is a great example of this. If you would like to know more about learning Kyusho Jitsu visit on Kyusho Online Course Website

One of the beautiful things about social networks, blogs and the internet in general is the ability to keep in touch with people you normally might not see. You make news friends, but you also keep in touch with people who move in and out of your life in general.

One of the reason I created this blog was to keep in touch with former students, people who moved on from the arts for different reasons, but still find the teachings in their hearts. I believe that martial art training is a lifetime path, whether you are active or inactive at the time.

I was recently contacted by a former student who has started his training back up again. This makes me very happy. He was an excellent student and to know that he still thinks of his training with us is very satisfying. People come and go from martial art training all the time. As teachers we hope that we touch their lives in some positive manner while they are with us.

To my son’s and I martial arts is more than a way of providing a living for ourselves, it is a way of life. As long as their is breath in my body I will always be a martial artist and teacher. It is who I am, and I would not want to change this. As you enjoy the Christmas Holiday season this year remember your martial path. It has brought you to where you are today. If you have departed from the path take a look back and realize that it is still with you. The training and experience you had cannot be taken away.

May peace and prosperity be with you…

When you watch one of the great masters of old you can sense the calm in their every movement. It is a thing of beauty to behold. Has this calmness gone from today’s martial artist or is it just hidden beyond our line of site.

Training today in many martial arts has become more and more physical, and less and less spiritual. Today we train hard, stressing our bodies to unimagined levels of fitness. Yet we often neglect the mind and spirit. True martial arts is not only physical, it is also a conquest of the mind.  The body is first honed with training and repetition to develop skills that will respond within a seconds notice.  What we forget is we are using our mind to train the body, therefore we cannot neglect training the mind also.

When we train the mind, we are also honing our physical skills because they are all connected. We are not robots receiving pre programmed information. The mind must respond to the external circumstances and put our bodies in motion.  The best result will come from a centered and calm mind.

The training of the mind does not come from a focus target, nor does it come from hard physical practice.  The mind is trained by the Spirit that is who we really are.  Meditation is the only way to calm the mind, and truly prepare it to deal with the physical body and itself. The most important element that must be overcome for the martial artist is that of the ego. Overcome is really not the correct term either, transcend is much more accurate. When the ego is not in balance the martial artist depends on physical conditioning, age and speed. If the ego is in balance these factors do not matter. Technique becomes only movement with the outcome not being a consideration.

The next time you train try doing a 20 minute breathing meditation first. The difference in your abilities will be a pleasant surprise for you.

Today cross training has become an important element in the martial arts. I have done this myself with several arts. But now I want to offer a warning for those who are considering following this path.

First you need a solid, strong foundation in a root art. This is what I mean by Master of None. Often times as a teacher I will see someone come in and want to train for a few weeks to pickup something new to add to what they already have. Usually they have nothing because they spend too much time ‘art jumping’.

To evolve as a true martial artist you need roots. You can build by cross training once the foundation is set in stone. Otherwise you might know a lot of techniques, but application will not happen when it is needed.  Natural physical skills won’t help you either. Only understanding will. Martial Arts and Self Defense training are 90% mental and 10% physical.  Like meditation these skills take much time to develop.

My advice is to Master your root art, then look at expanding your knowledge with other things.  Especially when it comes to other styles that are very different in context. Some are complimentary which is fine, but others will actually cause you to regress.

Perseverance in your root art is a must.  It is all about the training.

Last night I was happy. I had a class that was well attended by my Black Belts. With this in mind I gave them something to think about. The first thing before we began to move was to discuss the current trend in the martial arts for reality training. I have been watching and have participated in some of these trainings over the last few years. My presence has been mostly as an observer however.

The physical aspects of different martial arts technique have very similar veins running in them. There are only so many ways to strike, kick, and manipulate or throw an attacker.  The reality based systems work on simple techniques which can be easily learned and muscle memory created ( approximately 3000 repetitions).

As I have watched some of the masters of these system works I have to wonder what is going on in a physiological sense. What is their blood pressure and heart rate doing during training. How much stress is being created in the body as they train and fight for a reality we all hope will never happen. They are meeting aggression with aggression.

We then set our to do our training. Our self defense training requires a live attack and response. There are certainly restrictions placed on the attacker, but this is only for the purpose of training in the 3 ways of attack (Push Grab Punch). In this case we were punching. I told the students to imagine doing this at a testing, this will help to increase the anxiety level a small amount. I told them to carefully watch and judge how they did. Success or failure and how often.

Next we sat in a meditation on breath for several minutes. A breathing to calm the mind. We resumed the training. With the calmer mind the students were faster and much more successful in their movement.  Now one of the things I teach in self defense is to disconnect from the attacker on a mental level. You cannot take the attack personally and become emotionally involved with it. We train physically based on rules. If you apply rules to the situation and not to the attacker you will be successful. Remember the pilot who landed his plane in the Hudson River? He did this by remaining calm in the face of death and following the rules that he was taught. No different here.

The improvement in movement was at east two fold. I demonstrated some movement for them. I asked my attacker (Uki)  what it was that he was seeing. He told me he was focused (as in real life) on the object of his attack, in this case my head. I asked the students what I was looking at. Most replied ‘the attackers eyes’. Next was the question what the ‘observers’ were watching.  Several answers, the correct answer was my feet. Students tend to focus on the instructors hands. When they do they miss a lot.

What was my (defenders) focus on? Nothing and everything. Seeing without looking. This is sometimescalled soft vision. When everything is see almost like periferal vision.  From here my  movement only comes when attack is started. There are no coutesty warnings or Kia’s. Full out attack. The movement of no mind is effortless, it just happens.

My students began to work on it. It takes time because the harder you try the poorer the results.

Yes I really did leave the word ‘defense’ out on purpose from the title. The term ‘self defense’ always conjurers up an image of a fight or attack situation, where training in the martial arts goes much further.

I have news for you. You are attacked each and every day. This attack is done against you directly and it is done thought your 5 senses. With the bombardment of our senses it is little wonder we can function at all. We have become creatures of deleting information. The problem is we often delete the wrong things.

Have you ever felt overwhelmed? Have you felt that your life is not longer on track, or perhaps that something is missing? If you have you are certainly not alone. People feel this day in and day out until they discover something. “The Art of Self “

Now I can hear what some people will say, this being ‘selfish’. If you are thinking that very good because it is! We have nothing else but ourselves. Also, you cannot give what you do not have, so everyone needs to work on themselves FIRST.

Everyday I sit in quiet reflection at my dojo for 15-30 minutes. Some will call this mediation, others reflection, the title doesn’t matter. What matters is that I am alone with me. Here I get to understand me. But this is only the start because then I go out on the floor and teach several hours of classes each day. I also do this for me, and when I do the students are the ones that benefit, much more than I do. When this happens I am in the moment, not somewhere else.

Martial Arts training is a great tool for self discovery because it is all about YOU. You are on the floor training and no one can really help you. A good teacher can be a guide but that is all. You learn to conquor your body and your mind. Add this to some mediation or reflection time and you have the basis for a path to a happier life! Not bad for a few hours per week!

If you are a student of the arts, any art, get yourself back to regular training. You know you felt better when you did. If you are not a martial artists find something you love to do and do it!

Sing like no one is listening, dance like no one is watching. Connect with yourself and enjoy our physical reality!

I had a discussion with one of my Black Belts last night about doing the basics. He was commenting on how tired he gets practicing what he refers to as beginners stuff.  His response is certainly not unusual but he lacks understanding mostly because of his age. Our talk inspired me.

At this point I decided that the class that night should really focus on the basics or foundation of the art. The adult Black Belts in attendance were shocked at how much there really was to learn.  First I have to add that there are no advanced techniques. Movement is movement, striking is striking, locks and throws are locks and throws.  There is only advanced thinking which results in advanced movement.

When a beginner starts with the basics he or she will learn to step, strike with the hands, do some kicks.  To the beginning mind these are all separate things. This is of course normal in the learning process. As the student progresses they learn to step and punch or kick. They develop flow between the 2 halves of the body. Power and coordination develop as they approach and pass the Black Belt mark. From here if the ego is under control and it must be, they are ready to progress with the basics  into advanced and master level thinking, and seamless movement.

The beginning of this stage is when the Black Belt learns to move the entire body as a whole, not as separate parts of the whole. As this happens the need for power and timing disappear making the art ageless and timeless.  This comes from conquering the mind and the body.  All you do is move and the attacker creates the openings and then moves right into them.  The founder of Aikido Morihei Ueshiba was a perfect example of such ability and movement.

Much to the suprise of the Black Belt student all this comes from the basics they get so bored practicing. Advanced martial arts practice, whether a hard art or soft is the study of the self. As Bruce Lee loved to say, “All knowledge is Self Knowledge”