SO WHAT ARE YOU LOOKIN' AT?

 By Phillip Starr

      It’s a small detail, I know…but it’s also critical.  Watch a classmate, student, or even an instructor perform a given form and watch how they turn their heads just before changing directions to address another (imaginary) opponent.  Do they do it at all?  Or are the change of bodily direction and movement of the head down as one movement?

Think about it; you're engaged in mortal combat with one opponent and you knock him down. Just then, a second opponent comes up from behind you, or moves in from one of your flanks. The very first thing you'd do is YOU'D LOOK AT HIM, right? You can't know exactly where he is or what he's doing unless you see him first! So – first, you turn and look at him. THEN you move your body appropriately. Is this how you do your own forms? It should be.

Remember your mother telling you to look both ways before crossing the street? What if, just as you step into the street, a car off the one side guns its engine and tries to run you down? Would you look directly at it? I sure hope so!

And then there's what I call “peepee gazing.” This occurs when a student does a form and looks down for any reason other than striking an opponent who's been knocked down or thrown to the ground. Students often do it to ensure that their stance is just right. And it's wrong. In a life-and-death struggle, you'd NEVER do that. Well, not more than once.

And I developed a highly effective method of stopping students frm developing this nasty habit. When they did it, I'd belt out in a rather loud voice (so that everyone can hear it), “Don't look at your peepee!” It really embarrasses the guilty party. And is he or she did it again, I'd loudly order the, “...and don't look at anyone else's peepee! Even if it's a really nice one, don't look at it!” That usually solved the problem after the giggling calmed down. I have students from more than 30 years ago who still remember me uttering those immortal words in a rather loud voice. And they laugh. It worked.

To do your form without visually engaging your imaginary foes just before you act or react is an error. Many martial arts devotees, including high-ranked instructors, are guilty of it. It's a tough habit to break but without it, you're just doing a complicated set of exercises.

RULES??? WHAT RULES???

 by Phillip Starr

In 2022 (approximately), there was an astounding occurrence in the martial arts world. Because it happened in Japan, most of us still don't know anything about it. A similar event could never happen in the West because too many egos are involved, but...

Numerous well-known (some internationally famous) martial arts teachers from several different disciplines began to actually get together in a spirit of learning and sharing information. Instructors of different forms of karate, MMA, Jeet Kune Do, traditional gong-fu, traditional forms of jujitsu....all began to communicate and collaborate. This is raising the understanding of many different facets of martial arts to a whole new level.

Techniques, training methods, concepts, and principles that had never been shown publicly were revealed openly, in a spirit of friendship and furtherance of the martial arts. My senior student, Hiro Misawa, knows some of these teachers and stays abreast of many of their new “discoveries.”

One instructor believes that one of the greatest weaknesses/flaws in modern martial arts training has to do with adherence to “rules” in so far as freestyle sparring is concerned. In practice in the training hall and especially in competitions, various rules are strictly followed (mostly for the sake of safety). This can and does strangle the true nature of the art and causes practitioners to become a bit too accustomed to performing according to the rules.

He allows practitioners to practice sparring without any rules other than maintaining very strict control. No protective gear (other than a groin cup) is worn. Finger jabs to the eyes and kicks to the knees and groin are all permitted. Of course, the upper-level practitioners who participate in these sessions are extremely careful not to make contact. Several interesting discoveries have been made, and one of them is that we all tend to fight (even in a real fight) in accordance with the rules by which we practice regularly.

For example, a renowned Kyokushin full-contact competitor was rendered very confused and helpless against this gentleman's flurry of eye jabs, which were reminiscent of xingyi's “monkey boxing.” The Kyokushin fighter simply could not adequately defend himself. Why? After all, Kyokushin is famous for its full-contact, bare-knuckle competitions.

The answer is clear. In Kyokushin tournaments, kicking to the head is permitted, but strikes made with the hands are not allowed above the shoulders. This world-famous champion was totally unprepared for hand strikes directed at his face (particularly eye thrusts, even though they were well-controlled)!

MMA fighters experienced considerable difficulty as did western-style boxers; they were accustomed to fighting according to certain rules. When those rules disappeared, they became confused and unable to fully engage their opponents.

The master who conducts these training sessions emphasizes the need for control, so injuries just don't happen. And of course, this type of practice is off-limits for persons under the rank of nidan (2^nd grade black belt) and never for children; it is geared to experienced and highly-skilled practitioners only.

But it does give you pause to think, doesn't it?

PLEASE REINSTALL YOUR DO...

 by Phillip Starr

The word “do” is used in various martial art disciplines such as judo karate-do, taekwondo, and aikido, as well as numerous other art forms such as chado (the tea ceremony), shodo (calligraphy with a brush), kado (flower arranging) and so on, pronounced “dao” (道) in Chinese (and Korean) and refers to “a way”, “a path…” MANY practitioners of these arts really don’t understand what it means and if that’s the case, theirs is a shallow method. So what does this really mean?

Put simply, a “do” is a way of living. It’s not something that you practice on Monday and Wednesday evenings for an hour or so. It permeates your very being, regardless of what you’re doing; your job, brushing your teeth…whatever. It affects and improves your character and the strength of your spirit. It is always there; in your speech, in your relationships, in the quality of work that you do, in how you view yourself and the world.

Judo came from juJUTSU, just as kendo came from kenJUTSU. The same is true for karate-jutsu, aikijutsu, and numerous other martial disciplines of Japan. Jutsu (術, pronounced “shu” in Chinese, and “gisul” in Korean, 기술 ) means, simply, “technique.” In the martial arts, it refers to technique that is practiced solely for combative purposes. It does NOT refer to a way of life. Jutsu has no interest in the development of character or spirit. It is intended only for combat.

This is not to say that practitioners of a jutsu form cannot improve character and spirit through training. They can, but the teacher has little interest in such qualities. If he begins to look at improving such qualities through training, he is beginning to practice a “do.”

In China, there is no such differentiation in a given martial discipline such as we find in Japan. Wushu means literally, “martial art.” But because it’s been used for decades to refer to a performing art that combines gymnastics, aspects of Chinese opera, and martial arts, “wushu” is no longer used (in China) to refer to the traditional martial arts. They now call them “gong-fu”, which is a misnomer because that term actually refers to any fine skill that is developed through arduous practice over time. A highly skilled carpenter or painter can be said to have “a lot of gong-fu” or “really good gong-fu.”

So part of my personal mission is to establish the “do” in traditional Chinese martial disciplines. Many of them are wholly focused on being “jutsu” oriented. Learning technique isn’t easy; it takes time and a great deal of practice. But once you achieve “technique”, you must go beyond it – into the “do.”

In the art of painting, for instance, there is jutsu and do. A jutsu painter simply paints what he sees, kind of like paint-by-numbers. The end result may be an accurate depiction of what he saw, but it has no life; no soul, no FEELING or spirit. And there’s a huge difference between the two. A true artist must go beyond putting paint on his brush and simply stroking the parchment or canvas.

So I encourage you to go beyond the jutsu of what you practice. Seek out the do.

THE QUESTIONS THEY ASK

 by Phillip Starr

One of the ways by which I can determine a student’s level of understanding and skill is by paying attention to the questions they ask. Whenever they ask a particular question, I consider just how it could be that they’d even wonder about such a thing (the object of the question). If they haven’t been practicing it and wondering about it, they would never know what question(s) to ask.

Now, I’m not necessarily talking about very simple things such as “where do my feet go when I stand in a forward stance?” Rather, I’m talking about much more intricate details/principles. At the same time, I warn students not to get TOO analytical about certain movements. Being over-analytical is usually detrimental to their progress.

For instance, if a professional baseball pitcher gets too analytical about how to throw the ball, his mind gets so befuddled with small details that he’ll soon lose the ability to throw the ball as he should. The same is true for all physical activities.

BUT…after practicing his pitch may, many times, he may see a small detail…a principle…that may help him improve. And THEN he can ask his coach about it. After practicing a basic hip throw, a practitioner of judo might find a very small detail/principle that just might enable him to execute the technique more effectively. When that happens, he may ask his instructor about it.

Asking such questions was usually discouraged by instructors back in the day. China and Japan adhered closely to the tenets of Confucianism, which considered questioning one’s teacher as a form of insolence. Answers/responses were often meted out as a form of punishment. The end result was that students quickly learned to keep their mouths shut.

My own teacher, master Chen, would respond rather violently (at first) when his Caucasian student (moi) would ask questions. Admittedly, many of them were, in retrospect, rather stupid questions. I once asked about a particular movement in one of our forms…he responded by having me attack him. He struck my arm with such force that I couldn’t use it properly for the rest of the day! But that’s how we Westerners are brought up to learn…we ask questions. Sifu Chen eventually came to understand this and his responses became much less painful.

My most senior student, Hiro Misawa, will ask questions about very small, seemingly insignificant principles or movements that he’s already been working on for a while. He wants to know what I think…and I tell him. This has been a huge help to him in developing very high skills. And it helps me to better understand his level of expertise. If he hadn’t been practicing enough, he’d never have discovered enough to ask such questions…

QI? NATURAL?

 By Phillip Starr

For many decades now, there has been an ongoing argument regarding the “mysterious” force that is often referred to as “qi.” Americans first heard of it when it was introduced (via taijiquan) by the martial arts media of the time. Since then, there has been a plethora of “masters” who, for a nominal fee (of course) will demonstrate or teach hungry Westerners about the ”secrets” of this inscrutable concept. The result has been that many people refuse to believe that such a thing exists and they go about practicing their (internal) martial disciplines without concerning themselves with the subject.

Much of the problem is that they don’t understand the actual word/concept in terms of the Chinese language. As the renowned scholar, Samuel Hayakawa, told us, “We are limited in our thinking (and ability to understand certain concepts) by our language.” The word “qi” doesn’t fully translate very well into English and the (Chinese) meaning of it, and how it’s used in their culture, is not well-understood in the West.

The old character (not the new “simplified” Chinese character) for qi -氣 - is made from two radicals; One is the character for rice, which is placed inside a radical that refers to clouds, vapor, etc. So it represents boiling rice and the steam rising above it. This is why I like the older form of Chinese characters; the new “simplified” method may make them easier to memorize and write, but much of the meaning (of the original radicals) is lost.

The word for energy (one of the words for it) is huoli. The first radical, huo, means “live” as in the concept of “alive.” Li refers to a force/power of some kind. Thus, “life force/power.” The concept of qi refers not only to vapors, but also to a sort of “life energy.” It is that which makes us alive (it dissipates at death). We can build a complete human being – or any other creature, for that matter – but try as we might, we cannot make it alive. No qi, no life.

That said, qi is not a “thing”, like a stone or even water. It cannot be easily seen, measured, or held in the hand. Like love and other similar concepts, we cannot see or measure it but we can easily see and feel its effects. Most forms of energy occur naturally, as the result of combining certain things. Without these “ingredients”, the energy will not exist. Wind depends on certain conditions existing at the same time, and so on. We say that wind is a “natural-occurring” energy but in reality, certain “ingredients” must be brought to the fore first. The same is true of qi. Qi itself, is, in fact, a naturally-occurring form of energy.

Qi – form of energy that we cannot as yet measure – exists all around us, just as water surrounds a fish. The fish cannot exist outside of it and is unaware of water or its constituent parts. When we breathe, we inhale oxygen AND qi…although we’re not necessarily aware of it. If we stop gathering oxygen or qi, we die.

So, qi is a natural energy form and you “emit” it all the time, especially when you move. It does not, however, add any additional power to your movement(s) unless it is focused properly. What you naturally emit (or radiate) in terms of qi is rather small and not focused at all.

Being able to express it through our bodies, certain “ingredients” are required. So, what are the ingredients that must be present in order for us to express (or emanate) qi? Here is a basic list for static postures (like standing or sitting), but each item is likely more than what you may think it is;

• Mental Bearing

• Posture

• Relaxation

  

To really learn each of these items requires instruction from a good teacher. Mental Bearing has to do with your self-image (see my book, MARTIAL ARTS AND THE MIRROR IMAGE), and your intention/will. Moreover, it has to do with directing your “yi” (mind, intention, will) because as I’ve mentioned in previous articles, where the yi goes, qi goes.

Posture involves much more than simply standing straight. The weight of the upper body must rest atop the hips without any tension being detected; the hips must be held just right, so that the femurs (bones of the thigh) rest squarely on top of them. The same holds true for the knees and ankles.

Relaxation is another problem altogether. There can’t be pockets of tension anywhere – especially in the shoulders and neck, anywhere in the back, hips, knees, and ankles. If the posture is exactly right, there will be very little, if any, tension. But learning to do this requires considerable practice. That’s why many gong-fu styles (especially the internal schools) place great emphasis on the practice of standing postures.

MOVEMENT involves adding a whole new can of worms to the mix. To EMIT qi in any given movement requires the same “ingredients” as when standing (or sitting) still. The yi must be focused, the posture must be such that the body’s structure supports the movement, and there must be no unnecessary tension at all. It sounds like it shouldn’t be too tough to do…but believe me, it takes a LOT of practice over an extended period of time! This is why taijiquan is practiced in slow-motion initially; so you can ensure that the positioning of all the joints is just right and so you can FEEL any pockets of unnecessary tension and eliminate them.

Actually, ANY movement you make (in so far as martial arts movements) emits qi, but lack of yi, kinks in the posture (which act like kinks in a hose), and unnecessary tension will reduce it,,,usually to little more than a trickle. Thus, many practitioners of internal arts deny the existence of qi because they cannot feel it or emit it in a powerful way (fajin, fali). Their lack of mental focus (including doubts about their ability to do so), flaws in their movements and/or posture(s), or excessive tension prevents them from doing so. But many are convinced that their movements and postures are perfect and yet, they cannot perform fajin; their refusal to examine themselves in a clear mirror prevents them from ever achieving any measure of success.

The special body movements that are utilized when “fajin” (emitting power) are intended to AMPLIFY the emission of energy much like the nozzle on the end of a hose focus the water, turning it from a flowing stream to a concentrated blast. The smaller the movement (the tighter the nozzle), the more concentrated and effective is the power that is released…naturally.