Mike Martello: New Prices For Training Camp In China

Mike Martello wrote me the other day to let us know the prices have been reduced for his July 2008 training camp in China. A video of the intense training and beautiful locations are at THIS DOJO RAT POST.
Mike is one of the best instructors I have trained with-- 5'2" of intense energy and instruction with a heavy dose of humor. It's an absolute pleasure to learn from Mike, and for more information on this summer's training camp in China, please go to his website linked HERE.
In the mean time, watch this video of him giving his student a sound thrashing!

Aikido-- Dances With Wolves

Patrick over at Mokuren Dojo has this excellent post on Dog attacks, with a link back to a similar post I wrote for Dojo Rat. In it, he has videos of Dog attacks on both trainers and on-duty cops. The Dutch Shepherd appears to have the best bite strength and knockdown power, it's an impressive demonstration. The video also relates modern guard dog strength and tactics to that of ancient wolves.
Now, it just so happens I picked up a copy of "Aikido And The New Warrior", a collection of Aikido life-experiance articles edited by Richard Strozzi Heckler. Heckler has also written a book on his experiance training Green Berets in Aikido.
In one chapter of "Aikido And The New Warrior", O. Fred Donaldson writes "On Aikido, Wolves And Other Wildlife". Donaldson comments that most of the time people compete AGAINST animals, in hunting, rodeo and other events. Here he comments:
"We can substitute the dead trophies of contest with the enlivening experiances of Aikido. Suppose that instead of hunting animals to kill, we sought them out to engage in Randori (multiple person attack)".
Donaldsons comments reflect the concept that he has used his Aikido to become closer to nature, a blending aspect that most woodsmen, sailors and mountaineers realize.
But more specificly, he talks about using Aikido to help him fit in with a Wolf pack at a wildlife rehabilitation center in Washington State. He had to become like the wolves himself, and the blending concepts of Aikido helped him fit in. Here Donaldson explains:
"As Ukes, wolves are too fast, too full of suprise for me to depend on thought to control my responses. I use gentle intuition and heart to blend with their movements. Some are gentle, some quite forceful, and one is sneaky, always seeming to go to ground and jump me from behind." -- "My introduction to play with wolves was like being in the middle of an Aikido randori exercise".
Donaldson describes how he is often surrounded by as many as seven wolves, rolling in spirals and circles in a playful but potentially dangerous randori with his attackers. All the dynamics of an Aikido school, with heirarchy, technique, and necessary harmony are played out. It's a beautiful metaphor, and a thoughtful, well-written article.
It seems appropriate to conclude with this quote from Kipling's "The Law Of The Wolves"--
"The strength of the pack is the wolf, and the strength of the wolf is the pack".

*** Please note:
Thanks Ted, for the detailed article on dog attacks in Aikido Journal- LINK HERE

Just Wait 'Till The Olympics Start...

Monks under siege in monasteries as protest ends in a hail of gunfire

Jane Macartney in Beijing
Paramilitary police have surrounded Tibet’s most important monasteries after hundreds of monks shouting “Long live the Dalai Lama” defied Beijing in the biggest protest in the Himalayan region for almost 20 years.
Witnesses described violent clashes between monks and police on the outskirts of Lhasa on Monday afternoon and reported hearing as many as 60 gunshots as troops forced the monks to return to their quarters early yesterday. They said that about 60 monks from Drepung monastery were detained on the edge of the Tibetan capital and about 11 from Sera monastery were arrested after shouting anti-Chinese slogans.
The demonstrations were timed to coincide with the 49th anniversary on Monday of an anti-Chinese uprising in which the Dalai Lama fled into exile in India and tens of thousands of Tibetans were killed. Around the world, Tibetans took to the streets to commemorate the anniversary and to press demands for independence for the deeply Buddhist Himalayan region before the Beijing Olympics.
Monks took part in three demonstrations across Lhasa on Monday — a show of unrest likely to unsettle the Communist leadership in a year when China is under worldwide scrutiny before the Games in August.
The protests began when 400 monks left Drepung on Monday afternoon and marched about eight kilometres (five miles) as far as the Lhasa Customs office, where a dozen police cars blocked the road. They refused to return to their monastery unless the authorities met a series of demands.
Topping the list was a plea to the Government to grant full religious freedoms to Tibet before the start of the Beijing Games, a source at one monastery said. They also demanded the release of monks detained in purges at Drepung in recent months, including several expelled after they failed to pass tests to demonstrate their allegiance to Beijing and to vilify the Dalai Lama.
The police tried to force the monks to return to Drepung, once the largest monastery in the world with 10,000 monks and now home to about 900. When they refused, clashes erupted. Two columns of covered military trucks, each containing about seven vehicles, arrived to back up the police. Later an ambulance appeared. The monks then staged a sit-in. The police appeared reluctant to take on such a large number of protesters.
Meanwhile, a second group from Drepung monastery, numbering about 100 monks, raced down the hill and headed towards the city. They were stopped by police before they reached the bottom of the hill. They also staged a sit-in and refused to return to their rooms. At about the same time in the heart of Lhasa, around the Jokhang temple that is the holiest site in Tibetan Buddhism, about a dozen monks from Sera monastery — the second-biggest in the city — staged a third demonstration. They waved the banned Tibetan flag, which shows a snow lion. Their shouts of “Long live the Dalai Lama” and “Independence for Tibet” swiftly drew large crowds to the square in front of the temple where hundreds of Tibetan pilgrims arrive each day.
Police appeared from several stations that surround the temple. A Tibetan source said that about 11 monks were detained, with one or two ordinary Tibetans who joined in the shouts. It was not until early yesterday that police and troops were able to end the sit-in by the monks from Drepung. Witnesses said that most of them returned to the monastery but between 50 and 60 were believed to have been arrested.
The numbers could not be confirmed, and Chinese officials said that there had been no arrests. A Foreign Ministry spokesman, Qin Gang, said: “Some ignorant monks in Lhasa abetted by a handful of people did some illegal things that can challenge the social stability.” He said they had been dealt with according to the law.
Reports by monks at Drepung described sounds of gunfire around the monastery at about 2.30am, but it was not clear if anyone was hurt. The monastery was encircled yesterday by hundreds of paramilitary police. In Sera monastery plainclothes police patrolled the halls. Monks there said they were fearful of reprisals and that government teams would launch new re-education programmes.
Champa Phuntsok, the ethnic Tibetan governor of the region, said that the monks had been counselled and released. “It’s really nothing. Everything is great,” he said.

Link To Original Article, Times of London

Smuggling Contraband Into Jail

Here is a sample of weapons confiscated at the Sangamon County Jail, which I believe is in Illinois. These weapons were hard to conceal, but others are readily available. Shanks are commonly made out of toothbrushes, pencils, or a piece of anything that can be pryed or broken off jail fixtures and sharpened. Moreover, the amount of drug use in jail is staggering, suggesting tacit approval of jail staff. Most inmates have their wives smuggle drugs in (you can guess how), and while it extends a criminal heirarchy behind bars, there may be some utility in stoned inmates. One guy I know, who was in for assualting a cop (he took his gun away and threw it into the woods during a struggle)- was stoned out of his mind and standing by his cell. A huge guard came up and stood right beside him. The guard looked over and smiled, telling the guy "A stoned inmate is a happy inmate". Later that same guy got some of his weed stolen by an inmate who was using a sharpened toothbrush as a weapon. Ah, sweet revenge. Mr. "X" waited for the right moment. He then took the "D" cell batteries out of his radio and duct-taped them into a pair of leather gloves (that he used for work crew) and made them into heavy fistloads. He caught the weed thief and bashed the crap out of him until the guy was hurt pretty bad. I guess some things are worth a couple extra months on your sentence.
Back when you could still smoke tobacco in jail (in fact they handed out roll-your-own pouch tobacco), it was easy to put a pinch of pot in the first part of the cigarette, with the tobacco masking the smell.
I know there are readers out there who have been on both sides of the system.
What are your thoughts?

When Does Push Hands Become San Shou?

More thoughts and information continue to roll in about the previous post "Mixing Hard With The Soft", about incorporating joint locking and hitting into the presumably softer push hands training.
In the current issue of "Tai Chi" magazine, Alex Yeo interviews Chan See Meng on "Martial arts training methods". In this excellent and revealing interview (which is part two), Chan again compares his Tai Chi Chuan training under Dong Yingjie (a famous master in a version of the the Yang style) with his training in both White Crane style as well as Japanese sword and Aikido. To sum up, here's a quote from the article:
Alex Yeo: You are also a master in White Crane, has training in another art helped improve your Tai Chi? In fact, does cross-training in another martial art help in mastering Tai Chi skills?
Chan See Meng: Let me put it this way. There is not any one good Tai Chi master in history who has learned only one martial art. Mr. Yang Luchan practiced many other martial arts before he learned Tai Chi. Even Dong Huling himself learned Shaolin martial arts, too. When you learn other arts you will gain more exposure and this enhances your knowledge of what you have already learned in a faster rate".
(D.R.)-- I obviously think this works both ways, and Tai Chi Chuan has made my Karate and joint-locking better. I also see the similarities in Tai Chi Chuan, Bagua and Aikido.
But what happens when we try to blend these arts together?
Before I wrote the original post on this topic, I contacted Dave over at Formosa Neijia, a Taiwan-based martial artist. Dave has very solid grounding in Internal arts but has also trained in hard styles. Here is his analysis, and it rings true:
(Dave): Formosa Neijia said...
There’s no problem with mixing the hard with the soft to some extent. I’m fairly open to eventually mixing in strikes, kicks, and throws into two person practices but then this evolves into sanshou, not tuishou.
Sanshou is obviously a valid practice.
The main problem that I see (even in myself) is that trying to incorporate harder elements into the practice is often a way to cover up our lack of understanding the softer more internal aspects of the arts.
When I want to play rougher, it’s almost always out of frustration that I can’t make something more internal work. But rather than surrender my desire to win in order to gain an understanding of a softer way, I try to “ramp it up” a bit. Or I want to use more martial techniques because that’s my background and I feel more comfortable using those techniques.
In the past, I scoffed at people that didn’t include obvious martial arts techniques in their push hands. It took me a long time to realize that I didn’t really understand taiji and the practice of push hands. Using to much of the hard can eradicate the acquisition of soft power.
So long as incorporating harder elements isn’t a mask for lack of softer abilities, I think it’s a good thing.
(D.R.) -- Dave's right. When things escalate, we tend to go hard and fast. But perhaps that is how a confrontation actually occurs. Chan See Meng comments in the article described above about challenge matches between striking arts masters and grapplers that he has witnessed. The grapplers willingly take a punch coming in, and dump the master on the ground. After having the wind knocked out of him two or three times, the master can't continue.
Chan goes on to say: "If I put a guy there, train him in street fighting for three months, six months, you can train Tai Chi for 100 years and you'll still loose to this fighter because you have never encountered a fight, you've never been hit, you've never suffered a blow"
--To be continued...
--The website and order information for "Tai Chi" magazine can be found HERE.
*** Also check out the comments section on Dave's response "A More Martial Push Hands" at Formosa Neijia (link above).

Mixing Hard With The Soft

I just finished reading an article in the February 4th issue of "The New Yorker" magazine, detailing the Chinese Olympic boxing team. In it, Boxing star Zou Shiming (who trained in classical Wushu Kung Fu) comments on his successful and elusive style:
(Zou): "I think I've combined martial arts and boxing". "Martial arts have a soft and flexible side, and boxing is more direct. Putting them together is a specialty of Chinese boxing".
-- This is something I have been giving a lot of thought to lately, and it is surely not without controversy in orthodox circles.
I no longer focus on the long-range fighting of my old Tae Kwon Do training, and my Kenpo has softened due to the influence of my passion for Tai Chi Chuan. Our hitting drills mostly stem from western boxing, with some open-hand variations. At the pre-clinch distance the sticking and coiling arm feeling comes from Chi Sao of Wing Chun and tactile softness of push hands. These naturally lead to some great joint locking action.
We have, in the course of learning these various systems, practiced them seperately and moved from one drill to another. Recently however, we have started doing something that is likely to horrify traditionalists; we are trying to combine it all into one unified practice.
Now, this blending of hard/soft is not a new idea. Think about Goju Ryu Karate. The problem is, That system is still way more "Go" (hard) than "Ju" (soft). Our persuit of Tai Chi Chuan has forced us to shift gears into a far more yielding approach to dealing with the incoming force of an opponent.
Using push hands as a foundation (both Yang style and Chen four-hands) we first added the occasional straight punch, which is neutralized and we return to the pattern. This works much better with the Chen pattern, which allows for a wider variety of movement. If we fall out of the pattern, chi sao sticky arms are maintained until we find the pattern again. This also allows for finger, wrist and elbow/shoulder locking, again returning to the pattern. For now, we have been alternating who does the technique back and forth -- push, hit, pattern, push, lock, pattern. Rollback is used to set up locks, with knees and elbows in the clinch. This is not necessarily done in a static motionless stance, we try to float around with a little natural movement, always returning to the pattern.
Critics may suggest that we are dabbling in drills that have distinctly different energies, and I suppose we may be distancing ourselves from the purity of any one art. A Tai Chi person might say "You're not doing Tai Chi" A Wing Chun guy might not like the softer push hands pattern, a striker might not recognize the value of sticking hands. A stand-up Small-Circle Jujitsu (or Chin Na) practitioner however, will see the value of this linking of systems.
We will be ready soon to put out a short video clip of what we are working on. In the mean time, I am curious what others think about this.
Am I "cheapening" an element of purity in my systemic drilling practice? Could it compromise the possibility of a truely deep understanding of any one art or system?
Or is this the natural evolution of years of training in seperate techniques and arts?
Isn't this how a broader understanding of dealing with an opponent is developed?

March: Cute Hippie Chick Of The Month

Yes, it's time again-- for our "Cute Hippie Chick Of The Month" feature.
This one is for the Canadians out there, and it's a good performance by Avril Lavigne.
Now, I'm an old Dojo Rat, so I don't follow Pop music too closely (I'm kinda' stuck in the Allman Brothers era). But after seeing the kind of lip-synch zombie-like acts of Brittany Spears and Jessica Simpson, it's refreshing to see a young star that actually plays her own music and stands alone as a performer.
This little gal creates a very big sound, and is this month's Canadian representative for "Cute Hippie Chick Of The Month"