Firm ground

 Okay, this fill be the final post (think of it as a het-trick) on the role of awareness and alertness in the grand scheme of personal protection...for now at least. The previous two articles touched upon some of the basic tenets of what is desirable and what is not in that regard. This time I'd like to point you to a great source for further study.

David W I Wilson's work From The Base Up! is a fairly recent book, and a pretty damn good one if I may say! From the very beginning, it is absolutely thrilling to see aa book whose cover page lets you know exactly what to expect. Specifically, taken together its title and subtitle - Building foundational skills for situational awareness, strategy, and self-defense - very aptly describe what the content is all about.

The aspect of this piece of work that makes me like it so much is that the author gives a very comprehensive, yet practical overview of what is a rather complex subject. He approaches the presentation from several angles, addressing the building elements of situational awareness, strategy and goals, willpower, context, tactics, force matrix, intent, structure, breathing, efficiency of motion, effectiveness, as well as practical application beyond combat. As you can see, it is an integrative approach that includes both "software" and "hardware" skills and discusses how they work together in striving for the optimal outcome. 

Remember how I said it was practical? Well, that is possible the strongest feature of Wilson's book. Whereas most other works on this topic tend to stay in the predominantly theoretical domain, spanning from the unnecessarily burdened neuropsychological treatises to cheap lip service pamphlets that boil down to "trust your gut" level of advice, From The Base Up actually deliver a well laid out progression of explanations, accompanied by actionable steps. It means the reader is given concrete advice and various exercises to better absorb the content, i.e. make the material useful in the real life. 

Now, be aware (excuse teh pun) that it is still not what most people would consider a handbook, because the subject matter is highly intangible and dependent on the user's individual circumstances and needs. However, it is exactly this that makes Wilson's book impressive - to my mind he hits the sweet spot between the education (underlying theoretical principles) and instruction (the practical drills/exercises), so that the readers who take it seriously could reap benefits that reach beyond instant solutions to problems they may not even have. 

Ultimately, a good understanding and "embodiment" of the material presented should make one much better equipped to recognize, prevent, avoid and/or manage all kinds of conflict situations in such a way to also prevent and avoid as many of the negative consequences (psychological, physical, social, legal...) as possible. 

With that in mind, it is hard to imagine a better investment in one's personal safety. 

Classical classic!

 If my previous post sounded like a call to action, maybe this one will help point to the right direction.

You already should know that I support any motive to learn martial arts, as long as it is congruent with one’s needs and with a clear vision of what the person is training for. In that regard, it is obvious that learning traditional martial systems as a form of cultural study is beyond doubt valuable, but...can it also be effective as a practical fighting method?

Well, again, those of you who have read through this blog are aware that I firmly believe the effectiveness of a combative system is predicated more on training methodology than its history or the „real deal skills“ of the old masters. So, there is a way to approach the traditional arts in order to make them usable in actual fighting? The question „why does it have to be traditional?“ aside, the answer is – yes! And if you are wondering how to achieve it, I have a brilliant book to recommend, where the whole path is superbly explained.

If you happen to belong to the category of practitioners who seek to go beyond mere repetition of your chosen art’s techniques, drills and forms, in an attempt to actually understand the WHYs behind the WHAT and HOW, you cannot afford to skip The Principle-Driven Skill Development in Traditional Martial Arts, written by Russ Smith. The title may seem a bit long, but it tells you exactly what the book is about. Still, let me try to give you a somewhat closer insight into the material covered. Let me say right here that subject matter is not limited to a single system – Mr. Smith has background in Chinese (southern kung fu styles) and Okinawan (goju-ryu) arts, so the book cleverly shows how the conceptual framework of the former can be used in the latter. But properly understood, the principles described can be integrated into the training of any style or system.

The book is very nicely divided into half a dozen chapters which outline the conceptual tools one needs to adopt on their way to functionalization in traditional arts. In the introduction the author aptly addresses the typical problem of disconnect in the traditional arts, i.e. the lack of adequate synergy among the main training modes in that environment. He then proceeds to make a significant point that many instructors, sadly, ignore – teaching is communication, which is why the instructors need to grasp the basic steps in improving the skill of their students. Those are presented as the identification of actionable principles, development and/or modification of the curriculum etc. Sifu Smith concludes by explaining how to use the book for the best results, and I urge the readers not to skip this section!

On the premise of teaching being communication, the next chapter deals with terminology and fundamental assumptions that serve as the guidelines in the further treatment of the material. By being aware of the need to accurately describe these pillars of communicative exchange, the author shows some of the traits of great instructors. As such, it is important to pay attention to what he has to say about what martial art is and is not; what is the foundational aim of self-defense; the distinction between techniques and applications; and key success factors in one’s training, described as principles, applications¸ and attributes. This section alone will make a lightbulb blink many times and lead to numerous a-ha! moments in finally understanding what has been hindering your or your students’ progress.

With the foundation set, the author takes us on the tour of general methods (FA), whose understanding ought to serve as the launch pad for the improvement of the overall functional skills. He starts with the discussion of three types of timing in dealing with and opponent (different terminology than mine, but close in meaning); next is the need for technique stretching to meet the demands of purpose, physical context and starting point; then the strategic (dis)advantages of various positions between the participants etc. Excellent stuff, applicable across the board in any kind of combative endeavor, be it in in the real world or in the sport arena.

Now we move to the treatment of tools (XING) that we need to command when striving to bring the previous principles out. Some of the highlighted ones are the three gates, three sections, eights bridging principles and so on. They are not all numerical, LOL, but everything is explained in a concise and understandable manner, in line with the previously noted need for better communication. This is probably the chapter where you will gain deeper understanding of the technical arsenal of your art.

Sifu Smith’s analysis of power (GONG) as it realities to the improvement and effective use of a person’s technical skill is second to none! Namely, he manages to explain the principles of power, leverage and body structure without sinking into the depths of overly technical engineering or scientific jargon, but also successfully avoiding to dumb it down to the point of being meaningless. Hitting the right balance is the trap that too many other writers have fallen into. He demonstrated similar ability when discussing the four movements concepts of Chinese systems (sink, float, spit, swallow) – presents practical understanding without reaching for pseudo-metaphysical terminology that might make it all sound more advanced, but also potentially confusing.

In wishing to give his readers an actual working plan of action, the author concludes with a chapter that delineates a teaching model for skill development. Here, he points that the functional skill is the result of going through the stages of knowledge development, understanding and transference/application. It means the progression from the isolated skills and rills, through the next step of selecting proper actions via the drills of the constraint and affordance type, to the experimental testing of application of in the progressively non-cooperative drills with wider boundaries, such as classical push hands, chi sao and other more or less free-form exchange approaches.

All in all, we have before us a comprehensive treatise of what is frequently neglected, yet remarkably important aspects of training in the traditional martial arts. Too often is the notion of tradition limited to the superficial imitation of costumes and rituals, while failing to identify and respect the intent that was the driving force behind those arts.

In the end, as well as the material in the book is explained, Mr. Smith also offers a video instructional where it is shown in motion, for an even better learning experience. There is nothing else left but to conclude that this is a phenomenal work, which sets the new standard to the coverage of traditional martial arts beyond historical and ethnological approach.

Kung Fu - virtual yet authentic!

 As some of you may remember, some time ago I mentioned on this very blog that I was taking a step back to a beginner student process of learning a new, traditional-type art. It was not mentioned back then what it was, but now it has been a little bit over half a year, and this might be a nice opportunity to share some of my impressions.

First of all, although from my input here it is clear that my main areas of coverage are essentially FMA and RMA, along with a few other weapon based methods, as well as western fighting methods, including MMA, in the past, I have had a particular kind of interest for a long time when it comes to traditional Chinese arts. As an example, back in the second half of the 1990’s I spent a couple of years training in Uechi-ryu, which is normally perceived as a school of Okinawan karate, but in essence is a slightly modified southern Chinese martial system. That said, the teacher of that school, the late Mario Topolsek, also taught taijiquan and a little bit of baguazhang, of which the latter later become my favorite kung fu system. However, it too quite a number of years before I found a competent instructor to point me in the right direction of exploring baguazhang…but that is not my topic today.

Somehow, about a year ago I first learned about Baji Quan, one of the so-called northern schools of Chinese martial arts, coming of the Hui nationality, i.e. a Muslim minority from the Hebei province of China. This article will not deal with the historical background of the art, because that is not what attracted me to it. It was the quality of movement and overall attributed displayed by some of the exponents on the internet that drew my attention. 

As it often happens, there are several lineages of bajiquan out there, and my initial criterion for picking one was simple – availability! In this case, it means an online school, which then met other criteria of quality instruction and well presented material. I found that in the BaJiShu online program of sifu Vincent Mei.

So, what is it that makes his program good? First of all, it really is a program, which reflects the lineage from which sifu Mei comes, that of the renowned Wu Tan school of founder Liu Yunqiao in Taiwan. Basically, it is a curriculum of material that follows a well thought out progression, aimed at teaching the practitioners not just the moves, but also the underlining principles and physical attributes required for the proper execution. 

There are certain specific aspects of this online school that make it stand out. Namely, you can’t just sign in any time you want and then access the material at your own pace. No, you can enroll when a new group (cohort as it is called) is formed, thus starting the journey with several other people at the same time. Why is this important? For a very important reason – every week you get access to a video with material to be worked on, and then you have to submit homework for review. The neat aspect is that all of the classmates in a cohort submit their homework to the same online folder, so everyone is able to watch everyone else’s progress. Once a week, sifu Mei posts a review with commentary, critique, corrections and additional instruction, so you are able to learn from the common mistakes and general feedback, as well as the specific, individual comments. And let me tell you – the instructor has a sharp eye for catching even the smallest details of students’ performance. It also helps that he uses frame-by-frame video analysis to bring his point across.

The teaching approach is quite interesting. One of the forms from the school’s curriculum is taken as a lesson plan (which reminds me of FMA master Rey Galang!), and then dissected into components that make it. In practice, it typically means one of the maneuvers from the form is taught each week, presented as contained within the form, then analyzed in detail; next, the application is shown, so that the understanding of it gives a better feel for the moves; finally, a drill is derived from the technical elements, in order to really focus on the underlying principles of the material covered. 

By the way, the weekly lessons are not presented in isolation, but rather in each one the sifu leads an actual training session – warmup, basic exercises and foundational stances, followed by reps of essential punches and kicks. That way, it reminds you to put in your daily work before tackling new material. Trust me, with the attention to detail and weekly homework deadlines, you will never be complaining about not having enough to work on, despite the seemingly bite sized instruction.

The whole package is expanded by membership in a BaJiShu members only group on Facebook, where you can exchange opinions and experiences related to lessons and other material of interest, thus reinforcing the sense of belonging, as in a non-virtual class or club/school.

Yet, if you are not a person who can commit to this approach, you can order standalone weapon programs or recordings of Bajiquan seminars held every year.

For those who would like to have a peek into where the training leads to over long-term practice, sifu Mei has a Youtube channel with ample additional input for those who need the motivation from a wider context of what the program has to offer in the later stages of instruction. Honestly, while I am perfectly happy with working on whatever happens to be the ongoing lesson at the time, it is nice to see some partner drills to complement the functional understanding or absorption of the information.

All in all, with his BaJiShu project, sifu Vincent Mei has been doing great things for bringing the traditional Chinese martial arts into the 21^st century. So much so, that he was able to generate enough interest and support for the expansion of the concept, so now the Tsang Wu Ge Academy project he started is offering other Shu classrooms – Chang Chuan and Hung Ga, with top-tier instructors…and hopefully even more systems coming in the future.

In conclusion, BaJiShu is a prime example of how modern communication technologies and media can be used to adequately propagate traditional martial arts as best as possible, short of in-person instruction. And in order to bridge that shortcoming, sifu Mei goes on annual seminar tours of North America, Asia and Europe, thus creating possibility for members of his online academy to also experience the dimension of live instruction and cross hands with other practitioners. What better way to deepen the feeling of belonging and commitment?

To this practitioner – the whole package is clearly the winning combination!

Sword sorcery

They say good things come in threes. Also, it seems that all the great bands tend to have a triumvirate of great albums among others...less stellar. A similar thing may be said about book authors. It is a rare occurrence, though, when someone hits three brilliant pieces out of three! Well, today we have a shining example of that rare breed - Maija Soderholm. 

Maija is a phenomenal exponent of blade arts, mainly of the Filipino provenance, and an excellent instructor, too. While it might be customary to introduce a person in this field by means of her teachers etc, she stands so firmly on her own expertise that even the fact that she comes from the lineage of legendary Sonny Umpad doesn't diminish her own contribution to the development and advancement of the arts. Fortunately, she happens to be as mighty with a proverbial pen as she is with a sword, thus writing a string of books hinted at in the introduction. 

The thing that really made me love those is the common theme of all her products, i.e. higher-level, strategic dimension of dueling with sharp (and pointy) steel. In other words, Soderholm tackles the tricky topic of thinking process behind the seemingly "magical" performance by all the greatest exponents of this art/science. So, let me offer a brief review of her books, in the chronological order of their publication. 

In the debut volume the author sets the standard for the whole "series" in several regards. First of all, I love the visual theme/design of the cover, which has been kept for the later volumes as well. Next, the title - The Liar, The Cheat and The Thief - is nothing short of brilliant! It very aptly represents the overall "mood" of the material contained within the book. Namely, Maija does not deal with philosophy and ethics of martial arts as they are typically presented nowadays, in terms of self perfection as part of a wider social environment. Instead, her focus is on the self preservation in the situations where life and limb are at stake. Even so, however, there are higher dimensions in this kind of endeavor, beyond the mechanics of technical performance, as important as they are. 

To start with, the author describes a set of hypothetical circumstances that very well paint the kind of mindset required for thriving in the sort of situation that the material is aimed at. again - dueling with bladed implements. She then proceeds to explain why deception is the key word/idea in the foundation of advanced combative practice, in her view. The main section of the book, in Part 2, is dedicated to a number of drills designed to develop in the practitioner a constellation of skills that would help them in being successfully deceptive. The drills are divided into several categories, such as timing, footwork, faking, mirroring etc, depending on their primary developmental goal. This part is also where the only possible shortcoming of these books is found...all exercises and activities are described verbally, with no pictorial illustrations whatsoever. Now, this is not necessarily such a bad thing, as it means the inbuilt guidance to personalization and creativity in practice. Still, if you are adamant about seeing the "original" way of doing them, there is a set of corresponding videos available through Soderholm's website. The third and final section of the book offers several clarifications regarding the author's path leading to the lessons presented and several other tidbits that help put things together.

Her second title is The Hustler. While the previous one was mostly a hands-on instructional, this volume is more...theoretical in nature. More specifically, it will require that you put your thinking hat on and approach the material from the personal interpretation of the presented information. See, it still deals with deception, but goes a step further in treating the subject as a course in managing attention. Both the opponent's and your own. That said, it could be said that Soderholm is seeking to bring to the forefront certain facets of human nature that are relevant to the task at hand, which should help us understand the bigger picture of the activity (Remember? Yes, sword dueling!). And why is it important? Well, because it is easier to put the pieces of the puzzle in the right place if you have the picture before you, and it means the reciprocal endeavor of trying to figure out how to overcome the opponent, while simultaneously preventing them from overcoming you. Possibly most illuminating is the description and analysis of the Arc of Action, as she calls it, with its phases of before, during and after, because so many people seem not have the grasp of that continuum. The thing is, understanding that part will help immensely with the applicability of the rest of material, including time and targets, methods of control, and the art of reading the opponent. Obviously, the kind of knowledge that could be gained from understanding and working with this material is precious when you need to analyze other people's styles and overall strategies that run their approach to fighting. Whether that is for the purpose of countering or emulating them...I leave that up to you.

Finally, the last book (only for now, hopefully) is The Spy and the Rodeo Clown. This one also has the intriguing subtitle Swordplay and the Third Game, which is another way of pointing to the progression that these volumes present in terms of personal "game" development: the first book teaches us how to be unreadable for the opponent; the second is about reading their intention; while the this particular strives to reach the ability of "writing the opponent". In other words, guiding their actions to where you want them to be. In more other word, if in the first book you set the traps and waited (hoped) for the prey to fall into them, this time you are actively luring them to walk into that trap. It is possibly a more proactive approach, but in a rather subtle manner, since the trick is in making the opposition believe they are doing it of their own volition, i.e. in their best interest. Do you now get the references to magic and sorcery? 

Maija has an interesting mode of presenting this material - she first gives you a set of tasks/assignments to do, and only after teaches how to solve the riddles and/or problems that might emerge along in the process. In my experience it is an excellent approach, because it starts with acquainting oneself with the context, so that everything learned afterwards makes much more sense and is easier to retain and further develop. Very few people in the contact weapons world offer that sort of instruction, and I have yet to see more of them getting so deep into it while staying practical. 

The author is known for her championing the training method of random flow as the best way to instill this range of skills, but in order to make things easier to grasp, she first points to an important distinction between the interview and conversation, to better understand the scope of application and appreciate the spheres of influence in the contact range and edge of range (both while entering and exiting the contact range) etc. There is a lot of ground covered here, and it is not something that can be quickly absorbed into one's personal combative expression. It will take time and effort for sure, but in the long term it is not something that should be neglected or dismissed. On the contrary - at the advanced age you need advanced skill to compensate for deteriorating physical attributes, especially in working with weapons, where the margin of error is much narrower.

Before the end, I'd like to suggest a reading order different to chronology of publishing. Even though you can certainly go through the progression as already described, but from the standpoint of understanding the context first you may want to start with the Hustler, then carry on with LCT, and finally work on the Spy and the Rodeo Clown. Whatever the preferred order, you won't regret diving into the material. 

In conclusion, for everyone who takes a serious approach to martial arts, training hard and smart, these books  not only belong to their library, but ought to be read and referenced often and lot.

Stick Scholars

 

Every once in a while a person or a piece of work appears in the ever growing universe of martial arts, and leaves a mark that can change the shape of our understanding of that universe. Some do it by shaking things up, almost causing seismic effects on the previously accepted views, like Jigoro Kano, Bruce Lee or the Gracies. Some give new appearance to older traditions and propel them to unforeseen levels of popularity, like Choi Hong Hee, Morihei Ueshiba and Karl Gotch. Some leave behind written works that keep providing inspiration and food for thought for future generations, like Sun Tzu, Miyamoto Musashi and, again, Bruce Lee.

It is the last category that I’d like to discuss today. In the Western world, the topic of martial arts has for a long time been treated in a book format primarily as either an esoteric phenomenon to feed the imagination, or as a rather banal sort of pictorial book. The endeavors that would successfully join a scholarly approach in study and popular accessibility in presentation have been few and far between. Interestingly enough, in Europe that path originated with fencing treatises, especially those in the second half of the 19^th century, penned by the likes of Alfred Hutton or Egerton Castle. However, the man who took it to a higher level was the legendary sir Richard Francis Burton with The Book of the Sword, and he gave this field of study a name – hoplology. 

Burton and Draeger

 However, it took several decades for this approach to gain some traction in the 20^th century, under the guidance of Donn F. Draeger and his associates (Armstrong, Beltzer, Smith etc.), with special emphasis on the martial arts of the Far East, resulting with several excellent books on the arts of Japan, China and Indonesia. Unfortunately, with Draeger’s passing in the the early 1980’s, hoplological research slowed down drastically.

A few years ago I was thrilled to see the emergence of a new “player” in the field, namely the organization called The Immersion Foundation (TIF for short), which injected the much needed energy into this field of study, with its driving force Mahipal Lunia at the helm. To be brief, they undertook a two-pronged strategy in continuing the development of hoplology: on the one hand they continued the model of expeditions, in order to learn the arts in their “natural habitat” (such as the Caribbean, Philippines, Portugal, South America etc.); on the other hand they organize the annual Immersion Labs, i.e. seminars with several instructors giving presentations and providing deeper insights into a chosen topic for that year.

 

During all of those events, the material is carefully recorded and processed for archiving, analysis and publishing. Owing to such work, a couple of month ago we got the brilliant opportunity to enjoy the benefits in the form of The Book of the Stick! What we have here is a four-volume anthology of articles, interviews and scholarly papers on various facets of stick fighting arts and methods from all over the globe. With more than 2000 pages worth of material, this is an unprecedented presentation, both in terms of breadth and depth. Besides the soft cover edition with b/w photos (see the previous link), it is also available as a hard cover, full color version or even an eBook.

Now, each volume is available separately as well, but it may be really hard to take your pick. Namely, the material isn’t organized and presented along the lines of geographical or cultural criteria, but rather in the alphabetical order of featured authors’ names. While this may seem strange at first, I really came to appreciate this decision by the editorial team. See, it would be too tempting to immediately go for the “usual suspects” of Chinese, Japanese or Filipino arts, in line with personal experiences and preferences. And yes, it might appear to be a rational way to invest your money, right?

 

 

Well, I firmly believe that disadvantages would outweigh the benefits here. I mean, you would easily miss on some true gems that are to be found in each of the four volumes this way. Let’s have just a quick glance at some of the great featured to be enjoyed:

Vol.1 – the introduction to hoplology and TIF, which gives us a better understanding of the whole field and the scope of work; Kalinda, the stick art of Trinidad; Bonafont cane system of urban Argentina from 1930’s; African stick practices in the House and Zulu cultures; the Irish methods of Bataireacht.

Vol.2 – the Colombian art of Grima; war club in Native American war arts; actual application of stick skills in the modern day environment; the so-called hermit training avenues; combat measure methodology of Antonio Tatang Ilustrisimo.

Vol.3 – framework of the Hawaiian art of Lua; the Cuentada training methods of FMA; the rarely seen stick aspect of Burmese Bando; the amazing presentation of how HEMA material can be approached in a modern way for general applications; stick arts of North Africa.

Vol.4 – the Italian tradition of stick fighting; the Lathi of India and Punjabi stick arts; dueling and multiple opponent engagements in the Portuguese Jogo do Pau; Indonesian Ulin Limbuhan.

Don’t get me wrong – this is just a small sample of what can be found in this invaluable resource. Of course there is an abundance of material on the Japanese and Chinese methods, as well as those less expected, such as Greek/Byzantine legacy of pole arms, Maori arts, when it comes to geographic origin, and various approaches on the traditional-modern continuum. Above are simply some of the “chapters” that I found most interesting, for one reason or another. Obviously, the amount of work that went into preparing this seminal publication was astounding, so I would like to say the entire editorial team and organization deserve thumbs up and hat off for their effort.

In the end, no amount of reviews or talk about The Book of the Stick will ever convey just how excellent and important this series is. You will have to get the books and see for yourself.