Here are excerpts I found exceedingly interesting in the book “Mastery Mind-Set” (149171459X).
Page 20-21 – Regarding Belts
“If your club uses colored belts, know that this tradition only goes back to the 1940s, when Jigoro Kano, the founder of judo, standardized a ranking system. This ranking system was later adopted by other arts. If your karate dojo uses long stances like zenkutsu dachi , this tradition only goes back to World War II, when shotokan became popular and standardized many training practices. If you practice high kicks, spinning kicks, or jump kicks, this tradition again only goes back to World War II. So exactly what constitutes martial arts traditions? Who made these traditions? Just because something is old doesn’t make it valuable. A snake-oil salesman in the 1920s was just as shifty and useless as a snake-oil salesman of today. there are no practitioners who remember them. Many of the traditions and secrets were never written down, and so they vanished.”
Page 20-21 – Regarding Bowing
“My karate sensei would sometimes laugh at the start of class when he saw us bow-in and follow it up with basics. He thought this tradition was rather American as he never practiced in this way. My sensei would often just come in and start practicing. No warm-up, no bow-in, no line basics, just circle up, learn a technique, and pair off to practice it. He mocked the formalities that we tried to put in the arts! “Where did you learn that?” he asked.”
Page 38-39 – Awareness
“I once asked my aikido sensei how I could improve my awareness. His answer boggled my mind. He said, “Allow yourself to space out, almost force it, and you my goal to space out on purpose. To my surprise, this actually forced me to relax, and as a result I was able to see things I would not normally have been paying attention to. By doing this technique, I could sense that one of the waitresses was behind with her orders and this was causing her anxiety. I noticed one man at the bar who was wearing a weapon concealed under his shirt. I felt anger from another man one booth over, whom previously I had ignored because he was older. My sensei wasn’t crazy!”
Page 43-48 – Outside Method
“Most martial arts are taught from an outside-in approach. That is, most of us learn from our teachers where to place our hands and our feet and how to position our bodies in order to understand the techniques.”
“When you know nothing of the arts, you’ve got to start somewhere, and often using an outside-in approach is a sound stepping-stone. It can be used to build the framework of any art, and gives the novice clear direction for practice. Vague instructions are often confusing and too open-ended for new students to understand. So an outside-in approach makes more his feet and say, “This is sanchin.” But he was actually standing in shikko dachi , a very different stance. What he was talking about was not his feet placement, but where his weight was in relation to his opponent. Now, I could see this because I’d been practicing a long time, but the beginners in my class were outright confused and could not understand the lesson. At this point, I had to take them aside and say, “Just do sanchin stance.”
“By mirroring what experienced practitioners are doing, you can attain a firm starting point that will foster positive energy that can fuel your efforts for your first few years. So if you have no idea where to start, simply become a sponge and absorb everything. Just remember that when it comes to your techniques, nothing is sacred and traditions should be scrutinized to see how effective they are in the real world.”
“I new techniques and studied them like crazy, I made them my own; I made them work for me by making changes. If this studying doesn’t take place, the outside-in approach will fail you.”
“If you have been practicing martial arts for a long enough time, there is no such thing as stance work any longer.”
“With a proper understanding of how to distribute your weight to your advantage, your feet can be in any position. With a proper understanding of how to create vibration, it won’t matter what your fist looks like.”
Page 48-56 – Inside Out Method & Imagination
“Working from the inside-out means that you are developing a mental picture of what it is you wish to accomplish, be that a punch, kick, block, throw, choke, or whatever.”
“Allow yourself the joy of imaging perfect technique, perfect execution, and perfect results. This sort of positive thinking takes great discipline because we are always our own biggest critic.”
“When I teach punching to students, I sometimes ask this fire or electrical current leaping instantly into the target. We may not be able to conjure flames or electricity (yet), but this image can often help people gather an internal feeling for their arts.”
“People do not brace for impact because the touch is so disturbingly light that it does not warrant the need to fight back. By the time I’ve moved my opponent’s head off-line, he or she is off-balance and essentially trip themselves. While performing this art, I imagine my opponent is a river rock, and I am the river. The river does not want to destroy the rock, but the water is going up and over that rock no matter what the rock thinks. The use of this imagery greatly aids in the execution of this technique.”
“If you desire a strong punch and continuously imagine your punches as being strong, while also reinforcing positive ideas that your punch is strong, then naturally your punch will become strong. Your subconscious mind cannot reject any idea you give it, and by overflowing it with ideas such as these, you will see tremendous results. Remember that mental images are simply energy, and we can use this energy to inspire us to discover deeper power in our arts.”
“For sustainable striking arts, I recommend concentrating about 80 percent of your effort on hand techniques and 20 percent on foot techniques.”
“By creating images in our minds, we no longer need to do ten thousand repetitions to gain the same amount of benefit.”
“If you put your faith in your muscle, you will eventually be betrayed by it. If you put your faith in speed, again your body will betray you.”
Page 57 – Principles of Internal Power
“Many martial art styles use either internal or chi gung are considered to be internal. This is an oversimplification, but this generalization is the common focus of these art forms. External arts often call upon physical speed, power, and endurance. Internal arts require calmness of action, smoothness of movement, and a definite mental purpose.”
Page 73-78 – Absorbing Powwer
“While learning to absorb power from blows is intimidating at first, it is achievable if you have faith in yourself, persistence, and a strong mental image. The biggest obstacle is always in motion, even when we stand still, we remain moving. On a micro level, blood and lymph circulate through our bodies as our chests expand and contract with each breath. We have cellular activity and digestive activity—everything is in constant motion. On an atomic level, all of the atoms that we are built out of are also moving and vibrating. So in a sense, we carry these vibrations with us. Let’s use them to our benefit. When we are attacked, we can use this vibration to absorb blunt trauma, from fists, elbows, feet, shins, or whatever. Since our opponents are also composed of energy, we can synchronize our vibrations to theirs, thereby nullifying the effects of their attacks; making their strikes suddenly feel like pillows.”
“Absorbing power from attacks to the head is possible, but concussions are usually the result, and so this is not recommended for any practice.”
“The human body is composed of mostly water; we know this to be true from high school chemistry class. I would like you to consider this: if I had two drops of water and moved them together, what would happen? They would move together harmlessly and become one drop! Since we are composed of mostly water, we canuse the vibration of that water to dissipate energy from another person, who is also made primarily of water, just like two drops gently contacting. This may be a bit of a stretch for most people to see, but I want you to know that there is logic to all of this madness. This is how the impossible can become possible through careful study, analysis, and physical experimentation. There are two major factors for dissipating power from an opponent: psychology and physical structure.”
“Do not become the sheep before the wolf; become a wolf right back, or better yet, a bear.”
“To practice absorbing blows to your chest, you do not need washboard abs, nor do you need to be able to bench four hundred pounds. This has less to do with strength than you may believe, instead having more to do with how you receive power from a mental standpoint. If you “resist” the power, it will hurt you. If you “accept” this power, you can then absorb it and use it. You must welcome this energy to you, and then you can simply send it through the ground and be done with it.”
“If we allow ourselves to relax, this area will be closed off (more on this in following chapters). By closing off the solar plexus, we become immune to blows to this area, as if we were wearing armor. It is important when receiving blows that we do not wince, tense up, move away, or otherwise show any discomfort.”
“Create an image of a pebble that is dropped into a still pond. See those concentric rings expand outward like a shock wave. Use this image to create your own shock wave that starts from your center and expands outward infinitely. Since we are dealing with the speed of thought, your wave can hit your opponent’s energy instantly. This outward feeling makes you feel forward, by just a tiny amount, and this is ideal for absorbing power.”
Page 80 – 87 – Structure + Absorbing Power
“I define proper structure as a relaxed posture that is balanced and stable and facilitates movement.”
“This is less about where to put your feet than you may think; it has more to do with the proper alignment of your spine and orientation of your body weight. Too much weight on your heels, and you will be pushed back; too much weight on the balls of your feet, and you can crumple forward with impact. Much like how the size and mass of a tank provides a stable firing platform for its big cannon, proper structure provides the necessary stability to project your weight and attack. This structure, when used correctly, allows us to block punches and kicks without moving. We can also decide how much power we wish to use.”
“Having the proper alignment of our bones makes us capable of deeds that look impossible to the novice, but these techniques can actually be learned quickly.”
“There are times when we do not want to absorb the power of an attack, particularly from a weapon.”
“My sensei would demonstrate this by pointing to his foot, and say that your foot bone is connected to your calf bone and your thigh bone; your thigh bone is connected to your pelvis, which in turn is connected to your spine. The bones in the arm and in the hand must have this connection running from the ground into your punching arm. Even though there are many joints located throughout the body, the term “bone on bone” means that we think of this chain of bones as one solid structure upon impact.”
“To absorb power, we utilize the same “bone on bone” feeling to bring the vibration through us and down to the ground. Tense posture opens you to your opponent’s power, thus causing more damage to you. Moreover, tense muscles expend energy rapidly, sapping your strength before your fight is done. An overly relaxed posture that stands like deadweight makes us more like Jell-O or wet noodles, and does not serve us well when we need the full capability of our minds and bodies. We hope that real fights take only seconds, but should they last longer, we must master the art of proper structure and relaxation to create the maximum effect with the minimum effort.”
“The basic concept behind creating this physical structure is to relax your body enough to become like a sponge that absorbs blows using the correct amount of muscle to have an unyielding posture. Too much muscle, and you will be pushed over. Too little muscle, and you will collapse like a house of cards. Do not actively engage your muscles, but instead, hold an image in your head like a river rock, which has a constant stream of pressure applied to it and yet remains motionless as the water rushes over it.”
“We want to redirect all incoming power through our bones down to the ground. This grounding is best utilized when you are still, though it is possible to maintain it while moving.”
“Imagine an internal frame throughout the body, using skeletal alignment and mental intention to keep it in place.”
“Your knees should always be directly over your feet to ensure you do not get chronic knee problems through practice.”
“In the beginning, placement of the feet is critical, but please note that your mental attitude is much more important than your physical position. You should be able to absorb blows to the body easily even while grappling.”
“Do not be discouraged if you are unable to absorb power from punches or kicks for the first three or four months of practicing this. Start out slow, and build effort is both physical and mental; ignoring one of these will destroy the whole.”
“Learn the rules, study the rules, and then break the rules!”
Page 91 – Blocks
“I once tapped a man to show that he had an opening while we were lightly sparring (mostly I was letting him hit me), but as it turns out, I broke two of his ribs. I didn’t even form a full fist because I didn’t intend on hurting him.”
Page 98 – Imagination
“Imagine your arm is a fire hose and that water is gushing forth from it and spraying the far wall across the room. Focus on this spot, and don’t allow yourself to be distracted by what’s on TV tonight. While you have this image in your mind, ask your training partner to try to bend the fire hose. It should be much more difficult to bend an arm in this fashion. This is because we are concentrating our minds outward, rather than toward ourselves; in doing so, we use the correct muscles and connective tissue to hold this position with very little effort.”