In 1999, sometime after quitting my second unfulfilling job and eating peanut-butter sandwiches for comfort, I won the gold medal at the Chinese Kickboxing National Championships.

It wasn’t because I was good at punching and kicking. God forbid. That seemed a bit dangerous, considering I did it on a dare and had four weeks of preparation. Besides, I have a watermelon head–it’s a big target.

I won by reading the rules and looking for loopholes, of which there were two:

1. Weigh-ins were the day prior to competition: Using dehydration techniques I now teach to elite powerlifters, I lost 28 pounds in 18 hours, weighed in at 165 pounds, and then hyperhydrated back to 193 pounds*. It’s hard to fight someone from three weight classes above you. Poor little guys.

2. There was a technicality in the fine print: If one combatant fell off the elevated platform three times in a single round, his opponent won by default. I decided to use this technicality as my single technique and just push people off. As you might imagine, this did not make the judges the happiest Chinese I’ve ever seen.

The result? I won all my matches by technical knock-out (TKO) and went home national champion, something 99% of those with 5-10 years of experience had been unable to do.

How to survive a physical attack
with Tim Ferriss and Dave Camarillo

A video camera is an essential tool for exploring your own posture and movement habits. It speeds you along the path to your own ideal performance, by capturing and exposing your mistakes. The camera sees what you cannot, even with the help of a partner and a full-length mirror. It is the next best thing to constant corrections from a master instructor.

Since I can’t afford a live-in Kung Fu master, I decided to buy a camcorder. After reading some mixed reviews for the popular Flip Video models, I chose the Kodak Playsport Zx3 instead.

The Playsport is a great value at a low price. It records in Full HD (unlike the Flip); it supports external memory cards up to 32GB in size; it has a removable battery pack (good for nearly 60 minutes of recording); it takes 5MP still photos; it is waterproof (up to 10 feet); it has an anti-glare screen, digital zoom and electronic image stabilization features; USB and HDMI ports, so you can connect it to your computer, or directly to your TV; bundled video editing software; tripod mounting socket; and it fits nicely in your pocket or your hand.

And all cables are included in the box. You get all this for an MSRP of $150–and it’s even cheaper on Amazon today. Did I mention it can record in 720p at 60FPS? Yeah, it does that too. Motion shot at 60 frames per second is twice as smooth, on playback, as even the finest instructional DVDs.

Other users have complained about less-than-perfect image quality in 1080p Full HD mode, but it looks good enough to me. Here is a screen capture from a video I took in Seattle’s Carkeek Park, featuring ten thousand rustling leaves.

Click to view Full HD image (4MB)

If you’ve shot any video of your martial arts practice lately, with this or any other camcorder model, please feel free to post the URL in the comments section below.

• The inaugural Crossing The Pond Martial Expo was held last weekend in West Seattle. This seminar brought together five six well-known and highly skilled instructors of martial arts and self-defense from across the United States and United Kingdom.
• Over the weekend, two one-hour workshops were held by instructors Al Peasland, Nicholas Yang, Kris Wilder, Rory Miller, Marc “Animal” MacYoung, and Iain “Tuna Fish Pizza” Abernethy.
• Approximately thirty-five people were in attendance. Among the students, at least one third appeared to be black belts and/or instructors themselves.
• Participants were open-minded, polite, and patient–especially with this author, who hadn’t done any Karate training since elementary school. Egoism, inappropriate competition, and input from self-declared “assistant instructors” was minimal. This is a credit to the affable seminar host, Kris Wilder, and the other teachers as well, who together set the right tone for the event.

Al Peasland on Crossing The Pond

• Each instructor taught from their own background, first introducing concepts and principles, and then a set of simple partner exercises to instill and explore their application. To the extent that the seminar had an overall theme, it was on applying traditional martial arts for real-world self-defense.
• Due to the diverse backgrounds of the attendees, and the limited amount of time available to each instructor, only basic techniques were taught. It was not a time for gathering new material, so much as reviewing old material from new perspectives and with new players.
• Whether by design or coincidence, most of the sections related to, and built upon each other. Still, I think the expo would have benefited from tighter coordination between the instructors, on which problems (e.g. developing power, interpreting kata, dealing with multiple attackers) they would individually or jointly address.
• Under my gold standard for martial arts seminars, each instructor spends a few minutes with each student: not only observing and correcting, but also interacting with them. This is how martial skills are most clearly transmitted, and by this measure the expo was a little disappointing. Sure, I was choked by Al, and Kris punched me a few times at my request, but I didn’t get twisted up by Nicholas, and Rory never hit me with a folding chair. Maybe next time.
• Under my platinum standard for martial arts seminars, the lectures and demonstrations are professionally filmed, and students have the option of buying the DVD afterwards, either for review or as a memento. A nice compromise would be to make some video clips available online, either on YouTube or a private website.

Iain Abernathy on Crossing The Pond

From my notes, here are a few of the central lessons taught by each instructor.

Iain Abernethy

1. Karate is not an art for fighting a single opponent (in the manner of a contest or a duel). It is an art for defending yourself against ruffians.
2. For self-defense, forget about inflicting pain and go for the knockout. If you are holding an opponent’s head, don’t grasp it so tightly that you support their skull and brain (thus preventing a knockout).
3. Stances are not meant to be held during an altercation. Move in and out of them as appropriate.

Kris Wilder

1. If a stranger threatens you, it is safe to assume they have fighting experience or some other hidden advantage, and they expect to win. Do not ignore the basis of their assumption.
2. Never enter a fair fight if you have any choice in the matter. If you can’t escape, then cheat early and often.
3. Spiraling force is more effective than linear force, and punching the body is less effective than punching the mind.

Nicholas Yang

1. Physical conditioning is extremely important. Learning techniques is a waste of time if you aren’t conditioned to apply them well.
2. A fight is like a dance: one person leads and another person follows. It is advantageous to lead.
3. In the real world, nobody ever leaves their limb hanging out after an attempt to strike. Make use of the time and the space created when they draw back.

Al Peasland

1. A fight is like a discussion. Someone else may start the conversation, but you should quickly turn it into a monologue.
2. There are two ways to deal with a threat. First, to appear even more dangerous yourself, such that they don’t want to take the risk of bothering you. Second, to immediately take a submissive pose, such that they become relaxed. Their relaxation will create an opportunity for surprise attack.
3. It is important to have a variety of working tools in your toolbox. It is also important to have one or two favorites, such as a rear naked choke, that you can apply successfully without thinking.

Rory Miller and Marc MacYoung

1. If a train is coming at you, there is no benefit in backing up. You have to actually step off the tracks.
2. Every violent assault is conducted according to a set of rules. It is a mistake to pretend there are no rules. The first goal is to identify the rules, and to know which are immutable, and which can be rewritten or broken.
3. The ideal movement does not just avoid damage, or inflict damage, or improve your position for follow-up action. It does all of these things simultaneously.

I am pleased to note that many of the expo teaching topics have already been discussed on this blog. Others will be reviewed in the near future.
In My Dojo, Cheaters And Failures Are Welcome
Defend Yourself the Taoist Way
Why Wing Chun Punches Never Miss
If Street Fights Were More Like Final Fight…
Xingyi And The Myth of The Defensive Martial Art
The Unwritten Rules of Mixed Martial Arts
9 Famous Artists’ Quotations on Martial Arts
I Challenge Kimbo Slice to a Fair Fight
Are You Fit Enough to Fight?
How to Discover The Purpose of Your Kata
Martial Arts of Addition and Subtraction
Movement, Martial Arts, and Man-in-the-Middle Attacks

Crossing The Pond Martial Expo 2010 will be repeated this weekend in Coventry, England. To register, visit their website. Whether you can make this one or not, I would be interested in hearing about the best and worst aspects of seminars that you have attended in the past.

As a bright but naive child, I had no idea that the practice of tameshiwari, or breaking, was an instrument of martial arts fraud. I only knew that it looked cool, and that it required focus–or so my teacher said. After class, my Dad and I went to a local lumberyard to pick up some wood for our upcoming test.

“What kind of wood?” the salesman asked us. “I dunno…regular.”

Tip #1: Some woods are stronger than others. For an easier break, use pine wood. Avoid oak and particle board.

I don’t remember practicing my breaking skills in preparation for next week’s class. Why would I? I was led to believe that successful breaks were a product of kime: focus and determination, honed to perfection through the repetition of Karate kata. There was no apparent need for experience with actual wooden targets–and aside from Judo-chopping pencils with my schoolyard buddies, I had none.

When class arrived a few days later, we each took a partner, and held their board vertically in front of our chest, to be split with a single punch.

Tip #2: The board must be held firmly in place, or it will not break. Striking downwards at a stationary board is easier than striking forwards at an unstable board.

After two or three tries, everyone in class was able to break their boards. Everyone except myself, that is. Maybe this stunt was meant to instill confidence in Karate students, but it had the opposite effect on me. I wasn’t the youngest, or the smallest kid in class, but nevertheless I was a complete failure at breaking. Sensei didn’t offer any useful advice, as I recall.

At the time, I was ashamed of my performance. When I quit Karate a few months later, it was in part due to this terrible experience. I wasn’t yet old or wise enough to understand that my failure was, as much as anything else, a failure to cheat.

Tip #3: Pine is weaker and easier to split when dry and brittle. Cook your boards in the oven before striking them. Seriously.

It was Bruce Lee who rekindled my interest in martial arts, a few years later. Bruce Lee didn’t bother much with breaking–”Boards don’t hit back,” he famously said in Enter The Dragon. Forget wood, or even concrete blocks: Bruce Lee broke people instead.

Following his lead, I put aside any remaining interest in tameshiwari, in favor of speed drills and punching bags. Thankfully I discovered through this training that, contrary to the assertions of a few cheap wooden planks, I was not completely inept at martial arts. But I still hadn’t realized that, in mainstream Karate at least, the fix was in.

Tip #4: When breaking multiple boards at once, use spacers to separate them. This makes your break much easier, but your audience probably won’t know the difference. An average adult can break 3-5 prepared boards this way, with no training whatsoever.

It was nearly a decade later, after watching a series of increasingly ridiculous martial arts demonstrations, that I finally understood why I had failed in kiddie Karate.

In the first show, I saw a frightened wooden board split itself, a quarter-second before the supposed Taekwondo master actually kicked it!

In the second show, I watched a tiny first-grader and Hapkido student punch through her boards with an ease bordering on nonchalance. Surely these were not the same boards that I, at nearly twice her size, couldn’t conquer?

The final shocking episode occurred during the setup for a performance. An assistant accidentally dropped one of his boards on the ground. It fell three feet, landed flat…and broke in half.

Tip #5: Make your own “rebrakeable boards”. Secretly break all your boards before the demonstration, then tape or glue them together again for the big show. It’s pathetic, but it works.

After seeing this, I lost all my respect for breaking demonstrations. Folks, you have to assume the game is rigged unless and until proven otherwise.

Kudos to those martial artists that play fair, using materials without any hidden or prepared defects, and circulating them through the audience for inspection. They deserve some credit. But lest anyone forget, ability to hit a stationary target is a poor representation of combat skill, or self-defense skill, or physical and mental balance, or any other significant benefit that one would normally expect from martial arts mastery.

In other words, it is a dubious performance even when the materials are genuine. When they are not, it is an absurdity. Call me when boards start hitting back.

Introduction

• Qigong (chi gong) is most often understood as a set of active exercises, guiding qi (chi) energy around the body through intention, movement, and sound. It is less well known that Qigong incorporates rigorous courses of standing and seated meditation. These active and passive, external and internal modalities are mutually supportive.
• One of the first goals of Qigong meditation is to reach a deep level of quietude within the mind and body. Sustained quiet allows a student to perceive increasingly subtle objects and movements inside their body.
• In a quiet meditative state, relationships and correspondences that were previously hidden or overlooked, become clear and credible. In other words, meditation allows for biofeedback training without the need for electronic biofeedback instrumentation.

• Portions of Wu Xing, the Chinese five-element theory, are patterned after these relationships. Students of meditation and martial arts are often surprised to discover that Wu Xing is not merely a poetic concept or metaphorical diagram. Wu Xing has literal application and predictive power.
• Traditional Chinese Medicine recognizes that chronic emotional imbalance affects organ function. Each of the five emotions–anger, joy, anxiety, sadness, and fear–is associated with a pair of Yin and Yang functions (“organs”). Due to their heightened sensitivity, some meditators and Qigong practitioners can perceive this relationship immediately and directly.
• When an advanced student drifts too far out of balance, they may immediately feel a sensation in the corresponding organ(s). This is not a creative visualization or a theoretical belief–it is as real, and sometimes as unpleasant, as hot coffee spilled in your lap.
• Consequently, these students quickly learn self-discipline. This level of gongfu (kung fu) automatically aligns the practitioner’s immediate interest in avoiding pain, with their longer-term aspirations for emotional stability and tranquility.
• Emotional balance is the foundation upon which more advanced Qigong and meditation practices are built. It is also the foundation of a pleasant, empathetic and rewarding life.

Diagram courtesy of Spiritual Science Research Foundation

Steps

1. This gongfu skill is primarily a result of attaining a quiet and emotionally neutral meditative state, and remaining within it for a sufficient length of time.
2. Any exercises that increase your internal sensitivity, or your ability to sit quietly and comfortably for an extended period of time, will likely speed your progress. These exercises include Taijiquan (and other martial arts), zhan zhuang, and the Taoist Six Healing Sounds method.

Warnings

• The efficacy of meditation is not dependent on your “belief” in it. However, assertive dis-belief is a distraction and a form of noise, and it will prevent you from remaining in the quiet state. Trying to feel or impose these relationships, rather than waiting for them to reveal themselves, may also prove counterproductive.
• The particular form of insight described above is helpful, but not necessary for emotional self-regulation.
• There is no exact timetable for any meditative achievement. Fortunately, there is a clear difference between reaching, and failing to reach the quiet state in which gongfu is built.
• Real internal gongfu is rarely found amongst teachers of “internal martial arts.” Do not expect them to provide any guidance or expertise in this area, except perhaps to foolishly claim these skills do not exist.
• Do not discuss these matters in mixed company. It will lead to ridicule at best, and at worst, involuntary psychiatric treatment. Although this is still an early stage of accomplishment in Qigong, it is already well beyond the current understanding of mainstream Western medical science.

More Information

• Chi Gong 101: How to Feel Your Chi Energy
• Qigong books and DVDs
• MeditationExpert.com – Techniques and Advice

Once upon a time, this was the standard response to meeting someone with a martial arts interest: yelp a few times, wave your arms around, do a judo/ninja/karate chop, then hold for applause. But times have changed. People no longer believe televised ninja movies are real. Now they believe televised MMA competitions are real, and nobody uses a karate chop in the UFC. (It’s illegal to strike the trachea, in case you were wondering.)

Don’t get me wrong–I’m not complaining. The classic ninja pantomime has given way to more intelligent comments and questions, such as, “Have you won any tournaments?”

Common sense dictates that the best martial artists are those who win tournaments, while the middling ones participate and lose, and the worst avoid competition altogether. This is only half-true, but the issues are too complex to address during small talk. So, until now, I have answered the question with a simple No, and endured a stigma otherwise reserved for the tea-sipping pajama dancer with delusions of lethality.

Let this be my catharsis. There are perfectly good reasons to abstain from tournament competition, and they deserve an airing. So here we go…

Tournaments are held in secret. There is no single clearinghouse for upcoming martial arts events. It seems common for a single school or association to sponsor a competition, without formally or informally inviting their peers (or imagined rivals).

Consider a hypothetical martial arts franchise: Master Park’s Hapkido. They announce an “international open tournament” with an eighty dollar entrance fee. Announcements are sent to the Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles branches of his dojang, and nowhere else. In this contest, the winner has been predetermined: it is Master Park. Now he’s a successful businessman who produces international fighting champions!

Most competitions are not quite this egregious, thankfully. Still, for all the effort that goes into organizing these events, precious little time is spent advertising them within the martial arts community. I often don’t hear about local tournaments until after they have concluded.

Teaching to the test. When spectators watch a “traditional” martial arts tournament and observe that competitive fighting looks nothing like a precise and structured kata, they reason that the nominal martial art is fundamentally flawed. Yes, the training is flawed, if its intended purpose is to prepare the student for competitive fighting. But that is obviously not its purpose.

To the extent that traditional martial arts are fighting (or dueling) arts, they are not configured for modern tournament play, which outlaws strikes to the neck (see MMA rules) or to the head altogether (Kyokushin), among other targets. As a result, defending these vital areas places one at a competitive disadvantage. (The hand that covers, is not earning points with a flurry of sloppy punches.) Traditional contenders are thereby pressured to sell out, to drop their fists and spread wide their legs, for nothing more than a chance at a booby prize.

Perhaps this is not a contest worth winning. In the words of coach Raymond Thiberge, “all that matters is to acquire the means whereby the end may be achieved. A powerful technique is certainly not achieved by practicing power, which is just as pointless as any other end-gaining process.”

Sport-fighting is not even the best training for self-defense, much less the full suite of skills and objectives that constitute the world of martial arts. Besides…

Fighting is dangerous! Habitual fighting inevitably leads to one of two destinations: prison, or an early grave. This is one of the reasons that I prefer martial arts to fighting.

It is important to understand that martial artists are not protected by their codes of conduct, or by rules of sportsmanship. If we can train hard in relative safety, it is only due to the vigilance and good will of our partners and our friends.

Challengers at a martial arts tournament are not our friends, and they are not invested in our continued well-being. Some are upright people, who would never bend the rules or risk a competitor’s health for the sake of a trophy; and others, evidently, just can’t help themselves. I’ve never seen a tournament without rule violations and illegal attacks: accidental, intentional, or both.

This, in short, is the case against tournaments. Do you think the benefits outweigh the costs?

I have always been a fan of cotton-sole kung fu slippers. They are very cheap, and very comfortable. With their soft and smooth bottoms, they don’t scuff hardwood floors, and they don’t tear vinyl or canvas mats.

Cotton shoes do have some weaknesses, though. They absorb water and dirt, so you can’t really wear them outside. And unfortunately, they tend to slip a bit during kicking, jumping, and tumbling exercises. It was for these reasons that I recently decided to upgrade my footwear.

Feiyue (a.k.a. Feivue) sneakers are my new studio shoes. Feiyues are an iconic wushu brand, and a very popular choice among Chinese martial artists. Feiyues are made of canvas and rubber, lightweight with a thin and flexible sole. They are available in white and black, low-cut and high-top styles, for as little as $15.

After wearing the Tiger Claw version for a few months, I have mixed feelings about these Feiyue shoes. They are cut a little too narrow for me personally–unlike cotton slippers, they do not stretch to fit the shape of the foot. Also, for reasons I cannot fathom, Feiyues have round bottoms! When you place a slightly concave foot into the slightly convex bed provided by these sneakers, the natural result is instability. Depending on your perspective, you may interpret this as an additional training challenge, or a needless nuisance.

Outside the studio, I prefer my pair of Replay Arnolds. Their design is a cross between Feiyues and Adidas Samba Classics. Anyway, if you need a second pair of sneakers for martial arts training, and don’t want to spend fifty or one hundred dollars, give Feiyue a try.

What is your favorite martial arts footwear, if any?

Last week, I asked a random group of martial arts instructors and students the following question:

Do you think dating in the dojo is a good or bad idea? Why?

Here are their answers…

Jessica (Black Belt Mama):

I am torn on this one. On one hand, it’s a great way to find someone with common interests. However, a dojo is like a family and if two of the family members are dating and something doesn’t work out, that could spell big trouble for the dojo. I guess if I have to take a side, I’d say that dating in the dojo is a bad idea. However, married dojo members are quite common in my dojo and that seems to work just fine.

Lori (Jiu-Jitsu Sensei):

It can be both a good or bad thing. If the couple in question maintain a “professional” relationship on the mats and the romantic relationship goes well, it can be a great thing. Their training can be a bond that helps strengthen their relationship and vice versa.

It can, however, be a bad thing too. If they can’t keep their relationship issues off the mat it can create awkward social situations at the dojo. Or if the couple has a bad break-up it may lead to one or both people leaving the dojo.

Whatever way you look at it, in my opinion, a Sensei has no right to meddle in the affairs of their students and tell them who they can or can’t date. This leads to one of two things. 1) The couple dates in secret and do whatever they’re going to do in spite of any “policies” you may have. Or 2) One or both people may leave the dojo so that they can pursue the relationship unfettered. The best thing you can do as a Sensei is to encourage the couple to remain professional while on the mats and hope for the best.

John (Dojo Rat):

My old Tae Kwon Do Master, Mr. Choi told us “We should not fish off our own docks”.

Of course, nobody paid attention to this. I’d say at least three of my girlfriends were in that Tae Kwon Do school.

I would say it never affected school policy. Everybody seemed to be dating, and as it was a large school with many satellite branches there were lots of potential partners. Of course, it was the late ’70′s-early ’80′s– sex, drugs and rock and roll…

I never saw anyone abuse the instructor/student relationship.

Jesse (Karate by Jesse):

Thinking about what should and should not be going on in the dojo instinctively brings me back to Okinawa, from where I have quite a few memories of “broken” social codes (of which there are surprisingly many!) in the dojo.

To sum it up – No, I don’t think dating in the dojo is a good idea. The dojo is a zone where you need to be able to shut off the ‘outer world’ (with its distractions and obligations) and focus completely on yourself and your own progress on ‘the path’… Without having to worry about romancing the opposite sex at the same time! This must be respected by everyone.

However, what happens before and after the “SHÔMEN NI REI!” is another thing… <3

What do you think? Is dating other members of your dojo a good idea?

In his new book, The Intuitive Warrior: Lessons from a Navy Seal on Unleashing Your Hidden Potential, author and retired Navy SEAL Michael Jaco describes how he channeled the challenges he faced in military training and combat toward aligning his body and mind. With the two working in unison, Jaco remained calm and positive in extremely stressful situations. When he retired, Jaco then used these techniques as a civilian to enrich his everyday life.

Through personal accounts of real experiences, Jaco explains how the challenging situations he endured as a member of one of the most elite Special Forces units in the United States taught him to control his emotions and tap into his intuition. Using these capabilities, he enhanced both his mental and physical strength. In The Intuitive Warrior, Jaco says that anybody can develop the perception and awareness skills that he learned and employ them to achieve a more fulfilling life, whether seeking to improve job performance, personal relationships or physical shape.

Michael Jaco answers a few questions for Martial Development readers in this exclusive interview…

With more than two decades of service in the elite Navy SEALs, you have earned the right to describe yourself as a warrior. How do you prefer to define the term? (Do you think it should be reserved for those in the military, for example?)

A warrior is an archetype or ideal example of what all of humanity must go through at some point. So I feel the term warrior is not exclusive to those that actually serve in the military; it can and will apply to everyone at some point. I feel there are different levels or stages of a warrior. In the beginning stage, we fight either for real as in combat, or figuratively against our inner egoic self, for what we feel we must protect. The higher levels or stages that a warrior goes through are less about self and more about serving others. I feel that the most advanced warrior is one that has an inner calm even when faced with the most stressful of challenges and has learned to tap their inner knowing or intuition at will.

The history of martial arts is seasoned with reports of extraordinary intuitive or psychic skills. They are often dismissed as exaggerations, if not outright frauds, by members of the martial arts and scientific communities today. How have your friends, acquaintances and co-workers reacted to the personal stories you recount in the book?

Do SEALS have a different perspective on this topic than the general public, which is apparently biased towards doubt and ridicule?

Science is actually proving intuitive and psychic skills today through Quantum Physics, and as a martial artist progresses to the higher levels of being a warrior they will experience these abilities. Actually, my friends and colleagues were the ones that had me come forward and start sharing my intuitive skills more openly. I was quietly working these skills for a while, keeping everyone out of danger at just the right times, and my colleagues took notice and asked me to openly relate my intuitions. “If you know attacks are coming, we want to know!” they would tell me. So I have a reputation in my community as a security contractor now, and people are very open to my intuitions, and in turn others are opening to theirs as well.

A former lawyer I worked with, a very analytical person, was least willing to accept my intuition. I had predicted two attacks in a row, each one week in advance. I had told everyone the day, time and place very accurately, even describing the vehicle that the attackers would be in, and the description of the attackers themselves. Then I predicted another: a suicide bomber would attack the residence we were in. This very analytical person was the first to move out, hours before the attack came, and said: I don’t believe what you’re doing is real, but I’m going to listen. I can work with this kind of attitude, and after a few months this person was actually picking up on attacks himself. His new-found intuitive abilities also began to transform his work and he was far more successful and happy in his job as a result.

“By fine-tuning my intuition as a Navy SEAL, I was able to predict and avoid attacks to protect myself and my fellow soldiers.”

The SEAL teams and special operations forces in general are, by nature, pushing the boundaries of possibilities. The intense training and desire to accomplish missions opens the door to intuitive abilities. There is an unspoken knowing of intuitive abilities in some guys, but many special forces warriors have spontaneous awakenings to these skills at certain times throughout their careers. Since the release of The Intuitive Warrior I have been approached by many who have excitedly told me of their own experiences (that they have unfortunately never shared with anyone before).

After retiring from the Special Forces, you developed a “Hell Week” training course for civilians, to help them simultaneously develop physical endurance and awaken their intuitive abilities. What were your students required to perform on day one?

The course was held in a very remote area of the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania. We had several streams that burst right out of mountainsides on the 15,000 acre property. The setting was idyllic, and perfect for meditating and conducting the type of training that I had dreamed of doing, when I was a SEAL Chief in charge of conducting Hell Week evolutions at Basic SEAL training.

We began the day prior to Hell Week, which would start late at night with classes on brainwave states and meditations designed to build a point within the student that they could go to under stress. This afternoon of training would help them transcend the rigors of their upcoming training. This intuitive training was a very great key to the overwhelming success of the Hell Week as compared to a regular SEAL training class.

Around 9 PM, myself and the instructor staff (that I had personally trained and worked with for several months) began the training by waking the students from their tents with bullhorns, shouts, confusion and shock. They were given physically demanding calisthenics and sprinting evolutions in mud for several hours. They were then taken to one of the mountain streams for cold conditioning. The mountain streams were around 39 degrees which is anywhere from 20 to 40 degrees colder than what an average SEAL Hell Week would experience. This is where I would ingrain the brainwave state that would allow them do impossible things throughout the week. They spent over an hour in and out of the water. The times in the freezing mountain stream were extended progressively longer and would be longer throughout the week. After this evolution I took them on a long walk through the dark forests and mountainsides. They were required to carry a heavy thick long rope that they had to work together to move. At certain intervals throughout the rest of the night and into the following morning, I would stop them and do races with large stones, and have them run and swim in a small lake on the property. These were timed evolutions and the losers would get extra calisthenics.

The whole next day was filled with evolutions that would make them think under stress. For example, I had a Sayoc Kali knife fighting master instructor that taught them 9 count knife templates that had to be learned under different kinds of stress, such as performing the template on a log over a stream; the group had to do strenuous calisthenics and runs if they performed it incorrectly. The rate that they learned these templates was amazing. Towards early evening, a Native American friend of mine came in, and we ran a three hour long warrior sweat lodge under extreme heat. After this, we were back out into the cool mountain air for another hour of cold water conditioning. This was followed by more walks into the dark forested mountains, with the group’s giant hawser line strung out from man to man.

So this was their first day, and I was quite frankly very impressed with their performance. We would go on to do steadily far more intensive nights and days for the rest of the week. I attribute the ability of all the students to perform at levels far above what a normal SEAL training class would go through to the fact that we had taught them how to tap their intuitive abilities under stress and then we all worked them to the point where they had to continually tap it on a deeper and deeper level to continue with training.

Did those students who successfully completed the course, report or demonstrate enhanced intuitive abilities? Such progress is usually attributed to years, or even decades; but under ideal circumstances, can it really be measured in weeks and months?

It was actually measured in hours as they were performing at exceptional levels right at the beginning. The instructors that were helping me run this training were very gifted at creatively pushing people beyond their limits. When I was a SEAL instructor I was renowned for being able to conduct very demanding training evolutions. All of us knew the advanced abilities that students will exhibit if they are working in an intuitive state so we constantly kept up the pressure to keep them there. All the students completed the course–which is rare in any Hell Week civilian course. Even the one at SEAL training has only had one or two classes with no quitters in its entire history.

You theorize that humans need to first reach a certain level of maturity, before they can access their intuitive skills. Is this an individual, or a collective maturity? Do you think we are any closer now than we were 400 years ago, when Galileo was imprisoned for making statements “false and contrary to Scripture”?

Intuition is already prevalent in small children. It is the societal, educational, governmental and religious pressures that take this natural born gift away from us. We can open ourselves to intuition and all of the expanded abilities that it will ignite within us, if we are simply open to the idea that it is already inherent within us. I strongly feel that humanity as a whole is having a spontaneous awakening to intuition. The Mayans have spoken of this in their cyclic time calendar, which points to our time for a quantum leap in the evolution of the human race.

Your time as a SEAL trainer included periods of intensive hand-to-hand combat study, upwards of 300 hours per month. Do you have any favorite drills, techniques, lessons or principles to share with other martial artists?

One of my favorite drills was the multi-fight drill, where we had up to 20 attackers coming at you at one time. You would disable the fighters, and as you moved on the disabled attackers would revive and get back in the mix. Over the three minute period we would conduct this drill you had to remain in an intuitive state, or you would be quickly overwhelmed.

I also enjoyed grappling that taught me how to internally use my skeletal structure and relax out of some of the anaconda grips that some of my physically gifted colleagues could apply. I believe that all martial arts have something to offer everyone if they are open. I have studied many different styles and can say that they all taught me something useful either about fighting styles, or more importantly about myself as an evolving warrior. My favorite style to this day is Sayoc Kali which I feel deeply develops the intuitive side of a warrior in conjunction with the physical.

Any advice for those who are interested, but unable to suspend their disbelief in the power of intuition?

If you can at least have an open skepticism like the analytical lawyer I described above then you will benefit peripherally from intuition. Intuition is trying to come through to us throughout our lives, but we often discount it to our detriment. Ever have those moments that tell yourself that you should have listened to your inner thoughts but didn’t, and caused yourself a lot of anguish because you didn’t? That’s intuition trying to come through.

The next time you are thinking about your loved one or a close friend and the phone rings and it’s them, know that you just had an intuitive moment. That can be how it begins for you, but only if you are open. Once you are open, then the information and abilities start coming through.

The real cause is inappropriate conduct. It is, primarily, neglect and disregard for the effects of diet, exercise, environmental conditions, and other factors under our imperfect but substantial control.

As a holistic form of exercise, martial arts can arguably be classified as health care. Experienced practitioners also recognize it as a form of health insurance. Daily practice provides a richly detailed baseline against which latent health issues can easily be observed, and hopefully corrected in their earliest stages.

Those are the straightforward facts; now here is the tricky part: we can use martial arts to insure and ensure our health, but how do we insure the practice itself?

Unfortunately, many martial artists seem to rely upon faith-based insurance plans–plans consisting, first, of faith that the traditions of their (ancient or modern) style function as intended; and second, of a belief that their own personal practice is congruent with the canonical methods and standards of the style. And the only evidence required by these plans, is the testimony of one’s own teacher.

If we were to structure a martial arts liability insurance plan in the style of conventional health insurance, it might look something like this:

1. The student selects, and pays a premium to their chosen provider.
2. They study what initially appears to be an excellent style of martial arts.
3. After investing years of time and effort, they finally learn otherwise.
4. The student files a claim with their insurance provider for tuition reimbursement, plus pain and suffering.
5. For one reason or another, an adjuster rejects the claim. (That is how they make their money, after all.)

So, are you interested in signing up for this plan? I should hope not. Here is an alternative.

A serious student of martial arts should make a serious effort to meet, and compare notes with their peers–especially peers from outside their own school. There is no better way to get an accurate assessment of one’s own strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement; to insure and ensure the integrity and continued fruition of one’s study.

Meeting martial arts practice partners can be awkward and difficult. You can simply walk into someone else’s school and ask, but that is easily interpreted as an outsider’s challenge (with dangerous consequences). You can post on a message board, but that only works if other locals are reading the same board at the same time. Fortunately, a new online service makes the chore of finding partners a little bit easier.

DojoScore.com is, to my knowledge, the one and only website specifically created to help martial artists seeking practice partners. After entering your address and chosen style(s) of martial arts, DojoScore allows you to search for and chat with like-minded students in your local area. Unlike other generalized “exercise friends” and social networking services where martial artists were clearly an afterthought, DojoScore is tailored specifically to the unique needs of the martial arts community. Matching up practice partners is only one of the services they provide, and for free.

Free martial arts insurance? Finally, a reform proposal we can all support!