Martial Arts InsightMartial Arts Insight provides unique online perspectives into the fighting arts as forms of self-defense, to promote health and well-being, as sports, for personal development and as a way of life to foster spiritual enlightenment.
Read the latest articles below: While MMA continues to be touted as the be-all-and-end-all of effective martial arts one thing (well, two things...) that definitely separates MMA from other previous contenders for the 'World's Most Deadliest Art' title is that this time around there is a primary importance being placed on the health, fitness and conditioning of the fighters (the other difference being the promulgation of simple, effective techniques that are anything but exotic)...Read more Ryu Ryu Ko - Crane Kung Fu and the Origins of Okinawan Naha Te The techniques and philosophy that would go on to be labeled Naha te and then Goju ryu karate were introduced to Okinawa by Kanryo Higaonna directly from Fuzhou City, the political, economic and cultural center of Fujian province, towards the end of the nineteenth century. While living for an extended period of time in Fuzhou, Kanryo Higaonna studied Crane kung fu with a great master named Ryu Ryu Ko...Read more My Stroke of Insight: A Synopsis
My Stroke of Insight tells the remarkable and inspiring story of Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist, who on December 10, 1996, experienced a massive stroke in her left brain hemisphere. Over the next four hours she underwent massive and rapid shifts in brain dominance from the the left hemisphere to the right hemisphere and back again. Thanks to her training and understanding of how the brain works she was able to understand what was happening to her, remain relatively calm throughout her ordeal and observe (often in wonder) the shifts in hemispherical brain dominance...Read more Water. The vital element that is the difference between life and death. At one moment life-giving and nurturing, only to change in the blink of an eye to a chaotic, destructive force of nature. In the East, and in Japan in particular, perhaps because it is an island, water has been used symbolically in philosophy for centuries. The pond, representative of nature's lakes, is a common and important feature of many Japanese gardens. Alternatively, the carefully raked sand of austere gardens found in some Zen temples also betray the influence of water, with the sand symbolizing the ocean. References to water in one form or another can be found throughout Japanese literature and philosophy, but one phrase in particular that stands out is Mizu no Kokoro, or ‘a mind like water’. ...Read more Efficiency and the Martial Artist Nowhere is efficiency a more vital skill than in combat. The difference between the warrior that is efficient and the one that isn’t is death. There is no middle ground. On the battlefield of yesteryear there were two predominant types of techniques and principally two types of close combat weaponry that were necessary to both realize the technique while simultaneously shaping the technique. Each of these two types of technique were based on efficiency and they were: 1) Techniques that were designed to cause rapid and massive blood loss (and used sharp weapons to do so) and, ...Read more Jesus, Mohammed and Belief Compared with the Zen Method Recently I have been considering the origins of the differences between belief - based religions, such as Christianity and Islam, compared to the experience - based religions such as Buddhism and Gnosticism. Broadly speaking I hold the opinion that both the Bible (specifically the New Testament as relating to Jesus) and the Quran describe, among other things, the personal spiritual experiences and insights of Jesus and Mohamed respectively...but that is all. I will state right now that I do not feel that either Jesus or Mohammed gained any spiritual insight the message of which is applicable to everyone else, nor do I think their experiences were one-of-a-kind and out of reach of an everyday person...Read more Karate: History and Development
Karate is today popularly known as a Japanese martial art of unarmed combat utilizing dynamic strikes and kicks to subdue an aggressive opponent. The mixed origins of this art however lie - geographically - much further away than mainland Japan, through the island of Okinawa in the Ryukyu island chain and ultimately to the south-east area of China in the Fujian province (Fukien on the map below). Time and circumstance have also played important roles in the formulation and development of the art, with influence from Japanese martial arts stretching back to the Heian period. To cap it all off, both the armed and unarmed arts were tested and made practical on the battlefield over several centuries of inter-tribal warfare. All of these influences - and more - have fathered the birth of karate...Read more The Way of the Enlightened Zen Warrior
Primarily I teach the life philosophy of The Way of the Enlightened Zen Warrior. This Way is an eclectic approach to combat, personal development and spiritual insight that is heavily influenced by ancient Asian techniques of fighting and self-discovery combined with modern techniques and philosophies. At its heart, Warrior Zen leads the agent on a journey to enlightenment, self-discovery and success in the secular world using a martial art (in this case, though other art forms and activities are appropriate too) as a way of life...Read more Kongo Ken: Chojun Miyagi and the Introduction of the Kongo Ken to Goju Ryu Karate
Chojun Miyagi is one of the most important figures in the development of modern day karate do. Throughout his life he worked tirelessly to spread the empty hand art around Okinawa and mainland Japan. During this time he survived the Battle of Okinawa, not only physically but also emotionally after losing a son, his top student - Jin'an Shinzato - and numerous other friends and trainees in the fighting along with two daughters on a ship full of evacuees headed to Kyushu. Following the American invasion he also lost meticulous records that he had kept on the history of his art despite taking great efforts to keep them safe...Read more We have all heard of life lessons, those invaluable learning points that life drives home time and time again, but what of death lessons? What can Warrior Zen teach us about death and, through death, life?...Read more Gichin Funakoshi: My Way Of Life DVD Review Gichin Funakoshi: Karate Do, My Way Of Life, is a great DVD that concentrates on telling the story of the ‘grandfather’ of karate do, and how he brought tode to Japan and eventually...Read more I would like to talk about the Zen circle and give my own interpretation as to what meaning the symbol is trying to convey. This image that is often used to represent Zen is a simple, stark black circle....Read more Timing is everything. But what does it mean to the Enlightened Zen Warrior? In a previous post I argued that martial arts are the study of efficiency. Today I will be arguing that the arts....Read more
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