Audio Guided Meditation

I use audio guided meditation as a part of my overall journey towards enlightenment. It is a daily practice for me and I believe that it goes hand in hand with my practice of Tai Chi.

For the last few years, I have been studying the true nature of reality. Tai Chi gives me a physical experience of some of the principles I have been learning. My daily meditation practice helps to raise my awareness.

I believe that our normal experience of reality is created in our minds. The idea that there are separate entities, me and not me, is an illusion. The true reality is that there is only the one energy of the Universe.

By the daily use of audio guided meditation, I hope to have a direct experience of my true nature.
I have written a post on audio guided meditation on my blog at stresscurer.com.

Meditation CDs for Effortless Meditation

Meditation CDs became a part of my daily routine about two and a half years ago. I had been suffering from depression due to long term stress. Meditation CDs have played a major part in making me happier, calmer and more resilient.

I was quite dysfunctional for a few months, unable to focus on anything. When I was up enough to start to look for solutions. One of those was Tai Chi, now a permanent part of my life. Another was meditation.

A friend told be that a Buddhist centre nearby held open meditation classes. I went along with her and it was a marvelous experiencing. The people were welcoming and exuded tranquility. The meditation room was light, airy, quiet and very peaceful.

With that environment and the guidance of a teacher, it was very easy to achieve a relaxed state of mind that lasted for hours. At home, it wasn't so easy to do that. And when I went back to work, I couldn't attend the sessions at all. But by then I had found the solution, holosync.

This is an audio technology that causes the brain to produce low frequency waves similar to those achieved by advanced meditators. You listen through headphones while a different frequency is played into each ear.

You produce brainwaves at the difference between these frequencies. You can be fully conscious while this is happening. You can follow your normal meditative practice or think about anything you like. The process is automatic.

This has made a profound difference in my life and I would recommend anyone suffering from stress to try it. You can find out more about the technology and get a free trial CD here:

Holosync

Brazilian Jujitsu's Primary Methods of Attack

Brazilian Jujitsu, commonly referred to as BJJ, is attracting more and more practitioners in North America, the UK, and Australia as both a combat sport and an effective martial art for self-defense. Its rising popularity is thanks to many factors, but the the reason most often cited is because it has been used with terrific results in mixed martial arts (MMA) and no-holds-barred fighting.

BJJ is unique in the martial arts realm in that practitioners can attack from what would normally be considered a defensive position and vice versa. This leads many spectators to assume that a BJJ fighter is defending when he might actually be on the attack.

The underlying principles of BJJ enable a small practitioner to attack and successfully defend against by applying leverage, and using strong muscles (or multiple muscles) to attack weaker muscles or joints. Early vale tudo videos (Brazilian for "anything goes") show these principles in action.

BJJ practitioners can also end a fight through traditional means (punches and kicks), but these are often attacks of opportunity opened when an opponent defends against traditional BJJ attacks, leaving himself vulnerable in the process; or directly through the use of BJJ attack sequences. BJJ attack techniques are designed to render an opponent unconscious or immobile, or render his limbs unusable, thereby ending a fight.

The three primary categories of attack are:

1) Joint Locks: a practitioner will attempt to isolate one of his opponent's joints and use leverage or larger muscles to move the joint beyond its normal range of motion. Some examples are Americana, arm bars, Kimura, knee bars.  

2) Chokes: the word "chokes" is sometimes mistakenly used for "strangles," but the two are very distinct, thought they both focus on the neck. A choke occurs when a fighters attacks the windpipe of his opponent to prevent the opponent from breathing properly. 

3) Strangles: with a strangle, a fighter attempts to cut off the supply of blood to the brain by constricting the carotid arteries. Strangles are seen more often when fighters are wearing gis (mata leo being a large exception), which are the traditional training and sparring uniform. You can view BJJ gi videos to see what these look like.

BJJ is a fascinating martial art. It takes years or even decades to rank, but even inexperienced BJJ practitioners fare very well against expert practitioners from other arts like karate or tae kwon do. There are many vs videos available which demonstrate one art vs another. These videos will provide a glimpse into why BJJ is so effective for self defense.

The Philosophy of Wing Tsun

Ancient Chinese masters used the term 'living philosophy' to describe the art of Wing Tsun Kung-Fu.

Wing Tsun, at the highest level, teaches you to understand yourself and how to interact with other human beings. Combining the principles of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, the practice of Wing Tsun is focused on enshrining its fundamental concepts in those who practice it. These philosophies include true appreciation of honor, loyalty, dignity and respect for other human beings, as well as control over ego, emotion and temper. A person will never master himself without these, or the art of Wing Tsun, as these two are synonymous.

Because this art has these unique characteristics this art is currenly referred to as 'the noble Wing Tsun'. Thus the final objective of Wing Tsun is the pupil's personal growth. In fact, 'Si-Fu' translates as 'Father-Teacher', signifying the role of the Master as he takes on the responsibility of his 'todai' (son). This is different than other martial art forms, like karate where the term sensei means teacher.

The three main features of Wing Tsun is Physical, Health and Spiritual. But unfortunately, to find a school that teaches all the three together is not easy. One can mimic aspects of a physical nature, but to enhance spiritual growth a true master is required. One of the most important teachings in Wing Tsun is that as a student's physical techniques develop, he/she also develops as a person.

It is not necessary for you to be Chinese in order to comprehend the Martial Arts; studying the teachings of previous and current masters of the system can lead to great understanding. You need to appreciate the history and the social background to it, for this to be possible. Thus, every part of the martial art that is ignored or changed before it is properly learnt undermines its foundations.

Take away your history if you take away your culture and etiquette. What are you learning, if you take away the history of the martial art? What you saw was just a series of moves which neither has any understanding nor any principles. This is not real martial art.

The necessity to learn Martial Art is basically no different from wanting to learn something else such humanities or law terminology. Hilaire Barnett was clear on this point in her book Constitutional and Administrative Law stating "to study the UK's constitution , it is necessary to gain an insight into the history, politics and political philosphy which underpin the constitution, it is an essential component without which the structure, law and policies of the state cannot be understood."

 

Palm Heel vs Punch

There is always differing oppinions in the differences of palmheel and punching.

I am here to help shed some light on the subject in reference to self defense usage. Until I started to train in close combat situations. I didn't quite understand the differences.

Growing up in a large family group there was always fighting and fists were king it was all we knew. So as I grew up as I am sure most do without any guidance a fight was always fists and on every occasion I can think of either my hands or my opponents hands got messed up.

You see the beauty of the palm heel strike is that the palm of our hands are very resilient to blunt force just to see what I mean see how hard you can hit the closest brick wall with your fist and then with your palm. Different....oh ya? That is one of the biggest reasons it is so effective for a smaller person to use against an attacker.

Another way to use the open palm it to use a edge hand strike which is like a chop either vertically or horizontally. Your hand can be used to the softer areas of the body and the elbow for blunt force trama.

The punch is an effective weapon. The only thing is that it has a very high percentage of being hurt or even worse (in a self defense situation) being unusable because you went for the face he lower his forehead and now you have a broken hand.

Just think in the same situation above had you used the palm heel strike it would have whipped his head back and opened the throat for an edge of hand strike or elbow smash that could put an end to the situation.

So understand that if you decide to use the punch rather than a palm heel or edge of hand you run the risk of injury and the use of a hand. If that happens just how long do you think you will last in a confrontation? Do you really want that being the deciding factor.

The technique you use is not as important as conditioning your body. You can make it as easy as possible get a punching bag and some mitts.

Your best option would be to find a school with accredited instructors (Hey I happen to know a few world wide even).

Building confidence and stress reliefe plus having fun doing it will happen if you train in a reputable school. Contact me and I will point you in the right direction.

Train hard, Live lite,

Darrin Walton

Martial Arts: Learn Akido

When you do Akido you will find that it's all about being spiritual in body and mind and will bring you to a very relaxed state.  Many people think that all martial arts are about aggression but Akido was founded by Ueshiba who was very much a pacifist and wanted to end aggression.  When you read this article you will certainly want to know more about Akido.

Unlike many other martial arts, there are surprisingly no set techniques used in Akido.

You may have heard of the word dojo before but not known what it means.  Well, it's a Japanese word for training structure used for martial arts.  A truly authentic and traditional Aikido dojo is used only as a place for formal and symbolic gatherings, and is rarely used a place to actually train. The actual Aikido training from a traditional dojo is done outdoors in a less formal setting.

Today, Akido isn't nearly as formal as it used to be.  Most of the time, there is no distinction from an Aikido dojo to the actual place of training and practice. In fact, in most cases, the two are one and the same.

When people trained under the Great Teacher Ueshiba, the students were encouraged to spread the tenets of Akido and create their own dojos.  Not only were the students encouraged to do this, they were encouraged to create their own moves so long as no aggression was involved.

Aikido is a technique that incorporates moves that are more defensive than offensive. In fact, it seeks not to injure but to prevent or stop a person. For this reason, you will rarely see any sort of weapon being used. Rather, it's mainly about techniques and mind-set. In saying that, there are those advanced students who move onto using certain weapons. Weapons that are used in aikido are the tanto, the wooden jo and the bokken.  Akido is an amazing martial art that everyone can enjoy.

Were There Weak Spots in Suits of Armor?

One thing that every medieval warrior enthusiast or battle renactor should know is how to kill (figuratively speaking) a person in a medieval suit of armor, which can be difficult if you don't know where to strike.  To do that, we need to examine what medieval warriors did in the olden days to get through thick layers of armor.  There are several weak spots or openings in the armor that the soldiers targeted.  We don't recommend you use these techniques for SCA combat or other reenactments, but it will give you a general idea as to how fighters took each other down in medieval times.

One place that many medieval warriors targeted was the the underarm, which usually was like the soft underbelly of mythical dragons.  As soldiers needed freedom of movement, there was often no armor here.If any armor could be found, most likely it was weaker chainmail that could be broken through with a thrust of a weapon.The end result was to force the tip of the battle sword into the armpit area.  If sucessful, this would wound the soldier significantly or at least enough to take them out of commision for the rest of the battle or enough so the other side could make a finishing blow.

Another area that was probably the easiest to get at was the back of the upper legs.  Especially if knights were to ride on horses or go on long marches, this area usually did not have any significant armor.  This is why in many movies you see sword fighters slashing at each other's legs.If you had some skills with a blade a quick spin move or something similar would put you in a position to do a back swing to cut the enemy's legs.  This would render them incapable of further movement and make the susceptible to futher punishing.

The last area to attack a person in a suit of armor was in the neck below the helmet.Usually there was a wide enough slit or space in between the armor helmet and the chest plate below, so you could thrust a weapon or sword through the neck.  This was often fatal and was the ultimate place to attack the enemy.