Ancient Origins of the Mysteries of the Martial Arts

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The ancient origins of the mysteries of the martial arts is, more than anything, what this site is dedicated to exploring and unearthing. This topic absorbs an enormous amount of my time and energy and is a subject I have been studying in detail for almost 20 years at the time of writing.

To me the various combative systems from around the world exist, simultaneously, on several different levels of interpretation. Most obviously they exist as fighting methods. More esoterically they are also methods of self-cultivation and dynamic meditation leading a practitioner to deep spiritual truths that transcend time and space. Martial arts can also be used for developing a high level of fitness and health, developing better concentration, as pure dynamic art forms comparable to dance or gymnastics, or as a key to unlocking social awareness. Karate, Kung Fu, Tae Kwon Do and so on can all be used to achieve one or more of these ends, and others besides. I would argue that there is no “correct” interpretation and I personally have little time for those that argue (insist) for a uni-dimensional approach. There may have been a time in the past when the arts existed as purely utilitarian forms of combat that had little or no use outside of a battlefield but to limit ourselves to such an interpretation nowadays is to ignore a long history that has recognized that the arts are more than fighting methods. In any case, the chances of most of us ever being on a battlefield are virtually non-existent.

As I write this I just turned 41 less than a month ago. I am getting close to reaching my thirtieth anniversary involved in the practice of budo and Karate in particular. Though I still train twice a day for up to 4 hours, I have children and I have been living in Japan now for around 15 years (one of the safest countries in the world), and I simply don't see enough 'real life' violence to be particularly concerned about it. Like many in Japan, I do not train in martial arts out of fear for my personal safety (or that of my family). Quite frankly, I also think that training for a fight that will probably never happen is a waste of time and energy (and money!).

Have ancient shamanic vision dances for up to 24 hours inspired the practice of shugyo, or extreme ascetic training?

What continues to attract me to my practice and push me along a path of research and writing that may not seem to be immediately connected to martial arts is my fascination with the 'deeper' aspects of the arts. I believe that in the various combative forms we practice lie - sometimes hidden, sometimes not, sometimes commercialized - traces of a much earlier wisdom that was more readily accessible and acknowledged. I believe that talk of concepts like chi or ki can be traced back tens of thousand of years ago to shamanism; that breathing techniques and correct body posture can open access to the pineal gland so that we may experience visions that are directly comparable to the art of the Lascaux Caves in France and that found in the Tassili mountain range in the Sahara. I believe that Zen and associated ascetic meditative practices restore contact with the right brain hemisphere, a contact and understanding that has been declining for the last 40,000 years or so. In short I believe the martial arts are both physical AND spiritual practices and this, primarily, is what this site seeks to uncover.

I will allow time to reveal the full extent of my research, but for anyone looking to get a bit of an insight right now, check out my interview with Tony Wright, author of Left in the Dark and my notes on The Origin of Consciousness and My Stroke of Insight, which retells the experience of Dr Jill Bolte Taylor over a period of hours while she knowingly suffered a stroke during which she experienced numerous shifts between right and left brain hemisphere dominance.

We are not physical beings having a spiritual experience but spiritual beings having a physical experience

Pierre Teilhard

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Graham Hancock and the Sacred Vine

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Graham Hancock and the Sacred Vine.

More widely, Hancock believes that hallucinogenic drugs (or medicines, as ayahuasca is described in South America) can be useful as an aid to psychological understanding and healing. He believes they open the door to the spiritual world, or to parallel dimensions as scientists would perhaps describe them, where various lessons and insights can be gained useful to one’s life in the material realm that we normally perceive. These trips into the spiritual realm though are not to be undertaken lightly as there are dark entities residing there that can cause us harm. Therefore ayahuasca journeys with experienced and knowledgeable shamans are highly preferred.

This research into one’s consciousness is of vital importance because Hancock holds the opinion that human life and the experience of a human body is a vehicle to understanding ourselves at a higher level. This is, to Hancock, the meaning of life and why we are here.

Hancock also discusses his forthcoming book, War God, about the Spanish conquest of South America and the spiritual forces playing out behind the scenes.

In addition to ayahuasca, Hancock has also taken the African drug iboga, which reputedly allows people to see the dead. He experimented with this while researching his book Supernatural which deals with the shamanistic psychedelic drug culture and alternative, parallel realities. Hancock was both interested in his psychological exploration but also in contacting his late father, who had passed away with Graham being present at his transition, something that he has come to understand as a sacred duty.

He goes on to talk about his trips with DMT, the active ingredient of ayahuasca and a former podcast with Joe Rogan.

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Psychedelic Drugs A Brief History

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Psychedelic Drugs: A Brief History

It is assumed that the use of plants and mushrooms, and possibly animals too, to create psychedelic effects pre-dates written history; the practice of imbibing various hallucinogenic substances may even reach further back into history than the homo sapiens species. The earliest solid archaeological evidence of human culture is also more concretely pointing to the theory that psychedelics were in use as the homo sapiens species evolved. Furthermore, this evidence is not local and can be found in both Africa and Northern Europe. Theorists go so far as to suggest that it was early experiences of altered states of consciousness that led to the formation of religion. Shamans in particular were heavy users of psychedelics to explore consciousness and gain help and insight from beneficent spirits. As Christianity spread users and the plants and mushrooms were vilified. Fortunately the shamanic tradition has managed to survive in Latin America and a growing tourist trade sprung up towards the close of the twentieth century where curious individuals could experience "trips" using drugs that were illegal in their own countries.

Science predominantly bases its knowledge of psychedelics from the investigation of chemicals found in the Western hemisphere; specifically DMT, psilocybin, mescaline and different LSD-like compounds. The first significant breakthrough came with the discovery of mescaline in peyote, a New World cactus. Mescaline was isolated from peyote in the 1890s by German chemists. It was immediately known among those open to exploring its effects as a way of entering an "artificial paradise". However, not a whole lot had been done by the end of the 1930s. Freudian psychoanalysis was in its ascendency and though Freud himself was open to experimentation with cocaine and tobacco, many of his followers were not. Outside of the realm of psychology there otherwise seemed to be no medical application for psychedelics.

This changed when LSD appeared. Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) was first experimented with in 1938 by the Swiss chemist Albert Hoffman. Initially he was hoping to find a drug that would aid in stopping uterine bleeding after childbirth. He returned to LSD five years later and accidentally discovered its psychedelic properties. LSD was almost infinitely more powerful than mescaline without the unpleasantness that went with the latter substance. The first papers appeared in the 1940s and scientists recognized its "psychosis mimicking" properties.

Following the Second World War, thanks in part to the psychedelic properties of LSD, enormous gains were made in the field of psychiatry. During those years the field of "biological psychiatry" was founded. This area of research explores the relationship between the human mind and its brain chemistry. In 1948 researchers found that serotonin was responsible for contracting the muscles lining veins and arteries and this was important for understanding how to control the bleeding process. In the mid-1950s scientists found serotonin in the brains of laboratory animals. Surgery or drugs that modified serotonin-containing areas of an animal brain profoundly altered sexual and aggressive behavior as well as sleep and wakefulness. Thus serotonin was identified as the first neurotransmitter.

Scientists were also finding out that LSD and serotonin molecules looked very much alike. Both were in competition for many of the same brain sites. LSD could block the effects of serotonin at times, while it would mimic serotonin in other cases. Thus LSD became recognized as the most powerful tool for learning about the brain-mind relationship. For the next two decades research progressed in the area of psychedelics with full government support and backing. Rapid breakthroughs followed using "psychedelic psychotherapy". Terminally ill patients were next exposed to LSD with the result that their depression lifted and they were more ready to accept their fate.

What also emerged was the insight that altered states of consciousness induced by LSD closely matched the experiences of those engaged in Eastern meditation. Scientists however were uneasy with the apparent meshing of science and religion. People such as the English novelist and philosopher Aldous Huxley became interested for this reason and thus, through his writings, a massive sub-culture emerged intent on experimenting with psychedelic drugs. With greater (and unsupervised) usage came reports of a darker side to the various drugs. Purity was compromised and cocktails of various drugs and alcohol overwhelmed people who were not in a fit state to be taking anything in the first place. The public began to suspect that the scientists had lost control of the situation. In 1970 the United States Congress passed a law making LSD and other psychedelic drugs illegal. Research grants began to disappear immediately and interest died off. A few academic papers followed and then nothing. Since then psychedelic drugs have been driven underground and users risk long periods of incarceration if caught.

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Graham Hancock and the Sacred Vine
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Bill Walsh, 49ers Football and Excellence in the Martial Arts

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Bill Walsh, 49ers Football and Excellence in the Martial Arts.

As well as practicing martial arts, I am also a big fan of various sports, especially the English Premier League (Chelsea) and the National Football League in the US (Washington Redskins). Despite my favorite teams, I have a great deal of time for particular players, managers and coaches in these sports and others whether or not they play for my teams. In the Premier League I have a huge amount of respect for Sir Alex Ferguson, the manager of Manchester United. In the NFL I like players like Troy Polamalu and Ray Lewis as well as coaches like Bill Belichick. Another man I respect from more than 20 years ago is Bill Walsh, the former coach of the San Francisco 49ers.

During his reign Walsh turned the 49ers around, won three Super Bowls, created what would later become known as the West Coast Offense (characterized by the use of up to 5 receivers who would run timed pass routes to hit specific parts of the field at staggered times allowing for shorter, faster passes) and was christened The Genius.

I am nearing the end of a very interesting book written about Walsh and the 49ers called The Genius: How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an NFL Dynasty by David Harris, a book I recommend to anyone who wants to get an insight into how to be successful in a highly competitive arena and the price being at the top of your game exacts.

Walsh offered his players plenty of coaching along with advice on things like how to deal with the media. He went on to set up seminars on financial management for team. Certain principles though he returned to time and time again, emphasizing key lessons that would form the backbone of what he called '49ers football'. Having read them and spent a short time dwelling on them, I think they are worth sharing as they can be adopted by a martial artist to improve his or her individual performance while also being useful for a sensei to discuss with his or her class.

Beat the Opposition to the Punch.

Obviously this has a direct relationship with martial arts and in fact Walsh, an accomplished and would-be professional boxer, used the example of pugilism to demonstrate what he meant. Not only does beating your opponent to the punch offer an immediate and obvious advantage, over a period of time what starts as a small point of superiority can swell into a dominant one that assures victory. Bill Walsh valued quickness and explosiveness over toughness. He wanted players to be decisive, believing that anyone who wanted to simply stand and trade (a tough opponent) would be gradually beaten up before a final blow would signal the end. In Japanese martial arts we could call this sen sen no sen.

Set a Standard of Performance and Meet It.

Walsh emphasized playing as well as you could, week in and week out, irrespective of how your opposition were performing. Set yourself a high standard and determine that you will consistently meet that level. This was not just at game time; the mindset was also to be applied to practice, where the process started. Outperform the people around you in training and you will be able to outperform them in competition. This point can be applied to any endeavor.

Be Precise in All Things and Always Pay Close Attention to Detail.

Bill Walsh saw effective football as the end result of a combination of a multitude of minute details. Approximations of exactitude were not enough: everything had to be precise and practice was intended to accomplish that goal. Walsh wanted his positional coaches to be similarly exact in their feedback to players, whether positive or negative.

This attention to detail will be familiar to many who train in their chosen art with any degree of seriousness. Generating greater and greater power can be hindered by the smallest misalignment of the body. A small error in the execution of a punch can lead you to injuring your own hand more than any opponent. Attempting to execute a lock or choke when the pressure is angled wrong will lead to failure. Pressure points require not only a very high degree of accuracy, but also must be attacked from specific angles. Your instructor should be correcting your performance with evermore precise feedback as your technique becomes further honed.

Everyone Has a Role and Every Role is Essential.

The Genius believed that "championships are won with the bottom half of the roster." He certainly valued his stars, men such as Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, but he made sure everyone knew they were important and their successful execution of their role within the team was vital to gaining victory.

At first blush this principle may not seem to have a lot to do with the practice of martial arts. However, while martial arts are executed in isolation, skill is developed by interacting with the people around you in your dojo. In this sense learning a fighting art can be seen as a team effort. With the team working together effectively to build the skills of everyone involved, everyone can progress. Seen from this point of view your role in the gym is not merely to hone your own ability, but to play a role - an essential one - in helping your training partners to develop too. Skilled black belts or the equivalent are the result of not only their own effort, but of the input and challenges set by other members. Try to look at the dojo as less a collection of individuals pursuing individual goals and more as a team committed to seeing and helping everyone get better. Steve Morris (No Holds Barred) encourages sparring to be done with specific goals in mind, rather than a mock competition with a "winner" and a "loser". The point of sparring then is not so much to beat the other person, as to work with the other person to enhance particular attributes.

Preparation Breeds Execution and Execution Breeds Success.

Another key concept to 49ers football was the emphasis on execution, above and beyond emotional intensity, which was heavily favored by other coaches at the time. Bill Walsh would argue that strong emotions cannot win games; and in any case, anyone who was starting in the NFL was already at the height of intensity. Correct execution requires practice and repetition. In this way responses become automatic.

This is another key point that is directly applicable to martial arts. Endlessly repeating the basics may threaten boredom, but it is the only way to develop talent and flawless execution. I would say that over a lifetime of practice, this has to be countered with activities that alleviate boredom, but one should always go back to the basics. Learning new kata is important for various reasons, but one of the most satisfying results of this is go to back to your Heian Shodan or whatever equivalent beginners are taught after you have worked on more advanced forms and then re-examine the basics in a new light. It is for this reason that I primarily recommend taking a look at things like tuite and kyusho jutsu; not because they are necessarily more effective in a fight than a stiff jab, but because they had a new dimension of interest to the same patterns of movement.

Keep Your Wits at All Times.

Maintaining concentration in the face of adversity, fatigue, discouragement and a highly skilled opponent was of significance importance to 49ers football. Every play requires the full emotional commitment of each player. Small mental mistakes can have vast negative consequences. Being able to think under pressure then is a key skill. Repetition in practice, to return to the point above, breeds neuro-muscular memory which is what a player will revert to in times of stress.

Zanshin, a total awareness, remains a key concept in Japanese martial arts and can be forged in various ways. The grading system, sometimes much maligned by traditionalists, does allow for a uniform approach to inducing stress in practitioners and seeing if they sink or swim as it were. Can the karateka deal with the stress and still perform the basics? Competition, even just sparring for some, may be another way to test if someone can function under pressure. Obviously full contact matches such as MMA fights take this stress to an even higher level.

Communication is Vital.

Players and staff had to constantly talk to one another for 49ers football to work. Bill Walsh therefore cultivated communication. This was particularly important when things were not going as planned. This allowed the team to identify an issue and initiate a process of correction.

I think this point is also highly applicable to developing effective fighting skills. Most obviously communication between a student and his or her teacher is vital; but so too is that between students. Remembering that training should be undertaken with an attitude of teamwork to build skills, part of this process inevitably involves effectively communicating what is being done well and what is not effective. Certainly there is a lot to learn from self-examination, but sometimes the solution to a problem can be more easily discerned by the person on the receiving end. This feedback needs to be offered without any sense of superiority or one upmanship and taken without the ego intruding and becoming hurt if there is a perception of criticism.

Football Requires Endless Adaptation.

Walsh maintained that everyone involved with the team had to be adaptable to different circumstances and situations. Throughout the ebb and flow of a game and a season everyone also had to maintain a high level of concentration. What Walsh meant then was not passive acceptance of a situation, but pro-active adaption to new circumstances.

The idea of achieving harmony with an opponent (and, at a deeper level of understanding, of time and space) is central to the teachings of many martial arts. The very idea of karate as an empty hand form of combat is taken not only to imply that no weapons are used, but that the fighting method has no fixed style. It is "empty" until it finds a moment of expression. We are also reminded of the teaching of master Funakoshi that "form is emptiness; emptiness is form", a teaching taken from the Buddhist Heart sutra.

Count on One Another.

Walsh maintained that having high expectations among team members (not just coaches) was a vital component of success. This extended to the requirement that each player would sacrifice himself for the good of team because each individual cared about the whole. The Genius expected everyone to help everyone else improve.

Again, we have to recognize that martial arts seem to be more an individual effort than anything else but in order to improve we are reliant on the people around us; not just for instruction but for the challenge and feedback each person can provide to us. Sacrifice is perhaps too strong a word for an amateur training in the dojo nearest to his home 2 or 3 times a week, but nevertheless, a willingness to participate in drills and activities for the overall good of the gym, if accepted by all members, will create and maintain a healthy training environment.

Conclusion.

I think Bill Walsh has a lot to offer with his ideas on 49ers football, not just in the realms of the NFL or martial arts, but for anyone seeking to improve his skills in a particular area. The key ideas seem to be to always seek perfection and that no man is an island. To achieve perfection we need the help of our training partners, which suggests (and the legend Steve Morris seems to concur) that exercises in the gym should be less about competition and more about co-operative action intended to improve specific and overall performance (though there is a time and a place for some hard, competitive sparring).

Before interacting with a training partner in many martial arts we bow to one another or give some other signal of respect. Respect is a very broad term and can mean many things, but one meaning, the meaning I think Walsh would emphasize, is the appreciation for your training partner as he helps you to develop. Something I have encountered in my training here in Japan is that along with a bow people are prone to also say "Onegaishimasu". Directly translated, this means "please", but a more accurate interpretative translation would be something like "Please help me develop my skill". This is not only confined to the practice of martial arts.

There is a lot to study here and I can say that my own appreciation of the importance of training partners, to take one example, has changed significantly over the years. Nowadays I do not pay gym fees for the level of instruction I am given, but more for the opportunity to train with people of a high standard.

Train hard, live easy.

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How Often Should I Exercise Abs?

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How Often Should I Exercise Abs?

This is a good, and common, question. The short answer is: it depends what kind of results you are looking for. If you want above average results you will need to make an above average effort and that will require an above average recovery period.

The tendency is to think that the more the better. Not just with abs, with any kind of exercise. So let me start with a more obvious example. All of us walk everyday. Some may walk more than others (waiters and waitresses) and some jobs may require us to be on our feet (shop assistants) but to a greater or lesser extent we are all up and walking around for some portion of the day. Our recovery includes eating three average meals a day and getting 8 hours of sleep. This recovery is enough to meet our daily needs and to allow us to walk about the next day without feeling overly tired.

Let’s say though that your target is to become an Olympic champion in speed walking. Obviously just following your daily routine of walking here and there is not going to be enough. To become number one you are going to have to divert time and energy into improving your speed and walking at an above average pace for an above average amount of time. You will also need to do supplementary exercises, such as stretching and strengthening your muscles. Owing to the greater demand put on your body your recovery periods will also change and become longer. Now when you are talking about world class athletes a key factor in their ability to perform at such a high level is not just a genetic ability to do so combined with a high work rate. Such people also have a tremendous ability to recover quicker than normal from heavy workout sessions. If you are so gifted then good luck to you. You might want to consider a career as a professional athlete as you have the ability to workout more frequently and with greater intensity than the rest of us. If on the other hand you do not have that ability to recover then you need to take a more moderate approach to your walking. Using the top athletes as examples can be counter-productive. It is not simply a case of following their training programs but also having the ability to be able to recover as quickly.

As with the walking example, the same is true for exercising your abs. In order to become stronger we use a general principal called Progressive Muscle Overload. This means simply that you exercise your muscles, tearing them down then allowing them to recover and rebuild stronger than they were before at which point you put even greater demands on them thereby repeating the process.

So the process is: harder training breaks the muscles down more completely; they then heal and recover stronger and larger than they were before.

So the key point in answering how often should I exercise abs is to determine what kind of results you are looking to get. If you just want to firm up your abs then a program of 50 crunches a day may be all you need. In this case a long recovery period may not be necessary (unless you are trying to go from never having done crunches for the last 10 years to suddenly going for 50…not recommended) and you can just get your three meals a day and 8 hours of sleep. But you are unlikely to develop a 6-pack like this.

If you are going for a washboard effect then you are going to have to expend more energy on more demanding ab exercises. This will cause greater muscle break down and will therefore require you to spend more time in recovery.

So, in short, the more gains you want to make the more intense your workout needs to be and the more time you have spend in recovery.

The truth however is that if you want really impressive gains then you do need to working on your abs on a daily basis. More specifically though you need to target different abdominal muscles on different days thereby allowing your other muscles to recover in between. So, on one day you may target your upper abs, the next day your lower abs and on the third day your oblique muscles. Then repeat the cycle giving a total of 6 days followed by a day of rest (for your abs at least). This gives you at least two days for one muscle group to relax and recover.

Another point to consider is the role cardio should play. Unfortunately the stomach area for most people is a prime location for body fat. It is quite feasible to have super strong abs but not be able to see them as they are covered up with a layer of fat (think sumo wrestlers…immensely strong but you would never know it to look at them). Cardio cannot target specific body areas but a consistent program will reduce overall body fat, leaving you with a cut look.

So to sum up. The answer to the question how often should I exercise abs? will depend on the kind of results you are looking for. If you are looking for moderate results then you can train your abs on a daily basis if you want as long as you are getting enough food and sleep. If you are looking for above average results then you need to train harder and rest longer. For optimal gains though you need to target different abs on different days allowing for your other muscles to heal in between.

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