Martial arts magazine budo international march 2014

REF.:짜 KYUSHO20

"Vital spot in Taekwon-Do is defined as any sensitive or breakable area on the body vulnerable to an attack. It is essential that the student of Taekwon-Do has a knowledge of the different spots so that he can use the proper attacking or blocking tool. Indiscriminate attack is to be condemned as it is inefficient and wasteful of energy". - General Choi Hong Hi (___), ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TAEKWON-DO, Volume II, page 88. Taekwon-Do is one of the largest and most professional martial arts in the world today, (founded on April 11, 1955, by General Choi Hong Hi (___)), and continues to flourish even after the passing of its founder in June of 2002. Over time the sporting factors took precedence and much was either ignored or discarded in the area of the original self-protection methods. In the original writings of General Choi much of the focus, structure and even the use of the vital points "Kupso" (__ or Kyusho), as well as the weapon development to access them, was outlined but never fully taught. Kyusho International has developed a program to enlighten, educate, integrate and develop this incredible Martial Art back to it's founders concepts. This new program has the full support of the founders surviving son Choi Jung Hwa. The focus of this series is to investigate the Patterns (teul), which are performed in accordance with the founders precepts in "The Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do" (an astounding 15 volumes written

by General Choi Hong Hi, including his "Vital Spots"). It is through this structure that Kyusho will be initially integrated back into Taekwon-Do. Kyusho International is proud to assist in this monumental and historic collaborative undertaking.

All DVDs, wichi is produced by Budo International, si provided and alone in the formats DVD-5 or MPEG-2, in VCD, DivX or the like is however neves offered with a special holograma sticker. Besides our DVD is characteristed coverings by the hig quality in pressure and material. If this DVD and/or the DVD covering do not corespond to the requirements specified above, it concerns illegal pirat copy.

ORDERS: Budo international. net

KNIFE FIGHTING CONCEPT WU SHU & CINEMA After many years of practicing and competing in Ukraine and Europe, I felt a desire of improving my martial arts in authentic conditions. I have been feeling for a very long time there is something that we ( white people) are missing in whole understanding of wushu ( speaking about particularly chinese martial art).

SGM CACOY CANETE Each sport or martial art has its great examples.

Mohamed Ali in boxing or Helio Gracie Brazilian jujitsu are legends that inspire millions of people. In eskrima it must be Cacoy Canete. His skills are so exceptional that the 95 old living legend and holder of the 12th Dan in Doce Pares still manages to impress. What most people don't know is that he also holds other high degrees. He holds the 8th Dan, in jujitsu, judo and a 6th Dan in aikido and karate.

COMBAT HAPKIDO

SHIZEN TRADITION – A JOURNEY THROUGH THE UNTOLD STORY We invite the reader to know something about these stories as they were transmitted, like if he was a listener, reading about a legend or a story, since we can't provide no records, except a culture common to the ancient legends of the Japanese soil and that, although still existing, they have been adulterated or adapted over the centuries.

“BUDO INTERNATIONAL” is a publication of: BUDO INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING CO. Central: Office: Andrés Mellado, 42 28015 Madrid - Spanien budo@budointernational.com

In recent months you could read about SDS Concept and Tomahawk Fighting Concept. In this issue I will talk about TCS Knife Fighting Concept, another SAMI System.

Like the two others, TCS Knife Fighting Concept is a totally independent close combat system which is based on fighting concepts and principles. The knife is one of the oldest cultural objects. It is a tool, but also a weapon, a sign of one's position in society, it is a piece of decoration as well as a piece of art, bargaining counter and ritual object, and it is sports equipment. And - defense against knife attacks is gaining more and more attention in the world of the martial arts.

Personally, what I consider the most compelling reason for cross training and understanding the meaning of Yin & Yang, is to learn the most effective Self Defense possible. To that end, throughout my 40 plus year martial arts journey, I have always strived to be true to certain principles that I consider essential for any real teacher

KRAV MAGA Imi's problems with his way which is based on uncompromised perfection began to appear only with the second generation of Krav-Maga practitioners.

With in the closed circle of Imi's only ten black belt students, who were full partners during the years of the creation of the KravMaga as the Israeli martial art, nobody of us had any complain about the fact that Imi educated us upon his tendency for perfection.

KRAV MAGA RED The "Krav Maga Evolution Research and Development" DVD was born as an expression of the will of four specialists in Krav Maga and combat sports: Christian Wilmouth, Faustino Hernandez, Dan Zahdour and Jérôme Lidoyne.

The two latter ones are currently running several gyms and a group of about twenty instructors and professors from various disciplines, from Krav Maga to MMA.

SHAOLIN HUNG GAR KUNG FU The history of martial arts is one of overlapping connections and similarities between the different styles, which can be traced back to the same few origins. One of those origins, experts agree, can be found in China, more precisely in the famous kung fu monastery. There were two co-existing monasteries, one in the north and another in the south of China. The northern monastery had been built first and when the Indian prince and scholar Da Mo arrived in China, it became the foundation place of the Chan Buddhism.

KAPAP KAPAP [Krav Panim El Panim] is an Israeli Martial art that today is an internationally recognized system that started out as a bridge between Martial Arts systems.

KAPAP was put together when I was chosen to become the unit Instructor for the YAMAM, a top Israeli counterterrorism unit. As Israel's top unit, any instructor would hope to get this assignment. I admit that I was the worst and that's why I was chosen. Many former unit members tried to become instructors for the unit the unit.

WINGTSUN

One of the first things we did when we founded the TAOWS Academy was throwing bridges to other branches or schools of Wing Chun.

That, unthinkable time ago, has provided us not only knowledge about aspects we didn't know of the art itself, but also an excellent atmosphere of comradeship, respect and martial artists. In short, an atmosphere of Kungfu.

PAOLO CANGELOSI I met Paolo Cangelosi many years ago, when we both were much younger. I can't recall the exact date - my memory is rather poor -, but I haven't forgotten either the moment or the circumstances in which we met. Paolo traveled frequently to Madrid to record a series of magnificent videos; his articles often illustrated this magazine and were a continuous spotlight for our readers, especially among the enthusiasts of Chinese Martial traditions. Because of his versatility and enormous richness of knowledge, Paolo has often been the target of lots of ignorant people. Yes, he's had to endure much envy and unjust criticism in the past.

WENG CHUN KUNG FU International Weng Chun Kung Fu Association guided by Grandmaster Andreas Hoffmann announce the official inauguration of the first weng chun temple worldwide. Like the southern shaolin temple located in the south of china our new temple is located on the southern Mediterranean coast of Italy at the tourist center Rama Beach Cafe, just outside the city of Naples.

General Director & Art Director: Alfredo Tucci. Advertising: Alfredo Tucci. budo@budointernational.com Columnists: Don Wilson, Yoshimitsu Yamada, Cass Magda, Antonio Espinós, Jim Wagner, Coronel Sanchís, Marco De Cesaris, Lilla Distéfano, Maurizio Maltese, Bob Dubljanin, Marc Denny, Salvador Herráiz, Shi de Yang, Sri Dinesh, Carlos Zerpa, Omar Martínez, Manu, Patrick Levet, Mike Anderson, Boulahfa Mimoum, Franco Vacirca, Bill Newman, José Mª Pujadas, Paolo Cangelosi, Emilio Alpanseque, Sueyoshi Akeshi, Marcelo Pires, Angel García, Juan Díaz. Photographers: Carlos Contreras, Alfredo Tucci.

"Fate shuffles, we play" Arthur Schopenhauer

he e-bunto is the science and the art of learning to use in an ordinary way the invisible forces and the extraordinary abilities that we all humans have.

We are all made of the same stuff; we are vibrant cumuli of energy and consciousness that possess a unique path: the one of the spirit that nurtures them and enlivens them. We cross the lapses of space-time that correspond to us and we call life, mingling, interacting and readjusting or, in the best scenario, learning how to polish the rough diamond we really are and we have been given. As a sculptor chiseling the stone, we remove gradually the parts that conceal all the wonders that our essence keeps inside, finishing our works each of us with a distinctive imprint.

As men, we are capable of wonderful insights beyond our regular senses. We can connect with dimensions that inhabit the spiritual world, with mysterious powers, with enormous forces of any possible profile and interact with them. As a matter of fact, actively or passively, we do it all the time, although most of times we are not aware of it. The Extraordinary, however, sometimes brings out those resources unexpectedly, making shine the magic of the invisible, beyond the normalcy we have granted ourselves. Because what we call reality is merely a cultural consensus in a biological and social framework. Through it we continuously "take communion with grindstones", in other words, we accept and believe that something is possible, even if it's absurd and illogical, only because our “reality” says so; at the end of the day, that's what culture and education is. Transgressing the boundaries of those legacies is the basis sine qua non of all wisdom, the beginning of understanding for every awaken person. The world is nevertheless populated by “sleepers” that eat, drink, defecate and reproduce themselves without interruption or questioning in the least about their frame of existence and consciousness.

The e-bunto teaches us to recognize the energies and tensions interacting in the Universe and how to get in touch with them. They allow us to recognize the nature and trends of these forces, to deal with them with respect and clarity without judging them. Over the years, the goal of e-bunto has transcended its primary intent as a tool of a culture beset by foes superior in number, to become a vehicle of wisdom and personal growing.

But, unlike other channels of wisdom, the idea that springs from the e-bunto is not that of improving according to a pattern or an established moral code, but to act with responsibility and consequence in the choices each person makes. This idea is clearly expressed in its peculiar way of addressing philosophy, HUZU (literally "spiritual integration").

Contrary to the idea that leaks out of Western philosophy (a continuous display of more or less brilliant thoughts of multiple characters about whatever thing you could think of) Shizen people developed a set of tools so that everyone, as he pleased, could build his reality from his personal values. Let's consider by means of example one of these points to better understand what we mean: For the HUZU, absolutely everything can be framed in one of these three points of support, which they called the "three pillars of life": time, movement or stagnation. In front of any matter whatsoever, either we interfere in it, or we abstain, or we let time do its work.

These frameworks, apparently simple, unlike the formulations of Western philosophies (personal approaches, antithetical with others), make possible for us to analyze any aspect of ourselves or what surrounds us, and then put lucidly the

T

"When we are able to know ourselves, we rarely are wrong about our destiny" Germaine De Staël "reality" at the right place we ourselves decide. It's not about finding the key and then inevitably turning to impose it or compare it with others. Such positioning would be considered arrogant and stupid by a shizen wise, although he would certainly study it with interest after decomposing it carefully in parts.

For shizen sages, understanding meant seeing from various angles; also building the world from the others' view produces wise, humble and conscientious men, all in a single stroke.

The HUZU had 30 initial analysis like the one we've presented here, followed by a lot more of them. The idea was that of giving the individual the due conditions and reasoning so that each one could read his own reality with clearness and wisdom. The heralds of this knowledge were the so-called OITA, the venerable elders who, enriched with experience, devoted their last years to distill their knowledge into a set of intellectual harnesses that allowed anyone to split up reality to then rebuild it in a wise and enlightened way. What each one did later with such learning was a matter of personal rule and had to do with the individual's fate, freedom and personal history.

I've devoted the last few years to the study of the e-bunto out of necessity and enchantment; of course, destiny has also played its cards, who could deny it! For many more years that I could live (and may God grant many!), the deep richness and wisdom of the e-bunto would make them insufficient to learn what it contains; but willingly and with no haste, I take a look at the path of my long walk and I heft its effects with satisfaction.

This I do especially now, when my passing through its initiatory route has brought me to a major dividing line within its own traditions, that of graduating as JOHO (Shidoshi), the last step in the e-bunto initiations.

Having entered the kingdom of Dono Tengu, the Lord of the Ways, does not mean you've already learned everything about the e-bunto (not all shidoshis are alike), but it does entail being able to initiate others in their path. Knowing the responsibilities involved, and without the least interest or conviction about the benefits of a proselytizing work that I abhor, don't expect much from me in this respect. I don't think that it would be better for everyone to do what I do simply because I do it, quite the opposite, I dislike crowds. Furthermore, I sincerely think that the e-bunto is and will be a way just for a few; but for those chosen ones it will become, as it became for me, an incomparable source of personal and spiritual fulfillment.

As a divulger of its existence I've already written two books, in which I present the fruit of my research and understanding of the subject, without entering what concerns to its rituals and practices. There are the "what" but not the "how." Its secrets will be safe in my hands, because I have understood the value and need for silence in this respect; however, sharing what of Universal distills its wisdom is not only a noble goal, but a novel strategy in its history. Up to now, Shizen people have been constantly pursued and hounded, when they should have been admired, and in a time where everything is accessible, the best way to hide something is probably putting it openly in sight.

Times change and every now and then you have to alter things so that nothing changes and what is essential can stay alive. Adaptation does not mean giving up one's nature, but to explore its hidden and unknown resources in a new setting. You can't deteriorate a culture by simply changing its habits, but it is possible to do so when you scorn its reasons, principles, values

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or teachings with disdain. Knowing something in depth definitely means loving that thing, so, and given that a culture is distinguished and built from the forms, these also constitute an inalienable asset. When you go to Rome you just have to look Roman; otherwise you know where the door is.

All this places me and my brothers in a fine line of action in order to come to fruition. With a sense of responsibility (and hopefully with lucidity) we'll continue our voyage with two simple goals: Improving as individuals so that we fulfill our destiny in the best possible scenario, and maintaining and perpetuating the wisdom of the Shizen spirituality and culture, both for those who are presently assigned to it, and for the joy and release of those who lived in it in the past, so that they can find solace and rest in the well-deserved recognition of their fine tradition. May their most illustrious spirits, the Hikarushin, help us!

I'm writing these words on the last day of my seclusion to Shidoshi, awaken and aware of its significance value. Tomorrow I'll return to the everyday world where I traced these purposes for myself a few years ago (or perhaps many, who knows?). There won't be surprises, therefore, nor will these words be a simple statement stemming from a passing enthusiasm.

I can't assess how big the consequences of this step will be. I don't mind because I walk calm on the crest of something larger than myself that preceded me and will survive me, and because I am sure that today I am better prepared to accomplish this dream.

My giri is with Shidoshi Jordan and Shiniyuke Sensei, his master; without them, everything would surely have been lost long ago.

Mentioning Shidoshi Juliana Galende at this point is not only fair, but also necessary, since her strength has permeated every step and crossing of destiny in the most difficult years. I will continue learning and doing my best work; the rest is in the hands of more significant and powerful forces.

Conceited is the man who believes himself indispensable, but equally stupid is the one who scorns himself before his determination and destiny. The pride of what has been justly achieved should not be dissolved with the mask of false humbleness; the recognition of the signs of such destiny, especially when it links with your personal purpose, is a fortune granted to very few.

I'm lucky ... I, Joho Goemon Kawazuki, am one of those...

Alfredo Tucci is Managing Director of Budo INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING CO. E-mail: budo@budointernational.com

Self-defense The most faithful readers of this magazine probably recall of Christian Wilmouth, an expert in professional self-defense and a character constantly present in this journal in recent years.

We already knew about his good work and his professionalism; his affable nature contrasts with his huge and muscular figure and the forcefulness with which he enters (don't miss this!) under a decisive attack with a baseball bat.

B u t m e e t i n g h i s p a r t n e r, F a u s t i n o Hernรกndez, a Boxer for thirty years and a professional in private security, Savate and Stick expert, and a Basque as a greater pr oof, has been a pleasant surprise.

Faustino is a sincere, direct, sly and sympathetic fighter, forceful in his work, thoughtful when evaluating pros and cons, but resolute as nobody else when entering combat.

Knowing him has been the crucible

Research, Evolution and Development

and alchemy in which has been has gestated a sensible, practical and balanced new self-defense system of which we will hear about in the near future.

Many years in the craft and an ongoing search for practical formulations of self-defense have led both of them to develop one of the most effective self-defense and educational systems ever seen. Inspired by multiple experienced systems and with a constant assessment throughout their careers, their endeavors have resulted in the Krav Maga RED, which today we are pleased to present, announcing all at once the imminent appearance (hopefully this month) of this new video produced by Budo International.

Alfredo Tucci

Self-defense

KRAV MAGA Evolution, Research and Development The "Krav Maga Evolution Research and Development" DVD was born as an expression of the will of four specialists in Krav Maga and combat sports: Christian Wilmouth, Faustino Hernandez, Dan Zahdour and J茅r么me Lidoyne. The two latter ones are currently running several gyms and a group of about twenty instructors and professors from various disciplines, from Krav Maga to MMA. After having trained and formed themselves within numerous organizations and schools and instructed hundreds of people and led numerous seminars, or represented different streams of Krav Maga in France and the rest of Europe for almost 15 years, they have decided to offer their students first, but also people who have that open mind that was the engine of their research over the years, the synthesis of their vision of Krav Maga through a DVD. This work arose after the authors decided to no longer represent any federation or organization, often too "restrictive", to work freely in the development of the disciplines they teach.

This DVD is not intended to expose any new method or specific current of Krav Maga. Its only goal is that of presenting a Krav Maga program that focuses on the importance of content.

Let's not forget that Krav Maga is practiced in France (and in most European countries) as a discipline of self-defense.

In this respect, another important factor is to be considered here: the teaching of Krav Maga and the pedagogy applied differs depending of the countries where it was revealed.

Being originally a Close Combat system, in its home country, Israel, Krav Maga is taught with military purposes, due to a very "particular" local context, while in France, for example, is taught to 95% with the need of respecting a very strict legal framework about personal defense and assistance to people in danger and it has to provide a confirmed effectiveness to manage a conflictive situation.

Alongside their passion for teaching combat sports and self-defense, the authors are also people from the security professional sectors, where they have been working for over 20 years. It is this alchemy between passion and profession which has led them to select the techniques they present in their DVD. The DVD "Krav Maga, Research, Development and Evolution" will allow you discovering not only techniques that many know, extracted from the bases of the discipline, but also new fighting skills arising from a more recent experience. You will also discover working methods that permit perceiving the limits of certain techniques.

Research, Evolution and Development

Self-defense

“The DVD "Krav Maga, Research, Development and Evolution" will allow you discovering not only techniques that many know, extracted from the bases of the discipline, but also new fighting skills arising from a more recent experience.�

The authors have built this program keeping constantly in mind the context of life, as well as the legal framework of the country from which they come.

The Krav Maga E. R. D. five working axis When we speak of a "Close Combat" (Krav Maga in Hebrew) whatever, we are talking about methods that have been created from the start to offer people in a short time, a minimum of technical capabilities, bases and principles that enable them to confront most cases of physical conflict, with or without weapons. In such cases, simplicity and combative mind prevail.

In a situation of aggression, the simpler the learned gestures and the more you can resort to a natural "aggression", the better to cope with the situation.

However, even if the Krav Maga we practice is not a martial art and it

doesn't require many years of practice, it's also true that for the authors, is a discipline that demands a regular learning over several months and years. Moreover, the context in which they teach, increasingly difficult, is far from the needs of a country in conflict or war.

Therefore, the Krav Maga R.E.D. program has been outlined following five working axis.

Axis 1 First the technical basis of the practitioner should be established.

Throughout this phase, the trainee will develop the necessary qualities to any fighter. On the program: displacement, protection, percussion techniques, responses, management of distance, foot job, ground working, management of the tunnel effect, etc., although attitudes and postures previous to the critical moment are also practiced.

Research, Evolution and Development

Self-defense Axis 2 Thanks to the acquired experience, and often parallel, the student will put to practice the content through various types of sparring. In Krav Maga, there's a large number of people who do not practice or teach any sparring method (widely used in combat sports though), often for a lack of expertise or even "fear of combat." For both authors which, besides Krav Maga, are also teachers and / or former high-level competitors in disciplines such as English Boxing, Thai Boxing, French Boxing or K1, learning combat through various seminars is essential for the development of the practitioner of a discipline that proclaims itself "realistic self-defense". Therefore, there will be sparring of the English Boxing or footfist Boxing type and others in the selfdefense way, these latter allowing greater freedoms of action.

Axis 3 A program that involves "coded" techniques can be divided into several themes: feet-fists, grabs, chokes, etc.

However, the authors have wanted to consider these other issues according to a specific learning approach, divided into three stages in order to ease the understanding of this program.

- The first stage considers the reflex, the instantaneous act in any situation, in short, the first natural gesture.

- The second stage, the "semianticipating phase", is the step following the reflex, when you start to realize what has just happened. These first two stages can’t be of techniques coded at a 100% because they take place in the first moments of the aggression.

- Finally, the third step of this scheme happens to be the moment in which we try to apply integrally the technique adapted to the situation.

Example: when a blow or projectile reaches you and you experience a reflex at that very moment, what would it be? Some would put their arm in a blocking position; others would try avoiding the blow or projectile. Here we'd be in phase 1. In the split of the next second, when the analysis of the situation is still blurred, it is very likely that we keep blocking, avoiding or whatever, but setting ourselves in

motion or perhaps even trying to answer. That would be phase 2. Then, the full analysis of the situation would allow us to apply all the acquired ability and all the techniques we've learned, going to stage 3 to respond effectively to aggression. Instead, what we have to integrate deeply is that these stages occur in a very short time and they are closely linked to one another and they are inseparable among themselves.

However, when there is anticipation of the threat, phase 3 becomes the rule.

Axis 4 Here is about the ability to manage stress. This part is essential in the formation of a good practitioner of Krav Maga, if realism and efficiency is sought.

However, we will separate physical stress from psychological stress, although we try to generate both of them, often using one or the other in our training sessions. On the program: disorientation, tiring path, practice in a confined atmosphere, personal overcoming and development, blindfolded training, etc., followed by simulated aggression situations as realistic as possible.

Important: When we talk about realistic aggression we need to think of the safety of the trainees. Therefore, the authors use among other things adapted safety material as shown in the video: vests reinforced in the chest, back and shoulder areas, and protection helmets.

Axis 5 Axis 5 is aimed to develop some complementary technical expertise in the practitioners. In the program, this is the use of keys or arm-locks that can complete certain techniques or be used in particular situations, and also the using of a stick or any other object to defend against various kinds of aggressions.

But the authors insist on a last and precise point: the "permanent questioning", because in self-defense matters, and therefore Krav Maga, ego, pride, must be cast aside. We should learn to recognize when a technique has become obsolete and, in this case, change it in favor of a more effective one. Finally, the most important thing is preserving our physical integrity in case of aggression.

Research, Evolution and Development

Curriculum Vitae of the authors Christian Wilmouth Co-founder of Krav Maga Research, Evolution and Development Technical director of the FIGHTING THE ZONE center of Dax (France) - Krav Maga Instructor (AEKM, FEKAMT, KMPI, FFKDA, KMWLE, ICCS) - Professor of Muay Thai, K1, Kick Boxing, Savate - Official Title - Chief Instructor of SPK, ROS, Stick and Tonfa - Private Security pro (22 years) - Instructor of Private Security, Security Forces, Army (over 12 years).

Faustino Hernandez Co-founder of Krav Maga Research, Evolution and Development Technical director of the ART OF FIGHTING 64 center in Bayonne and Ustaritz (France).

- Krav Maga Instructor (AEKM, FEKAMT, FFKDA) - SPK Instructor, Defense Stick - Savate French Boxing professor - English Boxing expert (30 years) - Private Security pro (+30 years) - Private Security Instructor (+10 years)

Research, Evolution and Development

Past, present and future in WingTsun.

TAOWS Academy Past...

It's been about three years now that I, backed up by the team of my closer instructors, decided to found the TAOWS Academy. I must admit that at first we were not too sure about what we wanted to be, but we had absolutely clear what we did NOT want to be.

When we took this decision, which implied the fact of not continuing with the lines marked by my Sifu and my Sigung, and after several personal disputes that led to our separation of their ways and therefore of "our ways", we all decided to create something of which we can be proud when the passing of time will force us to look to the past with perspective.

We can't brag too much. Three years is hardly anything in the current landscape and history of Martial Arts, but I must affirm, without flush, that we are very happy and proud of the development and the direction that we have today.

We decided to call our association TAOWS Academy, in honor of one of my favorite books: "The Art of War", by

“One of the WingTsun excellences, is that it has a beginning and an end at technical level: Siu Nin Tao, Cham Kiu Tao, Biu Tze Tao, Muk Yak Chong, Bart Cham Dao and Luk Dim Boon Kuan".

WingTsun

“The WingTsun is an excellent style of Chinese boxing, which allows the practitioner consecrate a lifetime to practice and holistic growth.”

“Although I receive these questions almost daily, my answer is always the same: I practice WingTsun, ‘with no tags’!”

WingTsun General Sun Tzu. For me, it's been a highly inspiring book and is one of my most reviewed and studied classical texts.

I realize that this book has been a very important literary work in my training over the years on the study of Martial Arts and also an excellent way to learn about the behavior of individuals and society. And I keep discovering little details that I had overlooked in my previous 100 readings...

"The Art of War" of General Sun Tzu is one of those books of ancient wisdom which remain absolutely in effect today.

Timeless. The scribal abbreviation of "The Art Of War Society" gives the name to my school (TAOWS Academy).

While at first, our motivation and rationalization were not far beyond of simply having the chance to train under the umbrella of an association that could unite the interests of WingTsun practitioners and other Martial Arts systems, our project, philosophy or the very idiosyncrasy of our association, have generated a dynamics of which we are extremely proud. The number of teachers, schools, practitioners or supporters who join our project or send us congratulating cards and support messages day by day, are for us an extra motivation to continue studying, training and researching about this ancient combat art.

For over fifteen years I belonged to the world's largest WingTsun association. I took a very active part in the promotion and expansion process of the organization in my country and I was directly coached by my Sifu, whom I accompanied on his travels throughout Europe teaching WT. I am deeply grateful for all his teachings and, needless to say, highly influenced by his way of understanding this

fighting style. I tried all the time to learn all the good that my teachers taught me and I took great care in understanding the nature of the techniques, tactics, structures and transmission methods that so much success had provided to the association, which, in less than thirty years and thanks to it, had placed a style virtually unknown in Europe at the forefront of the styles focusing on "self-defense".

I speak in those terms because for many years the WingTsun was "sold" as this: The best existing self-defense system...

I think it's a pretty dangerous terminology, both in the tone (somewhat bombastic) and in the place where it was located. When we talk about self-defense, we put the WT in a kind of hodgepodge that would admit almost anything.

But in my opinion, the WingTsun can offer

“For as much as the big "gurus" of the style persist on continuing selling tags to his followers and talk about complete systems and other stories, much more than just the ability to defend ourselves by means of a few simple "tricks".

I think that placing the WingTun back in that space has created significant identity problems. The Wing Tsun is an excellent style of Chinese boxing, which allows the practitioner consecrate a lifetime to practice and holistic growth.

In all these years, I've had the opportunity to meet excellent teachers, great fighters and exceptional people. Many have given up and the worst thing is that they left with a very negative feeling, because they did believe that the style could give much more out of itself.

Just a self-defense system? Little content as to devote a lifetime to its study...

Too many incongruities caused by a lack of direction, or perhaps the opposite, by a course that is not the right one.

In my book "High Level" (a constructive criticism to the WingTsun system) edited by Budo International, which publishes the magazine Black Belt, I review what in my opinion have been the evils of this system, indicating also, why not, what I understand to be its strengths. I affirm that criticizing is easy (it's human), but proposing and carrying out solutions to those things we dislike in the world we love is not so easy.

We do tried.

After the end of our relationship with the "fathers" of the style, the first thing I did was checking the entire system, from the beginning to the end, trying to make sense and placing in the logical order a lot of pieces, shapes and ideas that consciously or unconsciously have been converted into a kind of endless puzzle.

WingTsun the truth, and one of the WingTsun excellences, is that it has a beginning and an end at technical level."

Locked in an boring discussion about whether it was better to go back to the original Chinese tradition or take steps towards the more modern styles, the system itself lost its way... its nature, the intention with which it was created.

Now it's our turn. We've come of age and it has arrived the time to make decisions, be brave and stop living from what others did before us. Proposals to improve the style to which many of us (Martial Arts practitioners) have devoted thousands of hours of practice in our lives.

Present...

From different parts of the world they ask me: What type of Wing Tsun do you practice? What is your branch? What do you propose? What makes it different from other schools?

Although I receive these questions almost daily, my answer is always the same: I practice WingTsun, "with no tags"!

For as much as the big "gurus" of the style persist on continuing selling tags to his followers and talk about complete systems and other stories, the truth, and one of the WingTsun excellences, is that it has a beginning and an end at technical level: "Siu Nin Tao, Cham Kiu Tao, Biu Tze Tao, Muk Yak Chong, Bart Cham Dao and Luk Dim Boon Kuan". My answer to them is always the same: Just try. The more teachers, schools, branches and opinions you get to know... the merrier!

Our proposal is that of preparing the student on the whole system in a reasonable time, to later focusing in a second phase on what is training itself. In other words, first the apprenticeship of techniques, tactics, ideas and philosophy of the style, and then the PRACTICE for many years, to develop the full potential of each individual, depending on the personal

WingTsun capacity and the number of hours each one devotes to training.

I think that the critical spirit that I inherited from my teacher has been highly positive for me in trying to keep my feet on the ground, as well as a fair balance between classic and modern, to place ourselves in the central path.

Actually, all I can propose to those joining my association is that we are going to TRAIN VERY HARD! That what we do, now and always, is based on practice, and it's the practice of this style of Chinese boxing what must define everything we do by and for the Martial Arts. Honestly, the rest of things are of little or no interest to us.

Today, our lines of work are mainly based on two pillars: • The study of the origins of the system: My interviews with an infinity of masters of different branches and, especially now, my job as technical director of the WingTsun department in the Spanish Federation of Wrestling and Associated Disciplines.

This allows me SHARING experiences with almost all Wing Chun branches that exist today, which influence daily in my vision of what we do and especially in my comprehension of fighting systems. My goal has always been trying to

understand the past, working in the present and thinking about how to improve in the future. • Experimentation, practice and development of systems that can enhance our progress. I refuse to keep doing something for the simple fact that others before us used to do it that way with no more reason.

Whatever is good remains good; what is not so good ... must be improved. And this section takes up a lot of our endeavors and studies for the practice.

When we founded the TAOWS Academy we wrote down in a list all those things we disliked in the current system, both at an institutional and educational level and, of course, thinking about how

“I refuse to keep doing something for the simple fact that others before us used to do it that way.”

“Our plans are to continue being critical, constructive, and humble workers. It's the Decalogue I try to convey my instructors and schools day by day!”

we could improve the style we practiced also at a technical and tactical level. If we wanted to do something different, we should be bold and move away from the tendency of the vast majority of schools, that posed things like changing one letter of the WingTsun name, or designing a new logo that looked like the original of their own Sifu, or even slightly lowering their fees for exams and courses and try to fight for the largest number of schools and students ... When I see these things I say to myself...

"This is not good for the art...! This is not KungFu. And, of course, this has nothing to do with Martial Arts! But mainly, it has no interest for people who want to practice Martial Arts."

I know hundreds of excellent WingTsun practitioners, but above all, I know several hundreds of excellent people who gave up practicing WingTsun, fed up with this sort of things, so unhealthy to the art itself.

We don't do that and we never will. Practicing this ancient art is essential for us above anything else.

One of the first things we did when we founded the TAOWS Academy was throwing bridges to other branches or schools of Wing Chun. That, unthinkable time ago, has provided us not only knowledge about aspects we didn't know of the art itself, but also an excellent atmosphere of comradeship, respect and martial artists. In short, an atmosphere of Kungfu.

I recognize that establishing instructing relationships with masters like GM Steve Tappin (Escrima Concepts), or my teacher Jair Correa from Magallaes (BJJ), has helped me a lot in understanding some training and instruction systems to improve the WT; and no doubt these highly enriching experiences will continue in the future.

Future...

After three years, I could cite many of the accomplishments we personally and institutionally have managed to achieve, but I think it's time to take stock from a completely earthly perspective, trying to reassert the original message to which this association was created, by and for Martial Artists in general and especially for WingTsun practitioners.

Our plans are to continue being critical, constructive, and humble workers. It's the Decalogue I try to convey my instructors and schools day by day!

I firmly believe that he who centers his way into Martial Arts and the practice of his style, can achieve goals or objectives much more worthy and interesting than those that focus on "other aspects".

In the next coming years we will try to bring our perspective to other countries of the

European Union and America, always with the promise that everything we do will always be chaired by sacrifice, practice and the utmost respect for all persons, institutions and practitioners.

Last year we managed to introduce for the first time WingTsun courses in a Spanish university on an official basis. The fact of being recognized by a university, that has also rewarded and evaluated in a positive way the academic record of the students, it’s a milestone that we can proudly cite.

Also the creation of a department recognized by the Spanish Sports Council (CSD) of all Wing Chun schools in Spain, that above all serves as a meeting point for branches, masters, trends and schools, sometimes very different among themselves, that nonetheless have found a place they can share with respect and humility with people who despite doing things in a "slightly different way", come from the same root.

We'll keep launching new projects in which we'll always try to improve everything we do, as long as these don't hinder us from doing what we really enjoy doing in TAOWS Academy: Training WingTsun! Training Martial Arts!

REF.: • TAOWS1 Alle DVDs, die von Budo International produziert werden, sind mit einem speziellen Hologramm-Aufkleber versehen und werden allein in den Formaten DVD-5 oder MPEG-2, jedoch niemals in VCD, DivX o. ä. angeboten. Zudem zeichnen sich unsere DVD Hüllen durch die hohe Qualität in Druck und Material aus. Falls diese DVD und/oder die DVD Hülle nicht den oben genannten Ansprüchen entspricht, handelt es sich um ein illegale Raubkopie.

ORDERS: Budo international. net

SHIZEN TRADITION A JOURNEY THROUGH THE UNTOLD STORY (PART ONE) There's no doubt that all those great visionaries who announced the coming of a time when everything would see the light were right. With the rise of the combat sports of modern schools and consequently, whether voluntarily or not, the withdrawal of the oldest currents that defended their concepts through legends and stories, the world is witnessing today a new era. Juliana and I both recall when the British BBC released a documentary on the school Katori Shinto Ryu, famous in those days, on the image of the great Otake Sensei. In Brazil, the land where we come from, admiration was huge in the eyes of those who saw the documentary, which undoubtedly made manifest its doubts about its martial references.

Regardless of the era, the truth is that access to information has always been a way of elucidation and, therefore, proof of curious points.

The arrival of the Ogawa family to Brazil speaking a language different from Japanese that was classified as Ainugo by some of the era -, outlined a curious parallelism in the relationship among the anthropological structures in relation to ancient Japan.

Decades later, Takeo Nagaki (author of the first article about the Ogawa Sensei's school in a martial arts Brazilian magazine - (KIAI, 1994), by means of curious researches and through lectures and seminars, explained to the most interested the whole trajectory of the Hagumo, the supposed

background of what we know now as the Shizen People. Let's retrace the history for a moment.

The first book on Japanese history was written in the early eighteenth century, first in one version, "Kojiki", and then in a broader one as "Nihon Shoki". The content relating to previous years is still under discussion, however, is deemed reliable the posterior content at the end of the seventeenth century AD. This brings us immediately to the fact that, differently from other countries, the historical records of the Japanese territory did not occur with the same precision as in other areas and, therefore, we can't provide here but a knowledge that has been transmitted as cultural traditions through generations, with no way to offer proper records that collaborate with the reliability of the information.

Perhaps for that reason, tradition and culture of the Shizen belong to the realm of legends and mythologies of ancient Japan, without the ethnical features we know today, something that inhabits in the stories of the ancestors, with a similarity to those told around a campfire, on top of a mountain or in the middle of a forest; in a circle of Indigenous with their own characteristics, which could well be on the west lands of North America or any other region that in the past could have been populated by an ancient tribe.

Thus, we invite the reader to know something about these stories as they were transmitted, like if he was a listener, reading about a legend or a story, since we can't provide no records, except a culture common to the ancient legends of the Japanese soil and that, although still existing, they have been adulterated or adapted over the centuries.

Let's take a brief look to the Japanese geography in order to locate our history.

The Japanese territory consists of four main islands, but we will focus in the area of Hokkaido and Northwest Tohoku (Honshu island), the regions that were shared by the Emishi and Ashihase peoples. The Emishi who continued living in Hokkaido in the seventeenth century, known as Ezo at the time, were later called Ainu.

Very little is known about what happened with the Ashihase people in the early modern period. It is thought that they were pushed further north by the Ainu themselves.

There are three races or ethnic groups that must be considered in Old Japan: Emishi, Japanese (Yamato) and Ashihase. Japanese literature supports the theory that the Emishi were considered rebellious people and therefore a potential conquering goal, which, over time, divided them among those who underwent the Yamato standards as allies, and those who lived outside their authority and were seen as barbarians living beyond the borders.

Here we begin to approach what has been transmitted as the Shizen people. Michinoku, name given by the Japanese Yamato to the Tohoku region (literally translates as "deep road", in the connotative sense of remote place) was the area where the Emishi rebels lived, far beyond the borders of the territories ruled by the Yamato people.

The Ashihase were generally considered as a foreign people but nobody knows exactly who they

“Within the Shizen people, each village collaborated in a different way to the survival of their culture.�

were. Last surveys show a tendency to relate the Ashihase and the Emishi, in a kind of relationship similar to that between the Emishi and the Japanese.

With the expansion of the Japanese conquest over Tohoku, the Emishi people moved to

Hokkaido.

The Ashihase people, considered hunters of Asian features who lived on the banks of rivers, either moved more to the south towards Hokkaido, or were absorbed by the Emishi, of the Satsumon culture (name given to the Emishi group that would have been the ancestors of the Ainu) or even conquered, although it's not known for sure, as the Satsumon group migrated to Hokkaido and ensured their area at the same time. Others believe that indeed, the Emishi created the Satsumon culture.

There are other facts and archaeological finds that seem to indicate that the Jomon race were the ancestors of the Ainu; still others, by the characteristics of the Jomon excavated skeletal, suggest that they were related to Mongolians or East Asian groups and therefore we'd be talking about a different breed. (Ossenberg 1986:199215; Kidder 1993:79,101).

Anyway, the Emishi and the Ainu were the last peoples of the Jomon period who were conquered and, returning to history, we can see that the boundaries between the Japanese and the northern tribes experienced a retrocession to the

“Four villages determined the strengthening of this culture: Yabu, Yama, Tayo and Kawa.�

"The author of the first book on the spiritual Shizen tradition, already published in four languages and available to scholars in the field, is our director Alfredo Tucci"

south and there exists clear evidence on the subject. Focusing more on the Emishi, they were considered shaggy people by the Japanese conquerors, due to their body hair (Mojin or Kebito), a feature also shared by the Ainu (or Ezo, before the Meiji Period).

This leads us to believe that, as a matter of fact, it has no sense thinking that ancient Japan was formed by a single ethnic group, even more when a consanguineous and cultural connection came long after the political unification. Thus, even considering the Emishi as ancestors of the Ainu, their culture was different from these or the Japanese. Despite the influence they left in the Yamato period, such as the using of horses in war affairs, and that the title of Shogun appeared due to the wars against them, the Emishi people certainly refused to join the Japanese and, to make it historically even more complicated, many Emishi separated in different ethnic groups or disappeared due to intermarriage with other ethnic Japanese groups.

According to the information handed down along generations, the Shizen people, after the Edo Period, mixed with the samurai class and, besides preserving all their etymological and social structure and survival artifacts, they made the difference acting as negotiators. According to Takeo Nagake, they had their own specific methods developed throughout their historical trajectory which to this day keep attracting the attention of scientists and scholars from highly respected universities. Methods like strategy (Yugoka, in Japanese Senryaku), psychology (Hugoka, in Japanese Shinrigako), philosophy (Husu, in Japanese Tetsugako) and many more.

Obviously, these Western terms can translate

neither the extent nor the real essence of such mechanisms. The truth is that all this alteration in social patterns at a secular level fostered a mindset that eventually became a line of reasoning on its own and a previously ordained culture.

Even today, the main barrier that clearly defines the internal and external of each group of people who claim to belong to that culture is undoubtedly the language - compulsory trace in the schools of Shizen origin.

Consisting of prominent members of society, thinkers, opinion formers, etc., since the nineteenth century, these groups always exerted a strong influence in the means through which they went through. According to professionals in academia, the Shizen culture establishes its own patterns within sophisticated rules even today. In the past, it's always difficult to establish anything with precise dates, but here, following the way of thinking of anthropologists, in the Kamakura Era, four villages determined the strengthening of this culture: Yabu, Yama, Tayo and Kawa. Inner investigations point out the Yabu as a pioneer village.

Within the Shizen people, each village collaborated in a different way to the survival of their culture although, as we can see throughout history, by belonging to rebel groups, they all suffered persecution and were decimated. The transmission of what is known today was only made possible thanks to the integration with the Japanese, and their studies, reorganized through that perspective, were reviewed through small groups in different provinces.

In the next article, we will discuss the Shizen cultural characteristics.

Hung Gar he history of martial arts is one of overlapping connections and similarities between the different styles, which can be traced back to the same few origins. One of those origins, experts agree, can be found in China, more precisely in the famous kung fu monastery.

There were two co-existing monasteries, one in the north and another in the south of China. The northern monastery had been built first and when the Indian prince and scholar Da Mo arrived in China, it became the foundation place of the Chan Buddhism.

At the same time, many martial artists found their way to this

T

monastery and during the following years it became the place where the local martial arts called kung fu (literally translated “hard work”) gathered. This aggregation of knowledge and skills became the foundation for the fame and further developments of the Chinese kung fu.

The southern monastery, which had been built after the northern, was established when a delegation moved south to the county Fukien and founded another monastery near a young wood, which was then called Shaolin monastery (Chin. “Shao” = “young/new”; Chin. “Lin” =” wood”).

For a short time, the monks and inhabitants of the southern temple lived in quiet and peace, but the

conflicts in China did not stop and one day, after a violent encounter between the fighting parties, the northern monastery was destroyed.

The southern monastery was left as the last place and institution which united religion and martial arts under one roof and therefore the Shaolin temple became the shelter and refugee for the surviving monks and masters in martial arts. As a result, the skills and knowledge of the northern monastery was preserved and passed along in the southern.

Later, unfortunately, the southern Shaolin temple was destroyed as well by the government and the invasion of the Manchus.

The inhabitants were not only forced to leave the monastery, but

Kung Fu they even had to live underground and practice their kung fu secretly, as every connection to the Shaolin temple or the Shaolin kung fu was punished by death.

This is the reason why Hung Hee Gung, the top student of Shaolin, renamed the kung fu style to Hung Gar Kung Fu, freely translated “the martial arts of the regal family (Chin. “Hung” = regal, honorable; Chin. “Gar” = family, clan). With this act he tried to protect all Kung Fu People with roots in Shaolin. In the beginnings, the Hung Gar was still being taught in the underground but, nonetheless, quickly spread in the country and among the simple people.

Later, not under the penalty of death anymore, Hung Gar was taught and brought into action where it really mattered. As an example, bodyguards or army instructors were usually masters in Hung Gar. During the decades, the knowledge and skills of the Hung Gar Kung Fu was passed from generation to generation and until nowadays, it is always the best student who is being chosen as official style successor.

Looking at the family tree of the Hung Gar Kung Fu, it is visible that the whole Hung Gar knowledge is in possession of the Chiu family, more precisely, in possession of the current head of style and owner of the 10th rank Dr. Chiu Chi Ling. Although he is over seventy years old, he is full of enthusiasm and passion for Hung Gar. He grew up in Hong Kong as the youngest son of the

Kung Fu “The plan of my school has been the same for twenty years now: to promote and lead the genuine Hung Gar Kung Fu back to the top and make it the number one kung fu style worldwide, as it was in earlier times.

We have already reached a lot” kung fu legends Chiu Kow and Siu Ying.

Although he lives in San Francisco, USA, now, he is rarely at home as he is travelling around the world on a weekly basis to promote the Hung Gar and teach his students, which are spread internationally.

Almost nobody trained Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Lee all together for their movies. Chiu Chi Ling did, and was an Kung Fu - actor himself for over 70 Kung Fu movies. His commitment and tireless efforts pay off: he can call more than 30'000 students all over the world his own. Like back in the days of the southern shaolin monastery, where the 10 top students became leaders due to their efforts, those students who go the extra mile are those who distinguish themselves from the average students. After years of hard and continuous training, one student proved himself to be not only one, but the outstanding and best student. It was Martin Sewer from Switzerland and meanwhile owner of the 8th rank. For the first time in the history of the Hung Gar Kung Fu, someone from the western hemisphere has been named successor of style.

For several years now, he assists his Sifu to promote Hung Gar all over the world and became a full-time kung fu master and instructor. It was not surprising when in 2009 Chiu Chi Ling declared Martin Sewer in a video-message to be his official successor.

The video statement has been confirmed during the last years again and again and not only through words, but through actions.

As an example, in fall 2013 Chiu Chi Ling, for the second time, travelled with his top student to Las Vegas for a vacation, no other students has experienced a similar honor. The first days in San Francisco turned out as a huge celebration for the birthday of Martin Sewer's fiancée, Michela Mosca (Chin. “simo” = Kung Fu Mother”). A grand kung fu party was organized and Martin Sewer demonstrated his skills at this event. However, after the party there was not a lot of time left to get some rest and enjoy San Francisco, as the trip to Las Vegas was imminent. Chiu Chi Ling would

not be Chiu Chi Ling if he would spend his vacation sightseeing and shopping and as some students, (Paul and Peter Lee) who found out about him being in Las Vegas, had joined them, he began teaching his students, no matter if they were in a supermarket between cat and frozen foods or in the middle of a sightseeing tour. Under the watchful eyes of Chiu Chi Ling, who gave overall directions, it was Martin Sewer who was appointed to instruct his sidais (Chin. “sidai” = “younger kung fu brother”).

As they had not seen their sihing (Chin. “sihing” = “older kung fu brother”) grandmaster Martin Sewer for quite some time, they all wanted to test their skills outside of the regular lessons in an amicable duel, as it is common in kung fu families. Defeated yet impressed by Martin Sewer and his skills the sidais thanked him for the duels and swore to practice even harder in the future.

Back in Switzerland, Martin Sewer was asked endless questions by his students and used the opportunity to teach his advanced students some of the many newly-learned techniques and give them new inputs, as well as tell them about his experiences with his teacher.

Once again, the students became aware what a privilege it is to have such an expert land icon like Chiu Chi Ling as head of style and, moreover, being able to learn from his undoubtedly best student Martin Sewer.

Asked, how a man from the west intends to handle the responsibility for a Chinese cultural asset and an important form of art like Hung Gar Kung Fu, Martin Sewer answers: “The plan of my school has been the same for twenty years now: to promote and lead the genuine Hung Gar Kung Fu back to the top and make it the number one kung fu style worldwide, as it was in earlier times.

We have already reached a lot. We've opened schools in different cities; have professionally trained instructors and host successful events. My aim is that everyone should get the chance to learn and experience Hung Gar. If not today, then tomorrow.”

The Zen Nihon Toyama Ryu Iai -Do Renmei ( ZNTIR ), once reviewed and adapted the concepts and methodology of a school that proceeds from a method of real combat, is the body that currently intends to maintain this tradition and original forms alive through a system that unifies body, mind and spirit in a realistic and effective way. This DVD was done at the instance of practitioners of the Spanish subsidiary of the Zen Nihon Toyama Ryu Iaido Renmei (ZNTIR - Spain Branch) to present to everybody a combat style with a real sword, created last century, but with roots in the ancient fighting techniques of feudal Japan. In it you will find the basic structure of the methodology applied in the style, from the coded warm up and preparation exercises, cutting exercises, guards, the school kata, work in pairs and initiation in the Tameshigiri or cutting exercises on a real target , the cornerstone of the Toyama- Ryu. We hope that knowledge of the existence of a style such as the Toyama-Ryu Batto-Jutsu acts as a revulsive of a traditional way and yet very different from current combat disciplines, that attract those who want to go further in their martial practices. Those interested in the Japanese sword and initiates, will find useful this DVD both as support to their learning and as a reference.

REF.:짜 TOYAMA1

All DVDs, wichi is produced by Budo International, si provided and alone in the formats DVD-5 or MPEG-2, in VCD, DivX or the like is however neves offered with a special holograma sticker. Besides our DVD is characteristed coverings by the hig quality in pressure and material. If this DVD and/or the DVD covering do not corespond to the requirements specified above, it concerns illegal pirat copy.

ORDERS: Budo international. net

The DVD "Krav Maga Research and Development" comes from the will of four experts in Krav Maga and combat sports, Christian Wilmouth and Faustino Hernandez, Dan Zahdour and Jerome Lidoyne. To date, they lead several clubs and a group of twenty instructors and monitors from multiple disciplines, from Krav Maga or Boxing to the MMA, Mixed Martial Arts. This work is not intended to highlight a new method or a specific branch of Krav Maga, it simply aims to present a Krav Maga program that focuses on the importance of the "content" and share their experiences.

REF.:짜 KMRED1

All DVDs, wichi is produced by Budo International, si provided and alone in the formats DVD-5 or MPEG-2, in VCD, DivX or the like is however neves offered with a special holograma sticker. Besides our DVD is characteristed coverings by the hig quality in pressure and material. If this DVD and/or the DVD covering do not corespond to the requirements specified above, it concerns illegal pirat copy.

ORDERS: Budo international. net

In recent months you could read about SDS Concept and Tomahawk Fighting Concept. In this issue I will talk about TCS Knife Fighting Concept, another SAMI System. Like the two others, TCS Knife Fighting Concept is a totally independent close combat system which is based on fighting concepts and principles. The knife is one of the oldest cultural objects. It is a tool, but also a weapon, a sign of one's position in society, it is a piece of decoration as well as a piece of art, bargaining counter and ritual object, and it is sports equipment.

And - defense against knife attacks is gaining more and more attention in the world of the martial arts.

The knife is one of the oldest weapons known to mankind - and one of the most dangerous. You will find knives used in all cultures all over the world, used by men and women in all situations of life. Still, technical progress led to the loss of many ancient martial arts. In this article I will provide you with a short introduction to TCS Knife Fighting Concept, as well as some theoretical aspects of unarmed defense against knife attacks.

European history Practitioners of European martial arts have mainly used edged weapons, just think of fencing or sword fighting. Most of these styles are rooted in and around Germany, Spain, Italy or France. During the knife's long history as a weapon, many styles and schools of knife fighting have established themselves. They used to differ, depending on region, culture and roots.

TCS Knife Fighting Concept TCS Knife Fighting Concept has been devised as an independent system which is 100% dedicated to all aspects of the knife, such as knife fighting, defense against knife attacks, tactical use of knives and knife fencing. This approach has enabled us to learn and train and therefore develop a martial arts style which combines a traditional weapon with modern training methods.

We wanted to devise a European system, untouched and unspoiled by politics and encrusted structures. Latest technical developments, various methods of practicing and training, independent and specific principles and concepts, and trainers and instructors who are didactically on top of their game are the building blocks of TCS Knife Fighting Concept.

Text: Peter Weckauf, Irmi Hanzal, & Thomas Schimmerl Photos: Mike Lehner

TCS Knife Fighting Concept is 100% knife-based which means that we regard the topic as too serious and too important to let it be a mere appendix of another system. Certain concepts of armed combat just cannot be adapted and mixed and therefore be used in knife defense. All this made it necessary to focus on the knife's characteristics, handling, strengths and weaknesses. The chances to reach a high level in the use of and the defense against the knife make our system so attractive.

Martial arts, self-defense and sport TCS Knife Fighting Concept bridges the gaps between the three areas of martial arts, selfdefense and sport.

Martial arts focus on developing and improving the user's technique.

Self-defense improves and enhances personal safety of the user or other individuals in dangerous situations.

Sport - useful knife training to improve all the essential skills, like physical fitness, decision making, dedication, courage, confidence, and strategy and tactics.

These components - or pillars - complement each other.

Sport - knife fencing - will improve skills like reaction, speed, agility, timing etc., all of which are very important for effective self-defense. Martial arts contribute certain training methods which will hone one's skills. And, last but not least, let's bring in stress factors and scenario based training from self-defense.

Self-defense, martial arts and sport influence and complement

GRAPHIC 1

each other in TCS Knife Fighting Concept.

Aspects of knife training Knife fight - knife against knife.

Attacker and defender both use knives actively.

Knife defense is defined as unarmed defense (for civilians and pros alike) against one or more attackers who use knives, but also as the protection of third parties against attacks with knives.

Threats with knives - knives are used to intimidate potential victims without actively using the knives.

Knife fencing -sportive competition, rule governed, using special practice knives.

Tactical use of knives - mainly in a military context to use the knife as a primary or secondary weapon.

Training will cover all of the aspects mentioned above. It is up to the users whether they want to dedicate themselves to the studies of the complete system or rather want to focus on certain parts, like knife defense.

Defense against knife attacks Attacks with knives are certainly among the most dangerous attacks

possible, defense against is one of the most complex topics in self-defense.

We know of an abundance of theories, various concepts and a plethora of techniques. What is crucial for a successful defense, though, are permanent training, strategies and scenarios.

Data Attacks with knives range on top of European statistics when it comes to armed attacks. Most of these attacks are not planned in advance. They happen on impulse or are triggered by alcohol or other drugs. More and more martial arts trainer and self-defense instructors understand the timeliness of the topic and therefore focus on it.

Distances and ranges for knife defense Correct distance may be crucial for the results of knife attacks.

Appropriate distance may be kept by receding or can even be improved by using obstacles, like tables or vehicles.

Zone 1 - attention zone The attention zone is located outside the attacker's reach. In order to launch an attack, the aggressor has to actively shorten this long distance.

Being in Zone 1 allows you to prepare for the attack or even to anticipate it.

Appropriate measures: assume Ready Position, arm yourself.

Zone 2 - danger zone The danger zone is the area in which effective defense (without controlling the attacking arm) is nearly impossible. The danger zone is also known as middle - or medium distance. In order to defend ourselves effectively, we have to close the distance to the aggressor until we are in the defense zone. If self-defense is not possible we can always increase the distance.

Zone 3 - defense zone Strangely enough, effective defense, control of the weapon or the chance to attack the aggressor's weak points, requires us to fight off an attack in very close distance. We are now talking of the defense zone, which is one arm's length maximum.

Understanding danger Here's a rule: you will never know exactly what somebody will do or how people react. Sometimes it's easy to spot a threat, but on other occasions there may be no signals of aggression whatsoever. Being able to anticipate danger, though, will be very valuable for your defense strategy. It is important to spot the source of danger as well as its kind. Only then can you assess the threat and start action.

Even in the initial phase of a conflict, the verbal phase, it is crucial to switch

on one's danger radar to spot potential threats from the aggressor(s). Look for the following clues, verbal and nonverbal ones: loud voice, foul language, aggressive posture, quick movement, objects are grabbed, hands are put in pockets ar hid elsewhere, the aggressor moves closer, pushes or pulls you, throws objects‌

Action plans in knife defense Basically, there are two options for defense: de-escalation and aggression. Your decision will probably depend on the attack's intensity, the aggressor's physical abilities, your own skills, as well as on location and timing.

Our action plan serves as a memory aid for the training and defense of knife attacks. The more dangerous a situation is, the more important it is to have a good plan.

Concept - hit & run - do never use fixation techniques if this is your concept of choice. It's best to practice simple blocks, punches and kicks and to combine them with your natural flight behavior.

Concept - defend & control - effective defense against a knife attack might require us to gain control of the aggressor and thus the situation. Escape is not always an option. The best distance to control the aggressor would be Zone 3, the defense zone.

Prevention Attack is the best defense. Anticipate the aggressor before he can pull his knife and tries to stab you. A pre-emptive attack will improve your chances dramatically. Continue your attack until you get the chance to flee. Remember, prevention in only one option, as it's not always possible to anticipate an attack.

Ready Position Effective defense requires preparation, an alert stance. Your body should be tense, your arms in defending position, there should be plenty of distance between yourself and the aggressor. Still, assuming this "Ready Position" may not always be possible, e.g. in unforeseeable attacks.

Block/Avoid/Parry Use one or both arms to defend yourself against a knife attack. Use your arms to block (stop) the attack, to parry (deflect) it, or to dodge the attack.

GRAPHIC 002

Control Arm Following the initial defense, it is absolutely necessary to control the attacking (armed) arm before further damage might occur.

Attack Aggressor Purely defensive tactics are not your best choice against a knife attack. To fight off the aggressor you have to attack him massively and put him under pressure.

Attack Arm "Attack Arm" is synonymous to "destroy the attacking arm" - break it, dislocate, squeeze, bite, crush, lock and/or disarm it! Never ever try to disarm an aggressor without massively attacking or injuring him or putting him out of action first, it's clearly too risky. On the other hand, disarming the attacker as a last step will make sure that he cannot use his weapon again and that you might even use it yourself for further defense.

Control Aggressor Perfect control of the aggressor is only achieved if he poses no further immediate danger. Controlling the aggressor is only optional, as total control may be impossible to achieve or may not be advised, e.g. when fighting more than one attackers.

Run Run can be explained as fleeing a certain location at high speed.

Chances for self-defense Focused and appropriate training will improve your chances against a knife attack. Still, you can never be 100% sure. You require control of defense techniques, but also the unconditional will to defend yourself, skills (speed, reaction, strength‌), confidence, the ability to conquer your fears, command of tactics and strategy. All these will improve your chances of not being a victim of violence.

To summarize If you want to learn and understand a system from scratch, it is necessary to know and understand all its details. This is, of course, especially true for such a complex topic as the defense against knife attacks. Only those who are willing to deal with the topic "knife" in all its details, will fully understand our concern. TCS Knife Fighting Concept is totally focused on edged weapons and has been devised to support its students in their growth as defenders, martial artists and combat athletes.

For Instructors courses, seminars and more information go to www.knifefighting-concept.com

Major Avi Nardia is one of the leading head official instructors for the Israelite army and police in anti terrorism and CQB, he along with Ben Krajmalnik have made a new basic dvd in the field of firearms and safety, training techniques in IPSC. Instinctive Shooting in Combat. Combat Instinctive Point Shooting - IPSC is a shooting method based on instinctive reactions and kinematics to shoot short distances fast and in dynamic situations. A self defense discipline in order to survive in life t h r e a t e n i n g situatuations , where you need a very fast and accurate shooting abilities, when you must take the gun out as soon as possible and shoot at a short distance without using the sight.

In this first volume you will study how to handle the weapon ( revolver and semi -automatic ) dry firing practice and security, "Point Shooting" or instinctive shooting , at a close range and a series of movements and exercises for weapon retention , low stress and multiple attackers ; exercises on how to recharge with one hand, ... and finally practice shooting gallery with guns such as AK- 74, M -4 , M -249 machine gun and even M -16 grenade launchers .

REF.: • KAPAP7 All DVDs, wichi is produced by Budo International, si provided and alone in the formats DVD-5 or MPEG-2, in VCD, DivX or the like is however neves offered with a special holograma sticker. Besides our DVD is characteristed coverings by the hig quality in pressure and material. If this DVD and/or the DVD covering do not corespond to the requirements specified above, it concerns illegal pirat copy.

ORDERS: Budo international. net

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Mind, Body, Spirit KAPAP [Krav Panim El Panim] is an Israeli Martial art that today is an internationally recognized system that started out as a bridge between Martial Arts systems.

KAPAP was put together when I was chosen to become the unit Instructor for the YAMAM, a top Israeli counter-terrorism unit. As Israel's top unit, any instructor would hope to get this assignment. I admit that I was the worst and that's why I was chosen. Many former unit members tried to become instructors for the unit the unit.

The YAMAM command looked into the program that I built together with Lt.Colonel (Res.) Chaim Peer. It was the most up-todate system for hand-to-hand combat that met their needs. We built the system as a bridge between systems and by analyzing many different Martial Arts systems. We also relied on our own experience in the Martial Arts, while ourselves holding black belts in some Martial Arts.

We asked Hanshi Patrick McCarthy, one of best reality, traditional and combat Martial Artists from sport to combat, to be an advisor to start what today is known as KAPAP. Today it has gained popularity, and many times we slow down so as to build slow - it's better than building too fast. We want the right people and refuse most of the people that pass the First Level with us. We take more than 75% of the students that try to become instructors out. Some of those become new 'Grand Masters' the next day! But understand this: this is not our market nor the people that we want to share with.

With his years of tactical and army experience, Lt. Colonel(Res) Chaim Peer and I added more and more to our 'bridge' by upgrading and progressing KAPAP. Everyday we add more layers with the help of many friends and teachers. Over the last several years we have added Machado RCJ Brazilian Jiujutsu. Many systems claim "we don't want to fight on the floor on in the streets!" or "we don't want to fight a knife!", but we still need to study it to be a well rounded fighter and Martial Artist. You won't be able to choose where and maybe not when you will fight, or if it ends up on the ground, as a close-quarter combat scenario, if it's on stairs, in an elevator or even while you're eating. It could even happen while you are watching in a movie theatre, or sitting in your parked car!

KAPAP is a Martial Art that could be called "Banana" as far as we are concerned and it would still be KAPAP with the same mind, s piri t, body and ideas and principles, but we keep the name KAPAP to preserve the heritage and with respect to Is raeli Marti al A rts Roots .

What makes a system is not it's name, but rather the people that stand behind the system.

After 15 years of building the name KAPAP, we now get slandered by some that say I am not the real KAPAP and it can go all the way back to the world's oldest book, the Bible. "Hast thou killed, and also inherited?" - Have you murdered and also inherited? At first they will murder you, through your character and then they will try to c ome to the marketplace based on lies. But they inherit whom they murder, to build thems elv es and to look taller by slandering others and standing on their shoulders. The very shoulders of those that built what they now try to stand on, as Real KAPAP, real Krav Maga.

As Martial Artists, we understand human weakness and life and deal with it. Eleanor Roosevelt said 'Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." For every case of slander, rather than waste valuable time, or energy trying to defend our Art, we choose instead to post a new DVD, or a new book, and to share more ideas, not to talk about small people, but to talk about ideas and share more.

We are establishing a new workshop based on the idea of "with only a knife." It will be a workshop that stems from years of observing in the martial arts the attempts of many to try to sell more 'reality' or 'real-deal' training that uses slogans such as "Blood on my hands" with Rambo stories. These marketing ideas also present the knife and it's associated fighting skills as evil tools in many ways. How bad can it be in a fight when we all already know that a person with a knife in his/her hand or a gun is stronger than that same person without this tool? But it is different with a gun. A gun is used only for one goal: which is to take life. This is why I mainly claim that I don't like guns, even though I have used guns since I was six years old and taught firearms for many years. ANother important point to note is that you never fight with a gun or a knife, but you always fight the person that holds it. This important principle should be kept in mind - in any fight with a weapon, you are not facing the weapon, you are facing the attacker, and your attack should be with this in mind.

I see myself as a teacher of swordsmanship and draw from sword principles. Guns demand less skills than swords, so we introduce into the battlefield the values of the sword in the fight - the value is teaching spirit, mind and body. I always use it in my teaching, the sword of giving life, not the sword of taking life. We all know that any fool can take a life, but to give life is an art and real skill with wisdom. This is why when I see how some advertise knife or gun training with slogans like "with blood on my hands", it's a shame. Guns are made to defend and not to take life and its sad when sometimes we need to do so. It's not something to be

proud of. In my travels I've heard many ex-Army Rambo-types claim that others are only good papershooters, but that they can shoot people. I'd rather shoot paper targets to improve my skills, than be a war criminal.

Last year I designed a knife based on this concept. Growing up in the shadow of my father, it's based on an Army knife that was used in the first IDF units. It served not only only for hand-to-hand combat, but also as a tool to help prepare food and use in the field. My father used it for years in the kitchen, and that is how I grew up, with this knife always in our kitchen, to use as a tool not to take life. How do you know that a person is good knife man? You give him a knife and ask him do some work with it. Any fool can kill with it.

So, along with my friend Toby Cowern, who is an arctic survival teacher and our KAPAP survival instructor, we have designed a new program to further develop the mind and spirit while using survival skills.

We'll share new ideas and knowledge with our students. I've just returned from demoing it to the Croatian Police and Special Forces units, and they adopted it! They were impressed with the program and ideas that were used for survival and mental training to develop inner power and will.

In last few years the Karambit knife, which is only an evil knife, can cut but no more so than any other knives already present in marketplace. For some it is the ultimate knife. It's similar to what happened during the early days of the Nunchako, which was popularized through a popular movie.

It's touted as a knife that can do all kinds of tricks, but is that realistic and can it serve as a tactical knife? The answer is simple: you grab your Karambit knife and we'll grab our survival knife and we'll go into the woods and do some work and see how well each performs. Army troops and Special Forces troops need to cut ropes, cut through metal, build shelters in the field, find mines in the ground and more. Let's see if the Karambit

knife can do it or not? Well, we already know the answer to the question. If it's being touted as a tactical knife, used for killing, we have firearms. If your primary gun malfunctions, you will move to use your secondary handgun, and all these movies that show fighting with knives that's for the movie audiences, and not for real soldiers. This is why I think that the Karambit knife has nothing to do more-so than to take a life, which any stone will do the, and the same as any knife.

Our mission as teachers is also to teach compassion and not to take life.

Teaching swordsmanship always starts with a lot of respect. In doing Iaido the first cut is done slow so as to teach the mind careful control. It is done this way to teach us that life and death matter, and that when a life must be taken from any reason, it is not a game.

Taking a life is a sad act, a serious and unpleasant matter, either to save one's own life or that of another is a terrible cost. It's a very sad and hopefully unnecessary act that if we can prevent it, we need to do so. We must keep teaching our students with humanity and compassion, and set it with skills. We must teach not only the body/physical skills, but we must also add the philosophical mind and mentality into it and teach the use of inner will power.

We may look strong and healthy from the outside, but without our inner power and strength we can easily break under small stress. Our mental strength and our mind is not built with strong walls to withstand the earthquakes or the tsunami's of life and stressful situations that we will find ourselves in from time to time.

As Martial Artist's we seek to teach and study the reality-based Martial Arts and thus realism in our techniques and moves and 'system', but how can we do it really?

We can train to disarm an aggressive opponent armed with a

knife or gun,but how can you defend yourself against a cowardly slanderous person or co-worker who will do anything to get your work? "Real Deal" people who try to pull you down so that they look better without ever having the skills to show it? Can you defend yourself from real life? Can you continue to teach real Martial Arts without falling into economic problems or without selling out yourself and your art? Can you fight so many competitors in this business who see threat in your success and will do all they can to try pull you down by using any crazy slander that they can? Can you fight, and stand in these economic times and keep your beliefs and teach what needs to be taught: this study called 'Martial Arts' or Budo or even

KRAV Panim El Panim (KAPAP)? Can you fight sickness and your own health, the death of close friends and loved ones? Can you fight a car accident or a failed business? We study, teach and hold a ton of techniques that we can use to defend against an armed attacker, multiple attackers, against kicks, punches and chokes but can we use these techniques to win against our personal failures or tragedies? Can the study of Martial Arts also defend us in our everyday lives and how do you build our own inner power?

Without inner power, I would quit Martial Arts and perhaps life. When I was born, I fought with little chance to live as a newborn in this world due to blood poisoning which led to other problems that left me in the hospital for a very long time during my early childhood. Growing up in a new country now called Israel, by a spartan father that lost his parents at the early age of 10, my father had to take care of himself and his two brothers which led him to devote his life to Israel, serving in 5 wars defending his family.

My father taught us not to fight those that we hate in front of us, but to fight to defend those that we love who are behind us. Pushing me into Army life at 14 years of age, I myself have grown up in the Army academy. I can't compare what I did to what my father did, as I am not made with the same inner power as my father. To think about the hardships he had and to survive as he did, I can only try follow in his footsteps based on his strength and inner power, and hope to be as brave and courageous as he was - to follow in his path, and try to understand the most important word he taught me for Martial Arts or life: Respect.

In my life I've survived many assassinations attempts. During the Lebanon war, I was shot at more than a cat with 9 lives! I lost best friends.

One was the youngest Colonel at age 27, but he didn't make it to 28, and this is called success? It's called devoted loyalty. To share, giving through love and peace. By defending his country, he gave the most that any human can his life.

I survived the assassination of my life by Krav Maga proponents, Jewish

men, my own blood? Everyone warned me about my enemies. I have been assassinated by 'friends' - evil people.

Some were co-workers that joined forces together to try to characterassassinate me. How would you deal with it? When your son comes home from school and asks you why while using an Google-search,his father's name his name pops up as fraud? His father is described as a fake selfdefense teacher. The character assassination was perpetrated to try to destroy me and take me out of the Martial Arts marketplace. Our name is our flag. Some 'funny' group, led by a guy that I removed from the Army for being AWOL and for committing Army crimes, tried revenge and built his name and group name by using terms like 'real-deal', or "blood on hands" - is he a hero? As one of my friends said, "I'm not a war hero, but for sure a hero of life." You can fight one lion but not 100 rabbits. The skunk does his best publicity and the slander didn't help anyone to win in the marketplace.

Martial Arts is a skill, but slander is a shame.

I have survived at the same time 6 tumors, attacking me one after another. I've had 6 surgeries. Even through the loss of my father, this group of evil people, one with documented mental illness that was dismissed from the Israeli Army, they continued to slander me. Shame on them. I lost two friends. One was shot on the border of Egypt and Israel after he took a terrorist out. I lost one of my best friends, and maybe the last real friend I had. He was a real hero an humble. Thanks to him, many suicide bombers had been taken out and many terrorists eliminated. Life is the real art and he was defeated by cancer. We spoke and joked just two weeks before he died, and he asked me if I was worried. he wanted to know how I dealt with my health issues and I asked him how he dealt with his. He said "I stopped being afraid of death and accepted it." That's the Samurai spirit. We open our arms to death. We love life, but accept death. To live for tomorrow, but think every day is our last, and how will you use it best? By sleeping or doing things? This is why my day has 25 hours. I get up one hour earlier to do

more, to share more, to love more, to talk for peace more. To help make our world a better place and to be a small part of it enjoy it. Every day is like my last, but I plan to have a long life. I was also faced with a bad car accident last year. The policeman that showed up to my accident couldn't imagine that I even got out alive! Yes, I am a cat with 9 lives. I am born and die many times, every day, that's why every day is my birthday! I don't wait for my real birthday to be happy and smile and share my birthday cake.

Asking questions only led to more questions. Sometimes I'd start with answers and leave the questions until later and for others. Live the day. Try to explore who you are and make yourself better. Work on your mistakes and improve upon them. By accepting being beaten in life, meeting all hardships head on with understanding, love and peace, you will develop inner peace and respect. I've met some really great people that are truly humble and kind human beings, with understanding toward humanity and respect to others.

"Good medicine is always bitter" training is not always fun, but there is a lot of fun and appreciation afterwards.

Students think they do their best, despite the fact that they don't know what their best is. The teacher is the students 'fear,' not because he is himself fearful, but because he understands and shows students their weak points. As much as a student receives from the teacher, he convinces himself that it is it all due to his own efforts. Teachers deserve respect because of their destiny as a parent or priest, and which may end up with nothing. But as with my own teachers, their spirit carries on even as they are no longer with us. This is why we bow to Shinzen, to thank the great spirit, and to remember that all we know is only so as they had passed it onto us. We need to obey and to pass it onto our students.

Teaching and study should not be done with ego, but only with love and peace.

Nature is a great teacher, this is why we always hold training in nature and also survival training to complete all this study about inner power mental stamina.

To write this column I drew from Zen ideas Kodo - the ancient ways, by Kensho Furuya ,R.I.P., [1948 - 2007], ideas from my teacher Hanshi Patrick McCarthy [Aiki Kenpo Jiujutsu and Koryu Uchinadi], from my teacher Professor John D. Machado [Machado RCJ Brazilian Jiujutsu] and from my personal life.

Greats Master

SGM CACOY CANETE Each sport or martial art has its great examples. Mohamed Ali in boxing or Helio Gracie Brazilian jujitsu are legends that inspire millions of people.

In eskrima it must be Cacoy Canete.

His skills are so exceptional that the 95 old living legend and holder of the 12th Dan in Doce Pares still manages to impress. What most people don't know is that he also holds other high degrees. He holds the 8th Dan, in jujitsu, judo and a 6th Dan in aikido and karate. Cacoy became world famous after the BBC documentary Way of the Warrior in 1982, which was broadcasted around the world.

“His skills are so exceptional that the 95 old living legend and holder of the 12th Dan in Doce Pares still manages to impress�

Challenge My first encounter with Ciriaco Canete (his friends may call him Cacoy) was in 2000 in the Philippines under strange circumstances. His nephew Dionisio (Dionie) Canete was challenging Cacoy Canete. At that time Cacoy was already 81 years of age. But nevertheless he accepted the challenge. At that age you normally don't get yourself into that kind of trouble. But for Cacoy it seemed to be no problem. Because even at that age he looked very fit, alive and toned. I remember it was big news in the Philippines. It was on television, radio and in the newspapers. The news of

“You have eaten in the kitchen of Dionie Canete and now you are eating in the kitchen of Cacoy� the challenge was all over the place.

Everybody paid attention to it. It was announced as the fight of the century and I myself was present and remember to be very surprised by the event and how things were handled in the Philippines.

At that time I was in the Dionie camp. Both camps had lots of teachers and students. It was a huge crowd. Ultimately, the fight was stopped due to an intervention by the mayor. The next day Cacoy and his nephew were on the front page of the

Sun Star newspaper in the Philippines. There have been two more challenges over the years; both were prevented by intervention by the mayor and the police. So we will never know who would have won the fight.

Training at Cacoy In 2006 because I was still curious about his style I went to the school of Cacoy to train. It's kinda funny I remember; I announced my visit two

months before saying that I wanted to come and train. Though most gave me a very warm reception but there was a man named John Mac, the number one disciple of Cacoy, who gave me a very angry and aggressive look and was clearly was ready for a fight. I knew I was not regarded as a normal student because I had already been a student of Dionisio Canete for nine years. I told Cacoy that I wanted to start his style as if I was a beginner.

Later that night when we were having diner, John told me that he was

relieved that I did not came for a fight.

Turns out he had been preparing for two months for this fight. Doce Pares Cacoy is totally different from the Doce Pares of Dionie Canete. The points of attack, the blocks, disarming, controlled sparring, the Eskrido principles were all different; basically everything was new. For me this was a whole new world of Doce Pares Eskrima.

A Filipino master told me 'you have eaten in the kitchen of Dionie Canete and now you are eating in the kitchen of Cacoy '. Here I was trained in a unique combination of both technical and mental skills. There was so much knowledge of Doce Pares.

I spent some time with Cacoy. He personally trained me, which was an

incredible experience and huge honor.

You could compare it with doing Chi Sou with Jip man (master wing chun ) or boxing with Muhammad Ali. His knowledge and experience in Eskrima are unique, his ideas and techniques are based on practice and not comparable to other Eskrima styles.

Control sparring 'Control sparring' is a very important if not the most important part of Cacoy Eskrima. It is similar to Wing Chun Chi sou (sticking hands) control sparring was applied to short distance all strokes are applied with the addition of terminals, Eskrido (throws) and the principle of the flow (with the stick). Cacoy told me that his style always changed and evolved.

Which is in my opinion is normal in a realistic combat art. Cacoy is one of the few masters whose style has been tested in real combat.

He was in approximately a hundred battles without any protection and never lost. This man is not only a great fighter but also a very nice man who makes jokes and gives good advise.

One of his battles against a nightclub owner, a man with a bad reputation, took place in a hotel room.

Cacoy told me the door was locked, the weapons were chosen (stick) and the battle began. The man started with hard strike to Cacoys head, which Cacoy blocked and counterattacked immediately with fast and hard attacks to his head and body, the fight was over within a few seconds and again

Cacoy had proved that his style was superior.

Next generation Cacoy is now 95 years old and his successors are ready to keep Cacoy Doce pares alive. His grandson Chuck Canete and his best disciple John Mac will propagate the style in the spirit of Cacoy Canete. I am honored to have received training from this true Grandmaster and I recommend you to watch the documentary "The Way of the Warrior: Eskrima, the Filipino Way". You can easily find it on YouTube. You are welcome in my world, the world of Eskrima . For my upcoming clip and activities visit my website www.knifefightsystem.com and feel free to contact us via sekan@ziggo.nl

“Cacoy is now 95 years old and his successors are ready to keep Cacoy Doce pares alive”

HOW IS THE "FU-SHIH KENPO" OUTLINED Individual Simple Technique Combinations, compound of techniques to be realistic; if you have no time to train and devote your effort to Martial Arts on a regular basis, there's nothing wrong with using the complex movement; apart from being effective is very nice to see when it is correctly performed.

Please remember that this movement can be only preserved as long as you continue to training.

Failures or breaks in your regular workout lead to a decline in coordination, speed, reflexes, smoothness, balance and, above all, effectiveness. If, on the other hand, you do not have time to undertake an uninterrupted training, then individual techniques, which contain simplicity and effectiveness, are advisable.

If you have any doubt about the effectiveness of the technique (style) you are learning, leave that school once and for all. Today there are a lot of styles, masters, specialists, modalities and schools where you can always find something with which you can feel at ease. This is something that will always help you in your progress. If you are uncomfortable you'll never have the motivation you need to become good.

Simple techniques are taught to law enforcement personnel and security forces, special groups, anti-riot and intervention units, escorts, Green Berets, etc., because these movements do not require to be physically fit to be effective, although such professionals are generally in top shape.

WEAPONS Unlike the Japanese systems, in which armed disciplines and unarmed disciplines are practiced in different schools, in the Fu-Shih Kenpo both arts are taught at the same school; this ensures the natural progression as well as the familiarization with both of them while the student develops a sense of respect and attention.

Ultimately, weapons will move according to the personal capacity, mastery and skill that the practitioner might have on his (or her) own body.

In Fu-Shih Kenpo, beginners start with the Short Staff (Kali / Arnis), and the Walking Stick; then come other weapons like the Yawara (15 to 20

cms), Billy Club (22 to 40 cms ), Baton (40 to 75 cms), Tan-Jo (76-100 cms), Jo (100 to 125 cms) and Bo (from 126 cms). Subsequently, the program includes Nunchaku, Sai, Tonfa, Kama, knives, etc., these being the most characteristic weapons of the Fu-Shih Kenpo. Later are used all and any natural object which can be used in self-defense.

As indicated above, the management, effectiveness and elegance in the use of our weapons is primarily based on the skill, aesthetics and technique that the student or FuShih Kenpo instructor might have achieved in his training and apprenticeship, as well as in his knowledge of the characteristics, applications, advising and history of each one. For example, in the use of the Short Staff, we will first indicate the student which are its features; we take the basics, principles and factors of Arnis or Kali; then we will continue in our Kenpo line, carrying out with the Short Staff all kinds of maneuvers and techniques which are performed with hands and feet. The technical series varying of those of the empty hands of our program, get to give rise to Forms of Short Staff.

We respect each weapons system, be it traditional or modern, and if any of our students decided to authentically learn Kali or Arnis, Japanese Kobudo, or Chinese Weapons, we would consider it very appropriate and we'd support him in his idea, since each system, as is logical to assume, is highly specialized in its own style. And this guarantees the achievement of a high degree perfection in the chosen weapon.

In Fu-Shih Kenpo, the student must have a sound theoretical knowledge of the Defense against Weapons before getting into the practice pretending to specialize. The essential rules for the Defense against Weapons are as follows: 1) Push away the opponent's arm and weapon from the body's defensive perimeter.

2) Isolate or secure the weapon.

3) Select a technique of counterattack under these priorities: a) End of any possible further aggression. b) Possible restart of the fight with the adversary disarmed (depending on his level of perfection and skill). c) Pick up his weapon from the ground. Keep it and use it against him, or throw it out of his reach.

Note: Never attempt any risky action such as trying to bend or

control the opponent's joints, opposing force against force, falling into unbalance situations, or relying on the words or a on possible misleading attitude of the adversary, for if a man is desperate enough to attack with a weapon, he will not surrender so easily to a passive aggression. In most accidents, or serious consequences of a poor performance, the main reason is always the negligence of relying on the enemy or being too concerned about not causing much damage. Working always with a certain degree of pain against the opponent, this is advisable.

"In extreme cases, use extreme techniques and extreme behavior."

ATTACK WITH A GUN When you are on the offensive in a fight, it is important to hit both the leading arm and the front leg of your enemy. This allows you to come safely into his body's defensive perimeter.

Once the opponent's arm has been disabled, he will not be able to reject the assault.

The next target is his front leg to cause him an injury; this detracts movement and his maneuverability is greatly reduced thus offering a fixed target. Remember that this is a priority for the Defense.

Unless the enemy is also armed, there is no need to resort to simulated attacks, simple direct attacks will suffice.

Caution There's no need of powerful movements, the weapon does the right job, and its correct use on your part leads to a successful attack. If you are shorter or lighter than your opponent, is not advisable to try to make a grip with the gun, as the height or weight can be dangerous against oneself, especially with edgeless weapons, such as batons.

As in the unarmed attack, using blows to the head, groin and torso as main techniques, is not recommendable, since it is necessary to outdo first the defense line (defensive perimeter) of the adversary, making easy for him to block or grasp our arm or our weapon.

The main goal must be always the defensive perimeter, this is not to be underestimated. Every fights well directed against one or more opponents depends on damaging or nullifying their defensive perimeters.

YIN & YANG (Part 2) Personally, what I consider the most compelling reason for cross training and understanding the meaning of Yin & Yang, is to learn the most effective Self Defense possible.

To that end, throughout my 40 plus year martial arts journey, I have always strived to be true to certain principles that I consider essential for any real teacher: * Always be open-minded and never stop learning (empty your cup!) * Always have your students' best interest as your goal * Be humble and always respectful * Do not be afraid to create your "way" and be a pioneer Of course we can cite many other important principles or tenets by which martial arts instructors should live their lives and be role models for their students: honesty, kindness, courage, generosity, perseverance, strength of character, and so on…all great, desirable and positive qualities without a doubt.

However, I consider the ones that I have mentioned above the foundation on which to build, the necessary, fertile soil on which we cultivate all others.

Guided by those principles and my long held core beliefs about self-defense, I reached a point in my martial arts career when I decided that I wanted, and needed, to make a tangible contribution to the arts by developing my own style and, in so doing, creating a legacy to pass to my students. The process has been difficult and not without obstacles and conflicts. But the end result has been very rewarding and successful beyond my expectations.

Today, the style I founded, Combat Hapkido, is taught at over 200 locations in 15 countries around the World. It has received official accreditation by the World Ki-Do Federation (recognized by the Korean Government); it is being taught to Military and Police units in several countries and it has been featured on the cover of over 20 martial arts magazines.

We are proud of our achievements and we continue to evolve our technical material as well as our business methods.

So, at this point, it may be appropriate to ask what is the primary technical make-up of Combat Hapkido, is it a hard or soft style? Or maybe a cohesive blend of both? Before I can answer that legitimate question, we need to examine a brief history of Hapkido (the core art of my system) and its genesis. Hapkido (the Way of Harmonized Energy) was founded by Grandmaster Choi,Yong Sool (1904-1986) in Taegue, Korea in 1948. "Founding" does not imply a formal or official ceremony but rather the culmination of a process of formalizing a syllabus and structuring a protocol. But what techniques did Choi teach? Where and from whom did he learn them?

The short (and most popular) version of the story is that during his 30 year stay in Japan, Choi trained under Sokaku Takeda, the Headmaster of DaitoRyu Aikijujitsu, and learned the 100 foundation techniques of that system. After his return to Korea in 1945, Choi began teaching those techniques under the generic name of Yawara (self-defense). Gradually, he started developing his own "style", reflecting his own interpretation and individual expression of the art as well as responding to the current cultural, social and political conditions of the time.

Aikijujitsu already contained a mix of hard strikes and soft joint locks and Choi continued to build on the structure while permeating it with a d i s t i n c t l y K o r e a n i d e n t i t y. T h e r e s u l t w a s a system that truly embodies the "Um & Yang" philosophy (the Korean version of Yin & Yang) even in its name, Hapkido, which means harmonizing (hap) hard and soft energy (ki) into one system (do).

Because I have always believed that there are important and useful elements in both hard and s o ft s ty les , I be c ame i n s ta n tly a ttrac ted to Hapkido the moment I was exposed to the art

“Today, the style I founded, Combat Hapkido, is taught at over 200 locations in 15 countries around the World� and, to this day, I regard it as one of the most versatile and complete martial arts in existence. My formative years in the martial arts had been rooted in the "hard" styles of Shotokan karate and Taekwondo and I had always felt that there was something missing in my training. I realized that my fairly small physique needed to include a "soft" approach that relied less on strength and power and more on speed and skillful manipulation of anatomical weaknesses. Therefore when I finally discovered Hapkido, with its balanced blend of hard and soft, my mission was revealed to me and my vision became firmly established in my mind: I would devote my life to teaching, promoting and further developing the art of Hapkido. So, eventually, it became almost inevitable that I would go on to create my own style (kwan) to express my creativity, individuality and to adapt to a changing environment. I want to make clear that when I did, starting in 1990, I did not invent a new martial art nor did I intend to. And I do not claim to have "improved" Hapkido. I simply modified and modernized its structure and protocol to make it more accessible and facilitate its growth. On a technical level I evolved the system to make it more responsive and relevant to our social and legal requirements. I was committed to producing the most up-to-date self-defense oriented syllabus available. With that goal in mind, we developed and included in the system a series of additional "components"( usually not present in traditional Hapkido) such as Ground Survival, Tactical Pressure Points and Modern Weapons Disarming. These new programs have also greatly contributed to the evolution of Combat Hapkido into a more eclectic, comprehensive and effective self-defense system for our modern World.

In conclusion, all throughout this long but rewarding journey, i never lost sight of the subtle message of the Yin & Yang and its profound, timeless wisdom. The inevitable, indispensable duality of hard and soft, circular and linear, striking and grappling, armed and unarmed, has been one of my most valuable guiding principles and a constant inspiration for personal and professional growth. You may want to invest some time in reflecting on the nature and meaning of the Yin & Yang in your life‌it has served me well and I believe it can do the same for you. Enjoy the journey!

First Weng Chun Kung Fu temple Worldwide International Weng Chun Kung Fu Association guided by Grandmaster Andreas Hoffmann announce the official inauguration of the first weng chun temple worldwide. Like the southern shaolin temple located in the south of china our new temple is located on the southern Mediterranean coast of Italy at the tourist center Rama Beach Cafe, just outside the city of Naples. It’ s an all original traditional Indonesian wooden structure, it was designed and built in Bali, to be subsequently transported across the Indian Ocean and finally rebuilt in Italy, in an extraordinary journey from east to west. Our aim is to recreate the energy and the peaceful atmosphere, full of spiritual harmony, of buddhist temples in which the Kung Fu was born.

How we meet Grandmaster Andreas Hoffmann and his inspiration In 2005, after years of practice in the martial arts and personal research, my brother Federico, our Kung Fu brother Fabio Sarnataro, and I met GM Andreas Hoffmann while attending a seminar in Rome. GM Andreas Hoffmann, a man of few words but cheerful nonetheless, showed us, with simplicity and humility, the "way" that we had been looking for. He made it seem so easy, through a stunning performance of one of the most beautiful Weng Chun forms - the Saam Bai Fat Kuen.

The Saam Bai Fat Kuen, a powerful and spiritual form, is an age-old traText: Flavio Greco.

International Weng Chun Kung Fu Association

dition which was carefully researched and preserved by Hoffmann’s master GGM Wai Yan. Wai Yan then passed on his teachings of this wonderful artful form to his student Hoffman, who carries on his legacy today.

Weng Chun Kung Fu unbroken transmission: Charged with enthusiasm, we started our journey in this wonderful tradition as guests of SiFu Hoffmann, who accepted us immediately as his direct students and welcomed us in Weng Chun world´s headquarter, in Bamberg, Germany.SiFu Hoffmann generously opened the doors to a world of knowledge honesty and expertise of detail, and became our mentor in the learning, practice and way of life of the wonderful art of Weng Chun.

The learning has occurred not only through the many hours of physical practice, but also through long conversations entertained with our SiFu on the birth of our style, its transmission through the centuries, through the various families that, from generation to generation, have developed it and preserved it, until it reached GGM Wai Yan’s hands in Hong Kong and, finally, his own. We heard in the words of SiFu Hoffmann all the love for this art, which we immediately shared, and a strong desire to restore it to its ancient glory spreading it and living it as he he does: as a mission. The one to teach, keep

Weng Chun alive and pass on to the future generations the wisdom and knowledge of our tradition, the one of the Shaolin warriors monks and chan masters that several times, through the ages, has risked to get lost.

So we decided to give it a home, a place in which it can be practiced again, as was in past centuries, in the suggestive wooden and stone Shaolin temples where the system was created and developed.

Sifu s greatest dream to build a temple for Kung Fu We brought to life one of our Sifu's greatest dream that was to build a physical and spiritual place for our style, bringing back Weng Chun, and the knowledge passed us from our ancestors,again in a temple from the destruction of Shaolin.Like modern abbots, we do our part to spread Weng Chun and GGM Wai Yan legacy in the western modern era. We choose the name Vihara for our new temple: The name �Vihara� derives from a Sanskrit word which means "abode" and is used in Buddhist temples to describe the hall where a big statue of Buddah lies.

Grandmaster Wai Yan: a modern interpretation of a traditional style GGM Wai Yan has been a precursor in his own way for the conception of martial arts. He was an intelligent and open-minded practitioner and master. He was a lifetime researcher. Thanks to this, in his school, the Dai Duk Lan, the knowledge and the tradition of the main Weng Chun families have converged.

These teachings were critically practiced and analized according to the Buddhist principle of pursuing the truth. He then, unlike the other Chinese masters, opened the doors of his home and his school to a young Westerner boy, the one who later would become his successor, SiFu Andreas Hoffmann.

In the same spirit of our Sigung , GGM Wai Yan, in Viahara, as in the ancient Shaolin temples and then , later, in the Dai Duk Lan, we will continue the research for a physical and spiritual art that aspires to the truth, with open mind to the confrontation between the different traditions and lineages which have preserved the splendor of this art over the centuries.

Vihara temple: the first date In November 2013 the first appointment of Vihara, with its mission of spreading Weng Chun, took place. In a two-day seminar held by GM Sifu Hoffmann who, among the enthusiasm and passion shown by the participants, brought Weng Chun in its new home.

The seminar of Sifu Hoffmann then ended with a special moment, giving this place a touch of mysticism that represents the continued connection with the Shaolin tradition. He gave us a coffer wich contained the soil he collected from the ground of the three major Southern Shaolin tamples.This coffer we buried under the Stupa that lies in front of the main hall, during an intimate and blessed ceremony.

The official opening ceremony of the temple will be held next spring, on 23, 24 and 25 May 2014. www.weng-chun.com link youtube for the weng chun temple: ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTv9EVFWibw

fter many years of practicing and competing in Ukraine and Europe, I felt a desire of improving my martial arts in authentic conditions. I have been feeling for a very long time there is something that we ( white people) are missing in whole understanding of wushu ( speaking about particularly chinese martial art) My China story begins from working in Shanghai as a theater artist. It was an unforgettable experience, where I had a chance to be trained in stage fighting and Chinese opera performance.

My second destination was on the north of China in Laoning province. Performing with contemporary opera group I discovered the whole new world of chinese

A

traditional arts and changed my point of view about many things I used to think reading about it.

The brightest moment was meeting with junior opera group. Children 12-15 years old, who performed all over china from the age of 7 traveling with their teacher, but in every city they stay they have a course of formal education.

I was surprised about how well-rounded were those children, not only in arts but in everything. At that moment my Chinese was almost on zero level, but somehow we could interact on some special level.

Very soon I took part in Traditional World Wushu Championships in Wudang, that was a wonderful event .

After I realized that I'd like to stay in China for longer and focus on learning traditional styles traveling around. I

started from Hunan province where very soon I came across Nan Yue Wushu Yuan very isolated school . Mr. Jiao - a nan- quan teacher. 26 years old man at the time, short and very light. Ones he started to move It feels he has sort of invisible power behind him. I had a chance to come and stay at school time after time. Living conditions there were very poor , especially for international tourists that like to search for wushu school to stay there for fun.

All school were waking up at 6 and started training. No hot water, no heater and nothing special in terms of food as school is located on a hill without infrastructure around.

Staying there was a wonderful time , despite the fact I got hundreds of mosquito bites.

Practicing with Mr. Jiao gave me confidence and understanding.

Another unbelievable meeting happened in Jiangsu province. I met Xie laoshi - tai- chi teacher. This amazing woman moved in amazing way , doin g all kinds of jumps. I had a chance to practice with her for a while. I learned from her interesting principles of relaxation that I use in nan-quan and other external styles right now.

Traveling around China I met friends and risky situations, but most of the things that happened with me I'd call blessings. In 2012 I took park in Traditional World Wushu Championship again, applying everything that

I learned. I performed Huxin Quan and good an amazing result and came home as a winner.

After competitions I left for Los Angeles and another beautiful journey began, my dream of doing movies started to transform from a childhood dream into reality. When I came back to Asia I opened a Hidden Wu Productions and entered this dream world of films with debut film My name is Tanyusha that is being released this year!

Dreams Come true!

PERFECTIONISM “The Imi Lichtenfield legacy” Imi's problems with his way which is based on uncompromised perfection began to appear only with the second generation of Krav-Maga practitioners.

With in the closed circle of Imi's only ten black belt students, who were full partners during the years of the creation of the Krav-Maga as the Israeli martial art, nobody of us had any complain about the fact that Imi educated us upon his tendency for perfection. When he stood in front of us and explained the different movements and exercises he had created and why he included each technique and from where he took the basic and practical ideas for developing some specific attack or defense, we just accepted things as they were. It was clear to everyone of us that we were in the same room and on the same tatami with a living legend, a man who was a European champion in two different fighting sports and for us it was enough in order to receive his explanations as our ten commandments at Mount sinai and to practice and apply them in the same way. Meaning, we trained and we trained until we did it the way he wanted it to be and for his complete satisfaction. And when Imi said “Ok let's move on” it was clear to each and any one of us that we were doing the technique in the most perfect way possible, and this was not just simple proud but the first signs of unusual self-confidence, which is what all of us look for in the end.

However as the years passed all of us went through some changes. Imi finished the creation of his martial art and had even officially declared it. We had advanced with our ranks and all of us by now had gained their black belt and most were teaching and had their own students already, meaning - the second generation of the Krav-Maga.

But, as it happens always, in every group there are the better ones and the less skilled students. Some had clear sense of charisma and leadership material and others did not.

Some had learned through the years of trainings with Imi how to develop themselves, their coordinative and physical abilities until the point of perfection, and some did not.

There was one who was extremely flexible but did not properly understand the principles of the different techniques. One was so obese that just moving from one place to another became an exceptional effort.

But the worst of all was when they stood in front of their own students and

“A martial art is not a sport, it is either a way of life or it is nothing.

And Imi's Original Krav-Maga is not an exception to this rule, you either make it your way of life or don't even bother” tried to explain Imi's way while they themselves did not serve as a real example of it. So their students developed an internal conflict, from one side the Krav-Maga demands perfection but from the other side their own teachers do not represent this conception. And it was at this moment that things started to turn against Imi, as he could not be present at the same time in all the places where his students where conducting lessons.

And when he did give a special training in one of his instructors' dojos, things only got worst, since the students at the academies saw Imi, understood Imi and learned from him, but at the same time they realized that their own teachers did not necessarily fulfill the requirements of the Krav-Maga.

And this way several people began to openly criticize Imi's perfectionism.

One of them even went further, declaring in one of the trainings: “Imi I cannot do this exercise, if you want you come and teach my students yourself”. But perfectionists do not change their way, they stay like this forever and this is the most beautiful present that nature and God has given to us humans. So Imi stayed Imi. Nobody could change his thoughts or opinions, to move them to the right or to the left even a little. A true martial artist is a perfectionist, or he is not a martial artist. We have to learn and to know all the wide variety of the traditional Japanese martial arts so we can understand for ourselves the way of and to perfection, which without it no art can exist and a martial art especially.

Let's take a look at the wonderful and impressive path of the creator of the “soft Way”, the Judo, Jigiro Kano.

In our days judo had become an Olympic sport but if we investigate enough to the past and learn Prof.

Kano's Original creation, we will see that it was the fact of him been a perfectionist that envisioned him with the creation of the judo.

We can observe those same characters and attributes with all the other great creators who built and gave humanity the traditional martial arts, such as Gichin Funakoshi of the Karate Shotokan that without his striving to perfection nobody would never even heard about the Karate.

And of course we cannot forget such a great martial artist as the creator of the Aikido, “O Sensei” Weshiba.

But even if we go much further to the past we will notice that all the anonymous that have created the traditional Japanese Jiu-Jitsu have done so based upon the principles of mental and physical perfection. We will find this striving to perfection in each one of the approaches, in each one of the martial arts.

Another example is the Japanese art of bow and arrow, where we can observe the presence of not only dry techniques of shooting the arrow to the target, but an entire “religion” that was created around it. Spiritual rituals which teach and train the practitioners of this art to develop and find by themselves the highest level of perfection a human being can reach.

We can read about it in the wonderful book of the German Author Eugen Herriguel, “Zen In The Art Of Archery”. A small book with enormous content and significance, that no selfrespecting martial artist can allow himself not to read.

And of course we cannot forget one of the most perfect of all martial arts, the Japanese way of the sword, the Japanese Kendo. The Japanese could not have created and find inside themselves the martial arts as we know them today if they were not a nation striving to perfection. And this was also the place from where the best warriors of all times surged - the Samurais class.

The Samurai's mind was busy the entire time with one thing only: developing his skills and abilities until achieving his own personal maximum.

“Perfectionism” today is considered to be a “dirty word”. The psychology world only aggravates the phenomenon with a rain of articles and suggestions of how to treat and get rid of our born tendency to perfection. They believe that trying to achieve perfection, trying to always improve yourself and make yourself better, is actually a bad thing. A psychologist will probably tell you that you suffer from perfectionism because your parents did not love you enough, or someone abused you when you

were a child or that you have this kind or this type of complex. Just don't forget to leave a check on your way out… Maybe in the near future we will even see seminars and workshops for perfectionism rehab…

Dear readers, without the human natural striving to perfection the world as we know it would not exist. We would not have had anything to eat or to drink. Humanity exists because that from the moment man went down from the trees and began walking on two legs there were always people who tried to improve themselves, their environment and their life.

The world is made out of about seven billion people that come in all shapes and forms. Some men live their life because they just don't have anything better to do, while others always look forwards desiring to change not only for their own sake but for the sake of all humanity. And this is precisely the idea behind the creation of Imi's Original Krav-Maga. When we learn the original and primary way he created, we train ourselves to be the best there is. Better not only on the Tatami, but better in any possible sense. We teach ourselves to be the leaders, the influential ones and not the influenced. Only one who will investigate, study and comprehend Imi's complete way would be able to see it and even feel it.

A martial art is not a sport, it is either a way of life or it is nothing. And Imi's Original Krav-Maga is not an exception to this rule, you either make it your way of life or don't even bother. To just learn a few movements how to swing your hands and legs will not help you in anything. It's like learning to count from one to five… But what next…?

Teach yourselves to be perfect, look inside you for the key to perfection.

This is what makes us unique.

My encounters with remarkable men

Martial characters I met in my life Over the years, I've been often asked about my experiences as director of the Martial publication with bigger impact of recent decades. At times with a certain envy, other times with curiosity, all those who asked me have enjoyed the answers and stories that I've willingly shared with them. There were many who told me: "How good it would be if you shared this story with readers!" After thinking about it, I've finally taken up my pen to do it, not exempt of some laziness, mainly because I feel I am still too young to start writing my memoirs and, above all, because I consider it's something very personal. However, being these stories, as they are, centered on the others, i.e., on the real protagonists of this magazine, I've realized that writing about them could be something definitely enjoyable and interesting to our readers. So I hope.

Paolo Cangelosi, the impeccable man I met Paolo Cangelosi many years ago, when we both were much younger. I can't recall the exact date my memory is rather poor -, but I haven't forgotten either the moment or the circumstances in which we met.

At that time Budo International was already "international". The Portuguese and then the French edition were already on the market, but the Italian version didn't yet exist. Paolo, always anxious to

know new frontiers, was in Madrid and decided to visit us to know the magazine.

Paolo had popped in the store requiring information about us. At that time, we had a humble facility nearby where there was our editorial office. As directed by the store clerk, Paolo simply crossed the street and introduced himself. He was accompanied by a "faithful" student who later would become a problem for him and whose name we'd rather overlook in here.

Eleuteria, my she-dog, who stayed by my side wherever I went, and whose

intuition never failed, at the very moment this man opened the door and crossed the threshold, pounced upon him barking like crazy. The man fled like a bat out of hell! It was a remarkable and funny fact in the confusion of that first meeting. So often the spirit touches the important moments with exceptional and absurd events!

Once we managed to get hold of the situation and put Eleuteria back in the fold (who kept growling at him), the student, older in age than Paolo himself, began to speak of him in the

third person, as if his "great Master" was absent. His Roman drawl didn't help and the effect was most confusing and shocking. And there you could see a long haired strong young man stay silent, while the other, still freaked with the dog, was presenting him like a minstrel would recite the praises of a maiden. It took me a while getting to understand the situation: actually Paolo was a traditional Master and his pupil was introducing him.

His youth was something just virtual. He had begun studying Chinese Martial Arts since childhood and, being still very young, had traveled to China following the footsteps of his Master; his story was most enjoyable and exceptional; the first impression was very pleasant. I immediately sympathized with him and we talked for a long while. A few months later, the first Italian issue came out to the market containing an article by Paolo - it couldn't be otherwise - who thus became the first native to appear in the Italian edition. It soon began a collaboration that has been going on for a long

time. In that period, Paolo traveled frequently to Madrid to record a series of magnificent videos; his articles often illustrated this magazine and were a continuous spotlight for our readers, especially among the enthusiasts of Chinese Martial traditions.

Because of his versatility and enormous richness of knowledge, Paolo has often been the target of lots of ignorant people. Yes, he's had to endure much envy and unjust criticism

in the past. In those early days, the art was rightly vilified mainly because of the many Chinese that had begun to give classes availing themselves on their slanted eyes, without any further knowledge or value. Unfortunately, a lot of unscrupulous and opportunistic people who took advantage of Bruce Lee's pull and the success achieved by the Kung Fu TV series, had turned the Kung Fu field into a wasteland, and people was fed up with all the lies and

fantasies that surrounded Kung Fu in the seventies and eighties.

On top of that, Paolo didn't practice one single style but he knew and mastered many of them (another unforgivable mistake for all those mental smallholders!). And not only Chinese; he also was a consummate Master of Thai Boxing and that was too much for the time. Paolo anticipated the Cross Fighting, so fashionable today, because his ability and interest was far

beyond the average, and when somebody stands out, as in the puppets game, you have to hit him hard with the mallet to make him lower his head. Fortunately, our collaboration paid off and people began to see those videos where images spoke for themselves. A photo is something motionless, but when we finally could offer VHS works (there was no Internet or anything similar at the time) with his demonstrations and classes, Paolo conquered the world.

Time puts everything in its right place and despite of having represented in the beginnings an affront to many Kung Fu practitioners, nowadays Paolo runs one of the largest and best organized Kung Fu associations and schools worldwide.

I recall a story that happened in Dormunt, Germany. My then associate in that country, Stephan Billen, had organized an event under the auspices of the magazine, and I had invited Paolo to come with me. My main goal was that of meeting with Mike Anderson, another historical figure of Martial Arts, which in turn had brought with him the recently deceased Joe Lewis., Paolo, being a combat fan, recognized him immediately and asked me to introduce him. I had been busy talking to Mike and working, and I hadn't even had a chance to say hello.

Everything was pictures with the attendees, book signing, etc., but, of course, I turned to him and introduced him. Joe, probably a lovely person, was nonetheless a huge, tough and surly guy. When he heard the word Kung Fu he grimaced with contempt. I didn't know if Paolo, who was standing in front of one of his idols and didn't speak much English at that time, understood his disdainful gesture, so Mike and I rushed to add that he was a true Kung Fu practitioner: "Hey, he is a Kung Fu Master, but a real one!", we said. In Joe's discharge I'll say that the blame of his reaction is to be found on the bad fame that Kung Fu had at the moment. His generation devoted itself to put in evidence the weaknesses and lies of this system in fights with very limited rules. "By the way, who are you?" Joe sprung on me. At that time, I was even more arrogant than now, so, annoyed with his scornful gesture toward Paolo, I just retorted: "I am the boss, ask whoever you want". Shortly after, when he spoke with Mike, Joe came up to me apologizing for his rudeness and, his attitude honored him, did the same with Paolo after seeing his magnificent exhibition. Joe was a tough guy, a great fighter, strong as few, authentic in front of the raw truth of combat, hard and brave. I learned to respect him and I was amazed with his fighting skills; later we recorded a video of one of his courses that is still for sale. He had the strongest neck I've ever seen and at 50 plus he still did incredible push up exercises with his neck.

Rest in peace.

Paolo had to overcome the bad reputation of all those years of Kung Fu. His seriousness, his persistent work, never selling himself, his loyalty to his way and his honest feeling, brought him the deserved success and recognition he enjoys today. When he began to succeed many people wanted to get degrees with him, but he's never sold any title like I have seen many do. His students are therefore very good and this has ensured the extension of his work.

I was also the one who introduced him to Cynthia Rothrock, who marveled at his ability. Cynthia told me later that if she lived near him she'd be studying with Paolo. Always close and affectionate, he invited me to spend a week with him on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of his school, a delightful week in Genoa I shared with other friends, Lynn Vincent and his wife, Cynthia. He presented in the theater a magnificent

“Indeed, Paolo's multiple skills and dexterities are not by far the most striking features for this character. He is a "heart with legs", not just an ordinary heart but a pure heart, that of an impeccable man�.

scenography; we made a barbecue, some even flew ultralights, all from the hand of his generosity. He is a great host. His family, both his first wife (and pupil, who keeps working with him side by side) and his love Minou (with whom he's had a beautiful baby), as well as his mother and his son Chan, speak for themselves about his personal category. I have a special feeling for all them, which extends to Paolo’s students. The positivity net spreads out in the same way than negativity, and the affection that Paolo awakens in me

reverberates in his environment because, as Sun Tsu says, “an army is its general�.

As a Martial Master, Paolo stands among the very best. But being simply a good teacher is nothing if you can't create that positive and respectful environment that feeds a real school.

Traditional schools can't ignore this point because without it Martial Arts become just a noisy fight of cocks and egos, where ugly attitudes defile the results.

Indeed, Paolo's multiple skills and dexterities are not by far the most

striking features for this character.

He is a "heart with legs", not just an ordinary heart but a pure heart, that of an impeccable man. I've never heard him speak ill of anyone, and in all difficult circumstances to which life often subjects us (I have experienced personally and professionally some of them), he's always behaved in that clean, elegant, quiet way. I really ignore what he thinks about me, but I can perceive how he feels about me... and I like it.

“Best Karate Kumite”. George Bierman Generally speaking, if you ask someone, “why are you in Martial Arts”, they will tell you it's because they want to learn how to fight. You usually never hear them say that they wanted to learn kata, weapons or wazas. I guess all of us have a little of that “I want to be a tough guy” or you could be motivated by a real need to protect yourself.

Whatever the reason, in this DVD I discuss Basic and Advanced kumite techniques and concepts that all of us should know, whether you are an advanced student or just beginning, and some things that have worked for me over and over.

Some can be used on the street but I'm mainly focusing on tournament techniques. I can tell you over and over to keep your hands up to protect your face. Some of you may do it and some may not. Once you get hit in the face several times by not doing it, you will. I began my Martial Arts training in 1973 and this is a collection of proven techniques and strategies that have worked well for me in competition to present day.

I have combined strategies, footwork, techniques and combinations that lead me to well over 2000 tournament wins and a World Champion fighter in St. Petersburg, Russia. They work!

LANGUAGES: ENGLISH, ESPAÑOL, ITALIANO, FRANÇAIS

REF.: • BIERMAN3

All DVDs, wichi is produced by Budo International, si provided and alone in the formats DVD-5 or MPEG-2, in VCD, DivX or the like is however neves offered with a special holograma sticker. Besides our DVD is characteristed coverings by the hig quality in pressure and material. If this DVD and/or the DVD covering do not corespond to the requirements specified above, it concerns illegal pirat copy.

ORDERS: Budo international. net

Kyusho (the Vital Point) of Energy Development.

Posture 12: “Lunge Pose” Jánurásana As our last posture helped in oxygenation of our blood and brain as well as opening the chest cavity to release pressure from the internal structures and functions of the chest. It was also instrumental in releasing pressure off the internal organs, bowels and pelvic floor. In this next posture, we now work to open greater neurological stimulation into the lower body.

As noted in the prior posture; we go through life with the tendency and natural development of a slouched posture as the spine curves forward at the shoulders and the shoulders themselves close toward the front of the body due to gravity and in most a lack of proper exercise to maintain an upright and correct posture. This brings with it many adverse health issues from mild discomfort to incontinence and constipation, as it causes fatigue, compressed restriction and suffocation of organ and bowel function. This new posture serves to relieve the bowel and organ restriction as it invigorates and maintains these vital functions. This is due not only to the stretching of the lower abdominal region, but more in part from the stretch on the leg and lower torso muscles as well as the lower thoracic and lumbar nerves.

These lower spinal nerves stimulate more than just the sensory and motor nerves; they also stimulate the autonomic (automatic functionality), nerves of the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. The parasympathetic is divided into two parts, the cranial at the brain stem area and in our particular posture here; the lower part of the spine called the Sacrum. The sacral section is made up of autonomic nerves from the spinal cord, at the S2, S3 and S4 levels which are responsible for many functions such as; slowing the heart

rate, bronchial or air passage constriction, increasing gastric secretions, bladder function (e.g. bladder muscle contraction, release of urine), proper bowel and sexual function (e.g. erectile function and vaginal lubrication).

The sympathetic system is comprised of nerves that are located in the thoracic and lumbar regions of the spinal cord between the Thoracic 1 through Lumbar 2 levels. The sympathetic system is responsible for: increasing your heart rate, increasing blood pressure, increasing respiratory or breathing rate, regulating your temperature, pupil dilation (enlargement), bronchial or air passage dilation, decreasing gastric secretions, bladder function (bladder muscle relaxation, storage of urine) and other aspects of sexual function.

Many organs and tissues also get their nerve supply from nerves that exit from the lumbar spine. These include the large intestines, appendix, male or female reproductive organs, the bladder, prostate gland, and others.

There are also a number of reflexes that are occurring between the spinal nerves and functionality of body and body systems. These reflexes assist; movement of food through the digestive tract, in emptying your bladder, in emptying your bowel, in erection of the penis and in stimulating the flow of secretions from sex glands that lubricate the vagina. If the organs supplied by these nerves are restricted, the possible results include constipation, diarrhea, cramps, varicose veins, bladder problems, menstrual problems, infertility problems, incontinence, urination problems, and poor circulation, among others. This will increase neurological and circulatory function in the genitals as well which can release some issues for men suffering from compression ED. As you can see from the posture photograph, one leg is brought forward as the other is stretched back. On the stretched leg we see also that the inguinal crease is opened allowing greater blood circulation, stimulation of a dense

Text: Evan Pantazi Yoga Instructor: Carolina Lino - Ponta Delgada, Azores Photo by: Tiago Pacheco Maia - Ponta Delgada, Azores

cluster of lymph nodes and stretching of the leg muscles and nerves. We can also see the lower belly drops to allow further tension of the bladder, bowels, liver, kidneys and diaphragm on that side.

We can also see on the forward leg that the opposite is true and therefore the switching from leg to leg in this posture serves as a gentle lateral and longitudinal internal massage of all these structures. The forward leg position serves to particularly stretch the lower lumbar and sacral areas of the spine on that side, taking pressure off these nerves and relieving restrictions.

From the energetic aspects we can see this posture opens and stretches the perineum and the lower back allowing for the rise of energy (sensory nerve input) to more easily transcend the lower gates of the Shushuma, Ida and Pingala. The transitioning from side to side also stimulates the helical pattern of Ida and Pingala.

“Lunge Pose” Jánurásana As we complete the prior posture of “Downward Facing Dog” Chatuspadásana the head is brought up as the hips settle and spine straightens. This posture begins to open the spine as we step forward with one leg as it also opens the nerves and Root Chakra at the perineum. Energy and sensory function are allowed to freely transverse the spinal nerves and as they are stretched with muscle pressure released on the lower organs and bowels.

The stretched leg is relaxed as it stretches and releases much of its supportive function (motor nerves) and weight is shifted more to the front leg as it now supports the bulk of the bodyweight. The stretched back leg now mainly balancing the body, relates neurological messaging to the opposite brain while the front supportive leg fires alternating nuero messaging to the other hemisphere. This is the main pumping action for the helical pattern of Ida and Pingala as the stretch on the perineum stimulates the main path of the spinal cord and Shushuma. The opening of the front leg side sacral and lumbar region also serve to stimulate the sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve systems for increased transmission of neural messaging and greater functionality.

The switching action of placing the forward leg back and the back leg forward, switches the helical pattern, energetic, muscular, nervous, lymphatic and circulatory flows. Also occuring is a genteside to side massaging of bowels and organs as it increases the

functionality nueral messaging and blood flow into these areas. This pumping and massaging quaility,by increaseing functionality, yields great muscluar control of urinary, eliminatory and sexual systems. With increased concentration on these sublte transitions and sensory aspects, so to is your awareness, sensitivity, control and potential.

The main concentration for spinal stimulation is in the lower throacic, lumbar and sacral areas, however the entire spine also gently shifts side to side, stimulating all spinal nerves and all autonomic as well as motor and sensory functionality. This yields greater physical ability, sensory capability with overall health and increased pleasure potentials.

Breathing and Intention: From the “Downward Facing Dog” Chatuspadásana posture, inhale deeply through the nose prior to transition into this position, feeling the perineum fill and expand downward. Begin to exhale slowly out of the nose as you drop the hips to straighten the spine and continue the slow measured exhale as one leg is drawn forward.

Maintaining this posture, again inhale deeply feeling the vibrations emanate through the stretched side leg, perineum, torso, arms and palms (as the energy grounds).

As you begin to exhale, bring the forward leg back, as you do you will feel the vibrations transition primarily to the spinal column (Shushuma) and radiate over the entire back. As you repeat the breathing and physical actions again on the other side maintain your awareness on the vibratory sensations throughout the actions and structures.

As you increase the awareness of the energies and vibrations, you will begin to also sense more internal vibratory action as well as exterior fields of energy. Carry this new awareness and sensitivity beyond the postures and Yogic practice to everyday life and it will become natural and effortless. You will soon be able to sense vibrations in others and can lead to deeper relations and sensual possibilities with your partners, especially if they are training in similar fashion.

Next issue: “Big Toe Pose” Angusthásana

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