The Art of the KO

     The last of the non avian dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago due to either an asteroid hitting the earth or volcanism spewing so much debris into the air, sunlight was choked off, photosynthesis was disrupted and the entire food chain was thrown way outta wack!      I am fortunate to have the opportunities to work with people all over the world through seminars, my DVDs and my online program...the PinPoint™ Method.      I was fortunate to train extensively and personally with Prof. Wally Jay over a 10 year period.      It was great hearing some of the stories that Wally (he asked me to call him Wally, so if you are offended by this...get over it as there is no disrespect on my part) would bring up at seminars, dinners, etc. and one comes to mind with regards to today's blog.      "You cannot fight World War II with World War I weapons!"      This was something that Wally would talk about over and over again as he spoke about how he went abo

Currently I have 3 dogs. 2 are mine...1 is a foster, of which I am currently failing to find him a home...other than mine. Walking 3 dogs is like juggling multiple objects in a hurricane. I have narrowed things down to make them easier, as far as walking all 3 dogs at once.  2 dogs are on a tandem leash and the other a single one.  They still get tied up and at times all 3 want to go in different directions. So what does this have to do with Kyusho, or self defense for this matter? In last weeks Blog , I was talking about trying to take things that you would not necessarily use in a self defense scenario because it would make the process of "installing" the material that much harder and therefor less likely that you could pull it off...if your life depended on it. As I walk the dogs several times per day, I am reminded how much like a self defense situation this is.  You must pay attention or juggle many things. Two of the dogs like to pick up things they

war ri or [ wawr -ee-er, wawr -yer, wor -ee-er, wor -yer] noun 1. a person engaged or experienced in warfare; soldier. 2. a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics. So lets take a look at this word, based on the above definition with regards to self defense. One thing my wrestling coach drilled through our head, "What you do in practice you will do in the match."   This is something I carry with me to this day. So why is this important you ask?  I know you are asking this!! Most of you who are reading this are martial artists.  The world martial refers to warfare or warrior-like.  To prepare for combat you study certain strategies and ways to implement said strategies.  Each pi

There is a huge misconception in the world today. There are many people who call themselves teachers.  Remember that old saying, "You can lead a horse to water but cannot make him drink." This is true in education...especially more so today than ever before. I follow the philosophy of, "There is no teaching...there is learning or not learning." For those of you reading this who have tried to teach someone something at one time or another you know what I am talking about. They just could not get it.  They were not focused.  They did not seem interested.  Should I keep adding more excuses that we come up with when we have failed to "Teach"? So now let's look at the concept again, but in a different light. The more complicated you make the presentation of your materials...the harder you make it for someone to learn...PERIOD! We used the fire analogy a few blog posts ago.  Too much wood on the fire actually kills the fire. Th

In Part 1 we spoke about Sustainability and Charisma. Let's now move forward... Marketability Even if you are great at marketing and you are marketing crap...it is still crap and it is unethical.  In order to really be an effective teacher one must have something called E(3) or E cubed. - Education - actually be able to teach something new and unique, not just copying someone else - Entertainment - do so in a manner that entertains - Emotion - elicit emotions from the students with more than techniques, but voice inflexion, body movement, etc. If someone can do all three, then they have some of the necessary skills to gain a good following around the world. E cubed alone is not sustainable and sometimes you also need good marketing skills and there are some great marketers out there that are selling repackaged stuff of someone else's skills....beware of this. They lack the skills to develop their own unique method, so they just change the message d

No...I am not about to sing to you...neither one of us want that!! :-) Years ago, George Dillman, love him, hate him, or just don't care...became the voice of a movement regarding higher education in the martial arts...not just through constant practice, but in depth study of the human anatomy through the paradigms of Western Medicine and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) with regards to the movements of Kata and more. George is basically retired and since his National Geographic fiasco many years ago, which did more damage for Kyusho than good, many outside of his organization and within have had to rebuild the reputation that Kyusho had early on. There will be many who disagree, and I welcome that, and I was there almost from the beginning and luckily I left prior to the NG fiasco.  I still had fallout from that, even though I was no longer involved with George.  Hell...I was on the cover of Black Belt Magazine with him in March of 1995 (their 400th issue). Th

What is Kyusho and Why should you care? I first started my foray into Kyusho in 1989.   I was wrestling at Trenton State College in New Jersey and dislocated my elbow in 1986.  It was then that I started the practice of Tang Soo Do, after 7 years of wrestling that I was introduced to something called Kata. As a wrestler we were taught to visualize the movements and internalize them so that regardless of physical practice, we were taught that we could improve our techniques through focused visualization...something I still personally practice and teach to this day. One of the best fighters in the Trenton State College Tang Soo Do Karate Club, and when I say fighter, I am referring the sporting part of karate...tournament fighting, was beaten up by a wrestler who took him down and his hand landed on a beer bottle, which broke and cut his wrist badly.   My teacher asked me about teaching the rest of the class about how to deal with a wrestler.  I was happy to hel