Tuesday 30 November 2010

Every action has a start point - The Law of Launch Point

The Law of Launch Point states ‘each committed action has a point of origin and the better we prepare this point the greater the chances of success’ This law is a sub law of the laws of position, priority, surprise and links to several other laws such as the law of timing, proximity and set up. It is a key law in terms of how it affects the effectiveness of any technique which it supports.

The launch point refers to the immediate position we are in prior to launching an action such as a technique, attack or defence. If ones launch point is weak then the whole attacking or defending techniques will also be weak. Launch point relies on maintaining the most useable position you can at all ties so that you can quickly drop into launch point immediately before the technique.

Imagine a spring board at a swimming pool, the board is ones launch point and it is designed to support the technique of diving so that each dive is at its optimum. Or imagine the launch of the space shuttle all the various laws necessary come together to bring about the ideal launch point of the spacecraft. With this launch point the success of any mission is compromised and it has take many many years to get the shuttle Launch point the near perfection that it is today. That doesn’t mean the launch point is fixed either, experience in launching more shuttles will gradually improve the launching process.

In life the launch point also brings together many laws to give us the best start possible for each challenge that we encounter. All the planning, training and expectation comes together and is focused at the point of launch. The launch point doesn’t have to be perfect because perfection doesn’t exist and the pursuit of perfection will just hold us back from starting. No, the launch point brings together the laws and focuses them to get the best result possible before we take action and often the action we take is not dictated by us but by external influences. The launch point utilises as many laws as necessary given the time and circumstances applicable to the event.

Launch point needs balance, timing, position, game plan and study to get the best result in the space and time available. For instance: let’s look at the delivery of a right cross.

The right cross conforms to the law of positioning in that the hand must be in a good position at all times to take advantage of the next available opportunity. Using the right cross alone breaks the law of prioritised movement and therefore uses a set up such as a left jab. The success or failure of the left jab dictates whether or not the right cross is thrown at the target. If the first punch lands well the second punch can be launched but if it lands badly the launch point of the next technique is postponed whilst ones decides what next action is best (can see the RADAR system coming into play here? If not re-read the section on RADAR) if no other action is better than the intended cross then throw that anyway.

Think about what the Law of Launch Point brings together:
  • The Law of Positioning – putting oneself in the optimum position to take advantage of the opportunity
  • In Martial arts this means utilising the strategic laws of the Law of the Lead, the Law of the Left, the Law of Proximity etc
  • Next comes the decision on which strategy to use based on the expected outcomes from taking the action
  • When these are prepared the law of Timing kicks in to evaluate the best time to strike
  • Now we have everything we need together and should be at launch point or launch point can be achieved quickly because we know what the next step is
  • Now we are in launch point ready and we take Action
  • Once we take action we get a result, whether good or bad and we
  • Review the result and move back into our recognition stage which means we evaluate whether there is another challenge ahead of us.

We have now gone full circle using the RADAR process and all in the blinking of an eye!

The law of launch point therefore is a sub law of Action, a link in the chain of the overall process but an important one nevertheless because it brings together several laws combining them together ready for action.

Our need is to recognise what is brought together at the launch point of any action because without a good launch point the whole action is compromised. In life the law of launch point is the ‘Steady’ in – Ready, Steady, Go! Now study how this law is used in the most simple of tasks such as throwing a Jab or paying the gas bill, it will be a key factor in whether your actions are successful in martial arts and in your daily life.

Thanks for reading today and I look forward to speaking again tomorrow on the Law of Surprise a key tactic in martial arts but one you will find is also a key tactic in life.

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 092 0948

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Monday 29 November 2010

Maximise Your Success Through the Law of Proximity

The law of proximity states that ‘the fastest attack uses the closest weapon to the nearest target’ Proximity is a sub law of the law of position and along with the law of priority, economy and hierarchy provides us with a basic strategy for all our attacks and defences. For instance using the law of proximity one would not kick someone in the head when their leg was a closer target. One should always attack the nearest target unless it is being offered to draw your attack.

Proximity means that whichever weapon is closest is probably the fastest and has the best chance of landing. Even if it does not allow a finishing technique it can be used to set up a finishing technique.

Beginners will often block a punch with their lead hand and counter with their rear hand. Blocking with the rear hand is ok though the general rule is to defend with the rear hand (allowing the attacker into your space) and bringing him close enough for your lead (closest) counter. The principle this follows is that we don’t defend an attack until it is a real danger, that is: don't block before you absolutely must. Beginners often defend shots that are not a danger as every shot seems to have danger in it. As one gains experience one learns to recognise shots that are dangerous and those that are less so and thus can be ignored allowing us to focus on higher priorities. Experienced fighters will use this 'panic' style reaction to lure their inexperienced prey into doing the wrong thing.

The general rule in martial arts is split into two main rules:

1.    Defend with the rear hand and counter with the lead.

2.    Defend with a lead and counter (also) with a lead

To defend with the lead and counter with the rear hand breaks the law of proximity because one is using the rear hand to attack when it is the furthest away. This takes more time and puts one at greater risk.

In life the law of proximity means attending to those issues which are closest either in time or distance. There is a saying ‘aim for the stars and at least you might reach the sky’ however, aiming too high at the outset can make goals seems unattainable and as another saying goes ‘you can’t hit a target that you can’t see’ ones motivation is adversely affected if the goal seems too distant.

The law of proximity consists of four key parts:

1.    Length – that is the distance between two combatants
2.    Level – moving ones head or body under or over the attack level
3.    Line – moving ones head or body inside or outside of the danger
4.    Leverage – the quality of the attack or defence one can make at any given distance

These are the four key parts of proximity and can be used in both attack and defence and form a strategy to follow when pursuing a goal or target. What this means is that you don’t have to go right at a target, though this might be your first response, instead one can change the level or line of your approach thereby being near the oncoming danger without being in its way. And leverage is the amount of weight one can bring to bear on the target once you achieve contact with it. I’m sure you will see elements of the 4 levels of defence in these approaches, but if you don’t then re-read the 4 levels as these are crucial to achieving your goals with a minimum exposure to risk.

In life the law of proximity means that you should attend to the nearest target first but the closest target may be approached from different levels or angles. One doesn’t need to go at each goal ‘like a bull at a gate’. A successful life is more of a subtle seduction process than a head on mugging, a negotiation rather than an outright demand.

In sparring this means don’t just take a frontal attack, judge your opponent, learn about your opponent and choose the most appropriate approach to match his weaknesses or strengths. imagine dealing with a friend who needs advice and help but rejects it when offered. To help them benefit from your experience you can change you line of approach by using a more subtle tack, perhaps dropping subtle hints or personal stories that don't seem to be about the problem. Change your length, level or line of attack whilst maintaining sufficient leverage to gain what you want. 

Imagine an analogy of working to get your own way against a large organisation perhaps getting an overdraft at the bank. Use the strategy provided by the law of proximity to plan your approach (attack) and remember that a frontal assault won’t work on a much bigger opponent unless you have the element of surprise on your side. When you make your attack/approach be also aware of the space and time you have available and deliberately use the weapons/tools at your disposal that are the most appropriate (nearest). Take a different line of approach, its easier to befriend a person than fight them, it's easier to get what you want by first being nicer to the bank staff and then asking for the overdraft than the opposite. Also remember that you must support your own position by having the skills (money management) to use the advantage (cash) to your best advantage. Think about this law as it is subtle, but very useful and you'll use it a lot once you understand it.

Thanks for reading today and I look forward to speaking to you again tomorrow.

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 092 0948

Call us today to book your first free lesson with one of our black belt instructors or go online for a free brochure at http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=9 do it now!





Friday 26 November 2010

The Law of Study

The law of study states that ‘the more you know the easier it is to know more’ this law is concerned with, education, practice, repetition and review, what Stephen Covey calls ‘sharpening the saw’ and as Einstein once said ‘the knowledge that got you to where you are today is not enough to get you to where you want to be tomorrow’

Often I meet people who haven’t opened a book since they left school but there is one thing for sure ‘all leaders are readers’ and if you want the life of your dreams you need more education to get it than you have now. So if you don’t read you should start and if reading gives you problems you can buy most books on audio.

Study is also about practicing what you already know, because even with something you know very well, if you continue to practice and deepen your studies you will begin to understand the subject at a deeper and deeper level. Look at the top musicians or sportspeople, they practice day in day out even though they are the best in the world. There is even an accepted number of hours now that you have to practice in order to consider yourself a genius in any given subject and that number is 10,000. the most gifted geniuses in all history were not born that way – no one is born with the gift of being able to play the violin for instance. No, but if one is introduced to it from a very early age one and encouraged to play and practice everyday one will become a master of the violin.

The good news is that we can all becomes masters in any given subject as long as we apply ourselves for a minimum of 10,000 hours. 10,000 hours equates to 13.69 years if you practice for 2 hours every single day. Wow, you might say that’s an awful long time! but that time is passing anyway so why not make better use of the time you have to be excellent at the thing that is most important and valuable to your life. It doesn’t have to be the violin it can be anything and in martial arts training the same applies. You can achieve even faster if you put in more hours for instance if you put in 3 hours every day you can achieve mastery in under 10 years!

Obviously the reverse is true also. If you do nothing for instance playing on computer games, watching TV or socialising then unless this significantly improves your life it is a waste of time. Imagine the time people waster everyday pursuing activities that bring them no improvement in their life? Most people achieve little or nothing because they do not apply themselves to their studies and do not have the discipline. If you are the kind of person who just follows the crowd then the chances are high that you will not achieve much in terms of a successful life. But if you are prepared to commit yourself to a discipline and apply yourself to it you can reap the rewards of a life well lived. Sometimes I am criticised for this attitude but at the end of the day if none of us got up off our backside and made a difference to the lives of others then let’s face it our ancestors would never climbed down from the trees!

A wasted life in my opinion is the greatest of sins. We are given so many gifts and especially opportunities in this world and especially in this part of the world that it is easier than it has ever been to be successful and of value than ever before. If we attend to our continuing education through study: reading self improving books, watching educational video’s and listening to audio books we can constantly inspire ourselves to achieve more for ourselves, our families and our fellow human beings.

There is a saying that gives a good idea of the use of the 4 key intelligences and how they can be used in life and it states that our purpose here on earth is to ‘live, to love, to learn and to leave a legacy’. to live is to use our physicality our bodies, to love is to use our emotions, to learn is to use our intellect and to leave a legacy is to use our spiritual intelligence for the benefit of ourselves and others. To recognise and apply our 4 intelligences is to live a worthwhile life and to recognise that we can always be better than we are today by practicing and studying.

Thank you for reading today and I look forward to speaking to you again tomorrow. As always at this point I’d like to encourage you, if you have enjoyed today’s subject and would like to find out more then why not click on the link and find out more about our martial arts life improvement programs by clicking on the link http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=9

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 092 0948

Thursday 25 November 2010

The Law of Action - Go for it!

This law is about implementing & taking action and states that ‘Nothing happens until something moves’. We can do all the talking in the world but until we take action and do something we have done nothing. So often I hear people say that they ‘are working on it’ that is to achieve their dreams but their body language tells me otherwise. It tells me that they are procrastinating, being distracted by the unimportant, the frippery of life such as TV, mobiles phones and computer games. Acting as if these things are necessary to life instead of seeing them as tools to improve their life and to help them to achieve what they truly want.

I meet people everyday who take no action because they don’t realise that they can and this is sad. This is what our organisation is about, to show people that the life they have is not the life that they need to be living unless it is the life they want to be living. We exist to teach people that they can experience lives of true joy and achievement if only they will take that first step – Action.

When we are young and impressionable we want to fit in so we often follow the crowd, but just because everyone is doing the same thing doesn’t mean that it is the right thing. When we are young we feel that there is plenty of time ahead of us and there is, hopefully. But too often we treat our lives like the man who is immoral all his life intending to seek forgiveness on his deathbed only to get hit by a bus long before he is old enough to die. We cannot put off our lives to some further date in the future; our lives are happening right now, today, this minute and once we have an idea of what we want our lives to be, we can only achieve that idea if we take action. So far in our discussion on the 5 key laws of success we have look at our attitude, expectation and game plan and all these are necessary but without we implement them by taking action – nothing changes.

Often I meet people who are waiting for something to happen before they take action such as when people come to enrol in academies and say ‘I’ll come back when I’m fitter’ they don’t understand that if they come they’ll get fitter. Or people say I’ll do it after the holidays or after Christmas. It’s all nonsense! If you are going to do something you do it! Now, timing is important too but the best time is now because who knows if you’ll ever get another opportunity.

If you want something from life, and I hope you do, start on it today! Get your attitude right, set your goal, make your game plan and go for it. When you do you will find that you learn several things: one is that by taking action you feel a sense of personal progress and achievement, even though you’ve just started! In fact because you have started. The next thing you’ll often find is that things start to happen to help you along and the third thing you’ll find is that you get what you want much faster than you ever expected. Another thing you’ll find is that some people won’t take you seriously and often it can be the ones closest to you but don’t worry and don’t listen to them. It’s only fear that you’ll leave them behind or that you might turn out to be more than they thought because no matter what your size, age, weight, intelligence, background – you can achieve whatever you want and much more simply by getting going. Another great quote is ‘you don’t have to get it right you just have to get it going’

As the German writer and philosopher Goethe once said about taking action ‘Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

So remember: nothing happens until something moves and when you move and take action toward your goals, the universe will step in and help. Don’t ask how, just accept that it does as Nike’s tag line says ‘Go For It!’

Thanks for reading today and I look forward to speaking again tomorrow on the last of the 5 laws of success. We are launching our new Life Leadership program in January 2011 and it will be the first full holistic martial arts self improvement system that will teach you finest martial arts available and show you how to use what you learn to make your life unstoppable! Join us by taking action and trying a Free 30 Day trial or save £100 on our basic program by just jumping and having ago. It’s a decision you’ll never regret! If we don’t have a school near you then why not become the school owner with a martial arts franchise?

Click on the link to get more details TODAY! http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=8

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 092 0948

Wednesday 24 November 2010

The Law of Strategy

The third law of life is strategy. We know that our attitude is the first key and that we are in control of our lives which is the second key now we look at the third key which is how we get to our goals – the plan. The law of strategy states that ‘proper planning prevents poor performance’. Strategy is how we get what we want and although if you just set a goal you’ll sometimes see it come to fruition and for anyone familiar with the law of attraction you’ll know that this works and if you’ve study it you’ll also know why.

Strategy is how we achieve our goals and generally starts with a question, for instance: ‘what’s the best way to make this goal happen?’ In martial arts it is a fast process as with any goal that is immediate and the answer usually comes instinctively or through trained responses. With longer term goals though we have more time to plan, however our trained responses and instincts will still play their part.

Once you start with the key question phrased in the most positive and optimistic way we follow with the answers. A good way is to get a clean sheet of paper and at the top write the goal and underneath ask the question ‘what’s the best way of achieving this?’ this activates not only the intellect but also the deeper intelligence. Underneath the question write down the numbers 1 to 20 and start answering your questions. This will bring structure to your goal. Don’t stop at any point even if the answer seems to be the right one, don’t judge it, just do it as this is a brainstorm session not a decision process. Once you have gotten as far as you can you can look again at your list and you’ll easily see that some of the suggestions are better than others and you can focus your attention on these.

Now you can start to be more specific: dates, times, amounts, descriptions. Once you have the specifics you’ll find that your goal has taken on a real shape and personality and at this point you have gone a long way to achieving it. Your strategy is the steps you need to take in order to achieve your goal. What do you need to be and by when? Who can help? What finance if any will you need? How many hours will it take and where will you apply them?

I’ve mentioned before that you can have whatever you want as long as you want it more than what you don’t want and at the strategy stage you can start to deal with these ‘don’t wants’ as they’ll start to appear as objections in your thought process but if you really want to achieve your goal you’ll use your positive attitude to override these negatives. One of the problems to overcome is that our in built survival system is designed to help us survive, but survival is not the same as thriving, so our inbuilt comfort zone will start to complain at being pushed to do more than just survive and maintain the status quo. At first these negative thoughts can really hold you back but after a while of achieving goals you’ll get to know how they feel and how to deal with them.

If you have any sticking point on how to achieve your goal and questions that you simply can’t answer then here is another good way and in fact it is the easiest way. One of the things I do is to read my questions just before I go to sleep, either at night or as part of a ‘power nap’. These naps are great for silencing the external hubbub and chatter and allowing your massive intelligence to focus on the answer. I have often woken with the answer clear in my mind or it has popped into my mind shortly after fully formed.

The great polymath Goethe used to sleep with pen and paper by his bedside and if he woke up with any idea or an answer in the night he would simply write it down so he didn’t forget it. you can do the same and if you don’t come up with an answer straight away then just wait and the answer will come. Other techniques can be to go for a walk, a drive or a run. Read a book or watch TV anything that will take the pressure off your conscious mind so that your subconscious can work on the problem.

After a while of successfully setting and achieving your goals you’ll get to know the answers automatically but every now and then you’ll meet a new problem and need to use some strategy to find the answer. Tomorrow we’ll look at the 4th law of success which is one of the major keys to achieving anything.

Thanks for reading today and I look forward to speaking to you again tomorrow. If you are interested in changing your life for the better you can look no further than to join us in the National Martial Arts College where we cover everything that I have so far covered in my blogs. We use the study of martial arts to deepen our understanding of our true selves whilst making lots of similar friends and staying very fit. Try a free lesson at http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=8

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 092 0948


Tuesday 23 November 2010

The Law of Outcome

The second of the laws of life is the Law of Outcome. The law of Outcome states that ‘if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there’ it is the goal setting law available to us only when we have set our attitude to the point that ‘I control my life’. Once we accept that our lives are not based on fate, that our lives are not predetermined and can only be predicted from the point of view that ‘if you keep on doing what you do, you’ll keep on getting what you get’ and from those who know from their personal experience what their actions will lead to.

The law of outcome comes from imagining what we want our future to be: what we want to be and who we want it to be with. Whether we want wealth, fame, successful career, relationships anything, anything that we want we can have IF we want it enough to pay the price and want it more than what we don’t want. For instance you’ll never have true wealth if you believe inside that ‘money is the root of all evil’ as your desire is contradicted by your belief; your conditioning, also known as your habits. One thing I learned is that our ‘habits are thousands of times stronger than our beliefs’ so before you set your goals you must first believe you can achieve them, that you deserve them and understand that much of their achievement depends upon building new stronger habits to support the achievement of your goals. As Napoleon Hill famously said ‘what you can dream and believe, you can achieve’

Once we get practiced at achieving our goals we learn to understand that once we achieve what we want we can set new goals, more specific goals based on the experience of achieving before. Goal setting is a continuous process as we don’t set goals in one area of our lives, but all areas and not just in the distant future but in all our futures.

So what do you want your future to be? Sometimes it can be hard to tell what we really want and the rule is if in doubt of what you REALLY want, set a goal for what you think you want and when you achieve it see if it feels right. If it doesn’t feel right, set another goal. However, there is another way and that is to write your own obituary which may sound a bit depressing but it’s a great way to imagine what you have done with your life and how you would like to be remembered. It doesn’t have to be after a long life either you could write it as if you died suddenly say, 3 years from now. Think about what you would like to be remembered for, what you would like to have achieved and what legacy you would like to leave behind you.

By doing this, and you may have to do it several times to get a feel for it, you will reveal your passion, your true motivation. You might find that your life is pretty much on track or that it needs a complete re-think. Once you have set your goals, if they are worthy enough you may still have to remind yourself of why and when you want them. There are several ways you can do this and a good one is to write them down, be specific and set a time frame for when you want them to happen. A true goal is measurable and specific so that you know what it is, when you want it and what it will look like when it arrives. If you can’t do this then it is probably not a true goal. For instance if you say to yourself that ‘I want to meet my ideal partner one day’ then this is not measurable or specific. A real goal would be to describe your ideal partner in detail and then set a date that you want them to be in your life by.

Life you will find, is about constant setting and achieving goals both big and small from achieving our daily ‘to do’ list to becoming a multi-millionaire by the time you are 40. Whatever your life is like now and whether you feel ok about it or you want to change it you can have whatever you want as long as:

  1. You make it measurable
  2. Specific
  3. and make sure you REALLY want it

    Thank you for reading today and I look forward to speaking to you again tomorrow

Best wishes

Tony Higo
National Martial Arts College
0800 092 0948

Get a Free 30 day trial membership at one of our colleges by booking online now at http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=8

Monday 22 November 2010

The Law of Attitude

In the Aegis system we recognise 5 key laws upon which all the other laws are dependant. These are the laws of life that we must understand if we are to get the life we want. Whether you want money, fame, career, good relationships or leadership black belt they all rely on the 5 key laws.

The first of these laws is the ‘Law of Attitude’. The law of attitude states that ‘it’s your attitude not your aptitude that determines your altitude’. Without the proper attitude toward life, yourself and what you would like in life you are pretty much staying where you are. When I say proper attitude I refer to how you view your life and the challenges it presents plus how you respond to others that impact upon your life. An attitude that helps you to get what you want for instance. We all know the saying ‘is the glass half full or is it half empty’ and how we view this glass gives us an indication of how we might view our life, whether it is a positive, optimistic and enthusiastic view,  or whether it is a negative, pessimistic, dour view that you have of your life. The former fires your motivation whilst the latter dampens it and you can’t achieve what you don’t have any passion for.

One thing to be aware of in this is that you may be optimistic in some areas of your life yet pessimistic in others or optimistic some days and pessimistic on others. Knowing the difference will help you to more clearly consider and work towards what you want from your life.

Without the right attitude we will lack the motivation to achieve a better life and this is why attitude is the first of the key laws. The law of attraction says ‘you can’t have what you don’t really want’ and the other day I came across a lady on Facebook who I said something to the effect that ‘all men are worthless’ yet her whole spare time seems to spent pursuing men. This attitude of one part of you despising what the other part seeks is the wrong attitude to get what you want, as it means you don’t know what you want. What man wants a woman who despises his whole gender? Does she really despise men or does she despise how they make her feel? Does she take the first man that looks good or does she consider the type of man that makes her happy and look to find him?

The problem is that the type of person we are attracted to is not necessarily the type of person we will get on with in the long term. But the kind of person we find attractive is often based on conditioning, habit. For instance, we are bombarded daily by images of attractive people used to attract us towards the products that they are marketing. These models are used because they are attractive to our cultural stereotypes that have become our norm over the last 50 or 60 years.

In the same way we are often suckered into wanting products that we don’t really need. You just have to look at the number and types of mobile phones available. The choice is immense but at the end of the day does it matter? What matters is that we are often so weak in our attitudes that we can be manipulated into thinking that a fancy new phone will makes us happy. When we are so simply manipulated what chance have we of getting the life we want? We are made to think that we want a life that won’t even get close to making us happy.

Instead, our attitude must be worked on by first deciding what we REALLY want, not what everyone else has though this can be a starting point. As long as you remember that what you want today may not be the same when you actually get it. Once you achieve a goal you reset it based on how the one you just got made you feel. Gradually through experience you refine your goals with a better view of where you are going. BUT only if you have the right attitude! I see people often chase a goal and either because they didn’t get it soon enough, or at all, or it didn’t give them what they wanted they just quit. This is the wrong attitude and answers for the fact that so many people quit too early and end up with a cynical view of life.

So if you really want a life that fulfils you then the first thing you need is the right attitude, it’s the number one building block of success.

Thank you for reading today and I look forward to speaking to you again tomorrow on the subject of the second of the key laws the ‘Law of Outcome’

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 092 0948

Take yourself closer to the life of your dreams and join us at the National Martial Arts College starting with our free brochure on our character ethic martial arts programs click on http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=9 Today!



Friday 19 November 2010

The Law of Balance

In combat good balance is essential. You've only to see an expert at work to see the quality of balance that he or she maintains at all times. The Law of Balance states that 'with correct balance even a poor technique can work but without good balance no technique can.' In fact, in combat the skilled fighter makes his opponent an easy target by destroying his balance whilst maintaining his own.

A fighter works from a strong stance or base to support defensive and attacking techniques, the saying goes 'a tall building needs a strong foundation' and the stance is the basis of our martial arts foundation. All movement in martial arts stems from a good base just as in life, any commitment to move forward needs to come from a well balanced start. The balance may be the assessment of risk and reward or a strong financial position before investing, it could also be a strong relationship before deciding to have children. Every decision to take a chance in life is based on first having a strong base, a point from which to start, a launch point, a place of safety to run back to if things don't turn out like one wants.

A few days ago we discussed the four intelligences of heart mind body and spirit. these intelligences represent life balance and over concentration on any one will destroy the balance of ones life. If you are overly emotional you will not think clearly which comprises your intellectual intelligence. In fact if you imagine life as a  tightrope: its easier to go forward easier than stand still. You can go backwards but that prevents you arriving at the other side. If you lean in any direction too much you will over balance and head for a fall. Life is just the same it needs good balance to be happy.

If you make life goals based on balancing the four intelligences and satisfying them in equal measure you will have life balance. If you focus too much on your career you will jeopardise your home relationships, your physical health or your spiritual life. Any concentration on one area over another puts us out of balance. Martial arts balance is no different and as ever acts as a metaphor for life.

In martial arts we split balance into two main parts. The feet or base,  that is, those parts of the body that are at any one time in touch or contact with the floor. This is the key part of martial balance. the second part is the  upper body, particular the shoulders which carry the upper body weight. this takes us into the laws of alignment, leverage, movement and momentum to name but a few but today I want to focus on the key law of balance (more of the other laws later. As you'll see none of the laws of combat can exist in isolation.) Whenever we take a step in martial arts we compromise our balance. This is why we move generally in half steps, tentative steps as each one risks our being hit or grabbed. Each step with the lead foot compromises our balance but we correct this by make a re-balancing step with the rear foot which brings us back to our base position.

We can use our feet to break and correct our balance; we can also use our shoulders, with our midsection acting as a pivot point. Our upper body gives us reach on an opponent but we can only reach so far before we over balance so we then have to use a step to correct the overbalance. We can only reach so far in any given direction without having to take a step. Our reach commits us to take a step in the direction we reach in which is why almost all punches, kicks or throws etc. are accompanied by a step to either set it up, reach or re-balance ones position.

Daily life is the same, we can reach in any direction toward our goals but if we really want to achieve them we have to step out of our comfort zone (our base),commit ourselves and take a risk. A complete novice may fall flat by over reaching but if one is prepared to try again one will get good at reaching and stepping out of our comfort zone gaining confidence with every step. sometimes we will fail and have to re-balance ourselves before starting again, but after a while we will understand the principle of moving forward, backwards or sideways and we'll get faster, smoother and more efficient bringing us closer more quickly to our chosen goals.

So look at your life and your martial arts and consider the balance you have. are you always in balance because you never take a step (risk)? Or are you always out of balance because your steps are too long in any direction. Think about your 'life footwork' where is it taking you? Toward your goals or toward safety? Are you taking enough risk or too much? Think about it and remember to take a balanced view of your life.

Thank you for reading today and I look forward to speaking to you again tomorrow.

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 092 0948
www.nat-mac.co.uk

Book your first FREE lesson at one of our colleges today and if there isn't one near you yet then ask about becoming an instructor yourself! Just click on the link and take your first step http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=8

The lower body is our foundation but the upper body

Thursday 18 November 2010

How's Your RADAR working?

In the Aegis system we have a method of  strategising each and every action, a system that applies to martial arts and to daily life. The system we use is called RADAR. RADAR as with its original is an acronym but ours stands for the 5 step system that deals with every challenge/problem and how to deal with it from a personal protection issue to planning your finances.

The system is this:

R = Recognise. This means to recognise the threat or opportunity that has arisen. A successful life filled with effort and achievement comes mainly through recognising the potential opportunities as they arise, from a life threatening situation or a money making opportunity
A = Assess. Assess the relative merits or otherwise of the situation. Is it high risk or low risk? High risk could mean a physical or financial threat with high potential reward or low risk. It could be such a high risk as to be completely avoided or so low a risk that you can ignore it.
D = Decide. Decision comes before all actions. The course of action is crucial to its success or failure. Inaction is for those who fail. Sometimes though inaction may be the right choice however, we must be aware that if we constantly choose inaction we may be avoiding too many options and missing out on potential opportunities. Decision can as simple as action or no action or a fully developed strategy.
A= Action. Action is the key to all success and nothing happens without it. I see so many people who talk a good fight but always seem to have an excuse as to why they take no action. At first these people can bamboozle us and seem to have the 'go' that we have, but with time the ones who promise but don't act are left behind us. As you take action in your own life you will make gains and losses, but each one will teach you more and more about success.
R = Review. Review is also a a key part of the whole process, the act of reviewing what has happened, how it worked, what worked best and what did not work. Review of either success or failure is an important part of the whole process of self improvement and personal protection as this is where we redevelop our future strategy. There is a saying which goes 'experience is not what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you.' the review process is how we use the experience. Future plans may need and often will need a different approach as we refine and shape our future plans. Without the review process we will not make an intelligent use of the experience. there is another saying that 'insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result'

In combat we use the RADAR system to first recognise the challenge, then assess the potential risk/danger/reward. After that we decide on a course of action; whether to fight or fly, then we take the action and after that we review how the action worked for us; whether it was the right thing or in hindsight whether we can have taken a better road. Its a simple system but it works to help us understand the process we undergo every time we meet with a challenge. The strength of RADAR is that we always use it whether we know it or not, but knowing that we use it and how it can be used gives us the edge on all our problem and challenges. When we understand our natural process of handling challenges we have a structured method and therefore a better method of dealing with them; giving us the edge on improving upon our past solutions. Having a method teaches us that life's challenges can be handled, managed and better managed. Management of any issue denotes control of it and control gives us choice and choice gives us freedom.

Freedom is one of life's greatest treasures and so many people feel themselves controlled by their lives; without choice; trapped that they miss out on life's joy. Now you have RADAR you can if you haven't already, bring back control of your own life and the joy, win or lose that goes with it.

Thanks for reading today and I look forward to talking again tomorrow. In the meantime if you would like to experience the life changing experience of martial arts study simply click on the link below
http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=9

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 0920948
www.nat-mac.co.uk

Wednesday 17 November 2010

Level 1 Defence - Interception

The four levels of defence are: Avoid, Block, Re-direct and Intercept. So far we have looked at levels 4 to 2 and today we look at the most efficient level, level one - Intercept. Interception is the most direct and proactive and is based on the law of defence which states that the best defence is a good offence or in English, the best defence is attack. 

In life we call this being proactive which means seeing an opportunity/challenge/risk and taking action to take best advantage of it. Stephen Covey in his brilliant book 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' coins the term 'Be Proactive' and it is the 1st of his seven habits.

Proactivity means looking into future potential and predicting what might happen if no action is taken or what could happen if the right action is taken. In combat we do this using the RADAR system (more of this in future blogs) once we recognise that the threat has to be dealt with we take decisive action, generally in the form of the pre-emptive strike. 

Attack is the best defence is an old adage from Boxing and is based on sound principles; it focuses us purely on proactive action. Proactivity in this form uses the 'law of surprise' which states that 'even when you expect something unpleasant to happen, when it does it is still a shock. Even knowing that you are going to be punched in the face, when it happens it still takes you by surprise. By utilising this law we take control of the situation, gain momentum for our actions and increase our chances of success in exploiting the opportunity. 

In fencing this proactivity is called the 'stop hit' meaning one stops the attack with a hit. Remember, attack is the best defence? Why defend and counter when you can just attack and achieve both outcomes simultaneously?

In the Aegis system we categorise the time lapse of attack and defence as 'beats'. For instance, attack is one beat, defence is one beat and counter attack is one beat. In all we have 3 beats. If two opponents are exactly matched weight, size etc the winner will be the one who technique is most efficient. That is the one using less beats per movement.

In level one defence - intercept we endeavour to reduce the number of beats per attack to one by hitting the opponent as he tries to hit you. Remember a few days ago I spoke about the hardest opponent being the one who did not respond to your attack? Well, there is one harder and that is the opponent who hits you every time you attack. This is the essence of the level one intercept. Our definition in the Aegis system of the essence of self defence is ‘not being there when the attack arrives’ and level one defence is the epitome of that statement. Using level one defence utilises many of the laws of combat to put one into the required position to be able to take advantage of the situation such as the law of movement, law of distance, law of position, law of surprise etc to maximise ones results.

In every day life we can use this concept to attend to challenges and opportunities by structuring our lives to expect them and utilise them to our best advantage. At a very simple level let us take the example of our gas bill.  Most of us get one but how we deal with it differs. Lets have a look at the gas bill in terms of the four levels of defence.

Level four defence would avoid paying it, but it won't go away and they'll keep sending more until you pay up. Level 3 we can stop using the gas which will block their bills but your risk is to go cold and hungry. Level 2 defence receives the bill, accepts the bill and makes payment thereby re-directing the energy back to the gas company in the form of payment. Level one defence, being totally proactive knows the bill is coming, knows that it has to be dealt with and sets up a standing order to pay it as this is the easiest way and the amount of the bills are controlled by making payments promptly, thereby staying ahead of any risk of non payment. 

Do you see now how martial arts principles can apply to the most basic areas of our lives if you take a more global view of your study? 

Thanks for reading today and I hope you found it useful. Tomorrow we'll have a look at the RADAR system which I think you will find useful in all areas of your life. 

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 0920948
www.nat-mac.co.uk




Monday 15 November 2010

Mental Intelligence and the Martial Arts

Today I'd like to cover another of the 4 key intelligences - IQ. Our ability to think and use our intellect has a major impact on our martial arts and daily life. This may seem obvious but there is some doubt as to how often people really think and how often they just run on autopilot. Very often our habits do our thinking for us and at these times we are working on a conditioned level rather than a conscious one. Our conscious mind is what I call the 'receptionist' of the brain in that it takes messages and passes details on to the departments that deal with them. Sometimes the receptionist starts to think that because their job is so pivotal passing huge amounts of data to other areas of the brain that it can begin to think its running things, however, as we all know the receptionist rarely runs the company.

Our ability to think is our ability to receive, process and store data that comes in through our various senses and in that way our intellect is crucial to every part of our life. so how does our thinking work? what is it to think? Basically, thinking is asking a question and finding an answer. there is a saying which goes 'there is no question that you cannot answer' and this is true, it may not be the correct answer but an answer can be provided. Sometimes we can get stuck on the fact that correct is correct but generally correct depends on your point of view. a decision that seems right today may be viewed as wrong later and vice versa. the main thing is that a decision is made and action take for without action nothing happens, as King Lear said 'nothing comes from nothing'.

Part of our intelligence is our ability to make decisions based on the information we have to hand. The ability to reason through is a key part of our intellect: to pose questions and find answers is its main job. We talked a few days ago about our emotions and how they are the alarm bell that tells us something needs to either change or stay the same. Once this information has been received the mental intelligence studies the data and how it should be acted upon. It is at this stage that it will either provide an answer or pass it on for further study to our greatest intelligence - our spirit. But more of our spirit later.

The answers our mental intellect will provide will be based on either our or someone else's experience. This part of our intellect is not responsible for creating new answers only providing answers that are readily available. For instance if you want a quick answer while you are on the internet, these days we can simply type the question into Google which will give us the answer. Whether we use the answer is our choice and generally this will be thrown back to a higher authority unless it feels intrinsically right straight away and falls within the remit of the mental intellect.

In martial arts training, very fast thinking comes from our emotions and/or our trained responses. Deeper questions require more time that is simply not available in combat. Our trained responses are what we build into our physical intelligence and if we have no trained response our emotions will take over and simply give us a fight or flight reaction. In sparring our mental powers can come into play to analyse situations as we have more time to back off and gain time to think. In street defence we may not have the gift of this extra time unless the situation has been forewarned to us and we've had a few moments to make a conscious decision.

Conscious thought is crucial to the proper use of martial arts as it is our decision process provided by the conscious mind that ensures that we use our skills in the right context. If we are overly emotional or our conscious mind is dulled by other factors such as drink or drugs our emotions can take over and as a trained martial artist this is not what we want. Our trained response is either physical from muscle memory or conscious decision making based on previous experience. work on understanding the difference so far between the 3 intelligences we have discussed and how we can use them to make our lives better.

Tomorrow we'll discuss the big one! Spiritual intelligence. Thank you for reading today and I hope you'll be back again tomorrow.

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College

If you'd like to find out more about our martial arts get our brochure online at: http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=9

Saturday 13 November 2010

Level 2 Defence - Re-direction

Level 2 defence steps up from blocking in that when one re-directs an attack one still makes contact and puts oneself in the firing line but not this time by stopping the attack, instead one uses the opponents force against him.  re-direction comes from a point of greater confidence and means that one has begun to turn the tables on ones opponent. re-direction involves anticipation of the attack and having a plan ready on how to deal with it when it comes.

Level 2 defence takes us firmly into the realm of proactivity and suggests a higher level of skill or expertise over ones opponent. deflections, parries, inside and out generally with some footwork to remove one from the line of attack. It is a very satisfying level of defence as it often means the battle is almost over, the tipping point has almost been reached.

In life re-direction means being more prepared than ones opponent or quicker mentally using their words against them, anticipating what they are about to say, leading them into a direction which although close to the one they were after, they soon realise is actually dangerous for them.

In verbal combat, re-direction can mean having an answer quickly or knowing the answer you will give before they launch at you. You might twist their words or lure them into your attack or you might misdirect them completely to change their mindset. for instance you might make an 'off the wall' statement to break their rhythm. For instance when someone comes storming into you you could ask 'do you like cheese?' "what?" 'what's your favourite cheese?' It means you are not putting yourself in front of their attack but are moving obliquely out of it. Their attack misses its mark and often they have nothing in reserve. Another way you can use a level 2 defence is when you have a meeting with someone who may be difficult. To retain control over the situation you have the meeting in their office, so you can leave when you want to. You might stay standing to have greater height over them and therefore be more imposing. You might fold your arms and lean against a wall or furniture and as they put their point simply don't react, but maintain an air of aloofness, refusing to be drawn into their battle.

Another tactic is if they are in your office or home is to listen carefully nodding and as they put their point keep nodding and making noises as if you are listening and walk with them (they have to follow you as they have to make their point) to ward your office door as you are both out of the office you might say 'you've raised some very interesting points there and I'll certainly think about them and get back to you' then turn and either go back into your office or look at your watch and make an excuse like you have to be somewhere.

the hardest people to be aggressive with are the ones who will not rise to your aggression. In combat, when fighting a skilled opponent you throw shots to bring his counter attack and thereby expose his vulnerable areas. But if he won't be drawn or won't react he won't create any openings. Or you hit him with your best shot and he barely shrugs at it. Its difficult to maintain an attack against someone who doesn't seem to care about or fear your attack.

So if you know there is going to be a confrontation prepare your tactics in advance, respond rather than react and use their momentum to work in your favour.

Tomorrow we look at level 1 defence which is completely proactive and great fun once you get the idea on how to use it. thanks for reading today and I look forward to speaking again tomorrow.

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 0920948
www.nat-mac.co.uk

To book a free lesson simply click on the link: http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=8

Level 3 Defence - Block

Last time we discussed level 4 defence, avoidance with its various pros and cons. Today I want to look at level 3 defence which is to block or stop the attack. Once again I want to examine how blocking attacks work in life as well as the martial arts.

Blocking is a step up from avoidance and it means that you have made a decision or the decision has been made for you, that you have either decided to defend or have no alternative but to do so. Blocking means that you are putting yourself at risk of being hit by the attack and in fact when you do block you know you are going to get hit. What I mean by this is that you put a part of you in the path of the attack, for instance a palm, an elbow or perhaps a shin, based on the fact that the part that you put in the path of the attack is either less susceptible to pain or is less important that the part of you that your opponent is aiming for. Make sense so far?

Blocking can be both proactive and reactive. Reactive in that you react to the attack and block it with whatever is closest or easiest to get in front of you; proactive in that if you take a strong guard position you can advance as you defend. The proactive method assumes a greater level of confidence in either your own ability or your opponents lack thereof and leads neatly into level 2 defence that we will discuss tomorrow.

In life we can block physically or verbally to protect ourselves from bullying or intimidation. As Blocking is mainly reactive it might go like this; your verbal opponent may make some disparaging remark and so you block their intent by saying something like 'Now, just stop that! I am not here to be bullied or abused by you.' or 'I don't want to fall out with you but I have to say I am not prepared to be spoken to in that tone of voice'. once this verbal assault is blocked you have two key options. one, you can turn your defence into an attack and follow through with your own verbal barrage or you can (and generally this is preferable) you can change your tack and resort to a friendlier manner as you continue, for instance: 'now, what did you want to ask me?' This way you put the aggressor in their place but do not make them lose face. Loss of face is painful for anyone and and is difficult emotionally to accept. If your aggressor loses face you may push them into a corner where they fight back harder than ever. We call this 'leaving the door open' and in physical martial arts it works the same way. once you have blocked the attack and countered leave off the pressure to allow your aggressor to remove themselves from the situation without loss of face. A wounded animal is often the most dangerous because if it is injured and has nothing to lose any more it will fight back with even greater ferocity. In the wild animals rarely fight to the death only till one of the has had enough. The winner only does enough to win, then let's the loser go as to fight on will only cause more injury to both.

Understanding which level of defence you're using is useful in combat as well as life as knowing the strategy you are using gives you more alternatives, than just say, reacting with a punch in the face or running away. Knowing that you have other alternatives as well allows one to feel a greater deal of control or choice. Without choice we often feel pressured and fearful by having only one alternative and if that alternative doesn't work we could feel in greater danger.

Now you have two methods of defending available to you and tomorrow we'll discuss the higher level of defence which is level 2 or re-direction. Thanks for reading today and I look forward to talking to you all again tomorrow.

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 092 0948
www.nat-mac.co.uk

To book a free lesson with one of our black belt instructors simply click on the link below
http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=8

Thursday 11 November 2010

The 4 Levels of Defence

In the Aegis system we strive to connect the physical martial arts, which is why most people join us, to the mental martial arts, which is why people stay with us so long. A key part of our system is how we categorise defensive tactics into four levels and how these levels work not only in combat but in our daily life. The lowest level of defence we categorise as level 4 which is avoidance.

Let us take an example of competitive martial arts. In competition the wise fighter, if he has no knowledge of his opponent will first of all avoid him. circling him; throwing tentative shots and moving away (avoiding) anything that looks dangerous or he can't recognise. Avoidance in a trained martial artist is a tactic but it is born of a biological instinct of 'fight or flight'. Avoidance is flight and in life it is a safety mechanism which has helped us to survive for millions of years. However, avoidance is to help us survive and surviving is not the same as thriving. Thriving is what has put us on the top of the heap as a species and whether you think that a good thing or bad in the long run it is born of a desire to do much more than survive.

Avoidance in self defence is much the same as in competition except that competition is a mutual combat and self defence generally isn't. In self defence we can avoid confrontation by avoiding where trouble may lie or avoiding people who look like trouble or by simply running away from trouble. Avoiding works but it is a tactic that doesn't work every time and needs a back up plan. Also, avoiding a problem doesn't make it go away, it doesn't solves the problem it only defers it to a possible later time, admittedly a time that may not come but then again it might and will avoiding the problem work as it did before?

In our daily life we can use the tactic of avoidance just as in combat and, as in combat it can work, but it is a flawed solution. For instance, if you don't pay your mortgage the mortgage company will send you letters and perhaps also telephone you about your non. payment. Avoiding the phone calls and not opening the letters will work for a while but will not solve the problem so the tactic of avoidance works but not forever.

So this is why we in the Aegis system categorise this tactic as a form of self defence but as you now understand it is the lowest level. Thanks for reading today, tomorrow we look at level 3 defence and how it works in combat as in life.

To find out more about the Aegis system click on this link http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=9

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 092 0948
www.nat-mac.co.uk

The Greatest Intelligence of All

Here it is, the big one! When it comes to intelligence this is the one that has for centuries defied all description, that is still so little understood. It has been spoken of for centuries by poets, philosophers, scientists and the like. It has been called by many names; subconscious, unconscious, Tao, other than conscious mind, the mind, the id, the mind of no-mind, the self, the being, the soul, to name but a few. This, what I will today call the 'Spirit'. Spirituality has for some years had something of a 'bum rap' owed in part to its association with organised religion which has for many fallen out of favour for various reasons.

Spiritual intelligence is the 4th of our key intelligences and the one that as a society we use the least. Today's society has worked hard to deny the actual existence of our spirituality and most of the messages we are bombarded with by the minute each day would have us believe that the only things worth believing in is what you can touch and feel. Phones, laptops, TV's, cars, holidays, cash, cards, fashion and the like. We are taught today that happiness is found in external things to the point where we cease to listen to what is really happening within us.

Spirituality is a massive intelligence, often overridden by our emotions and mental intellect which though important are not in the same league in terms of the size of its intelligence and power. The spirit is where the true answers to the questions we pose daily, lie. Think about the times when you have struggled with a problem and when you least thought about it the answer came fully formed into your head. The times when you slept on a problem and awoke with the answer. the place whereby all inspiration and creativity stems.

the spirit is a massive intelligence but a simple one in the same vein. it can provide you with anything you want in life as long as the requests you make of it are clearly and truly stated. Often our messages are mixed or contradictory such as 'I want to stop a smoking, (but what I really want is a smoke)' mixed messages like this often sabotage our attempts to have what we say we want, overridden by what we REALLY want. the spirit as i said before is a powerful though simple intelligence it can only respond to your true desires.

Another side of the spirit is that it represents our true being or self. If a baby lies in its cot and is not in pain, fear, discomfort or hunger will simply be. Not up or down emotionally it just is. I'm sure we have all witnessed this happening and it has almost certainly happened to all of us though we may not remember it. the spirit is our unencumbered self free from all fascia, want, need and desire.

Society teaches us that passion and love are emotional but this is not true; infatuation is emotional, excitement is emotional but true lasting love and passion spring from the spirit not the emotion. Infatuation is transitory but true passion is deeper and more sustained. You have only to look at those couples who have strived to ensure their relationship endures through many years; trials and tribulations to leave this world still together. This is true passion, the ability to maintain desire over the longest of terms through thick and thin.

If you can tap into your spiritual intelligence you will find the source of true joy, true self and true being and by understanding how the intelligences combine and pursuing a way (the way as the martial arts have long been described in oriental cultures) you will find a shortcut to your own spirit found through hard work, thought and practice that gradually exposes to oneself who we really are and what our true purpose is.

This has been a life long study for me and I have not even begun to scratch the surface of how the spirit really works. as it says in 'Tao Te Jing' the tao (spirit) cannot be named or known, touched or understood yet all things stem from it as their source.

I hope you have enjoyed today's discussion and I look forward to speaking to you again tomorrow. If you haven't already then why not get our copy of our brochure or book a free trial lesson at http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=8

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 092 0948
www.nat-mac.co.uk

Monday 8 November 2010

Heart, Mind, Body, Spirit, Today PQ - Physical Intelligence

We talked yesterday about emotional intelligence and that this is why most people take up martial arts or get involved in any life changing experience. Today I'd like to discuss physical intelligence and how this links into the heart mind body spirit model of holistic development.

If our life is a traffic light and emotion is amber then the body is green for go. the body is action, it is the vehicle we travel in and also a key vehicle we use to access our spiritual intelligence. When we exert ourselves we do what our body was designed to do, move and just like a car it is designed to move and though it can be stationary it doesn't improve its performance. Also like a car it needs renewal, fuel and maintenance and if we want long life with all our mental faculties we also want the long life of our physical faculties to match.

The great thing about using our bodies is the connection it gives us with our other intelligences, for instance when we train in martial arts we exert ourselves, stress our bodies (eustress) and maintain our physical health but we also quieten the intellect and the emotions and connect directly with our spiritual intelligence. I won't dwell today on our spiritual side suffice to say our spirituality is often very misunderstood. Our spiritual self is our true self, our being, but more of that later in the week. The good thing is that once we have finished our martial arts class we are sweaty and tired after our exertions, we are calm and centred and this is one of our key routes to our spiritual side.

Physical intelligence is easy to see in martial arts and for the casual observer it is possibly the only thing to see much like an iceberg; what we see is the quarter that pokes out of the water whilst the largest part is hidden beneath the waves but is the main mass. new students often beat themselves up for not being physically good but this is not helpful and we have a saying to put it into perspective: 'every master was once a disaster', that is we all started out as a beginner at some time and over a period time we develop our skills to a more proficient level. However, one thing to remember is that you will probably never be as good as you hope to be and if you thought you were good you'd probably not be as correct as you think.

How physically good you are at martial arts? guess how much I care? Answer - not a bit. Your physical development, your fighting skill runs a distant second place to your fighting spirit. Your spirit; your ability to push yourself consistently is what I am interested in and so should you be. You see I can't make you physically good unless you have the drive to be good. Even then it matters little as how good is good? and for how long? and your good is different to everyone else's good. No two people are at the same level, everyone is different.

What's the most important physical skill you can have in life? Keep turning up. Woody Allen once said '98% of all success is just keep turning up' and I agree with him. I can't turn you into a black belt unless you keep coming to class. And if you keep coming to class we can do amazing things together whether you are physically gifted or not. The difference between a good black belt and a great black belt is 'the hours you put in'.

Thank you for reading today, tomorrow we'll be looking at mental intelligence and how this works through life and martial arts. Have a great day

Best wishes

Master Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial Arts College
0800 092 0948
www.nat-mac.co.uk

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Emotion - the alarm bell of the 4 intelligences

The heart is our image for emotional intelligence. Emotions are our sensitivity to events and act as our alarm for both good and bad. If you think about a set of traffic lights the emotions would be the amber light warning us that something is happening. The emotions have a loud voice, they demand immediate attention like a spoilt child they cannot be reasoned with, cannot understand time, waiting or patience. People whose emotions are dominant in their 4 intelligences can end up being a slave to them. As an emotional person myself I have often fallen victim to my emotional desires and this has cost me. I am now naturally suspicious of my emotions; not their alarm bell but their need to be satisfied without thought for the future or consequences.

If you manage your emotions badly you can end a wreck in your personal and business life, but managed well you can experience great joy. although we call this emotional intelligence emotion has no thought as we have with our intellectual intelligence, in fact emotion is the opposite of thought, it is thoughtless. Though gives us response whereas emotion gives us reaction; fight or flight for instance is our emotional reaction to danger and there is no thinking involved.

Emotion is pure feeling and it can draw you toward what you want and away from what you don't want, this is its job. But those who respond to their emotions too readily can be a slave to them. often I see people who lack control of emotion being overly needy in relationships or drawn to excess in other areas such as drugs or drink.

In martial arts as with any lifestyle choice the emotional content is the reason that we enrol. Confidence, or lack of it is probably the single biggest reason why people take up martial arts and lack of confidence is an emotional issue based on feelings (emotions) of lack or unworthiness. martial arts quietens these emotions through physical exercise and this will always work but exercise alone is not enough to gain control of the emotions its just a response to their noise.

Emotions are often not real feelings either they are controlled often by habits and internal rules that have either been broken or matched. For instance if you get a letter in a brown envelope from the tax office your emotions will be alerted to 'what's this?' Could this be a danger that we have to fight or fly from? when you open the envelope if you find it is a tax demand your rule that says you should be entitled to a nice day has been broken and hence you feel bad. But if you open the envelope and its a cheque for £1,000 your emotions report back that it's a good day. Either way the reaction is based on an internal rule that the emotion is subject to. one way to control emotions so that you get the best from them is to create new habits and this takes time.

The habit of martial arts training is a way to control and understand your emotions though its not the only way. Tomorrow we'll discuss one of the other intelligences and how martial arts can help unite them all. Thank you for reading today and I look forward to talking again. If you would like we to cover any specific topics please let me know.

Tony Higo
0800 0920948
www.nat-mac.co.uk
 visit my blog page at: http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=10

Distress & Eustress - developing the heart, mind, body and spirit

Before I begin to talk about the 4 intelligences in detail I want to discuss a factor that occurs in each intelligence and which if managed well will help us to connect, understand and use these intelligences to improve not just our martial arts but our whole life through the medium of martial arts.

A Martial arts study done properly is the study of life skills, because a fight is a snap shot of life in microcosm. Think of all the things that rush through ones mind and that happen in the brief moments involved in a self defence situation. Emotion, thinking, action, physical energy and the desire to regain ones composure. Anger, fear, love, (protecting those you care about) goals, strategy, muscle power, cardio stress. All these and more flash through our beings as we fight to defend ourselves or others. In our daily lives these things exist but in a frenetic way (hopefully!). The sustained study of martial arts helps us to understand and cope with the distress of violence by building our tolerance to stress that it brings.

There are two types of stress: Distress and Eustress. Distress is bad stress, the kind that hurts and damages us - fear, anguish, pain, worry etc. Eustress is positive stress the kind that helps us to develop rather than prevent us as distress can do. For instance, if you are unfit and haven't run in ages and you decide to go for a 5 mile run you will suffer distress during the run if you push yourself beyond your capabilities and beat yourself up for not doing as well as you did the last time you ran. This is distress because you are doing too much, too soon, too hard - it just hurts and you probably won't be too excited about doing the same thing again which will affect your motivation to stay fit.

Eustress on the other hand is based on a positive use of stress. For instance let's take that run that stressed us out so much before. Using eustress we would run less far in a longer time frame at a lower intensity. We stop if we are tired and walk for a while, then start running again when we feel better. The negative affects are far less than the first run so we are more inclined to try doing the run again. Gradually we increase our distance, speed and intensity, layering on the stress gently until we can cope with a 5 mile run and see it as a pleasurable and low stress experience.

Martial arts starts in the same way and utilises eustress to build your tolerance to distress. As a beginner under a qualified instructor you do less, for less time at a lower intensity. Your instructor encourages and praises you, gradually increasing the intensity as you are able to cope better with it. The intention is for each class to stress you a little bit more each time and as you set the goal for your Leadership Black belt you move through the belt ranks you reset your stress tolerance to a higher notch until you can maintain a level of intense stress that would have caused you high level of distress as a beginner.

The understanding of the difference between the two types of stress can be the difference between achieving black belt and beyond or failing at the starting gate. Some people who want to take up martial arts are so stressed about what might happen to them that they never get started. The exact same thing happens in life and our martial arts study done well, should connect, reflect and mirror how we deal with our daily life outside the training hall. This is an important distinction that many martial arts teachers miss. So next time you turn up to class consider how you are experiencing stress and how this compares with your daily life stress.

Next time we'll look at the first of the 4 intelligences - emotion. Thank you for reading today and if you enjoy my blogs why not subscribe to them daily. You can also read them direct from our website at: http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/www.nat-mac.co.uk/info.php?p=10 forward this blog to a friend who might enjoy it too.

Best wishes

Tony Higo
Chief Instructor
National Martial arts College
0800 092 0948
www.nat-mac.co.uk