Past History.

The origin of Martial Arts goes way back into history.

They have been many, many forms throughout the ages, developed by different cultures and different people.

It is not my intention, to go into any great depth into these forms but it is my intent to shed some light to the formation of 'the Way of Moving'.

Many believed nowadays that all Martial Art originated in the Orient.

Certainly most of the popular forms, have the roots in this area but Martial Art has been practised by many others throughout history.

It is known that the Romans and Greeks had their form of combat in Greco Roman boxing and that the British had Catchers Catch Can, a form of wrestling and the French Savate.

Bare-knuckle fighting has been practised in Europe for hundreds of years also.

However most of the modern styles are based on the work of several eminent Japanese, Korean and Chinese masters who practised in the early part of the last century.

Their styles were based on the teachings, that used to be taught as part of Buddhism.

This religion was brought into China by a priest called Bodhidrama, or Daruma, who introduced the Buddhist scriptures to the Chinese, 1500 years ago.

This religion, had as part of its teachings the art of meditation using breathing control.

It also had a teaching of a self-defence art, as part of the learning process.

Persons learning this religion were required to learn both of these aspects, as it was realised at that time, that all parts were necessary to develop increased abilities within the brain and they benefited greatly by the practice of meditation and prayer.

This religion eventually came to Japan where it was developed into Zen Buddhism and it is from these areas, that the modern day Martial Art came into being.

By the beginning of the last century the Chinese have already separated the martial arts into the four seasons of man.

These were different types of Martial Art that were practised according to age and ability.

The Martial Art of Japan were split in the early part of the 20th century, to separate the punching, kicking and blocking styles from the holds, locks and throwing styles.

All these were stylised to become entities in their own right and became the separate systems of the martial arts that are practised today.

In the 1920’s and 30’s a great deal of interest was paid by the West in Chinese and Japanese practices, of all types but very little information was made available to the Western world.

Recent History.

After the Second World War, Japan was opened up to outside influences and the knowledge, that for so long had been kept in Japan, started to be made known.

Many practitioners, of these Art's, made tours of Europe and America and demonstrated the techniques, that comprised their art.

Americans and Europeans were very keen to learn and understand these different fighting systems and it soon became very popular, with many clubs and societies starting to cater for this need.

Very soon after this, Martial Arts started to become commercialised under the influence of some Americans and Europeans.

Because of this many of the styles wanted to produce Black Belts as quickly as possible and it is now possible in England, in some of the styles, to obtain a Black Belt in 18 months!

Because of the introduction of sport into Martial Arts, many of the techniques that used to be taught as part of Martial Art training, have had to be removed from the syllabuses.

The reason for this is obvious because a lot of these techniques can only be used in a self-defence situation and sometimes only when the threat of loss of life is involved.

Also it was found that it took too long to train many students to Black Belt level because most cannot attain the physical and mental disciplines required when Martial Art is taught correctly, at this level.

So many aspects of Martial Arts were removed entirely from the styles.

Many of the modern styles now emphasise the need for competition and some of these styles actively encourage pupils to be aggressive.

Moving Forwards, Looking Back.

The 'Way of Moving' has come about because there was a need to re-evaluate the modern systems and bring back many aspects, that used to be taught and have been omitted, over the course of the last 40 years.

The most important of these being the teaching and practice of breathing technique.

It was also necessary to combine the Striking arts, the Locking arts with Throwing arts, into one system, so they may be learned and used in conjunction with each other and not practised in isolation.

Probably the most important aspect, of this method of teaching Martial Art, is to educate the student so that they become knowledgeable, rather than aggressive.

The state of Martial Art now has now changed into something that the original masters would have found appalling.

The History of 'The Way'.

I had been studying at Martial Art since 1972 and felt it was time to pass on the techniques and knowledge that I had gleaned, in the course of my Martial Arts journey, to that date.

I had trained, initially, in a Japanese type style and this is when I initially achieved my Black Belt level.

I left the style after becoming very disillusioned with the politics of the hierarchy, especially with the more senior members.

Suffice it to say, that I found some of their antics, at the very least, un gentlemanly.

Elements.

I travelled and tried the different styles of the Striking, Throwing and Avoidance and realised that, although they were taught independently, they all had certain common denominators.

At that time and to my knowledge to this date, each of the styles assumed that their's was the 'panacea' of Martial Art.

I found this ludicrous because it is how good the individual is and not the style itself, which forms the judgment.

I also found that there were elements missing, from the styles I studied.

Breathing Technique was, perhaps, the most noticeable.

I was not, in fact, taught correctly about breathing before I reach my Black Belt level and only found out about it, when I had a very serious problem occur, whilst training, because of the lack of this knowledge.

We now, teach this as an integral part of the beginner's course.

I could also not understand that I had not been taught to break fall.

The attitude of the instructors was simply, 'you don't land up on the floor, when you use this style'.

This again, is complete nonsense, as anybody who has ever had to use self-defence knows.

It is so easy, in the heat of the moment, to slip and lose one's footing.

This attitude to was copied by the Throwing styles too.

They were not being taught how to punch and I can only suppose they assumed they would never meet anyone who could do anything other than a Round House punch.

In some of the styles Kicking technique and the Defence from kicking technique was non-existent.

Through all the styles, there was one underlying feature, the Stance's.

The striking styles tended to over commit in Stance work and the Throwing styles tended to use all short Stance work.

The Origin.

So I decided to try to rectify the situation, to the best of my ability.

I had been trained as a Professional Mechanical Engineer in the early 1970s and I use the information, that I had learned, to take apart, the various styles which I had studied.

I did this, found the factors they had in common and put them back together again.

By far the biggest change, however, was in the Stance work.

This I analysed, not only stance change from short to long and back again, but also the movement employed in the action of walking itself.

(This is also covered within the sections on Healing and Breathing Technique).

This I also refined and these refinements make, this style, (to my knowledge) unique.

These changes made it possible to effectively carry out the techniques of Striking, Blocking, Throwing, avoiding using one 'Way of Moving'.

The Energy Factor.

During my studies of the various martial arts, I found that no one really seemed to understand the word Chi (or Energy) and what it is.

There is so much nonsense talked about this word, that I made a point of making sure, that students are made aware of what it really is.

More importantly than this, of what it really isn't.

There are styles who think that they have invented 'Chi' and this again is nonsense.

With a small amount of training, anyone can learn, what this force really is.

Confusion.

Many people seem to get confused between 'Chi' (energy), Zen (knowledge), meditation and religion.

I for my part, I am not intent on giving information about the Zen phenomena.

This is because this is a subject, that can only be approached by those who have certain abilities.

Needless to say, it's certainly exists and can, on occasions, be of great help.

Meditation is approached in the section on breathing and this should only be taught by persons, who have the correct abilities.

These techniques, lay themselves open, to miss use and abuse.

It is very easy to change these techniques into a mild form of brainwashing.

It is therefore very important that the student retains the ability to distinguish dreaming from reality.

It cannot be properly learned from a book and to learn it from someone who, does not possess the correct knowledge, can be dangerous.

Religion.

The last subject in this section is religion.

One of the greatest problems with the 'Eastern message' is that, when it came from the Orient to the West, Chi, Zen, meditation and religion, were all intertwined with each other.

It is easy to see why that such clever ideas and concepts and methods, never came to anything of real consequence in the East.

Although, they have great relevance in martial art and medicine, the quantum leap of knowledge never seems to have been made, in the Orient.

Teaching.

So with the teaching of this 'Way', the Eastern ideas have been separated and the religious content removed.

These subjects of then taught, each one, in its own right.

Once this has been achieved, they can be put back together again, like a pieces of a jigsaw and made to work together, properly.

In this way, this is in fact, an opposite approach to the learning of the other part of this martial art style.

The belief and practice of religion of any sort is not practised or taught in any way throughout the style.

It is for each individual to hold to their own beliefs, or not, and they should not interfere with a learning and practice of 'The Way'.

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