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My Mission
Or: "Why I'm teaching this stuff..and.why you should be listening!"
I had an informal chat after class with some of my teenage martial arts students the other day. They were relating incidents about being bullied at school and, in the case of one of them, about being held up at knife-point and being robbed of his money and cell phone. Then someone chipped in with
"Well, Erik, you're lucky you never had to go through this!"
To which my puzzled reply was something along the lines of "what do you mean?"
"Well, you're tall and strong and a martial arts expert." Which is how we get to this "mission statement".
There are a million martial arts "masters" on the Internet, all selling their own art or style, all telling you that they are the best thing since sliced bread and that you have to listen to them if you also want to become a great martial arts master. The "hot ticket items" are clearly Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) and Mixed Martial Arts, with large traditional arts such as Karate, Tae Kwon Do or Kung Fu following a close second.
Well, that’s not me. I’m not a fancy wannabe “Grand Master”. I’m a somewhat battle-hardened veteran of forty years and and teacher of twenty four who became fascinated with martial arts training for one reason only: to stop people from beating the crap out of me (see also the second half of “About Me”).
Nearly everybody teaching out there seems to be portraying themselves as either an awesome competitive athlete, an ex Navy SEAL or a great guru / master / enlightened being whose martial arts training has taken him to some spiritual place where the rest of us cannot follow (or rather, you can follow only after you have bought his course).
To make your life simpler and not waste any time: I'm none of the above. Sorry. If you're looking for a great master / cult leader or a BJJ world champ or “sportsman”, you're on the wrong web site. On the other hand, if you want a nasty ace up your sleeve the next time some predator mistakes you for his lunch, you’re at the right address.
I'm putting out some of the self defense / street survival methods that I have been fortunate to come across in my years simply because I'm fed up with seeing some of the NONSENSE innocent beginners are being taught under the label of "self defense". This stuff will GET YOU KILLED! That's like someone selling you a motor car with a seriously flawed braking system. The first time you head down a steep hill, just when you need it most, it lets you down. and you're dead.
Look, I have no problem with someone teaching Tai Chi as the beautiful movement, meditation and stress relief system which it clearly is. Plus it trains some attributes, such as balance, coordinated movement and breath control, which clearly can come in very useful when you learn actual combative methods.
But, as taught traditionally, it stinks as a fighting method, all the lovely stories of great masters of old notwithstanding. So when someone teaches "the traditional martial arts combat system of Tai Chi", for instance, my response is to say: "Why don't we step outside and you show me!"
I use Tai Chi as an example, because I'm qualified as an instructor in it, studied for a total of fourteen years with two excellent Chinese instructors and go through some of the movements and forms nearly every day. I think it's a great art. I also think that if that's all you have when someone with a knife is trying to slash you to ribbons, you're completely stuffed.
BJJ..I love it. I’ve been to Rio de Janeiro twice, trained there with the great De La Riva, and with Rickson Gracie’s movement teacher, Orlando Cani. I did a lot of grappling with my good friend, top South African NHB fighter and teacher Ludwig Strydom and graded to blue belt by World Champion Roger Gracie a few years ago. It's physical chess, total fun, most fun two people who are fully dressed and not attracted to each other can have with each other physically, it's great fitness training and, should I ever get attacked by a Tae Kwon Do expert, we'll be on the ground and I'll be introducing him to the rear naked strangle faster than you can say "your flying kick does not work in the street".
A couple of years ago a leg lock tore a meniscus in my right knee to shreds, it aches every day and is "wobbly" and some idiot applying a shoulder throw against me fell onto my shoulder in the process and dislocated it and, at fifty, the next grappling injury I have may create the kind of weakness which will "give" when I need to move fast and hard in an emergency, so I'm very choosy who I roll with these days and never-ever do it in a spirit of competition anymore.
There's a Karate instructor down here, in Cape Town (and I’m sure there’s someone similar, wherever you are) who specialises in teaching self defense and, when you look at her book, you see that it's basically Karate done with palm heel strikes instead of reverse punches plus a few other tweaks. Will it work? Maybe, depends on how lousy the attacker is. Is there a better way? Absolutely! When your back is up against a wall and you're fighting for your life, should you be looking for the absolutely, totally best way? Undoubtedly!!
I don't really want to sound like one of these creepy conspiracy theorists out there, so I'm not saying that there is some specific group who is trying to keep us stupid and powerless, but I do feel that the way in which governments and big businesses are set up and controlling the media these days, we, as individuals, have less and less power as the years go by.
We are supposed to behave ourselves, we should not resist when we are attacked, we will be taken care of and protected, big brother is not just watching us but also looking after us..well, so if we are being protected, why are we all feeling so vulnerable?
Why Are So Many People Ending Up As Crime Statistics?
IT’S TIME TO RECLAIM YOUR POWER!
One conclusion I have come to after studying the Warrior Ways for so many years is this:
No-one voluntarily gives you any power..if you want power, you take it...and having taken it, you need to be prepared and ready to defend it. Defend it and use it to protect all that is yours and the people you love.
Which is where I fit in. Helping nice, normal, civilised people in becoming proficient in easy-to-learn combatives techniques and tactics.
Easy to learn, simply because many people do NOT want to become "combat athletes". Yes, I like to watch the latest UFC.and I stand in awe of the toughness of these athletes and their abilities. Would I ever want to climb into the Octagon with one of them? Are you mad?
If you want to spend four hours a day, perfecting some "advanced" kata or movement form, good for you. but you are clearly not the student I'm looking for.
If you want to live a full, good life, complete with many different activities that give you joy and with family and friends and you simply want some top-class tools that empower you and will keep you alive when things go horribly wrong, then you are the right guy or girl, in the right place. You're
probably one of the few who are not interested in buying into a Hollywood-inspired fantasy and this makes you part of a small minority, but that doesn't bother me and I doubt that it bothers you. Should you ever have to use this knowledge, that will be the time when those around you will take note and see you in a very different light!
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