PeaceWalker Blog

I pulled this old blog post from my archives. I originally wrote it on Wednesday, November 5th 2008. It's a great post that I know you'll enjoy, but since it has been buried by years of other entries, I thought I would re-post it for everyone to read: The other day someone asked me if I would train them to fight in a MMA match. I explained to him that I had a different view. I told him that I train people to live, not to fight and although there are many aspects of class that are physical and involve combat training, that aspect was a small part of a larger picture. At first he looked a bit confused and then a look of almost disgust came over him like I was trying to pull some Kwai Chan Cane philosophical BS on him or some how attempting to mask that I couldn't fight or that my classes were not practical because we didn't train to fight in the cage. So instead of challenging him to a duel or something crazy like that, I explained it to him an...

This is a familiar site here in Michigan for about three quarters of the year. The other day I didn't have anything to eat yet, which often makes me a little cranky and to make matters worse I was running late for an appointment as well. So, I am driving a little faster than I should in an attempt to make up some time so I wouldn't be late for my next appointment. When suddenly I saw the dreaded orange death! A road closed sign. No problem I thought, that's an easy fix, I'll just take the back way. So, I cut the corner, did a "U-e" Rockford Files style and sped off down a side street. I was feeling pretty good about myself up until I ran into ANOTHER road closed barricade, followed by another and yet another (no shit, I'm not kidding - G.R. needs to plan these things a lot better before we have all out road rage riots due to being detoured from the detours, it's ridiculous!)  I kept adapting my route; mappi...

  No I don't mean the Black Sabbath song (R.I.P. Ronnie James Dio)... Well, not exactly anyway. Here is an old Zen story about a monk and a samurai. It goes something like this: A battle weary samurai came to see a zen monk to ask him the difference of heaven and hell. To which the monk replied to him, "Why would I give a murderous bastard like you such precious knowledge? You are probably too arrogant and stupid to even comprehend something so profound. You're a maggot. No, you are even less than a maggot, you are samurai." Samurai were never treated this way in ancient Japan, so he instantly felt his rage well up inside of him as he drew his razor sharp katana from its scabbard to cleave the monk in two. But the monk never flinched, he merely said, "That,  samurai, is hell." Instantly the samurai understood the lesson and realized that he was going to kill the holy man because of his own ego tears filled in his eyes as he pushed his s...

They say timing is everything and I have to agree: Timing of what you do is important, but timing of when you do something is even MORE important. Techniques are more tangible and much easier to practice than situational timing so many people simply forget about its importance. This not only happens in martial arts and tactical training but also in everything in life, such as sales, management, teaching, business, parenting, dodging cars and capturing dogs. Take sales for instance. There is good sales technique. It might look something like this: The approach The Introduction Building Rapport Ask Questions The pitch Overcoming Objections The close However good your sales technique is, your timing is even more important: It's easier to sell dessert AFTER dinner.  It's easier to sell gasoline to cars with empty gas tanks. It's easier selling mortgages to couples who are LOOKING to buy a house, rather than AFTER they've ...

I saw his lips moving but I wasn't listening... After all, he SHOULD KNOW BETTER than to do what he did, right?! I mean really, who does he think HE is?! I felt my sense of entitlement rise up from the pit of my stomach and erupt out of my mouth. I began spewing, no vomiting my words on him at an increasing level of volume. The situation becomes more heated as I gave him a piece of MY mind and told him the way it IS. I think to myself that he has to EARN my respect before he gets any from me. ...and the situation escalates even more, raising to a more dangerous level. Over what you're wondering? World peace? No. Minority rights? No. The life of an innocent bystander who was put in harms way? Nope, try again. How about a parking space, or cutting in front of someone in line at the Secretary of State or something similarly small and insignificant in the big picture of life, yet somehow of great importance to you in that moment. How do we know when WE are the...

  When it comes to training in martial arts, defensive tactics, shooting and many other things in life, most people think that trying harder and going faster seems like it would be the best way to get better. They will say things like: "That's the way someone would really attack you." or "What if I do THIS." They think that their own performance will increase if they just go a little harder and faster. Often one's ego is tied up too much in their training and the perceived problem, so their head gets wrapped up in fear, so they resist, they hang on. What are we afraid of? Fear of losing, fear of looking bad, fear of getting hurt, fear of violence, fear of not knowing, fear of a lot of things... fear of the unknown. And that fear leads us to do strange and often counter productive things. I have heard echos of a different method. A way that takes guts, diligent effort, perseverance and a certain amount of faith. Here are some signposts along...

Surprise by Moshe Katz , Krav Maga Instructor, Israel Training with one of my mentors, Prof Arthur Cohen of New York. He taught me to think outside the box. B am !   Slam ! What just happened?! What just happened is I hit you. There was no warning, this is not usually how I start a blog, you got caught by surprise and now you are on the floor. In most cases if you are untrained and you are on the floor, it is all over for you. You will be kicked in the ribs and they will stomp on your head. The result: serious injury,  possible brain damage, perhaps even death. And you were not ready for this? You see, most martial arts schools and even the vast majority or Krav Maga styles will NOT prepare you for this sort of attack. The punch that knocked you down is the punch you did not see and not anticipate.  But what do you see at most commercial Krav Maga schools? I will tell you what you see. You see a lot of action, a lot of sweating, people w...