Promotions

I'm back from Germany. It was a great trip and the weather was even warm. In fact, they thanked me for bringing it from Florida. We had a nice turnout with people from Marc Sigle's school in Esslingen as well as his black belts' clubs in Austria and Saarbrucken, Germany.
I tested Marc for his third degree and he passed. I promoted him in front of the group on Saturday. Marc holds a fourth degree from the German Karate Association but not in kenpo. He'd been a kenpo black belt for 10 years with four of those as a second degree. Based on his physical performance, his technical knowledge, and what I have seen him produce as the next generation of kenpo practitioners, I had no problem with moving him up. This puts him on my family tree, which you can see on my site.
That same weekend, Ed Cabrera in Tampa promoted Mark Brewer and Al Jenkins to third degree black. He contacted me before doing so, a courtesy I appreciated, and I concur with his decision. I see Mark and Al regularly, since they attend my seminars in Orlando. Mark is off to Taiwan for a year to teach English and Ed wanted to get him promoted before he left.
Congratulations to all three gentlemen.

Germany

I'm off to Stuttgart to work with Marc Sigle and his groups from the Saarbrucken area and Austria. Marc has been steadily making his school in Esslingen one of the most successful in Germany. He was mentioned recently in one of the martial arts professional magazines as being one of the two who are bringing martial arts knowledge back to Germany from the US.
My schnitzel level is running a bit low so I'm really looking forward to the trip.

Fresno seminar

Last weekend I was at Graham Lelliott's studio in Fresno, CA to teach a seminar on Form 6. As you can see from the picture, Tara enjoyed herself. Graham has a great group of people and Tara, along with Amy Long came in from Sacramento, Dave Arnold drove all the way up from the San Diego area, and an old friend, Craig McCoy was there, too.
I hadn't seen Craig since Mr. Parker's funeral, so it was good to get caught up. He's got a sharp mind and spent a lot of time with Ed Parker and other top-notch martial artists. While we were at lunch, John Henderson stopped by and sat with us. John had run the Santa Monica school many years ago. So when the two of them got re-acquainted, with Graham and I sitting there, the stories were flying.

Amy Long took this photo and said it captures 'enthusiasm for teaching". I really enjoyed working with the group on a complex subject and learned a few things myself. All in all it was a fruitful trip and I thank everyone who was there to make it a success.

(Side note: If you were at the event and wish to have the pictures, you may download them at www.sacramentokenpokarate.com/Wedlake1.zip (mostly the kids' seminar) and www.sacramentokenpokarate.com/Wedlake2.zip)

More on centerline

A while back we had a discussion about the centerline and the targets co-located on it. Dr. Rowe sent this along and those are his words in the first paragraph.

http://wcats.com/WCLessons/Lectures/LectureI.php

The entire registry contains only 183 cases and the average age of the victim is 14 years. The majority are young children and there are few older teens or adults. Most authorities believe that the thickening of the sternum and chest wall in the adult protects the heart from direct trauma. I agree having been in the chest, particularly moving thru the mediastinum to remove pediatric mediastinal tumors that the vagus nerve, aorta and heart and the related structure are deep and well protected from most blunt trauma. However the was a TV series recently that measure the power generated by martial arts strike and kicks.

From Series
"We took the dummy and put in sensors that would be more appropriate for the application of martial artists."
These so-called load-cell sensors were placed in strategic areas on the dummy, such as the upper neck, lower neck, chest, and knee.Another device called a potentiometer was placed in the dummy's chest to measure displacement caused by a frontal strike.
The fighters themselves were fitted with reflective markers and sensors in their shoes that allowed scientists to track and create computer animations of how the body generates each attack.
More Powerful Than a Sledgehammer
In one experiment, experts in karate, boxing, kung fu, and tae kwon do all took turns striking the dummy in the face.The researchers were surprised to find that boxing is the fighting style capable of delivering the most force in a single punch.
Boxer Steve Petramale delivered about 1,000 pounds (453.6 kilograms) of impact force, the equivalent of swinging a sledgehammer into someone's face.His punch, the sensors revealed, starts in the feet and travels up the legs through the hips to the chest and shoulders, multiplying in force as it travels up the body.
The tae kwon do spinning back kick delivered more than 1,500 pounds (680.4 kilograms) of force, while the kung fu flying double kick produced about 1,000 pounds (453.6 kilograms) of force.
Melchor Menor, a former two-time Muay Thai world champion, uses a simple technique to incapacitate his opponents: a knee to the chest at close quarters.Menor himself was surprised at how powerful this move can be. "I wasn't expecting to have the highest force. When he said the power of the knee [kick] was equal to the power of a 35-mile-an-hour [56.3-kilometer-an-hour] car crash, it was humbling." The displacement sensor in the dummy's chest measured nearly two inches (five centimeters) of chest compression from Menor's knee strike. Like the boxer's punch, the energy from this kick starts from the feet and moves up to the knee. The blow is delivered to the soft tissue below the rib cage while Menor holds his opponent's head stationary. The ribs are driven backward through the lungs and solar plexus, a cluster of nerve cells behind the human stomach that controls some organ functions.
Truly a death blow, Menor's knee kick can cause internal bleeding and even cardiac arrest.

Get some sleep

Young students in particular think that self-defense refers to punching and kicking, etc. There's a tendency to not consider that such things as brushing your teeth, drinking enough fluids, sleeping, exercising, paying your insurance bill, and all that are forms of self-defense, too. Dr. Rowe sent this along about your brain works during sleep.

Brain Connections Strengthen During Waking Hours, Weaken During Sleep
ScienceDaily (Jan. 21, 2008) — Most people know it from experience: After so many hours of being awake, your brain feels unable to absorb any more--and several hours of sleep will refresh it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now new research from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health clarifies this phenomenon, supporting the idea that sleep plays a critical role in the brain's ability to change in response to its environment. This ability, called plasticity, is at the heart of learning.
The UW-Madison scientists showed by several measures that synapses -- nerve cell connections central to brain plasticity -- were very strong when rodents had been awake and weak when they had been asleep.
The new findings reinforce the UW-Madison researchers' highly-debated hypothesis about the role of sleep. They believe that people sleep so that their synapses can downsize and prepare for a new day and the next round of learning and synaptic strengthening.
The human brain expends up to 80 percent of its energy on synaptic activity, constantly adding and strengthening connections in response to all kinds of stimulation, explains study author Chiara Cirelli, associate professor of psychiatry.
Given that each of the millions of neurons in the human brain contains thousands of synapses, this energy expenditure "is huge and can't be sustained.""We need an off-line period, when we are not exposed to the environment, to take synapses down," Cirelli say. "We believe that's why humans and all living organisms sleep. Without sleep, the brain reaches a saturation point that taxes its energy budget, its store of supplies and its ability to learn further."
To test the theory, researchers conducted both molecular and electro-physiological studies in rats to evaluate synaptic potentiation, or strengthening, and depression, or weakening, following sleeping and waking times. In one set of experiments, they looked at brain slices to measure the number of specific receptors, or binding sites, that had moved to synapses.
"Recent research has shown that as synaptic activity increases, more of these glutamatergic receptors enter the synapse and make it bigger and stronger," explains Cirelli.
The Wisconsin group was surprised to find that rats had an almost 50 percent receptor increase after a period of wakefulness compared to rats that had been asleep.In a second molecular experiment, the scientists examined how many of the receptors underwent phosphorylation, another indicator of synaptic potentiation. They found phosphorylation levels were much higher during waking than sleeping. The results were the same when they measured other enzymes that are typically active during synaptic potentiation.
To strengthen their case, Cirelli and colleagues also performed studies in live rats to evaluate electrical signals reflecting synaptic changes at different times. This involved stimulating one side of each rat's brain with an electrode following waking and sleeping and then measuring the "evoked response," which is similar to an EEG, on another side.The studies again showed that, for the same levels of stimulation, responses were stronger following a long period of waking and weaker after sleep, suggesting that synapses must have grown stronger.
"Taken together, these molecular and electro-physiological measures fit nicely with the idea that our brain circuits get progressively stronger during wakefulness and that sleep helps to recalibrate them to a sustainable baseline," says Cirelli.
The theory she and collaborator Dr. Giulio Tononi, professor of psychiatry, have developed, called the synaptic homeostasis hypothesis, runs against the grain of what many scientists currently think about how sleep affects learning. The most popular notion these days, says Cirelli, is that during sleep synapses are hard at work replaying the information acquired during the previous waking hours, consolidating that information by becoming even stronger."That's different from what we think," she says. "We believe that learning occurs only when we are awake, and sleep's main function is to keep our brains and all its synapses lean and efficient."

This research was published in the Jan. 20, 2008, online version of Nature Neuroscience.
Adapted from materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Josh, again

You may have read about Josh Waitzkin in this blog or elsewhere. I've mentioned his book, The Art of Learning, as a must-read. Dr. Rowe came across this and sent it. Just when you thought you'd seen everything, here's a group that blends of music, chess and martial arts.

The Hip-Hop Chess Federation Blog
The (HHCF)is the worlds first non-profit fusing music, chess and martial
arts to promote unity, strategy and non-violence. The HHCF hosts celebrity
chess benefits where underserved youth play chess for educational
scholarships and engage cultural icons from various backgrounds. By blending
logic and art we pave new paths to greatness for American youth.
...............................
467 Saratoga Ave. #605 San Jose, CA 95129 | email:
gaborski@shinkenpublicrelations.com


HHCF EXCLUSIVE: Adisa Banjoko interviews Josh Waitzkin on Martial Arts

At six years old, Josh Waitzkin was one of the toughest chess players on
earth. His creative and aggressive style made him one of the most feared
American chess players ever. His style was a fusion of his years being
raised by chess hustlers in New York's Washington Square Park and his
classical guidance under Bruce Pandolfini. His early life was made into the
cult classic film Searching For Bobby Fischer.After leaving chess, he discovered the martial art of Tai Chi Chuan. After training in Tai Chi Chuan, he realized how much marital arts and chess are connected. On his path to becoming a two-time world champion in Tai Chi Chuan, he learned about Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He wrote a book about his experience entitled The Art of Learning. It became a best seller and is used by CEO's and fighters alike who seek a higher level of understanding.

I first met Josh at the second Hip-Hop Chess Federation event with the RZA
from the Wu-Tang Clan. I remember how well he and RZA connected like old
friends from the second they met. Josh is a living hieroglyph of the idea
that chess and martial arts are one.In this interview Josh Waitzkin talks about his path to learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, the relationship between chess and martial arts and his philosophy about the lack of philosophy in BJJ.

OTM: How were you first introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and when did you
begin training?
JW: I began training BJJ out in LA with John Machado about 5 years ago. But
for the first two years, 90% of my energy was focused on stand up, getting
ready for the 2004 Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands Worlds. For the past three years
I've been focused exclusively on Jiu Jitsu, with John out west, then in New
York City at NYBJJ with Marcos Santos. I also worked a lot with Marcelo
Garcia while he was in New York, which was incredible.
OTM: You are a two time world champion in Tai Chi Chuan. Many BJJ
practitioners write off styles like Tai Chi. Why do you think that is?
JW: I was fortunate enough to be introduced to Tai Chi Chuan by William CC
Chen, who is humble, understated, very practical, a true master of body
mechanics, and a fabulous teacher. He is well into his seventies and is
still a demon in the boxing ring. If grapplers were exposed to William Chen's
Tai Chi, they wouldn't write it off.But to answer your question-honestly, a very large percentage of Tai Chi practitioners have their heads in the clouds.and they are the ones who make the most noise, stage the silly fake demonstrations, and create a cultish mindset that a practical fighter can just walk right through. I'd write them off too. Plus the system has little groundwork and most teachers are still closed minded about that element of the martial arts. Frankly, I think this
problem is rampant in many traditional martial arts-teachers are terrified
of looking bad and losing students so they create a world that denies what
they don't know.On the other hand, if you travel to Taiwan and China and focus on the top competitors, the Tai Chi scene becomes incredibly dynamic. The rules of
International Push Hands comptition are that you are in an 18 foot diameter
ring and points are scored for throwing the guy on the floor or out of the
ring. No frills. The fighters are superb athletes, training 6 and 8 hours a
day since childhood, competing all the time. There is no fancy esoteric
language-they just smash you on the floor with a speed and power that is
breathtaking. They are open-minded, incredibly subtle, and of a very similar
spirit to the top BJJ fighters.The chess world made me practical, so I always challenged and rejected the elements of the Tai Chi scene that were overly idealized. If someone told me they could throw me without touching me, I asked them to do it. If they said they could kill me with a touch, I said I'd be willing to take the risk. This led to some pretty funny scenes and was an easy way to filter out the nonsense.
OTM: What benefits from Tai Chi do you bring to BJJ and vice versa?
JW: Well, the learning process begins from different places but arrives,
ideally, at a similar feeling. In BJJ, you tend to begin with technique, and
through repetition you come to a smooth, efficient, unobstructed body
mechanics. In Tai Chi, you begin with body mechanics, get a certain internal
feeling over months and years of moving meditative practice, and then you
learn the martial application of what you've been doing all along.The essence of Tai Chi is sensitivity to intention. Turning force against itself, overcoming power without meeting it head on. Of course these principles are at the heart Jiu Jitsu as well. In my mind, the arts are completely intertwined and to be honest, the purest Tai Chi I've ever felt has been getting my ass handed to me, over and over, by John Machado and Marcelo Garcia.
OTM: Your book The Art of Learning talks about your journey from chess to
Tai Chi and BJJ. What would you say are the core similarities between chess
and martial arts?
JW: People tend to answer that question with clichés. They talk about the
need to think ahead, to combine strategy and tactics--those parallels are
critical but obvious. To my mind, the interesting connections reside in the
learning process. Both chess and the martial arts involve internalizing
tremendously complex information into a sense of flow-I call this the study
of numbers to leave numbers, or form to leave form. I love the play between
the conscious and unconscious minds in the creative moment, and for me chess
and the martial arts are both about developing a rich working relationship
with your intuition. We are forced to be relentlessly introspective, to take
on our weaknesses and build games around our specific nuances of character.
If I learned anything from my life of competition in chess and Push Hands,
it's that if you've swept anything under the rug in your learning process-if
you haven't taken yourself on truly and deeply-it'll come out and destroy
you when the pressure is on.In his translation of The Vimalakirti Sutra, Robert Thurman defines wisdom as "tolerance of cognitive dissonance." That is chess and that is the martial arts. We are learning to cultivate a peace of mind, clarity of
expression, and unstoppable growth curve in the most chaotic, wildly
complex, and dangerous situations imaginable.
OTM: What rank do you currently hold in BJJ and who do you train under
currently?
JW: I train under Marcos Santos in NYC and have been a purple belt for a
couple years.
OTM: What is your ultimate goal in BJJ?
JW: I'm just a beginner in this art, but it's my dream to win Mundials. I
have a long way to go, but I'm committed.
OTM: Who are some of your favorite BJJ and MMA fighters today?
JW: Hands down my favorite BJJ fighter is Marcelo Garcia. The dude is
amazing. Pure flow. He's very similar to Tiger Woods in that he doesn't
hesitate to break down his game at the top, when it seems absolutely
unnecessary. There's a certain unstoppable mindset in his approach to
learning. I also love how he hones in on one or two techniques and makes
them manifest everywhere-this idea, of learning the macro through the micro,
is at the core of my approach to everything. Most recently for Marcelo it
was the omoplata and crucifix. He was catching his students in those two
submissions from every conceivable position, and this was while his X-guard
and back game looked unbeatable. Everyone prepped for the back attack and
then he blew his weight class out of the water in Abu Dhabi with a brand new
game. I can't wait to see what he comes up with in MMA.As for MMA fighters, all politics aside, I think Randy Couture's mental understanding is off the charts, and Anderson Silva is the scariest dude out there.
OTM: What is your training regimen like these days?
JW: I train BJJ six days a week, twice a couple of those days if possible.
My book has made things in my life more chaotic than I'd like and when I
travel I inevitably miss some days. I'm trying to minimize that as much as
possible.
OTM: Do you still practice Tai Chi?
JW: Internally, yes. Chess and Tai Chi are at the core of everything I do.
OTM: In the HHCF Chess Kings Invitational, RZA spoke about how Chessmaster
10 and getting coaching from you gave him a true edge in the tournament. Can
you talk about what you taught him that enhanced his playing?
JW: RZA is an incredible man. He has a deep wisdom, and we have very similar
approaches to creativity. He's a very strong chess player, but he didn't
have a solid classical foundation. I suggested that he study the endgame.
Instead of memorizing opening traps, I suggested he dive into the principles
that govern all chess positions. That's how I teach through
Chessmaster-connecting chess to life-and maybe that approach helped
translate his musical genius to the 64 squares. With a guy like RZA, who is
a tremendously high level thinker, all you have to do is figure out how to
open the floodgates so his understanding of Quality can transfer over. These
arts are all the same, really. We just need to break down the walls in our
minds.
OTM: What was your favorite memory from the HHCF Kings Invitational?
JW: Dude, the HHCF events have been amazing..I think the panel discussions
with you, me, RZA, Rakaa, Qbert, and Kevvy Kev have been very dynamic.
Bringing together role models from all these different disciplines to
discuss the road to mastery is a brilliant way to inspire kids who might not
otherwise be exposed to all the connections.As for specific moments, two come to mind. Last event, it actually happened behind the scenes. RZA and I were waiting to go up for the panel, and we got into this intense conversation about creativity, going back and forth, discussing these wild connections between chess, hip hop, and the martial arts. We were speaking about improvisation, the role between the technical foundation and the creative leap, about where all these arts collide. I came out of the conversation on fire with new ideas-I wish others could have
heard it.The other moment happened on the street after our event at The Omega Boys
Club. A young rapper approached RZA, Monk, and Reverend with a challenging
vibe. He started freestyling and then a cipher broke out, with the Wu Tang
crew blowing this guy out of the water. It all came to a head when RZA
brought the house down with probably the most amazing improvised performance
in anything that I've even seen. It was flat out awesome. After he was done,
and without missing a beat, he said "Josh GO!" It was my turn. I laughed. I
know when to keep my mouth shut.
OTM: What are the practical fighting limitations of tai chi?
JW: I think that depends on how literal you're being. If you come from my
perspective, in which I rebound away from traditionalism and don't care much
for labels, Tai Chi is in everything just as chess and Jiu Jitsu are in
everything. The boundaries are very porous. From a slightly less
irritatingly abstract perspective, the Tai Chi system, if cultivated in a no
nonsense manner, can be quite powerful as a striking and throwing art.
Despite what some might say, the ground element of the game is not terribly
developed--and that's a big limitation.
OTM: What are the spiritual/internal limitations of brazilian jiu jitsu?
JW: I don't have any reason to believe that there are any.
OTM: Not any? I find this hard to conceive. Looking back into antiquity, the
philosophies of Lao Tzu, Buddha, Jigoro Kano and even more recently Bruce
Lee, gave each of the respective martial paths a sketch of spiritual
structure. These sketches served as a loose road map to one's true self.
When I look at Rickson Gracie for example, the main thing I see that
separates him from the rest of the jiu jitsu practitioners in the world is
his philosophical approach to fighting. Many of his interviews highlight his
respect for the traditional philosophical approaches of the past.In America at least, there does not seem to be a philosophical methodology to Brazilian jiu jitsu. I have always felt this has created a vacuum of sorts that makes jiu jitsu more of a supremely effective fighting style- but not a martial art.Do you agree? Also, could the absence of the philosophy in Brazilian jiu jitsu serve as the direct link to the blueprint of the essence of martial arts?
JW: That last point is deep, man. Alright, this is how I feel. I'm a student
of philosophy and engage that element of my being in everything I do. As
individuals, we have the choice to go down this road or not. I think the
vast majority of people, in all disciplines, tend not to. You asked if there
were any spiritual/internal limitations to BJJ. My feeling is that BJJ is a
beautiful martial art that can take an individual as far as he or she is
prepared to go.I don't think that BJJ imposes any limitations-some practitioners might, but the art itself does not. I've met plenty of meat heads in the Jiu Jitsu
world, but I've also known them in chess, tai chi, academia, science,
religion.we can screw anything up. And there is no easy answer. If there is
too much of a spiritual structure in an art, we may become dogmatic and not
take responsibility for our beliefs. If too little, we can fail to even
consider the critical questions.I think there are countless paths to spirituality--meditation, surfing, running, climbing, music, sailing, archery, calligraphy, chess, martial arts, motorcycle maintenance, whatever. The vehicle is just the husk. It is
a structure, a form, a channel to be penetrated with an understanding of its
relativity. In my opinion, what matters isn't so much what art you pursue
but how honestly, creatively and relentlessly you explore it. You brought up
Lao Tzu, Buddha, and Bruce Lee. These were all sages who spoke about leaving
form behind. Religious followers and devotees later took their ideas and
made them much more static than they were ever intended to be. And that
brings us to your last point which is very powerful.
OTM: Any last words?
JW: Yeah, one thing. I'm in the process of opening up a nonprofit
foundation, designed to help disadvantaged children, teens, and young adults
get their footing in the learning process. If anyone reading this works in
this field and believes the educational philosophy of my book The Art of
Learning can make an impact on their group, please contact me on my website
www.joshwaitzkin.com and I'll do my best to help out by donating copies to
teachers, families, and students. It's been a pleasure, man.

ORIGINAL LINK:
http://www.onthemat.com/articles/Josh_Waitzkin_Interview_01_25_2008.html