The Paleolithic Origins of Standing Postures
The origins of standing practices are lost in the mists of time, but one can easily imagine that they began with ancient hunters as a way of attuning to their surroundings and gathering deep reserves of energy and strength while becoming invisible to the prey they hunted. As they were used by hunters, warriors,…
The Effective to Efficient Continuum of Training
What’s the difference between being effective in your training and becoming efficient? When you first started to drive a car, you sucked at it, right? You couldn’t turn on the radio and the turn signal at the same time, and I’ll bet when you tried to wave at someone outside on the sidewalk, you turned…
“He Opened My Eyes to Budo…”
Way back in 2009 I started studying this weird, rarely talked about, even more rarely taught aspect of traditional martial arts called internal power. To say it opened up my worldview when it came to martial arts training would be a huge understatement! Now, to put it in perspective, I’d been training in martial arts since…
Health Practices for the Pandemic
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. The universe is change; our life is what our thoughts make it.” – Marcus Aurelius It’s pandemonium out there. Schools…
Train the Body, Everything will Follow
How do you get great at so many different facets of martial art at one time? What one thing can you do to bring up your game across the board, no matter what are you practice? Train the body. ✅ Want to get better at grappling? Train the body ✅ Want to…
21 Day Wuji Standing Meditation Challenge
21 Day Wuji Standing Meditation Challenge Why Wuji? The health preserving and sustaining effects of Wuji Standing have been documented in hospitals and medical clinics across China. The reason this practice has such a profound impact on health and recovery from exercise is that the standing meditation acts like a system-wide reboot for the whole…
The Strength of Structure (and How to Train It)
As we discussed in the previous post (see here), all martial movement must be based on a platform of both mobility and stability. Today we will discuss stability. Kamae is much more than just a stance or ready position. It is the platform from which all movements are made and from which all techniques are…
Kata (Alone) Will Never Build Internal Power
Trying to develop Internal Power by training kata (alone) in martial art is problematic. On one hand, you may inadvertently have minor success in creating some internal connection over the course of 20-30 years of training, but you will most likely have no idea how you did it, no idea why it worked (minimally at…
Gyokko Ryu’s Internal Power Training
There is no doubt in my mind that Hatsumi Sensei possesses unusual power in his budo. Anyone who has trained with him can tell you that! But what is it and where does it come from? More importantly, how can YOU develop it as well? Soke’s martial movement displays many of the characteristics associated with Internal…
This Simple Practice RESETS Your Body
Let’s face it. Some days we just need to hit the RESET button. Whether due to stress, an accumulation of injuries, fatigue, or illness we need to find a way to RESET the body in order to allow its own natural healing function to take over. Luckily, there is a very simple process whereby we…
Lost Empire Herbs
