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I’m going to put a whole bunch of stuff together here, but it’s the straight goods. Stay with me, work your way through it, and you’ll be able to fix your body using the martial arts, and this means virtually any art. Karate, kung fu, taekwondo, aikido, kenpo, any art, and I recommend looking into a discipline such as Yoga.

First thing, you need to know that life is motion. To the degree that something has the potential of motion, it is alive. To the degree that it doesn’t have the potential of motion, it is dead. This is a vital fact to keep in mind when following the advice of this bit of writing.

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The following phrase has amazing importance for a True Martial Artist. “There are five trees in paradise and they do not change, sumer nor fall, and their leaves don’t drop. Whoever understands these trees will not die.”

Now, you may be wondering what these words have to do with the martial arts, so let me explain. They were written by a fellow named Thomas some two thousand years ago. They stand for the five concentric circles of man’s experience of the universe, and they are as follows.

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No matter which art you study, Kung Fu, Taekwondo, Ninjitsu, or whatever, you must be able to perceive the idea behind any attack. I have written about this subject since I began writing in the martial arts magazines over thirty years ago. I find it bizarre that nobody else writes about it.

I originally conceptualized this notion by analogizing somebody driving down a street. Drive down that street enough time, and you start to know where the kids are playing, where the potholes are, and so on. In the martial arts, do the technique enough times, and you know what it means when the opponent lifts the shoulder, turns the foot, and otherwise sets himself up.

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You want to have a perfectly designed body, and Isshin Ryu, Goju Ryu, or some other Karate System is the key! There are, however, several things you should understand before you begin this journey. These things would be what, exactly, a perfect body is.

To be honest, a perfect body is going to have to do with proportion. One of the best definitions of proportions I have come across is by Leo DaVinci. His analysis of frame is as follows: length the same as height, seven heads high, three heads shoulder to shoulder, two heads from fingers to elbows, four heads hips to toes, and so on.

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The Aikido Techniques of Morihei Ueshiba are sometimes accused of not being usable in real combat. Such a statement merely shows that a person doesn’t know the nasty tricks behind this amazing art. One should remember, however, that this martial art is derived from Aikijujitsu, which art was put together by Samurai warlords thousands years ago.

Before going further, let me say that this article doesn’t put forth the use of purely destructive techniques. After all, studying a martial art for the sake of the spirit should provide one with a belief system that will enable one to avoid combat situations. That said, knowing the deadlier techniques will enhance the student’s understanding, and should the philosophy proves insufficient to the task…one will have the necessary tools.

I was working in a tubing factory a few decades ago, and wordspread that I was training in the martial arts. A Philippine co-worker came up to me at one point, and he said, “You no study martial arts, martial Arts bad…bad, ” then he shook his head and walked away. From this quick meeting I ultimately realized how the martial arts were invented.

As one might expect, I was quite surprised by my co-workers viewpoint, the Philippines were famous for their martial arts, and so I tracked him down and queried him further. “Why do you think the martial arts are so bad?” I asked. This is the anecdote he told me.

I saw an interesting program today, a couple of fellows were talking about faster reaction time through classical martial arts training. The odd thing is that they were carrying on about muscle memory. They claimed that you train the body to react so fast that there is no reaction time.

But to have a body is reaction time. If you conduct your self defense through a body then you have to have the time it takes to activate that body. It’s going to be there no matter what you do.