Can you explain to Martial Edge readers about the sort of training courses you offer people?
We run a number of courses. The most popular courses I do are the seminars. We look at the psychology of fear, what motivates an attacker, how you can improve your chances of avoiding an assault, everything from the techniques of disarming a gunman or knifeman to the point when you’ve overcome fear and how that can help you to do other things in life that may be holding you back. They’re not for profit, so the costs have been kept to a minimum. Have a chat with one of our bookers if you think that it is something that you would like to have at your school. Chat to your instructor to see if he thinks the course is something relevant and if you would like to book us and get us round there we would be very happy to do that. I also do weekend courses and day courses, and we do a number of different things. I love getting out there and teaching people the tips of the masters, I love passing my knowledge on. That’s what the course is all about.
How do you screen your instructors?
We’re very small, we don’t have hundreds of instructors all around the world. Quite simply, they are people who have trained with me for a number of years. They understand me and what I do and I am confident that they are competent.
What are the most common mistakes people make in a self defense situation, and how can you avoid these sorts of situations in the first place?
There is one major mistake. People tend to have the wrong view that self defense is about winning the fight. That’s wrong. Winning the fight is about winning the fight. That is different to self defense. Self defense is about escaping with your life, however you do it. Winning the fight means that your ego is involved. Situations like someone spilling a pint on your girlfriend and thinking that you’re going to look stupid if you don’t have a go at him. Or if someone calls you a rude word and then you say something back to him. Well, that’s not right, is it? What if he’s got a knife, he’s going to stab me and I need to disarm him? That’s also not about self defense.
Now, if you were backed into a corner where you couldn’t escape and you couldn’t talk him out of it, and you couldn’t deceive him and you couldn’t outrun him, then you may have to defend yourself by disarming him. The physical aspect of the martial arts is the last aspect, it’s when all else fails. If you remember this principal, you will stay on the right side of the law and increase your chances of survival ten fold. Nobody likes to be called a rude word, but if you’re getting yourself in to fights or even if you’re physically touching someone else, chances are that you’re in the wrong. It’s a last resort to knock someone’s teeth out. Teeth are expensive. They cost a lot to repair. The guy might have spilt the pint by accident. Avoid the situation.
What are your thoughts on ‘martial sport,’ and does it hold much practicality in a self-defense situation?
Martial sport is good for your health and it will help you in a self defense situation. If you are stronger, you are fitter, you are healthier. You’re going to come out better in that situation than the other fellow certainly compared to if you hadn’t trained in martial sport. Martial sport is not for me, I’m a traditionalist, that’s the background that I’ve come from and I have been indoctrinated into that world. But I would recommend to everybody to get involved in martial sport.
As a pioneer of chi energy in the west, what do you say to the skeptic who would argue more along scientific lines against the notion of chi, and how do you approach this subject in your chi gong classes?
Firstly, I don’t think that a scientific skeptic can argue against the notion of chi. I’m not entirely sure on the definition of the notion of chi. I’m not entirely happy with the Chinese definition on the notion of chi and I’m not entirely happy with the Japanese notion either. Our bodies have an electrical magnetic force, this is not science fiction, this is fact. Whether that is chi is a question that we could look into. Another thing is that your body can emit this electrical magnetic force, and it all starts with a thought. I try not to use the word ‘energy’ because I don’t like it. ‘Energy’ for me is like ‘et cetera’, it doesn’t mean anything. Anyone who tends to use the word ‘energy’ is either from LA or they don’t know what they’re talking about. It’s not specific enough.
I think it’s good to be a skeptic. I pat you on the back if you are, you have to be. You don’t want to believe everything you hear. I think it is important for people to experience it [chi]. Sometimes people can experience it very quickly, sometimes it takes longer, but generally there is a 95 percent success rate. In my lessons, I don’t explain it to them. I let them form their own opinions of it. You can teach people it in very different ways – you can teach people to see it, which I don’t think is a good way. It’s a bit of a head f*ck. I think the safest and most practical way is to teach people to find it within themselves. They experience that by feeling it and that generally forms an electrical magnetic force that is emitted by their own body and then I teach people how to emit that via their thoughts onto other people.
Tai chi is great for developing chi gong. The moves are very consistent with allowing people who want to get in touch with that feeling and that sensation.
How much is development in the martial arts due to overcoming mental restrictions, rather than physical?
In terms of real genuine development, if you’ve studied for five or ten years and you’ve got your black belt for 40 quid, you get to that level when you just follow one teacher. You do what you’re told. You turn up to class on time, you develop and become proficient in that art, but if you want to take it further you need to look at your own mind and your own psychology and you need to start unraveling some of the set patterns and set formulas that you’ve been taught that get you from A to B. You need to look at your own personal indoctrination and your own views. Those views may feel personal, but they have been shaped from the group you’re within. You need to open your mind, and that is difficult, to look at other art forms and say, ‘that’s good, maybe I could learn something form that guy?’ It’s a mental game, particularly with martial arts.
Essentially, martial arts are about surviving a life or death encounter. To do that effectively you need to look at your own mind. You can’t just punch a bag for ten years and then think that you can look after yourself when someone mugs you. You might be the best person in the world at punching that bag, but you haven’t dealt with your own fear of confrontation, you haven’t dealt with your adrenalin kicking off with your mind all over the place, you might want to piss your pants. You haven’t looked at your own fear. That’s all mind games. That goes for everything. The mind is the most important factor in the martial arts. By developing your mind alongside your body you become a complete, whole martial artist. By just developing the body and the physical aspects, then I think you’re missing out on a very large and important part of the art form that you have spent your life training in.
Is there such a thing as an ‘ultimate’ martial art?
No. There is an ‘ultimate’ person, however. There is a person who has found an art that is ultimate for them, and they have trained in it to a degree where they have become very proficient. But is there an ultimate art? No, there isn’t, there is only an ultimate art for you.
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