The three keys to martial arts

The keys to martial arts are three:

practical, theoretical, psychological.

The practical element:

learning the forms and techniques,

and hardening the body.

The theoretical element:

comprehending the principles

of victory and defeat.

The psychological element:

mastery of calm.

Cultivating an imperturbable mind.

(Summary of an advice found in Thomas Cleary's 'Training the Samurai Mind' part of an essay attributed to Adachi Masahiro of the 18th century)

Book Review: The Way of the Fight, by Georges St Pierre

I was very impressed with this book. It contains some good insights into what makes Georges St Pierre a champion and I was generally impressed with Georges' depth of character. I liked the format of the book too where each chapter has comments scattered throughout it from a single person in Georges' life. Overall a very good book. Below are some short quotes from the book.

"... the goal is to avoid mediocrity by being prepared to try something and either failing miserably or triumphing grandly..."

"... the more I learn, the less I know..." 

"... [look] within yourself and imagine the greatest thing you'll ever do..."

"... Fall down seven times, stand up eight..." 

"... losing changes me and turns me into a better man..." 

"... it takes fear to make a person courageous..."

"... Humility is the first rule of martial arts. Either you learn humility quickly, or you leave because your ego can't handle losing repeatedly..."

"... My front foot always points to my adversary. This is important because it stops my opponent from having or developing an angle on me..." 

"... there are two kinds of people who do martial arts: those who practice a thousand different kicks one time each, and those who practice one kick a thousand times minimum..." 

"... my heel almost never touches the ground, except for when I'm resting... this brings my weight onto the balls of my feet, and that's where I have an advantage over most of my opponents: I'm always ready to explode or change directions..."

"... My interest is not in making my muscles bigger or stronger. My interest is in making my muscles smarter and more coordinated..."

Book Review: The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright

Good book on the development of Al-Qaeda from the mid-1900s through to the events of September 11th 2001. The day and events of September 11th are hardly touched upon. It's the history and development of the ideology that led to Al-Qaeda which is the focus of this book. The main two characters that feature throughout the book are Osama Bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawihiri and there's some focus on Syed Qutb in the first chapter. The places and events that get special mention are the early years of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in the 1940s, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in the 1980s, the Afghan civil war and the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the arrival of US troops in the 1990s. The book is a little tongue in cheek in places but overall it's a good, easy to read narrative. Very beneficial and highly recommended.

Fear

You're nervous.

You're afraid.

To try.

You're nervous.
You're afraid.
To fail.

You're nervous.
You're afraid.
Until...

You accept
The worst outcome.

You're free.

(Play on words of some advice given by former Mixed Martial Arts fighter Randy Couture to Rashad Evans ahead of his fight with Chuck Liddell.)

Positive thinking

To see what you have,

over and above what you don't.

To see what others have given you,

over and above what they haven't.

To find good intent in the actions of others,

and excuses for them at the very least.

To look to the past only for its lessons,

and the future for its opportunities.

To know that this life is a test,
and no act of giving goes unseen.

Weekend trip to Brecon Beacons

Organised a weekend trip with friends after a long period of stagnancy! We were 21 in total (one 17-seater minibus and one extra car) and we booked out Smithy's Bunkhouse on the east side of Brecon Beacons near Abergavenny for two nights (Friday and Saturday).

We set off from East London on Friday evening and got there on Friday night. We had a nice group breakfast on Saturday morning at 10am which included fried eggs, bread, hash browns and cereal, and we set off for a walk in the Black Mountains near Grwyne Fawr reservoir around 12pm on Saturday. We got back from our walk around 6pm and got the BBQ going (minced lamb, chicken breast and chicken wings) till late. Those of us who went to bed in good time (not many), got up early on Sunday morning and walked up Sugar Loaf mountain. And just before we set off for home on Sunday afternoon, most of the group drove up to the streams nearby and jumped in for a dip!

Good 2-day chill-out trip alhamdulillah. We over-calculated the food again so we really need to get that right next time (see comment below)! We estimated the cost to be £75 per person (£30 accommodation, £30 transport, £15 food) but we could have easily met costs at £60 per person, especially by cutting down the amount of food we took.

Here's my pick of the 12 best pictures from our trip:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/adilson05uk/sets/72157647271360426/

Bushido: Culture and warriorhood

Common convention takes culture to mean:

reading, poetry, writing verse, mastering calligraphy,

and having a soft, refined personality.

Warriorhood is taken to mean:

learning shooting, riding, arts of war, military science,

and having a fierce and stern personality.

Both are approximate but inaccurate.

Culture and warriorhood are a unified character,

not separate things.

Culture without warriorhood is not true culture;

warriorhood without culture is not true warriorhood.

Indeed, culture is the root of warriorhood,

and warriorhood is the root of culture.

Since warriorhood is in the service of culture,

the root of the warrior's war is culture.

Since culture is for governing with the threat of armed action,

the root of culture is warriorhood.

(Notes on an essay by Nakae Toju [1608-1648] found in 'Training the Samurai Mind: A Bushido Sourcebook' by Thomas Cleary)