Kris Wilder – Page 12

September 7, 2020December 31, 2020

Karate Tips – 8 Simple Tips To A Better Experience

5 Minute Read – More When You Follow The Links

Here are 8 simple karate tips to a better experience that take place between the ears. These 8 items will make your karate experience better, more productive, and set you on a path of consistently spiraling upward in karate skills and abilities.

1. Learn To Listen

Martial Arts is about self-actualization, physical safety, and the common good. Listening is an important skill. Listening is not only a thoughtful act but listening allows you to avoid the land mines of life.

Listening allows you to heed the warnings that the more experienced have. The probability you are taking to heart the idea of developing listening skills is unlikely. But you should consider it.

Here is a link for you to see just how important this life skill truly is.

2. Don’t Blame

Martial Arts is also about personal responsibility. Bringing order to yourself and then you are valuable to others. Placing blame is a non-productive path. Take responsibility – even when you believe it is not your fault. (because if you are involved in what is happening you likely have some level of culpability.)

As for day-to-day on the martial arts path, embrace the grind, it is a grind at times, but the rewards are deep and profound.

The bottom line, it’s on you and the path is not easy.

3. Don’t Waste Time, Don’t Be Rash

If your art is not working for you, change. I tried three arts before I settled on one, well two. Many seasoned readers are nodding knowingly, with this caveat; don’t bail too soon, stick with it, don’t be a style hunter.

You will know if it is time to leave if you have landed in three schools in the last eighteen months, not through eternal factors, e.g. moving, then you likely are not putting in the effort.

Don’t waste your time and don’t waste other’s time.

4. Expectations

Your expectations of what the martial arts are will change. Like how your tastes change from childhood to now. SpongeBob SquarePants may still be funny, but it isn’t high art like it was when you were a little tike.

Allow for the change, allow for growth, and welcome it. Nothing stays the same forever, and if it did wouldn’t the world and your martial arts be boring?

5. Learning Never Stops

The greatest gift Martial Arts will give you is you can never stop learning. Learning and physical activity, two elements for long life.

It is that simple. Be consistent.

6. If It Were Easy

It’s an old saying, “If it were easy everybody would do it.” The second older saying is, “If it is worth having it is worth working for.” Martial Arts are not easy, but the rewards are great.

Listen to Denzel Washington as he tells you that ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship. And ask any advance Martial Artist about hardship and they will likely acknowledge it, but hold no resentment.

7. It’s Group Training But It Is A Solo Endeavor

You are responsible for yourself when it comes to martial arts. It is a group atmosphere and it is great to have comradery, however it’s on you. The choices you make, the training you choose to do, or not do. The way you carry yourself all are factors. And those acts, those choices are seen by those ahead of you in the ranks.

Those upper ranks are assessing you. It sounds harsh, but they are eyeballing you to see if you are worth the hand-up, the effort, if you are ready and willing.

The simple formula is to be responsible to yourself and the plan, both internal and external will open for you.

8. The Martial Arts Will Change Your Life

It may appear as a casual choice, to take up martial arts, but your life will change from that day forward.

If you take up fencing, your friends will expand and you will learn about the international subculture of the épée, the largest and heaviest of the three swords used in the sport.

You will become picky about the density of the weave of your Judo Gi. And many profound changes will occur. To speak to those changes is presumptuous as we are all unique with our own needs and desires. Know that change is coming, and the longer you train the deeper that river runs.

Kris Wilder

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Do you want more? Here are some courses both free and upper-level courses

The Brutally Simple / Simply Brutal courses + more at Kris Wilder Courses, More than just information. Wisdom. https://kriswildercourses.teachable.com

September 2, 2020October 12, 2020

Common Specialness

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Common specialness is wonderful. It cost nothing to be decent. Be kind because is who you are, it’s a great policy. The idea of being kind because it’s who you are is only half of the formula of this common specialness. When you are kind because it is who you are it turns into a moment of two views.

One Act of Common Specialness

I watched the young man help an older lady who is struggling with her groceries in the parking lot at my local store. When he finished helping her load the groceries she said “You didn’t have to do that.” He replied, “If I have to do it, it wouldn’t have been special.” Yet it was still a common act because it’s who he was you see his commonness of kindness his common specialness was perceived by her as extraordinary

What he said was, and this is my version of it, “I choose to give of myself. I’m not forced to be a good person; I choose to be this person.” His Common Specialness is wonderful.

Mandatory Volunteerism

I often laugh at the Seattle school system because of their Mandatory Voluntarism requirement for graduation from High School. It’s not voluntary it’s an oxymoron it’s forced it’s not real.

So, don’t engage in an oxymoron don’t be kind because you have to be kind, choose to be kind, choose to be special, choose to be commonly special, for others, and give freely.

Soften the sharp edges of a world that is pretty hard right now and do it for others because it’s who you are. It cost nothing to be decent.

A back catalogue podcast you may enjoy: Cultivating a Life

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August 26, 2020February 9, 2021

Intrusive Evil of The Media

Intrusive evil of the media. It’s commonplace to have outbreaks of intrusive thoughts. Intrusive evil thoughts. Intrusive thoughts can lead to bizarre behaviors. Sometimes these thoughts can be detrimental actions to self to others to communities and society on a large scale.

The Dancing Plague

The cause of the dancing plague of the 1500s is open to interpretation. Yet up to four-hundred people danced themselves to death via exhaustion.

We’ve found graves with severed heads and stones placed in mouths to stop the undead from rising. All you need do is ask an anorexic if they are fat. Or ask the bodybuilder is the right size or shape. You know the answers and it is distorted.

These are intrusive thoughts just aren’t productive as that they have little anchor in reality. Yet they persist and we let them persist we let them live in our heads rent-free as the term goes.

The Media

This occurs especially after a media report of a human-caused disaster. These intrusive thoughts are brought to you by your media and it is a corporation telling you how to think. They only sell panic and confusion they use intrusive thoughts they lie, and they are evil. That is the intrusive evil of the media.

The Cure

Take two days away from the media and that means on the airwaves and on your phone. Keep track in a journal and notebook. Whatever thoughts you may have about how you feel when you start this two-day experiment.

You can replace the void with an audiobook if you’d like or pleasant music it’s up to you. At the end of the two days, the evil intrusive thoughts about the undead, the frenzied dancing, and the body dysmorphia will be gone.

Just to make sure that you heard me correctly the media, they lie and they are evil. They’re not misquoting or making mistakes; they are evil it’s what they do. Seize your mind with intrusive thoughts is their game. They count on you to allow their intrusive thoughts into your mind.

I’d like to make a note that no side has been taken in this argument. There is no good or bad side, there is no side to be taken other than the media is evil.

They count on you to receive their intrusive thoughts so that they can be the kings and queens of evil deception.

See how we can connect. Click on my picture.

KRIS WILDER

Kris Wilder is a martial artist based in Seattle Washington. He has authored many martial art books, including the classic, The Way of Kata. Making no apologies for his obsession of Football he can be found telling any who will listen about the nuances of the Canadian Football League.

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August 23, 2020October 16, 2020

Go No Sen is a Worthless Strategy

4 Minute Read

Go No Sen is a worthless strategy. Go No Sen bubbled up to the top of the training list the other day. Recently in an interview, Sensei Ando of, Fight for A Happy Life, asked me a great question. The question sort of slips by in the conversation – but the question stuck with me.

The question was about the wisdom gained by research for a new book. He asked, and I paraphrase, “Don’t you learn a lot researching for a book.”

The answer is, “Yes.” Sometimes the research is a rabbit hole that leads no place. However. other times the research in combination with life experience becomes a game-changer.

There is an argument made the research for a good book is as deep as that needed for a University doctoral paper.

What do you do when you find something that validates an assumption? What do you do when something you had a misgiving about turns out to be – less than you had even suspected?

You must call it for what it is.

A couple of award-winning books on strategy. 4 decades on the floor and I have some answers to the classic three, “Sen” pieces of strategy.

P.S. follow the interesting and creative Sensei Ando at; Fight For A Happy Life

That Strategy Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be.

Go No Sen, Sen No Sen, and Sen, Sen, No Sen cast a large shadow over the world of martial arts. You needn’t be an adherent to a Japanese style or system to have experienced these three elements of strategy. These strategic ideas tend to show up in different words and forms of expression in combative situations. You ever heard of a counter puncher in boxing?

I’m taking a jeweler’s loop to one aspect of these three, Go No Sen. The result is the examination is coalescing of discoveries made over time.

The underlying discoveries of the research are from two award-winning books. One book on Musashi and one about Sun-Tzu, I did with Lawrence Kane. Throw in a few years on the mat, stir it up and a new clarity arose. Go No Sen isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

I’m putting together the final touches on a video for subscribers that addresses:

· The lost power curve

· What is Go No Sen, even if it looks like something else

· How punches are like buses

So, I’m putting the finishing touches on the video and writing a few last words.

You’re going to enjoy this.

If you’re new to my newsletter, you can get free bonuses at Kriswilder.com – it’s the entry point to all the good stuff.

And heck, forward this to a friend that might enjoy this session. It’s always their choice as to whether to access the material.

The Introduction video: 3 Strategies

The idea of this section is to lay bare a training strategy. To pull it into the light and see that it is a training strategy.

Go No Sen is not a viable combative strategy and it is often discussed in the context of combative strategies. The reason for this inclusion in conversation on strategy is because somebody at some time lumped Go No Sen into the conversation.

We know these three as, Go No Sen, Sen No Sen, and Sen, Sen No Sen but if you are engaging in Go No Sen as a combative strategy you are losing.

Standing in the falling October rain watching a college football game the pain of the rain and my team falling behind on the scoreboard was raw. The guy next giving a dismissive wave announced he was leaving the game early.

With half of the final quarter still to play, he stated, “These kids are playing on their heels, the game is over.”

He was right, you can’t win on your heels.

Go No Sen puts you on your heels. This strategy is about responding, it is about being behind, fighting from behind always responding never dictating.

You are losing you are on your heels, metaphorically or literally. In using Go No Sen you are at the will of the opponent and you are not on your toes.

Here are two links for reference, one is from Wikipedia the other a PDF: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_no_sen.

For balance I have included a counter-argument.

This comes from an Aikido practitioner, Ethan Monnot Weisgard from Copenhagen. http://www.aiki-shuren-dojo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Go_no_sen.pdf.

Finally, here is an explainer video I made with one of my students breaking down Go No Sen.

My goal is to show you in clear terms why this idea of Go No Sen should be abandoned as a viable form of combative strategy.

The usefulness of this strategy is limited in a combative sense – however

Go No Sen is good as:

-A method of slowing down technique

-Creating space

-Allowing observation of mechanics

– Producing a safer training space

Here is the link to the video demonstrating why Go No Sen is of little use in a combative situation.

Kris Wilder

– Let’s Connect!

You may enjoy this brief podcast on Self-mastery, and the bifurcated choice: Self-mastery

Twitter I Facebook I Instagram I YouTube I West Seattle Karate Academy I Martial Arts & Life Podcast I The Back Channel Podcast I Courses

Do you want more? Here are some courses both free and upper-level courses

The Brutally Simple / Simply Brutal courses + more at Kris Wilder Courses, More than just information. Wisdom. https://kriswildercourses.teachable.com/

August 19, 2020September 10, 2020

Teaching Karate – 1 Great Move

3 Minute Read Time

Teaching Karate – 1 great move. For years I used the technique of, “Leaving the students on a high note,” in my martial arts classes. I thought I had high training awareness. I thought I had the 1 great move, however there was more to know.

The principal was simple, help the students recall the positive that happened during training and then head on home. A simple act that was lacking a little something. I thought I was engaged in training awareness; but the tail end of class was lacking.

I ran into Sue Enqust on a podcast and was, honestly a little upset I had not paid attention to this outstanding woman and coach in the past. Once she was on my radar I reached out and she responded. In a brief direct message conversation over twitter, subsequently Sue Enquist gave me the next level of success.

The briefest and important tip

Who is Sue Enquist? Coach Enquist won 11 National Championships coaching the University of California Los Angeles, (UCLA) softball team. That is an insane win record! She was doing something right. (Her coaching record was 887-175-1)

Her website is: http://www.sueenquist.com/

What she told me was so counter to Martial Arts instruction as I have known it. I had a hard time getting my head around the idea. I’m supposed to be in control, directing the learning, not wasting a moment, keep ‘em moving. In short I was leaving, the 1 great move on the table.

Her suggestion was the opposite, almost.

What Coach Enquist recommended was a fun flex.

She went on to guarantee this would send the class out on the highest of tones. “Give the last 5 minutes of class over to the students, let them choose what they want to do, and then do it.” It went against my years of experience yet did what she recommended.

The results were so powerful the 5-minute Fun Flex, is in the Conquest Martial Arts Class Method. (Yes, you can click on this link and learn more about the class method)

I trusted a coach with 11 national championships and who won almost 9 out of every 10 games she coached.

Now I pass it on to you. Let the students have the last 5 minutes of class. As Coach Enquist told me, “Watch the enthusiasm go through the roof Woo Hoo!” It’s the 1 Great Move.

She didn’t lie.

P.S. If you are not watching Women’s College Softball you’re missing out on a fast paced, top shelf sport. The championship rounds are insanely great!

You may enjoy The Back Channel Podcast a weekly podcast that last about 3 minutes. The podcast is designed to give you some grist for the mental mill. You can access every episode here.

Yes! I’d like to hear The Back Channel Podcast

August 19, 2020October 12, 2020

Corner Office

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The executive in the corner office is supposed to be in control of the business. They may appear at times to be disengaged or focused on other things then what you or I might consider important and that’s the problem.

We are focused on our stuff and not the big picture.

Executive Control of Your Life

I’m not telling you that you shouldn’t be attentive to your own things, your own business, but projecting that into the corner office that can go sideways. You see the executive should be in control and they should be set on an agenda. Neuro scientists will call it executive control. The ability to direct attention our mental executive function should serve in the same way as the executive in the corner office.

Focus on the Meaningful

Focusing on the meaningful and the useful and getting that function in order to direct attention and control that’s what that whole executive function is about. The world is just simply a clutch of jingling keys to the section of our infantile, mind we all have it. It just sometimes focuses on those jingling keys or the snapping fingers with the accompanying, “Hey look over, here look over here!”

Murder Hornets

When our executive function is easily deceived then as individuals we’re lost, your lost to the jingling keys, killer-wasps, fire tornadoes, global warming, rolling blackout, identity stolen non keto monster and that’s really no place to live.

Free up your executive function let it roam and whenever possible spend as much time in that executive office and let it set the tone for your day, your life and have an experience.

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