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Do you know this guy? If you are a student of Okinawan, Japanese, Korean or Chinese martial arts, you recognize him as Bodhidharma or Damo. Legend says he was a Buddhist monk from India who taught moving meditation exercises (Yi Jin Jing) to strengthen the bodies of the monks. These yoga-like mind/ body postures became seeds from which Shaolin warrior monk fighting styles evolved.

Apart from being the founder of Shaolin kung fu and zen meditation which profoundly influenced karate, tae kwon do and kung fu systems, we don’t know the true significance of this enigmatic figure. Does this bulging eyed monk have any relevance to training on TanDao Fight Lab or surviving on the streets or ring?

True, Damo’s martial connection is obscure. Lets face it: there are no tales of him unleashing his martial skills. Not even against bandits that roamed the land. Yet his power is alluded to in the tale that he crossed the Yangtze River floating on a leaf. Spiderman couldn’t have done it without his webbing. Another tale: while sitting in meditation for nine years in a cave he could hear the ants scream. But how does this relate to side kicks, hip throws and wrist locks?

Zen and kung fu teachings are always subtle. Underlying these two stories are basic keys to power: balance and awareness. Standing poised on a reed adrift on the river’s tumultuous currents implies the importance of balance taught in stance training. A stable and maneuverable stance is the basis for powerful and efficient techniques. Consider how supreme physical balance and body control is vital for combat.

The second tale points to the power of the mind. Zen meditation develops heightened intuitive awareness that augments all physical techniques. With a heightened development of the senses and mental perception, you can detect an opponent’s intentions before they manifest in a technique. Who knew that mental and physical principles of power could be concealed in Damo’s exploits?

Balance and awareness are principles underlying martial arts mastery be it mma, tang soo do or capoeira. Evolving Martial Artists awaken to practical meaning veiled in traditional tales. Review our TanDao Fight Lab videos. How will Damo’s hidden principles of balance and awareness maximize the power behind the techniques? Think about it.

Keep practicing and pondering,
Lawrence Tan

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You’re in a convenience store, examining a can of Spam in one of the aisles. Suddenly a hooded man bursts through the door, pulls out a .45, and waves it in the cashier’s face demanding the contents of the cash register. You begin breathing shallowly, from the chest, as fear for you own life pervades you. Thoughts pinball through your mind: Will he shoot the cashier—and then me? Am I to die in a convenience store of all places? Where are the police?

The cashier complies; the robber bolts through the door. Your breathing slows and deepens and the thoughts in your mind slow. You become calm.

This scenario illustrates the connection between breathing and the mind: Breathe shallowly and quickly, and your mind generates a frenzy of thoughts. Breathe deeply, from the abdomen, and the thoughts slow and become manageable.

What has happened when you perceived danger was your body reacted with the fight-or-flight response—it’s kicked in the sympathetic nervous system, one of the two components of the autonomic nervous system. Your body floods with adrenaline from your adrenal glands as you prepare to confront the threat to your life.

As the threat passes you breathe deeply and the parasympathetic nervous system becomes engaged: heart rate slows, blood pressure returns to normal, adrenal glands stop pumping adrenaline into your system. Normality—you are calm and your body can return to normal operations, such as digestion.

The fight-or-flight response is vital for short-term situations—such as when our distant ancestors confronted deadly threats from saber-tooth tigers and immense short-snout bears. But if you are confronting a serious disease or condition, such as cancer or PTSD, your fear will trigger this response continuously, flooding your body with adrenaline and other chemicals such as cortisol. The effect? Your body cannot heal properly, as these substances compromise the immune system.

The solution? Learn to breathe deeply, expanding your abdomen and filling the lungs from the bottom up. You not only kick in the parasympathic nervous system but also provide much more oxygen to the blood, helping your immune system to operate at a high level.

And there’s another tremendous benefit from abdominal breathing: The lymphatic system, which relies on respiration and muscular action to work (it has no pump, such as the heart pumping the blood), will work much more efficiently. The lymphatic system contains vital elements of the immune system, such as the bone marrow—the blood factory—and the thymus gland, which kicks out T-cells, the body’s natural killer cells which destroy cancer and other invaders.

The lymphatic system does many things, such as producing lymphocytes that fight disease and removing toxins from the cells. If you are fighting cancer or another serious condition or disease, abdominal breathing is a crucial element in helping you win your fight.

I learned deep, abdominal breathing as the first step in my practice of qigong (chee-gung, which means energy work—Chinese internal energy exercises). It is also a vital component in other meditative and energy arts such as yoga, tai chi chuan and transcendental meditation.

You can learn abdominal breathing by expanding your abdomen as you breathe, focusing on filling the lungs with air from the bottom up. A good way to test if you’re doing it correctly is to lie on the floor and place a box of Kleenex on your stomach. As you breathe, the box will rise and fall with the motion of your stomach.

If you are fighting cancer, as I have many times years ago, you may be too tired from chemotherapy and/or radiation to do standing or moving qigong, tai chi chuan or yoga. But you can always lie down and breathe deeply, and still stimulate your immune system. It worked for me: four bouts of bone cancer, two bone marrow transplants between 1991 and 1996—and I’ve been clear ever since. Fifteen years of good health. I can’t catch a cold.

Bob Ellal

http://www.bobellal.com

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With the holiday season here, our lives are even more hectic. No time. For martial artists getting to the kwoon, dojo, dojang or studio is especially difficult. So how can we practice when we can’t get to class to train our bodies?

The secret: we can use our minds to train our bodies. Practicing everyday does not mean a formal physical work out.  Of course, donning a crisp gi or sparring with a partner is ideal. But it is not the only way to hone our skills. How? Mental visualization.

Martial artists like Bruce Lee know that mentally rehearsing a back fist to an opponent’s temple is a way to refine physical skills. Yogis, zen masters and meditators have utilized visualization techniques for ages. Science verifies that vivid visualization stimulates our nervous system and our bodies respond as if performing the actual physical move (imagine biting into a lemon, does your tongue will feel a sensation?).

Visualizing sparring or executing a technique will enhance our abilities. New combinations and advanced techniques that we would be reluctant to use while sparring can be explored mentally without the danger of getting a black eye if we mess up. Mentally imaging movements, like a data, front kick or hook punch, can improve your technique.

Visualization is a powerful tool for mental practice that complements and augments physical practice.  Some people are able to visualize; others find it difficult.  Fortunately it is a skill that can be developed.  In part II we will teach a TanDao visualization technique.

Please join us in wishing John Duval, whom you often see in our videos, a very Happy Birthday!

Practice for peace & power,

Lawrence Tan

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No Time to Train? Practice Mentally

Evolving Martial Artists practice daily. No. It doesn’t mean dragging ourselves out of bed at dawn as some do in the romanticized Asian tradition. It doesn’t even mean working out every day. In fact our hectic lifestyle and our “to do lists” crammed with career, school, personal and family responsibilities, many martial artists can only get to the dojo, dojang or kwoon once or twice a week.

But there are once secret methods harried modern martial artists can borrow from the Shaolin martial monk tradition that traces to Bodhidharma the legendary founder of zen meditation. Influenced from TanDao, we practice mentally.

Samurai, ninja, and Daoist priests understood the value of meditation –- and mental training through visualization. Sports medicine verifies that the human nervous system responds to vivid mental imaging as if the body were actually performing the activity. Visualization is a powerful technique, part of martial arts meditation practice for centuries, being employed by today’s savvy athletes.

Although sitting quietly on our butts and chanting OM or counting breaths, may seem excruciatingly boring – even stressful – or irrelevant to young warriors bursting with physical energy, learning the mental techniques of visualization is a powerful way to practice when we don’t have time or energy to train our bodies. So at odd moments during the day, waiting for the elevator, riding the subway or sipping your coffee, we can visualize and perfect that back fist, side kick or throw.

And if you can’t get to the dojo, you can watch our TanDao Fight Lab series at your computer for tips to give you the martial edge.

Practice for power and peace,

Lawrence Tan

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Today martial artists acknowledge Bruce Lee as the force for popularizing the art of kicking ass rooted in China’s Shaolin Temple, source of Far East fighting arts. Yet the original force behind the Shaolin legacy is Bodhidharma. The blue eyed, bearded monk from India founded Shaolin kung fu. He was a monk, not a warrior. More importantly, Bodhidharma is the founder of Zen (Chan in Chinese) – a way of awakening based on sitting meditation.

Meditation improves our martial skills. The focused mind, emotionally calm,  and mentally clear liberates our fighting responses; they become natural, spontaneous and efficient. This is especially important during a fearful situation. True power is rooted in the mind not the body. The old masters teach meditation as a potent way to help control our body’s reactions. We learn to recover from panic. Breathe. We become more intuitive. If we think of the mind as a muscle, then meditation is push ups for the mind. After consistent practice, the mind gets stronger, flexible and concentrated. And we discover secrets of the body, subtleties in executing technique that we once thought we knew.

Beyond Bruce Lee and kicking ass, the true value of regularly sitting cross legged will enhance our daily lives by reducing stress and finding a discipline of stillness. There are further benefits for those who delve deeper into Bodhidharma’s teachings to become inner warriors who seek awakening.

The Evolving Martial Artist works to get the edge. You want it? Meditate.

Lawrence Tan

Check out our premium downloads – TanDao TIGER COMBAT ebook and video to learn realistic animal fighting.

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Earth Hour is fast becoming a worldwide annual tradition. It began in Sydney, Australia two years ago. Landmarks in cities everywhere from the Sydney Opera House to the Golden Gate Bridge and Rome’s Colosseum will join the effort and stand in darkness during the hour.

The goal?
To have a billion people on March 28 switch off the lights for one hour, from 8:30 – 9:30 PM, wherever you live on the planet. It is your own personal Vote Earth to raise awareness for global warming and climate change. Be part of the world wide message and its call to action.

Learning to see in the dark
Shift your consciousness. Many spiritual traditions incorporate a darkness meditation. Often martial art systems, like ninjitsu, are practiced in darkness to cultivate a heightened awareness. If you are a martial artist or a movement practitioner, clear an area before you turn off the lights. Then move, eyes open, in the dark. Or sit quietly in the darkness. Sense the space around you. Whether you are on a hillside or in a high rise, feel fully present and alive. Visualize yourself moving through a forest on a moonless night, or hearing the waves crash on a dark shore. The dark is filled with dreams and imagination…be here now.

Without distraction you can focus on your breath, listen to your own heartbeat and be aware of all the sounds and feelings that you overlook in the light. Learn to see in the dark. It is believed that self transformation comes through self observation. Move your thoughts past yourself and out to the world. When healing moves past the ego it begins the essential healing of our human suffering. End the hour by lighting a candle and slowly returning to the light.

Learn more…

Play lights out

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