The Tension Before The Calm

So....All my life at varying intensity at varying times I have been involved in martial arts. For about 4 years I have known that one day I wanted to own my own school and teach the sum of my experiences in a way that bends the current paradigm that encompasses the martial arts world. To blur the lines between the traditional, the sporting and the survival.

About 2.5 years ago I met a guy by way of both getting hired by the same bail bond company, he as a Bondsman with a recovery background and me the recovery manager with a recovery background. We had several conversations regarding our philosophies on martial arts from every angle before he eventually left the company and then about a half year later I did as well.

About 6 months ago we got back in contact he was figuring out how he wanted to start a martial arts school, I was trying to figure out how I wanted to start a martial arts school. About 3 months ago we both kind of realized that with us having the same philosophy in the best way to do things and similar backgrounds we decided it would make more sense to cooperate than compete.

Within the last few days we found out that the location we were trying to secure is secured and have switched from a mindset of opening in the next few months to opening in the next week.

On Monday Sept 14th The Light In The Dark Martial Arts will celebrate it's grand opening. We are knee deep in preparing to be prepared to launch way before either of us thought we would.

So, right now is the mental and physical and emotional roller coaster of going from conceptual to operational in less than one week so that on Monday at 4pm we can walk in knowing everything is ready and we can let the calm of doing what we have decided we want to do with our lives every day can kick in.

So, provided nothing goes horribly wrong in the next 80 or so hours....Phoenix Arizona is going to have a serious survival fighting school where men and women can learn the psychological, physical, emotional and spiritual tools, methods and techniques of absolute victory under all circumstances. And children can learn the foundation of character, self reliance, self realization and self defense.

The tension before the calm.


Phew.

That's great. Congrats, Nic.

Best of luck Nic!

that is so freaking awesome i am beside myself. i LOVE martial arts. have all my life! ur philosphy sounds very much like bruce lee's "tao of jeet kune do". is it gonna be anything like that? cuz that's what i do. i try to incorporate any style that i can to where it will be useful and effective for me. i've only been informally taught choy li fut. i try to spar with others that only know street fighting (they've been in real fights whereas i've never encountered one) cuz it's a total different story when it's actually happening. since i'm a girl i prefer to learn a lot of evasive moves. i am apt to pressure points and i think it would be condusive for me to use tai chi techniques. ha, i always expect the person i'm fighting to be someone much bigger than me. i'm used to sparring with my ex who is 6'5" and 210 lbs.!

anyway, i'm excited for u and i hope it all works out well!

Thank you all for your kind words.

Jade-

I will think positive thoughts for your friends/family.

NinjaMu-

Awesome to hear your a "way of the intercepting fist" practitioner. Yeah, at it's core it is Jeet Kune Do, or even better....what Bruce Lee was trying to communicate and convey. The way Jeet Kune Do has been presented in general though, the mixing of several style s is a bit different, we take what works best from everything down to the technique. So, we do not have a style of practice, the owner and I only have a style of teaching. The philosophy is simple....

Whenever you have an adversarial situation, adversarial being defined as two or more parties that have entered the mindset of one being victorious and the other defeated; there is only one rule that emerges truthfully % 100 of the time. THE PARTY THAT DELIVERS THEIR INTENT FIRST WINS.

That is all. You deliver first, you win, they deliver first, they win.

The intent that we are trying to cultivate is to "eliminate the threat" (defensive mindset). Weather through avoidance, de-escalation, re-direction or force.

So, because of this our philosophy for how reverts back to physics (Universal), body mechanics (Uniform), and self expression (Personal)

....Angel is reminding me I have to get ready to go to a wedding...I would love to talk about this more but I really shouldn't continue now and make her wonder if I am going to be ready on time and make us late...sorry to cut off in the middle of it.

Before I go....there is no fixed or set way, there is only what works best for you within the laws of nature.

Posted by Ike 2.0
I do prefer offensive style s of fighting though , pity all the interest is in defensive style s or tai chi . Offensive in combination with speed and knowledge of pressure points . misdirection of force ...................eh its alright .

Ah you see this is where it gets muddy for people instructing martial arts. For obvious reasons we need to build from the defensive aspect of combative's. The "hard" style s like Tiger as you mentioned are direct, forceful and use a lot of strength and speed to do it's damage. In and of itself though, is neither defensive nor offensive as a style that is determined by the way in which its used.

Offensive fighting actually looks a lot different than you would imagine. Because it is offensive it is actually detrimintal to build off of delivering from common fighting or ready stances but while relaxed. For example offensive fighting when you get down to it is best delivered while the target is least able to mobilize a defense.

So, that is the art of delivering power and speed accurately (just like in defense) but instead of from a "ready posture"...while walking by, in mid conversation, while the other person is taking a leak etc.

You could catagorize what you described as offensive fighting but that is more interception in the realm of what most people are going to experience. It is still done if not after, while initiative is being determined.

Breaking down that is hard to do without getting into the types of combative violence. Social (mutual combat), anti-social (angry ex) and a-social (serial killer/mentally unstable).


Check out some of the origins of Systema, it is the Russian system that spawned Sambo. Also Op-Phoenix if you can still find some of it online. A lot has been removed by court/government order.