"Reading is an honor and a gift from a warrior or historian who- a decade or a thousand decades ago- set aside time to write. He distilled a lifetime of campaigning in order to have a "conversation" with you."
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"If you haven't read hundreds of books, you are functionally illiterate, and you will be incompetent, because your personal experiences alone aren't broad enough to sustain you. Any commander who claims he is "too busy to read" is going to fill body bags with his troops as he learns the hard way."
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"Reading sheds light on the dark path ahead."
- General Jim 'Mad-dog' Mattis (as written in Call Sign Chaos)

This pursuit isn't easy but it's not impossible, and I've found some great resources to help out. In any college curriculum there's always a book that accompanies a class. As my friend and mentor Dr. Tony Zayner used to say, "However good your teacher is, your success relies on how hard YOU study."

Here's some great books to read and to study on various aspects of Tai Chi, Chinese medicine, Chi Kung Taoist Meditation and other wise. I'll do my best to categorize them by novice, beginner, intermediate and advanced/ in depth knowledge seeking. Each title is hyperlinked to order on Amazon. ENJOY! :)

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) there are 2 things to look at when we speak of living a healthy life. External influences and internal ones. The TCM view is that sickness is brought about by an imbalance in either of these two categories, usually both.

Traditionally external is looked at first and internal second. External is the category of things that affect us from the outside in, lifestyle, diet, exercise, etc. Internal is the opposite, so the things that affect us from the inside out, i.e. our mindset, thoughts and emotional state.

Both of these things can bring about drastic changes in our health and wellness. Today we'll be covering internal influences. Particularly how our unbalanced/subconscious emotional reactions affect our health. I'll be following up this post with another on how we can deter these problems and/or come to move past them. My preferred method to do this is a simple approach to meditation attitude and journaling.  Let's dive into internal influences.

My personal view is that Meditation is the process by which we shape our mind to rest in the Way and create the life we desire to be reflected in the world. Meditation for me is three fold. Without honesty, action and reflection in all three pursuits meditation lacks objectivity and falls into self-proclaimed 'enlightenment' which in actuality is a delusion.

3 folds of meditation.

• discernment
• facing existence
• preparing yourself for right action

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Therefore training (the mind, and in turn the body) to follow 'The Way' is how we go on the path to our better life, a path of success regardless of the endeavour. We'll start exploring these folds by elaborating on what they specifically mean and how I apply them...

In short practicing meditation helps to uncover root causes for our deepest emotional imbalances and traumas. It forms a great tool to better health by smoothing out our emotional changes. If you want to read more on how emotional states can affect our health read: Smooth Emotions BETTER HEALTH! ... then come back =)

At the core of stress free living is the understanding that true relaxation or truly being stress free is not simply going limp, or giving up.

In Tai Chi we say "true relaxation" is balancing movement and stillness. Physically this correlates to relaxation not being limp, this principle is the first thing you learn in Tai Chi.

In short to truly relax and be without stress we must have principles in place to balance the situation. In other words these principles form a sort of "skeleton" to our life.

In martial, physical and psychological practices this framework is the cornerstone we use to accomplish skill. Regardless of the particular practice the ultimate goal is balanced action w/ relaxation. Structure is the foundation of this relaxation, a way to live alongside of stress while still accomplishing goals.

In this post we'll dive into some foundations we can all use to accomplish a more stress free and productive life!

Tension usually has a negative connotation in Chi Kung and Tai Chi. It is said that we must flow like water and “relax” into movements for the most benefit. The big question that runs through many peoples’ mind is HOW?!?

To turn the traditional teaching around, the main question to ask is NOT how do we relax, but rather, How can I use my tension more efficiently?

After having seen a certain martial art demo have you heard someone say or have you said this before?

"That will never work... in the 'cage'/ on the 'street'/ in UFC/ against a boxer or mixed martial artist!"

If you have I'd say you're/they're probably right. The problem with that statement is the UFC or 'the cage' isn't the be all end all testing ground for martial art. When it comes to martial effectiveness I'd say 'the cage' or the UFC is one of, if not the best place, to pressure test your technique in a 1 on 1 all inclusive environment.

The more broad problem is that 'martial effectiveness' isn't the only goal in 'traditional' techniques, styles, exercises, or forms.

My purpose in writing this post is to help you refocus how you look at traditional martial arts, and martial art practice in general.

The focus when looking at martial arts, especially traditional ones, should be on asking "Does the art build a certain skill, attribute or does it have some other cultural or social relevance?" Various martial arts focus on different aspects of these. Boxing, JiuJitsu, and Mui Thai even fall into these categories. In particular we're looking at skills such as musculoskeletal development, cardiovascular and other forms of fitness, whole body coordination, efficient strength, posture, and rehabilitation of injuries and many more. After seeking the reasoning we then have to ask ourselves is this something we could find appealing? 

It all boils down to critical thinking. ​In this post we'll offer some references and knowledge to find reasons behind traditional practices and my personal reasons for continued practice of traditional martial arts. After reading this I hope you can make a more well informed opinion of traditional and modern practices. =)