Shen Chuan Review - The Official Newsletter of Lansdale's Self-Defense Systems

It's late October and the elections are around the corner. Man will I be glad when that's over with!

Our annual Camp, held the first weekend of the month, was our best ever. I know we say that every time, and I think the Professor even mentioned that at the closing ceremonies. But, it's true. If you attended and didn't learn anything, you need to lay off the hard stuff next time.

Watching our students at the Camp made me proud. I may be a little prejudicial, but we have a great group of Martial Artists' here. And listening to our guest instructor's compliment you on your abilities bring a level of confirmation to those feelings.

The level of dedication to your Art directly relates to your abilities. Time spent on the mat in class, as well as our "extras", such as rank camp and Annual Camps, serve to bring your abilities up to a higher level. Time spent pushing the envelope.

Coming in, working hard and making some advances. And for those who work really hard, and can prove their learned ability, advancements in rank.

This brings me to the whole point of this article. Pressure and fear.

Testing for rank or even showing your sets to the Professor and Instructors at the end of class during the demo session brings about a certain amount of pressure. Some of it real, some of it perceived. More often than not however, we add undue pressure to ourselves by worrying how we'll look or perform. These things I know first hand. I am the worlds worst. I've been told more times than I care to remember to relax and just do it. So now I'm telling you. Relax. Take a breath. Have fun.

Your instructors truly understand where you are coming from. They have been where you are now. We know when you stand before the class and your partner that the first thought to enter your mind is, "please don't let me look like a dadgum idiot in front of the Professor and the whole class". Every muscle in your body tenses and your breathing accelerates as that thought leaves your mind. It is replaced with a new one.

"Okay, we're doing the first five of the set. Number one, called, uh, forgot the name. Oh well, as soon as he throws the right punch, no wait, left jab, what the heck number was I on??" Then your partner throws a left front kick and you stand there looking like a boob anyway. I know I have.

Or maybe you're about to do some spontaneous self defense and you are standing there thinking that if that big 'ol sucker hits me, I'm going to fall like a stack of bricks. Hard. Okay, so maybe you haven't been caught that bad off. Maybe worse. The point is that pressure and fear does affect your ability to perform on all different levels.

One of the things you are learning in martial arts, other than the obvious self defense technique is how to handle pressure and fear. As mentioned above, when confronted with pressure or the fear of something your body goes into reflexive action. Your heart rate increases. Your breathing shortens to small gasps of air. Your ears may ring, or go totally mute. Tunnel vision is also a possibility. As we are all different, so will there be differences in the severity of those bodily reactions in different people. But there WILL be some type of reaction happening in your body. How we handle those reactions will determine how we will eventually terminate the problem that started the reaction to begin with. "Fight or Flight is the most common terminology that comes to mind. The brain will immediately start pumping the adrenaline. You will either give it your best fight or you will run like hell (and remember running is definitely a self defense option if the situation warrants it!). Things will be happening at light speed in your head. This is when your training comes to your rescue.

In class, the small amount of pressure or fear of being up in front of the class slowly teaches you to work under those conditions. By working under those conditions frequently, you become accustomed to it and therefore not as severely affected by it. You have the opportunity to slow your own breathing. To let your mind go into "neutral" and not try to "overthink" the process. And the biggest factor is that you are exposed to it over and over, again and again. Repetition makes a mouse out of the madman.

It is similar to how we use pain as a teaching method. The pain inflicted during class is slowly built up over time. The body (as well as your brain) becomes accustomed to the pain. Then if you are ever confronted with a real self defense situation and are hit, or put into some sort of lockup, your first thought will be "That's it??. We PAY for more pain than that". You will have, over time, built up the tolerance to pain. It will be less traumatic and you will be more likely to go on functioning.

This is also true of training under fear or pressure. The continual exposure to small elevated levels of adrenaline will have the effect of allowing you to build sort of a tolerance to its effects. And if all goes well in the moment of an encounter, the traumatic effect of the adrenaline will not hinder you.

Now note that this IS NOT constant exposure to fear induced adrenaline, much like what a soldier in a combat zone would experience. Prolonged exposure to "life and death" adrenaline can cause severe disabilities, such as nervousness, shaking, stomach pains, cramping, weight loss and PTSD. No, what I'm talking about here is on a much smaller scale. Brief exposure, non life threatening doses of fear and pressure.

One thing that I have noticed over my years of training is that this continual exposure allows you the "time" to work out "control" tactics that work for you. By control, I mean a control over some of those involuntary body reactions. My personal hang-up is short breathing. Actually bordering on "no-breathing" (holding my breath" in very tense situations). A habit of breathing during the techniques, and using breathing as a relaxation method during class has helped me overcome that debilitating feeling.

Another thing that has personally helped me tremendously, by the constant pounding into my head by Shihan Coy, are the words "It don't matter". Our training has given us a set of tools to use. We know what to do. We will do it when it is time. Don't add unneeded stress to the situation by worrying about how you'll perform. "It don't matter". Your training is superior.

You may, or may not get hit. "It don't matter". Even if you are struck, your training will minimize the effects, and you will prevail.

If you are faced with a knife attack (a scary situation indeed), "It won't matter". You've trained for this situation and will perform to the best of your training. You will minimize the cutting effects of the knife from the training you have worked so hard on.

So the next time you are being pressured by the Professor or one of the Shihans to perform something over and over till you get it right, relax and have fun in the lesson. You are being taught a lesson, maybe on multiple levels.

Or the next time you are up in front of the class and start to get "that feeling", take some deep breaths and relax.

We won't laugh if you mess up.

Not long anyway...

Shen Chuan Anniversary

How many of you know that this year marks ten years in the evolution of Shen Chuan?

Fall of 1995 is the year that Professor Lansdale and "the core" consider the birth of the official art, Shen Chuan. It was at that time that Professor Eugene really turned up the heat for Joe to strike out on his own. He was already moving in that direction, and Eugene kept insisting that it would be advantageous to him, and the art he was teaching to do so.

The summer of 1996 was a turning point for the infancy of Shen Chuan. Joe began weeding out all applications from Matsukaze Budo and Maverick Kenpo that he thought were impractical (by Shen Chuan standards), too big, allowed too much space and were not following the concepts and principles that Joe envisioned for his new system. The system that emerged is what we now know as Shen Chuan. The name being Chinese for "Spirit Fist", to pay tribute to the awesome striking ability of the system. Joe, being the Martial Arts historian that he is, felt necessary to pay tribute to the Chinese for their contributions to the Arts. But when it comes to the Martial Science of Shen Chuan, as the title of our future book clearly states, It Ain't Chinese.

Joe and Terry made their split official. Terry moved out and began teaching some form of Aikido at the local recreation center. A few diehard Aikido students went with him, but the majority of us stayed with Joe. We remained in the Pillar Street dojo for the remainder of the year.

During this time, Joe began looking for a permanent home for our dojo. The rent at the Pillar Street location was high, it sat on a creek bank that was prone to flooding, the building was old and dilapidated and the number of students had grown to the point that our floor space was used up. It so happened that the daughter of Shihan Worsham was taking dance, gymnastics and cheerleading from a local lady who he knew on a personal level. She had recently moved to another location and confided in him that she didn't think she was going to hold on to the old place. He told her that he knew of someone who might be interested in it before she put it up on the market. He told Joe about it and that was the last he heard of it for awhile. Later, on the same day, both Joe and the lady told him they had struck a deal. A few weeks later, Joe informed the class that beginning in January of 1997, we would be located at the new dojo on the loop. The dojo would be referred to as Lansdale's Self-Defense Systems, and the main training hall became Vachss Hall. This was named after Joe's longtime friend Andrew Vachss, who had helped him both financially and in friendship.

Of the original high ranks to make the move, only Sensei Chad Francois did not come with us. He was pursuing a career in law enforcement and was preparing to move to Austin, Texas. Those that did make the move were Eugene Frizzell, Coy Harry, Paul Britt, Chad Curry, Ryan Dewitt, Billy Jack Worsham and a slew of lower ranked students.

Moving into the dojo in January of 1997 was a milestone in Shen Chuan history. The "new to us" dojo had been fixed up a bit, a wall torn out to provide a secondary training room and the greatest thing of all, wall-to-wall mats. No longer having to aim for that 4 x 6 piece of ½" mat from the old school.

The system itself was going through changes also. Joe was uncomfortable with the "all hail the Grandmaster" attitude that came with titles. He felt that if he had to be called something, that could be repeated in public, it needed to fit with what we were trying to accomplish. It was agreed that since Shen Chuan was taught similar to school, or more appropriately a school of higher learning, that we would call him the "Professor". There are no documents from a tenth Dan guru, or from a college institution proclaiming him as such. There is however a school of self defense and loyal students known as Lansdale's Self-Defense Systems that recognize him affectionately as the "Professor' of Shen Chuan .

Camp Lansdale #8, October 2004

Wow... Amazing... I hurt... So much more could be said for this years' Camp Lansdale. It was truly our best one yet. No doubt the superb guests and instructors contributed to that fact! So many times we go to camps and seminars and watch the "instructors" standing to the side, discussing their mastery, while never actually doing much. It spoke volumes seeing Professor Lansdale, Master Will, Sifu Michael, Sifu Tye and all of the Shihans, banging on each other and hitting the mat. A true atmosphere of learning was evident. No one was "above" getting banged around in order to learn something new, no matter their "status".

Friday night kicked off a weekend of great learning. Professor Eugene Frizzell and his top students hit the floor with some stick bangin', knife slashin' and empty hand technique from the Shen Chuan StickBoxing Division. These techniques which combine Filipino, as well as other stick and knife arts with the Shen Chuan balance disruption and locking technique is a sight to behold. Effective.

Sifu Michael Billings closed Friday night with some self defense techniques from Kenpo. Great stuff. We had Sifu Billings as a guest last year. Since then Professor Lansdale was a guest in his school for a seminar. It has been a great friendship. Sifu Billings, like us, has an open mindedness in his approach to the arts. If it's good, he borrows it and adds it to his repertoire. It was good to see him again, and to note a little Shen Chuan flavor starting to show in him. And with Kenpo being one of Shen Chuan's largest influences, our students got to see some of their history in true form. Thanks again Sifu!

Saturday started out at a blistering pace. Professor Lansdale got down to business with some Shen Chuan striking. This was followed with a healthy dose of balance disruption as well as checking and control. It culminated with a variety of self defense techniques designed with all of the aforementioned concepts and principles in mind.

Sifu Tye Botting took over at the midmorning break and introduced us to his flavor of Praying Mantis. It was a real treat to see this Art in action. Shen Chuan students are exposed to concepts and principles of this system, yet very few have actually seen it practiced in it's truest form. Much less the opportunity to learn some of its applications from such a fine Martial Artist as Sifu Tye. Sifu Tye has been to our camps before, in attendance, but this is the first time he has had the opportunity to actually teach at our school. We were missing out. Look for more interaction between our school and Sifu Tye in the future. In fact, Professor Lansdale, Shihan Coy Harry and Professor Eugene Frizzell will be teaching at an outdoors camp put on by Sifu Botting's school.

After the lunch beak, Grandmaster Will Higginbotham demonstrated techniques from Kempo and accupressure techniques. Needless to say, the techniques haven't become less painful since the last time Grandmaster Will was our guest. Grandmaster Will tailored some of the techniques to fit a Shen Chuan flavored application, which was a real eye opener. His skillfulness at revising and adapting his skills to fit any given situation was evident. Several of these techniques have already been "borrowed" and are now part of the Shen Chuan application. Professor Lansdale and Shihan Coy Harry will continue the "trading" at an Indianapolis Camp on November 20th, at Grandmaster Will's school.

After another session from Professor Lansdale on Balance Disruptions, Shihan Billy Jack ended the day with a session on concepts and principles, showing how techniques and application from a standing position were also applicable on the ground. These were not "set techniques", but rather an idea of using the concepts that we study in the standing position in every class and apply them on the ground.

Saturday night, an informal banquet was held at San Miguels where there was a lot of eating and camaraderie. Professor Lansdale was presented with a certificate stating that the students and staff of Lansdale's Self-Defense Systems had recognized him as 10th Dan in Shen Chuan, Martial Science. The only 10th Dan that will ever exist in the system, in fact. Shihan Coy made the presentation and explained the reasoning, that being, it was decided by staff and students that this would be our recognition. Professor Lansdale could have gone before a council of his Martial Arts peers of other systems to obtain recognition. We felt that it was more befitting, coming from the staff and students who have been with him since it's inception, that this recognition come from those who know Shen Chuan first hand.

Shihan Coy then expressed his gratitude to Professor Lansdale, for each of us, in passing on his skills and giving us the tools to continue what he has started. The entire room was in agreement.

Shihan Billy Jack closed the ceremony with a moving 15 word speech, that lasted a total 17 seconds. His speechin' skills have improved tremendously in the last few years, that much was evident.

Sunday brought more of the quality instruction we had enjoyed on Saturday. All of Saturday's instructors returned to expound on their previous lessons. And we should take this opportunity to invite all of those who on Saturday voted for a Sunday joint locking session, when Professor Lansdale took the vote, to come back and visit us for some quality one-on-one joint locking sessions. They'll be free.

Shihan Coy Harry closed out the day and Camp Lansdale #8 with a session on "moving from soft to hard techniques". This is what we would classify as a "window to the future" lesson in our school. Upper level techniques and ideas that are shown to lower ranks, the planting of a seed, that will mature at a later date.

Shihan's skills as a teacher become apparent when attempting to get higher level ideas across. Watching Shihan Coy at work, one quickly realizes the wisdom behind Professor Lansdale's decision to name him Soke Dai of our system.

Camp Lansdale #8 continued the tradition of Professor Lansdale bringing in outstanding Martial Artists', that otherwise would never know Nacogdoches, Texas existed. If you have not attended one of our camps in the past, mark your calendar for the first weekend, next October. It will be worth the wait, and you won't be disappointed. We'll see you then.

Photo Gallery from Camp Lansdale #8

end Newsletter Volume 6 Issue 2