Professor Lansdale has set the number of concepts and principle of Shen Chuan to 31. These are Shen Chuan. They are the why and how of every technique.

Recently Professor Lansdale tasked me with cutting the core 31 down to a smaller number. The following is the result of my work. They are my interpretations and are not meant to replace the core 31. Hopefully you will start to understand the 31 better by looking at the 10. When you understand them the next step is to implement them into your sets. You will find that by doing this you will get better, faster. I challenge you (Black belts especially) to make the list even smaller.

1. Relaxation - This includes both physical and mental relaxation. Your body should not be tense, this leads to reaction. With relaxed flexible limbs and a calm relaxed mind you are better prepared to respond and deal with the threat. Breathing should also be relaxed, take advantage of your entire lung volume, don't pant or force the air into or out of the lungs. Your movements both offensive and defensive will be faster and more powerful. When you strike you can use the trampoline effect. This is when you ricochet your attack from one point on your opponent to another, seemingly instantaneously. Physical and mental tension are the bane of a true Martial Artist. Many of the following concepts and principles require the use of relaxation in order to be applied correctly and effectively.

2. Balance - Includes Natural Stances, Mobility and Stability. Natural stances are those in which your feet are roughly shoulder width apart with slightly bent “shock absorber” knees, loose hips, a straight relaxed spine and a mental image of a light torso. Movement occurs with steps that are about shoulder width in length. Understanding triangulation points allows you to be mobile and stable simultaneously. Using the methods above in conjunction is referred to as footwork. Proper footwork and manipulation of triangulation points allow you to maintain a stable platform in any situation. When you master your balance you can better disrupt the balance of an opponent. Balance can also refer to your knowledge of the Martial Arts. A balanced martial artist can punch, kick, lock and throw both on their feet and on the ground.

3. Proper Body position - If you have time to "get ready" use a power side out position. This means put your right side forward if you are right handed and vise versa if you are a lefty. Your hands should be in the Safety Zone, which is up near your face. They should be open with the palms facing out or relaxed Puppy Dog Paws and your elbows should point down covering your body. Your eyes should be looking at the opponent at a place in which your peripheral vision encompasses your opponents whole body. Weight should not be distributed evenly on both feet, this slows movement. Instead put your weight on either your back foot or front foot depending on the situation. During the confrontation you should position yourself in the "warm zone' outside of the opponents arms or the "cool zone" behind the opponent instead of the "hot zone" inside the arms.

4. Economy of Motion - Use your body properly. Big sweeping motions are wasteful. Short concise motions are best. Efficiency is the rule, if the motion or application is not efficient it is wasteful. Streamlining your opponent and following body contours are methods that utilize economy of motion effectively. The application of these two methods are similar. In streamlining you follow the attacking motion in very close, like a dolphin swimming along the prow of a ship, you just ride it in. Once you are in close, your arms and legs follow the contours of your opponents body in order to strike areas where you will do the most damage. Many times the areas will coincide with acupressure or nerve cavities. Neither of these methods includes leaning away or ducking away from an attack.

5. Control Space - Most of the time you apply this principle by taking space away from your opponent. If they have room to move they will. There are two basic methods of controlling space. The first is the push drag. You simply push off of the back foot and shoot in to your opponent, then you drag the back foot in to regain proper position. It is vital that you push drag offline of your opponents centerline. This maneuver is very effective at throwing your foe off his game, the attacker becomes the victim so to speak.

The second method is check and control. Checking your opponents limbs with your hands, arms, legs, feet or body controls their ability to use the limb being checked. Thereby controlling the space and options available to them for countering your next move, along with giving you the opportunity to take away more space by controlling them. A control is just a "check with meaning" or adding pressure to the checked limb to trap it or move it out of your way. No matter how much he works at getting you away you get closer and closer and smother him like a wet towel. Many times getting close will allow you to make incidental strikes. These are unintended strikes to your opponent from your shoulder, hips et cetera, usually occurring when they are trying to get away or counter your techniques.

6. Blending - Blending is a complex concept, it has low, medium, high and master levels. The low level is a combination of blending as many concepts and principles in your technique as required and simply avoiding head on collisions. You just get out of the way by moving offline or go where they aren't. Make sure you are relaxed and have the proper body position, balance, et cetera. Medium level is following the energy. This is accomplished by moving with your opponents motion or attack not against it. For example if he pushes just go with it and allow it to pivot you instead of move you out of position. When your strike is blocked go with it and strike from another angle. High level is referred to as marriage of gravity and transference of energy. You blend your motions with gravitational force . This is done when you enter as you intercept and as you strike by having a relaxed downward physical motion as well as thinking "down". When striking, locking or throwing you blend physical motion and mental intent. This allows you to hit through your opponent, lock through the joint and throw into the ground, transference of energy. Master level is blending your body, intent and will with that of your opponent as well as sensitivity to touch. You no longer think him and me, you think us. Your motion governs both, if you move he moves with you and vise versa. This allows you to strike in the void. Because the blending is so complete you know when your opponent has no way to avoid or brace for the attack. Consecutive locking occurs when through sensitivity to touch you blend the motion of your lock to consecutive joints and down the spine.

7. Gain and Maintain Confusion and Pain - This principle is vital to winning the day. It begins from the moment before the physical attack to the very end in which you are safe. Before the physical attack you can surprise and confuse your opponent by distracting them with pointing, bunny ears, whistling/yelling, acting weird or sometimes striking first, anything to get their mind off its game plan. If you can whistle or yell in a very loud manner it may even cause pain. As the physical attack begins you can confuse by misdirection, motion or ghosting. Misdirection is movement, usually with your hands, to cause the opponent to look at the movement and not where they intended to strike. This will sometimes cause their attack to go to the movement and not its intended target and confuse your opponent as to why they didn't hit you. This can also be done by throwing your keys, coffee or change in their face. Moving towards the attack offline as in #5 and controlling space will confuse them greatly because most people move back and away from an attack not into it. Ghosting is a very high level method of confusing your opponent. In order to ghost someone you have to make them believe they are going to hit you and in the very last fraction of a second you are not there. This is done by mastery and integration of all of the above concepts and principles. When contact is made by you their pain begins. We intercept attacks we don't block. Blocking violates several of the above concepts and principles. Interceptions are offensive responses not defensive reactions. With an intercept you get first come first served, meaning you attack the attacking limb. When you strike or grab the offending limb be sure to hit with the smallest point possible such as the bone in your wrist or the tips of your fingers. This maximizes your force and their pain. Grabbing and wrenching joints hitting pressure points and or nerve cavities will damage or destroy the attacking tool. Intense pain when not expected will also confuse. From the interception the pain and confusion are continued by working high, medium and low. Don't just head hunt, strike head, abdomen and or groin and kick the legs in any combination. Remember to hit vital areas in these regions to maximize pain and confusion.

Combinations also refer to striking, locking and throwing in any order. Locking is great way to maintain pain when done correctly. When locking make sure to use leverage, as in lever, base, fulcrum and small circle concepts. These will intensify the pain greatly intensifying the confusion. To sum up this principle "Be on them like white on rice on a paper plate in a snowstorm."

8. Use your Mind - The most dangerous and flexible weapon you can carry with you is your mind. Reason rules passion if you have a strong mind. Thinking can keep you from having to Defend yourself in the first place. You can talk your way out of most situations. Remember self defense is not trying to prove who is the toughest, its proving who is the smartest. Running is self defense, think about it. If you do go into a dangerous situation think about things in the environment you can use as weapons or obstacles. Also by keeping a relaxed mind you will tend to do only what is necessary in a self defense situation, in an efficient manner. Over kill happens when emotions overcome you and you lose control. Fear is one of the most incapacitating emotions. All people exhibit fear in some form during a stressful situation. The difference between someone who lets fear overwhelm them and someone who is able to act despite the fear, is the mental ability to compartmentalize the fear. A strong relaxed mind will have the capacity to deal with the trauma of a life and death situation better than one clouded in fear. Keep in mind that life is precious, none more so than your own. It is better to be judged by twelve than carried by six.

9. Train your Intestinal Fortitude "Guts" - This is the thing few people have but all can be taught. It is the ability to fight through pain and fatigue maintaining your will to survive. Some people think they are able to do fine in a fight if they go through the motions of some martial art. Most are wrong. Techniques in most dojo's are done cooperatively. Not with someone trying to knock your head off. If you can't do the technique in the dojo when you are tired from working all day and your partner is not cooperative how can you dream of doing it when a bad guy is after you. You must train with pain. Pain in the dojo is not injury. When you have been hit, locked and thrown by people who know their business, an attack from an average person pails in comparison. To quote General Patton "The more blood on the training field the less blood on the battlefield." This does not mean that training must be brutal, just realistic. Taking it easy in the dojo does no one any good.

10. Let No Rule Rule You - You gotta know when to violate the above.