Well they are still together and engaged. And Adam isn't any blacker or bluer than he would have been anyway. So I guess he's doing right by her.

Congratulations to you both, and here's to a long, happy and prosperous future together!

Keith Lansdale, son of Professor Lansdale was also recently wed and enjoying the newlywed life.

I guess Professor and Karen can now start taking those moonlit walks and all the crazy stuff folks do when the kids are grown and belong to someone else!

Cassidy Jones, yellow w/ black stripe belt entered and placed fourth in a Jujitsu tournament held in Dallas, Texas a couple of weeks ago. This was Cassidy's first tournament of any kind, and we are proud of him to say the least.

We are a self defense system. But as Cassidy learned, when you are taught concepts and principles, your skills will not be confined to a particular art.

Jon McCloud, yellow belt, was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers in our United States Army on August 11th, 2007. John is also a DMG (Distinguished Military Graduate) and one of only 272 in this nation to earn the George C. Marshall Award, named after General of the Army George Catlett Marshall, Jr., the "organizer of victory". This annual award is presented to the most outstanding Army ROTC cadet at each university across the Nation offering ROTC. It is the highest award given to a chapter in Kappa Alpha Order. The Award is presented during a three-day Seminar in Lexington, Virginia during which the award winners have the opportunity to explore a broad range of national security issues. As Jon said in an article for the SFA newsletter, "it was an honor to have been selected for the George C. Marshall Award".

The line-up of highly decorated speakers at the seminar addressed a wide array of topics, including "Peacekeeping and the U.S. Military," "Homeland Security," "Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism," and "Media and the Battlefield."

Speakers also addressed issues related to Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf, Israel, Russia, China, Japan and the Koreas, and Latin America. "There were some great round-table, small-group discussions," McCloud said. "Some of the things I learned were really eye-opening."

Congratulations Jon. You've worked hard in all areas of your life, and it shows. Here's to a long and prosperous military career! Come back to see us and get some refresher training when you can!

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.

"Intent"
By Professor Billy Jack Worsham

I sat in my recliner, eating a cold supper and watching Human Weapon at 11:30pm after a long day of working my day job and a part-time job. I had my son set the DVR to record the show so we could watch it together at a later date. But I decided to go ahead and watch it while I wound down for the night.

Hosts Jason Chambers and Bill Duff were headed to the Philippines to absorb all they could on Escrima. At the end of the show, Chambers would spar a 5-time world champion Escrimador. While I thought Jason held on very well, and made a respectable showing, it was the escrimador's look of intent that caught my eye. Every ounce of his being was focused on the utter destruction of his opponent. I believe if that guy had not known any type of art, he would still have been a force to be reckoned with just from the shear intent in his being. It was written all over him.

A couple of days later I stopped by the Army recruiting office here in town. My nieces husband is a recruiter there and a veteran of OEF. We talked about differences in the generations of soldiers and fighting men.

He will be transferred next year and will be in charge of training men for a particular kind of fighting. One thing he, I and his fellow recruiters fell upon, especially in the youngest generation, is the lack of animalistic intent. That switch that we all posses, to turn it on and go ballistic on an impending threat.

My son takes Taekwondo from Master Russell Maness here in Nacogdoches. We've had this conversation more than once. In fact we had it again the other night as I had time to stop by and watch my son work out. The frustration of trying to get people to practice like they mean it.

Especially younger adults and children who have not realized their mortality yet, nor have seen the dangers that can exist in the world. The past couple of generations have become lax. There are no wolves at the door for most of us. For the most part, especially here in East Texas there is an ambivalence to human predators. Most of us will never face the dangers of "mean streets". We are complacent to live in our own little worlds thinking everything is hunky-dory. And that is okay to an extent. We don't need to walk around paranoid and always looking over our shoulders. There is a difference between paranoia and situational awareness. But what must be appreciated is the ability to train like you will face that danger. Like your life is on the line. To flip that switch and transform yourself from happy-go-lucky to a warrior.

The key to flipping that switch is knowing where it is. You can't turn the lights on if you can't find the switch. Knowing it is there is not helping you when you are fumbling around in the dark. The key to knowing where the switch is, how and when to turn it on, comes from training like you mean it.

Years earlier I was brushing up on my pistol tactics. My new wife ambled out to my homemade range to watch. After I burned up a box of ammo, I asked her if she would like to try. She did and we both had a good learning experience that day. Later I asked her if she would be willing to get her concealed-carry license when Texas eventually "allowed" us to carry. I was surprised, given my father-in-law was an ex Highway Patrol officer, that she had never pondered self-defense and that she was not the least bit interested in it.

"What about our kids, when we have them?", I asked. "What if they are attacked and I'm not around?"

"I don't know. I guess I'll cross that bridge if I'm there. But I don't think I could pull a trigger on someone."

I cringed. She told me to pick up my jaw.

I teach people to kill or be killed. Maim or be maimed. Self preservation of ourselves and our dearest beloveds. Concepts and Principles #29. And my own wife tells me she doesn't think she could protect her own children. Probably not exactly the way she meant it. But that's how I took it. A caring soul doesn't imagine injury of others.

Flash forward a few years and a three kids later. I round the corner at a local store and there is my wife just ripping into this 6'2", 250 pound man. Another woman is trying to hold HER, 5'4" and 120 pounds off of HIM.

Ten minutes and a huge misunderstanding later I find out that she truthfully thought he was trying to take one of the kids.

If you know her and run into her later, DON'T ask her about this incident. She tries to forget it.

But suffice it to say that she found "that switch". Her intent was such that I'm glad she didn't have a gun. It could've been messy.

I am relieved to finally know that when it comes down to it, she can flip that switch. She has no formal training, but she realizes there is a time to throw civility out of the window in these so-called civilized times. To know that although she may not ACTUALLY kill someone, that she has it in her ability, in self defense of herself or her loved ones to do the absolute most that is necessary to go home safe.

So where does that leave us as teachers, students, trainers and humans.

Train on the mat like your life depends on it. The "intent" that you put into your attacks and counters will have direct bearing on your ability to call them up in crisis. Go animal. If your instructor has you kiap, do so from the bottom of your bowels, in the most guttural sound that you can muster.

When you give an attack, give one that will absolutely take your opponents head off if he doesn't do what he is supposed to do. Do it with sensibility and control, but do it with the intent to do bodily harm. Let your brain AND body know what it is like and that it is okay (and beneficial) to let go.

When you are the one performing the self defense techniques, do them in the spirit they are intended. You are there to learn to defend yourself. Do it with the intent to survive. Give your uke some pain. He will learn from that as well. Strike him with the intent to knock him into next week, while maintaining the control not to injure him. Reap him with a growl in your voice so that his feet fly up into the air, but with the control to allow him to fall correctly. He should know that if you were both on the street in a confrontational stance, that his head would have just ended up buried in the pavement with his legs sticking out like a lawn dart.

Younger ladies and gentlemen, I say this as the father of three; Your time is for laughing, giggling and having fun. That is what you SHOULD be doing at a young age. But... If you take martial arts and you are there to learn self defense, and you are serious about it, then you should provide the "intent" in your training. You should be practicing like the kidnapper is pulling you from the playground and life as you know it may be over. You should be kicking, screaming, striking, biting and elbowing your attacker all the way to the morgue, in your mind and in your practice. Then you can go be with your friends, confident in knowing that you ARE gentle as lamb, but have sparred with the lions, learned from the lions, and can become a lion slayer if need be.

Adults... you know what the world CAN be. You know what can happen to yourself or your family. You are paying hard earned money to learn the best self defense we can offer. But like the saying goes, "you get out what you put in". Your intensity should be bordering that which you would experience if accosted on the street. Your brain and your body should KNOW that feeling. As Professor Coy says, "unrealistic training is time wasted on the mat. It does neither you nor your partner any good".

Here it is again. Professor Coy had it in his piece first, but I'm going to repeat it. I guess it comes from both of us having a military background. But as General Patton said, "the more you bleed in training the less you bleed on the battlefield". He meant not only the physical aspect of training, but the mind as well. Total physical output AS WELL AS total mental output.

The intent you bring to bear against your enemy in training and in face to face combat will be the winning edge needed to triumph over him.

"Hit hard... Hit fast... Go to the House".

It's more than a motto.

It's an intent!

Following is a continuation from previous newsletters of Professor Coy's explanation in the design of Shen Chuan and theory behind the "four fists' of Shen Chuan", beginning where we left off in the last issue; the soft-hard fist:

In the previous newsletter I carried you through the theory behind the third of the four fists' of Shen Chuan, the soft-hard fist. That brings us to the last level, that being the soft fist.

SOFT FIST

Talking or writing about this level of Shen Chuan is very difficult. You must experience it to understand.

The human example of Soft Fist is the reaching of what some refer to as old age. The ability of physical body has been greatly reduced so they rely on their mind to get things done. Of the four Fists of Shen Chuan this is the most difficult to achieve and master. It is the zenith of Shen Chuan. A Soft Fist practitioner makes a technique look much like any great artist makes the creation of a masterpiece seem like nothing out of the ordinary.

This level is the same for everyone but the feel of it may be different. The focus of Soft Fist is the use of truly minimal effort to achieve maximum results. You don't really learn anything new you just apply the concepts and principles you've already mastered differently. Misdirection moves attacks without contact, the slightest touch causes a throw or a lock or a damaging strike. The feeling on the other end of a Soft Fist response is one of utter confusion. You don't know what happened. You punched at the person and right when you think you hit them they are gone and you are on the ground most often in pain. The stories of this or that master disappearing and reappearing are nothing more than the use of this level of martial arts. Some people foolishly believe that it is some mystical talent causing the confusion even though it can be replicated by other non-mystical people. The real cause of the apparent magical power is an awareness of your body's maximum potential. You have relaxed physically to the point you gain maximum elastic potential out of your muscles. This allows you to be supple and flexible which gives tremendous speed, power and penetration from what appears to others as being a minimum of effort. What they don't realize is that you are utilizing your muscles maximum efficient output. Another reason for maximum muscular output is the fact that your subconscious is running the show and it is very efficient at coordinating your whole body into an action. A practitioner of Soft Fist looks like a snake in that they seem to move all over or nowhere and things happen. Bad things happen.

Concepts and Principles of Soft Fist

1. Be patient - The only way to move through the Four Fists of Shen Chuan is to be patient. You are where you are and you will reach the next level when you are ready. If you push too hard you will meet stiff internal resistance and you will tend to get frustrated and most likely you will quit. You should always strive for the next level but don't miss out on the experience of the level you're at now. The beauty of the martial arts is that you can spend a lifetime and never master it, don't focus on the destination so hard you lose track of wonders of the path.

2. Minimize to Maximize - You should minimize your motion so it will be 100% efficient. This is done in the subconscious. By minimizing you maximize your output.

3. See the result - This means to let your subconscious do what it wants don't force anything. The training you have had until now will be there. You will begin to make things happen that you had no idea you could do.

4. The hand is quicker than the eye - When you want to misdirect the motion of a person you must put your hand in a position in which it is picked up by the vision of that person. When you do this while the person is any dynamic motion their subconscious will cause them to follow your hand and you will guide them where you want.

5. Slow down to speed up - When you gain efficient motion you will find that you tend to be ahead of everything the attacker does. You will need to slow down or you will not be able to let yourself do anything. Your mind will slow the action down for you but you will need to be aware of slowing down your responses in some situations. When you get it right you will feel that you are moving in molasses and your assailant will not really even be able to see what you are doing.

This concludes the series on the "Four Fists' of Shen Chuan".

Thank you Professor Harry for this invaluable insight into the intricacies of Shen Chuan and the heart of our system.