The Internal Martial Arts are human.

They were not handed down from on high.

They did not simply materialize, whole and complete, out of the ether.

They did not appear in some vision like a Matrix style download from god.

The Internal Martial Arts are human.

• They were created by PEOPLE.
• They were created to be USED by people.
• They were created to be LEARNED by people.

Regular HUMAN people.

Just like you and me.

When you place your martial art on a pedestal…

…when you claim they are too profound to ever be truly mastered…

You are creating an excuse for inadequacy. You are accepting failure.

If the art cannot be mastered…

…the student cannot be blamed for failing to train hard enough.
…failing to study hard enough.
…failing to find the best teachers.

And the teacher cannot be at fault,
…for a terrible curriculum.
…for bad information.
…for failing to deliver.

That all sounds a little too convenient for my taste.

The martial arts are not meant to be pondered and theorized and placed on a pedestal.

They are meant to be taught, learned and USED.

Come kick down the pedestal and drag your martial art down into the mud where it belongs.

Come join us in the Internal Combat Arts Course.

www.clearsilat.com/internal-combat-arts

I received some great questions about the Lower, Slower, Softer training article.

So, Why Lower?

Well, your ability to relax and move well at ‘thighs parallel’ has a direct impact on your power and quality of movement when you are standing up.

One aspect of this is that the stronger your legs are the less effort it takes to support & move your body weight. The less effort it takes to stand and move the more you can relax and be softer.

The stronger your legs are, the softer you can be.

So, even in arts like Tai Chi and Bagua that often (though not always) fight standing up, this low training will greatly improve your expression of the art.

Also, as soon as you start working low, tension and structural errors stick out like sore thumb. Forcing you to correct them.

Low training allows you to use all 3 dimensions much more effectively.

Many Silat systems work from a medium height…

…but can instantly be flat to the floor or standing all the way up.

This freedom of movement not only adds a lot of power,

- It also greatly increases your ability to use ALL the space around you,

- It increases your reach,

- It’s one way to say out of of your opponents reach but keep them within yours,

- and it allows you to capitalize on any stiffness or hole in your opponents range of movement.

Of course it takes time to build this kind of leg strength.

So, you need to start training with things you can use right now.

…with things that work well with the strengths and weaknesses that you have at this very moment.

You DON’T need to spend years training low postures BEFORE you can fight with the art.

This is why we created the 16 week Internal Combat Arts Course. Because we believe you should start these arts by learning how to USE them.

That’s the Kuntao tradition: Function First.

There are no forms in the course,

just a whole bunch of fighting methods and internal principles

(and a few Chi Kung exercises.)

www.clearsilat.com/internal-combat-arts

In 1978 the ground breaking radio show Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy gave us the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything.

The answer is 42.

For over 30 years folks have been wondering what The Question really is.

Meanwhile, also during the last a little over 30 years, Sigung Clear has been asking questions as well.

Different questions.

He’s been asking Tai Chi masters Tai Chi questions, and Bagua masters bagua questions.

He even asks his students questions so he can learn how to teach them better.

And when he began designing the Clear’s Kun Tao Silat curriculum he looked at all the advanced arts he knew:

* Tai Chi
* Bagua
* Xing Yi
* Several Silat styles
* and a few Tibetan arts

and he asked a very important question:

“What do these arts all have in common?”

Phase 1 is the answer to that question. It’s a synthesis of all the principles and techniques that are shared by several or all of these arts.

And it’s broken down class by class so that students can learn these skills as quickly and easily as possible.

What happens when you take the most common principles from the most advanced martial arts and break them down class by class?

You end up with 42 classes.

Go learn which questions you should ask and which answers you should question right here:

http://www.clearsilat.com/clears-kun-tao-silat

(There’s also a 42% discount if you get the entire phase 1 series at once.)

Take Care,
Ben Sterling
Ben@ClearSilat.com

P.S. Don’t forget your towel.

One of the most memorable scenes in Raiders of the Lost Ark is when a Really Big Guy with a really big sword steps out of the crowd to confront Indy.

…and Indy just shoots him.

Nice and simple.

No wasted time on a elaborate fight scene.

Just take out the opponent quickly and efficiently.

…and in a way that is completely outside their expectations of the situation.

That’s Kun Tao.

It’s what sets Kun Tao apart from traditional Kung Fu.

Kun Tao doesn’t mess around with elaborate choreography they way traditional Kung Fu systems do.

Kun Tao doesn’t waste time on complex training methods that are slow to yield results. (a problem that plagues the internal arts: Tai Chi, Xing Yi & Ba Gua in particular.)

Kun Tao is the direct approach.

Explosive, Efficient, Effective self defense methods and training that is powerful and direct.

Why waste time with anything else?

To save time and learn efficiently go here:

http://www.clearsilat.com/clears-kun-tao-silat

Take Care,
Ben Sterling

p.s. I know many of you have experienced what I’m talking about first hand. So send me some of the craziest things you’ve heard from teachers who were trying to waste your time.

My favorite one that Sigung Clear tells is about walking into a school and the teacher telling him, “You train too much!”

Monday we talked about the dark side.

How teachers use overload to hide information and how you can fight it.

But there’s a light side too.

Uses that are good and productive.

Here are 3…

1) Principle vs technique

In our Kun Tao Silat classes we will often show dozens of techniques on a
single principle.

Students are overwhelmed by the number of techniques and so they pick up the
principle.

They gain functional skill much faster this way.

2) Immersion…

We use this in our Fa Kung Healing workshop.

http://www.clearstaichi.com/fa-kung

We take material that would normally be spread over months or years and by
condensing it into a single weekend students experience a dramatic increase
in their ability to feel and manipulate energy.

Our upcoming Xing Yi workshop uses this as well.

http://www.clearsilat.com/xing-yi-quan-workshop

You will leave with more power and a better ability to use it effectively.

3) Video…

You can pack a lot of info into a short period of time…

and there’s no danger of overload.

Plus students can choose between and intensive immersion experience or
learning a step at a time.

The key to all these methods is carefully designing a curriculum to maximize
the result your students will experience.

To experience this yourself check out our Tai Chi Iron Body program:

http://www.clearstaichi.com/iron-body

Take Care,
Ben Sterling
Ben@ClearSilat.com

“There are no shortcuts in Kung Fu.”

I bet you’ve heard this before. I know I have.

And I would almost agree.

Except…

What do you call the direct route when no one else knows it?

It’s not really a short cut. It’s just how you get there.

Like taking the freeway instead of the scenic route. You’re going 75 mph while everyone else is winding their way through the mountains.

30 mph.

one switchback after another.

up the mountain, down the mountain, then back up again. Over and over and over.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the scenic route… When I have time.

But if someone told me I had directions to the freeway and I ended up on some one lane road in the middle of nowhere, I’d be pissed.

There are no shortcuts in kung fu ONLY if you know everything already.

I know I’ve still got a few things to learn…

So I always keep on eye out for that freeway sign.

Even Sigung Clear is still learning. Now more than ever. He’s constantly looking for the next level of information. Filling in more pieces of the puzzle.

And always looking for better ways to teach the things he already knows, in the hopes that his students will one day catch up to him.

If you feel like you’ve been on the scenic route a little too long…

Try the freeway for a change.

It’s still hard work,

But you’ll get there a lot faster.

Our Internal Combat Arts series is the on-ramp. Go check it out over on Amazon:
http://www.clearsilat.com/internal-combat-arts

Kung Fu is taught completely backwards.

1. Learn your stances. Start building your low horse.
2. Learn some forms & techniques.
3. Maybe learn a couple drills.
4. Learn some highly technical applications.
5. And then maybe someday you learn about how the art really works, or you move beyond qigong sets and actually learn a little of what internal is really about.

This is backwards. It’s wrong. It’s designed to waste your time.
[Read more...]

This lesson is brought to you Clear’s Silat Vol 4.

You can read more about Zero Pressure here:

• Silat Zero Pressure
• 6 Keys to using Zero Pressure

This is from Phase 1 Class 5: Alive Hands.

Read more about alive hands:

• Silat Alive Hands
• Silat Alive Hands Drills
• Silat Alive Hands Applications

Learn the Bear Style Djuru.

• Standing Bear principles
• Constant motion
• The shock kick
• The Lion’s Roar
• Wide eye

All performed at the same time.

The Bear Style Djuru begins with a shock kick while raising the hands up above head height and then the hands come crashing down while the weight sets down onto the front leg. A combat version of the Lion’s Roar matches the movement for a complete body action in 2 parts that can be performed in less than a second.

A Djuru is a hand pattern or technique and the Bear Style Djuru is a whole body action with the kick while the hands are raising up and down in front of you.

The Bear Style Djuru eats up all of the space in front of you and causes you to rapidly advance on an attacker faster than they can normally respond. Most people will get out of the way and try to flank. With practice you can easily turn and change directions while performing the Bear Style Djuru making it quite difficult for someone to successfully complete a flanking action.

I personally like to compare the look of the Bear Style Djuru movement to the character of Pac Man in the Pac Man video game.

In the Bear Style Djuru the arms go up at the same time that the shock kick is performed and then the arms strike and compact down while the weight is shifted forward onto the front foot that was the shock kick. Then the shock kick is executed again and the hands fly up again and then the downward strike and compacting action are repeated.

This cycle continuously repeats as much as desired or until there is no longer a threat or the threat has been neutralized (ran over).