Saturday, May 27, 2023

Category Completion

(recently posted on Facebook by Mr. Ron Chapél)

Early on when Mr. Parker decided to do something extraordinary by writing "manuals" for his instructors to keep everyone generally on the same page, he noticed that the bulk of the attack scenarios tended to be for some kind of right punch. Naturally, because most people are right-handed, that's the way we think. 

Others who were copying Ed Parker did the same. 

Realizing there were so many attack scenarios that needed to be addressed he, in conjunction with others came up with the idea of "Category Completion." 

He would take a base attack, and there would be a defense created for it. But, then he would "complete the category" of say a right punch. The base might be to go "outside" the right punch but to complete the category to ensure he didn't miss any possibilities, he would now do "inside" the right punch. Then, "over" the punch, followed by "under" the right punch, and you can see these variations represented in the Modern Manuals. 

As he got deeper into the material and the technique scenarios became more diverse and complex, he could see this approach wasn't going to work. Looking for another approach, he ultimately came up with the "Web of Knowledge." 

Based on a circular spider's web, as you moved around the web, it touched upon specific attacks and specific belt levels and even explored the differences between active versus "dead hands" as well as weapons, etc. This was to cover reasonable possibilities in order of priority of occurrences without ignoring belt levels and realistic possibilities. 

"Priority of Examination" is major. This has become even more significant as time has gone by because of the competitive nature of the business of martial arts that has forced people into "Martial Identities." This is a necessity to separate themselves from the competition, thus creating unrealistic subculture-focused arts and disciplines that ignore the realities of street self-defense. 

This has blurred the lines of "art," and "disciplines," over true street self-defense to drive priorities. This has given us "arts' that focus on just knives or sticks, etc. whose relevance in street self-defense is very low in Modern American Culture in the frequency of occurrence. 

Mr. Parker felt that greater time and energy should be spent on the most likely attacks over short-sighted focused anomalies. So you see at each belt level an examination as need of "grabs and tackles," "pushes," "punches," "kicks," "locks and chokes," and finally "weapons" in that order. 

By examining this it should be obvious the order of importance Mr. Parker placed on certain assaults according to time commitment to self-defense training in the modern American Culture for most people


Monday, May 22, 2023

USSD - Shaolin Summit

(from the USSD Facebook page)

Train with the warrior Shaolin Monks of China in an exclusive Orange County Summit workshop open only to USSD students.

For more than two decades, the Shaolin Temple and USSD have shared a time honored bond.  Our unique relationship affords us a rare and privileged opportunity for USSD students to train in an exclusive summit with the Shaolin Monks of Songshan, China. without having to leave the OC.   

 

Sunday, May 21, 2023

The IKKA moving forward



(from the IKKA Facebook page, December 16th, 2022)

To the American Kenpo Karate community, martial artists and American Kenpo enthusiasts worldwide, we are proud to announce that we have made some exciting changes within the management and structure of the International Kenpo Karate Association (IKKA). An Executive Management committee has been created to ensure the IKKA can continue as a sustainable association and organization while remaining aligned with the wishes and vision of SGM Ed Parker, Sr.  

The IKKA Executive Management Committee will be tasked with all day-to-day business matters related to the IKKA including welcoming new members into the IKKA, caring for the needs of its members, and perpetuating Ed Parker Sr.’s American Kenpo Karate system. 

We have also created a panel of Curriculum Advisors that are available to work with IKKA members, teachers, club and school owners and offer guidance to those who wish to teach and perpetuate the American Kenpo curriculum to the next generation of eager martial artists. 

If you are interested in becoming a member of the IKKA or wish to renew your membership, please visit EPSIKKA.com and connect with us on our “Contact Us” page or email us directly at info@epsikka.com.   

We offer the warmest welcome to our new prospective members and look forward to a bright and exciting future for the IKKA. 

Bobby Lawrence, Executive Management Committee, Chair

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Sunday, May 14, 2023

The Four Stages of Index Learning

(recently posted on Facebook by Mr. Ron Chapél)

I. Stage One - Alphabetic

This is the preliminary physical stage of learning in any physical activity, where the alphabet letters or basics are learned and physically pronounced singularly and properly in preparation for subsequent stages of learning. Some Stage One alphabets crossover into Stage Two because in physical activity, some alphabets of singular action require multiple “letters” to function as a unit, therefore, becoming “phonic” in nature. This is most apparent in the complexities of the Martial Sciences, particularly in interactions.


II. Stage Two – Phonetic

This is the second stage of learning in any physical activity. It stresses the basics of proper execution and constant and consistent physical correction, anatomical alignments, and structural integrity, as its primary function. Like Stage One, it requires a significant teacher with knowledge of, and the ability to identify improper execution of the smallest detail and a student with the personal discipline to execute and accept the critical corrections.

At this stage, in many ways, it is like a subjective dance, in that students do not know what they are doing and everything is abstract in nature. The student must trust the instructor’s guidance to reach their goals. This can usually be accomplished by observing others that have undergone the same process, who are further along, and their acquired skill level.

Its primary goal is to begin the process of training the body internally and creating muscle memory and synaptic pathways associated with the activity in preparation for the next stage of development. This process is also known as building a “Mind/Body Connection” for the specific activity. It is the highway path the brain will use to send signals to specific body parts to function. However, laying out the path of the highway does not yet make it ready to support intense traffic and this is considered a “soft memory.” Here the term Phonetic Basics is appropriate to distinguish what is learned from more expeditious and intuitive actions to come later in one’s development. The individual alphabet components of Stage One, are combined into a Phonetic Unit.


III. Stage Three – Script/Cursive

Here the movements began to take on a more fluid look as the mind in conjunction with the body become more comfortable with the activity. The corners are becoming more rounded although the movements are still significantly large and pronounced as we execute with a more flowing, smooth, and unhesitating action.

It can be compared to drawing a square as opposed to drawing a circle. A circle may be drawn rather quickly but a square takes more time and is much more difficult to do proportionately correct. The square is essentially phonetic, while the circle is a scripted or cursive movement with a greater tolerance for error.


IV. Stage Four – Shorthand/Abbreviated

When the movements externally begin to become significantly shorter and more direct in their scripted execution, it becomes “shorthand.” This is where external speed begins to emerge beyond the ordinary. Although the movements originally learned in Phonics are present, they now flow with a shorter more directed action, but still, retain the structural integrity of the now well-trained substructure anatomy. It is important to understand, that if training begins at this level, it will not have the foundational structure for consistent success and long-term sustainable synapsis.

It is important to understand abbreviated or shorthand actions may not achieve the same results if all the previous stages of development are not significantly met, before moving to the next developmental stage. While a person may be taught abbreviated actions as a starting point as in some interpretations in some arts, this quick method although expeditious is not capable of supporting the mind-body connection, in conjunction with the structural support achievable under proper Index Stages of learning and training.

Although some shorthand methods may develop to an acceptable level, they will always fall short of the efficiency obtained in the slower more methodical method that produces internal support and efficiency over external movement. Mass-market applications of martial arts training rely on the expeditious method for student retention. Older methods screen students for discipline factors and goals, train without little regard for retention and instead focus on maximizing skill development. Thus, these institutions are fewer, and less popular with the masses, although they traditionally produce a much superior product.


V. Stage Five – Internal/Chi

This is the esoteric “dragon” we speak of or the true professor stage. In practice, it really does not exist. What it is, is the culmination of the proper understanding and execution of the Four Stages of Indexing or learning, coupled with the time element needed to fully inculcate its lessons into the human synapses’.

Here sometimes the indexed movement may be externally imperceptible, creating all the alignment and structural integrity necessary for the functional activity internally, because the mind controls the body alignment, not the body. This is “why” you train the external to nurture the internal. This is the ultimate in functionality and speed with the true economy of movement created by the external training of the body to have the subsequent effect of training the internal to the extent that the exaggerated phonetic external movement is no longer necessary to achieve structural integrity or anatomical efficiency.

This methodology although expressed differently in other disciplines, is well documented within the older cultural arts from the Chinese, Indonesian, and East Indian, and movements that may appear excessive or unnecessary have only to be properly interpreted. Nevertheless, all stages are functional, although as you develop physical and mental familiarity with any movement, anatomically correct or not, it naturally becomes more expeditious in execution.

But just because some movements may be internalized does not mean that all applications allow such execution. Some applications require large movements to maximize efficiency physically in a real-world interaction. It is here we fully begin to understand the philosophy of execution of what I term American Chuán-Fa™. The idea is nothing is arbitrary, and has always had a position of significance in the Chinese Methods that Mr. Parker learned, and that I embraced fully under his guidance after beginning my journey under Sifu Ark Wong.

Its meaning becomes clear in that it encompasses Mr. Parker’s “Four Depths of Combat,” found in his Modern Kenpo and expeditious motion-based vehicle, (which serves its purpose), but also includes its many subcategories, as well as the Four Stage Method of learning as he taught me. All are valid but not all can produce equal results. You cannot get to stage five by any other method, other than significant time properly spent in the preceding stages, guided by someone who is knowledgeable. You cannot begin stage four until you have progressed through the previous three stages. With little effort, videos can be found of Mr. Parker philosophically speaking of Phonetic Motion, Alphabets of Motion, Scripted/Cursive Movement, and even Shorthand, and how you must proceed through the stages. Some presumed you could do it all at the same time as a mental exercise. The process requires a specific foundation of material to be taught, over a time period at each level to be functional. Without that foundation, and the time element removed, students gravitated to Level Four, without the physical or mental foundation to get to Level Five.

It is an accelerated self-defense vehicle as he intended. I believe if he had lived, his Four Stage Methods of learning would have become a vehicle for those willing to move to higher levels of learning. It would have been the next level of learning His Kenpo. However, unlike other interpretations, it requires significant knowledge of all that may teach, it moves beyond quick self-defense skills and is not as easily proliferated because of the labor-intensive efforts on the part of its teachers, and self-discipline demands on the casual students.

Therefore, at the time, it was not his primary focus. While he worked on it personally, the masses only saw it when Mr. Parker demonstrated, moving quickly and explosively with power, while he never explained all that head movement, stomping, slapping, or any subtle movements of execution, for the knowledgeable they were very significant.

Mr. Parker always said it was a matter of choice and that the masses would not be inclined to submit to this level of training, and the dearth of those qualified to teach contributed to his preliminary approach to get the art to the masses first, with an eye on raising the bar later for those who could graduate to the next level, while maintaining a large and strong base of practitioners to draw from.

Monday, May 8, 2023

American Kenpo Belt Levels, The Themes

(By Roy Travert)

In creating one of the most up to date and structured self-defense systems in the world, Senior Grand Master Ed Parker arranged each belt level to specifically teach an area of the art that was felt to be of the greatest benefit to the student, thus the student is able to spend time developing the area of the art that is applicable to them, this in turn means they do not try to accelerate their learning beyond their point of comprehension for the belt level they are at.  Instead, the student should spend the time at each belt level concentrating on what that level is teaching and try to incorporate that element into their training. 

The art has three main stages of learning, the first is the primitive, the second is mechanical and the third is spontaneous.  By following a specific structure to our study of American Kenpo, we hope to retain the knowledge given to us as quickly as possible, so it is to be of the greatest benefit in the shortest possible time. 

The primitive stage of learning is the early days of training. This level can be dangerous so caution and control is advised when practicing with a partner.  It is a time of learning when the student training lacks perspective, the student at this level should try to develop themselves mentally as well as physically.  They should also try to develop strong basics and perfect their stronger side first.  Once the student feels confident with this first side they may then precede to their weaker side, thus practicing on both sides of the body leads to more ambidextrous qualities.  Movements at this level are executed in a crude manner lacking timing and co-ordination.  The student at this stage is taught how to do each move rather than how each move may be used is a combat situation. It is a time of intangibility and awkwardness.  The student must learn the value of working towards a goal and having the will power and conviction to see these goals to completion.  This stage of training emphasizes the importance of acquiring a proper attitude towards their study of the martial arts and that this is the first step to a better understanding of themselves. 

The mechanical stage is the level of training when the student is more impressed with their own physical prowess than their actual ability to fight.  Their movements are clear and precise but are applied mechanically and without sequential flow, an integral part of reaching the spontaneous stage.  The student is also more equipped to fight verbally than to fight physically.  This stage of training teaches definition.  The student at this stage may have a greater understanding of how each self defense technique works and may have a certain amount of success in applying this knowledge in actual combat; however their physical reaction and application, in some cases, may be spontaneous while on others it may not. 

The spontaneous stage; of all the stages of learning this is the most tangible and rewarding.  Where the ability of your natural weapons act without premeditation and forethought as if they had minds of their own.  Through all the students training the focus will have been to acquire and attain this level.  Once attained it will take continual training just to maintain this level of spontaneity.  This is the stage where the student's weapons react without restraint, where the moves are executed with fluidity and sequential flow.  It is the student's ability to flow through all three states of motion - solid, liquid and gaseous. 

As you start on the path of martial arts, we must remember that each of these stages of learning will at some time overlap and that within each of these stages are plateaus of learning that are also multi-leveled.  The student may experience the feeling of one or all of these levels at some time during their training. While remembering that the ultimate level that they should strive for is that of spontaneity.  It is important to have a basic understanding of the three stages of learning, otherwise how can the student focus on the training ahead when they have no knowledge of their ultimate goal. 

As Senior Grand Master Ed Parker would remind us, "Like a custom made suit should fit the individual, so should the Kenpo system be tailored to the individual"

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Steve Muhammad - Founder of the Black Karate Federation


Mr. Parker is in video briefly as well interviewing Mr. Muhammad