Masonic Martial Artists

[Center]

Thanks Center. Great suggestion. Your decades of martial arts training is impressive. I consider you are equivalent as a master or sifu. I had informal training purely for self defense, but I believe the art of winning is not to have one. The idea of having a whole bunch of brothers will definitely discourage bully from thinking about it. That is one of the reasons, I want to join Freemasonry.

Yes I was Sifu, I fought on the ring and also with true repentance several no rules fights against dozens of semi-pro. I was looking for a spiritual path, and instead I ended up to try to win my fears, engaging myself against few men that were fighters just because they had anger inside for their life.

Then I understood that the real war is only inside ourselves, our animal part, all the rest are dogma to me. And the way to partake to this war, in the years has been always more clear and not less surprising

 

[Howard Giang]

I was looking for a spiritual path, and instead I ended up to try to win my fears, engaging myself against few men that were fighters just because they had anger inside for their life.

Interesting! It appears you have challenged and overcome fears. How about have you found your spiritual path yet or eventually?
Yeah, anger or emotional projection inside is not good in any sports especially in martial arts. Easily losing focus and falling into a trap. BTW, just curious, why you chose a rose in place of your supposed photo image. Any reason or significant?

 

[Center]

Interesting! It appears you have challenged and overcome fears. How about have you found your spiritual path yet or eventually?
Yeah, anger or emotional projection inside is not good in any sports especially in martial arts. Easily losing focus and falling into a trap. BTW, just curious, why you chose a rose in place of your supposed photo image. Any reason or significant?

Thank you to ask Howard but I do not think the path one is making is eventually really important,

If I go California, I focus on California, not on the street even better if you focus on the street, the street can be your enemy because if you are too aware of the street you risk to lose the direction Of course one have to take a street, and maybe there are more streets, one more comfortable, one faster, one with more curves. But possibly one starts from Texas, maybe another one from NY, taking much more o less time. One start the trip with the snow, another with the sun and will go on bike. All reasons why I like freemasonry, no dogma, you give the meaning to the things becoming a master builder

My bet is that if one REALLY want to go to California he will find the way to start the journey, but if I think well what most martial arts taught me is that you do not arrive in any place, you cannot be perfect in the practice even if you can improve yourself a lot, you just enjoy to do it

Hope this could reply to your second question, I choice the flower simply because I like it, possibly more than my self

 

[Tyler Atkinson]

This has been on my mind so much lately! I hope to get me and my daughter involved in either tae kwon do or jiu jitsu!

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[Howard Giang]

If I go California, I focus on California, not on the street even better if you focus on the street, the street can be your enemy because if you are too aware of the street you risk to lose the direction Of course one have to take a street, and maybe there are more streets, one more comfortable, one faster, one with more curves. But possibly one starts from Texas, maybe another one from NY, taking much more o less time. One start the trip with the snow, another with the sun and will go on bike.

Thanks Center. Very high level in conveying a message. I had to read your message a few times to understand what you meant. Your philosophy can also apply to martial arts and many other goals including spiritual path. One thing I learned is that I should not reveal to so many people know about embarking on a journey because going to California and be part of California can be difficult if some streets have obstacles need to be figuring out first.

Let’s talk about martial arts. What do you think? As you imagine, I think closed fist martial arts regardless of their forms is not considered an art form or impressive. For example, my Grandfather was a Wing Chun practitioner. He came to Vietnam from China in the early 1914. He used to collected wood branches to cook and to sell the extra. One day, on the way home, he was stopped by a group of men asking him to leave his wood bundles or pay a fee or get hurt. According to my Grandma story with many villagers stood watching but not intervened, my Grandfather disrupted, deflected, and disabled various forces causing all the men to fall down a few times; however, he never punched any man using a closed fist. Using Wing Chun style to push down or away without punching any man, to the villagers, my Grandfather showed impressive Wing Chun’s forms. The next days, many people came and asked my Grandfather to teach their children to fight. My Grandfather insisted he wasn’t fighting as no one was injured. He later reasoned to my Grandmother that if he had injured those men, he would not be abled to gathering wood in the forest anymore. Aside from a boring story, I have witnessed a few street fights. They usually started out with martial arts forms then proceeded with closed fist indiscriminated punchings to wrestling on the ground. They can last about 1-3 minutes. What do you think? I think closed fist punching is a fighting form but not as an art form. I meant a punch can kill a person known as a fatal blow and is used in all martial arts; however, so are other methods and techniques even more effectively.

 

[Roy_]

Early december I saw martial arts in an open lodge!

This requires a little explanation for those interested.
My order has different Rites. In most of them there are formal and informal meetings, an informal meeting is often a lecture of some sort. There is one lodge in which the lectures are held in open lodge when the speaker is a Mason. And so they had a karate Mason speaking about karate and Masonry and showing some moves towards the end.

 

[Howard Giang]

This has been on my mind so much lately! I hope to get me and my daughter involved in either tae kwon do or jiu jitsu!

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Hi Tyler,
It depends on a lot of things for example, your age and your daughter age including height and weight and especially what you and your daughter are intending to use it for. If you have more choices, I would recommend you and your daughter to consider Wing Chun Kung Fu. Wing Chun was developed by a woman. Easy to learn with a shorter period of times. You and your daughter can practice and spar at home to enhance natural response and performance. In addition, it can be fun with the benefit of like a workout, and it does maintain appropriate contacts and respectful from each other.

Anyhow, if above styles are the only two choices you have, I would pick Tae Kwon Do over Jiu Jitsu because Tae Kwon Do is easier to learn. For example, kicking or kneeing in the groin area and run way or escape as quickly as possible would be more practical in term of self defense. On the other hand, the practical application and the specialty of Jiu Jitsu are harder to learn and apply in self defense with multiple attackers. In self defense, you want to respond as quick as possible and walk away as quickly as possible; therefore Jiu Jitsu would not be good on street unless it is a one on one with certain rules, or you can apply another style in addition to Jiu Jitsu. Jiu Jitsu is great for tournament with rules like UFC. For example, Jiu Jitsu does require you to wrestle and be on the ground with the attacker. It would be difficult to execute or disable a threat fast enough to handle 2 attackers. Also, it would be harder for you to make a decision whether and when to let the attacker goes. Is it when they scream “I am given up" or you have eliminated the threat by putting the attacker to sleep before you can safely walk away. This method may take time to fully put the attacker to sleep and may never be achieved if the attacker is big in size. Practicing and sparring with Jiu Jitsu style at home with your daughter will appear inappropriate in both discipline and contacts.

 

[Center]

What do you think? As you imagine, I think closed fist martial arts regardless of their forms is not considered an art form or impressive.

Depends, I did boxing, muay thay training, and a lot of ground fight, I was also quite muscular, and trained thousands of chain punches on bags, shadow boxing, and with elbows combinations, pressure points and advanced biu tze drills.And the style i did out of dozens was really based on the real fight. It can be really effective at my advice, but I repeat you boxing and muay thay should be trained not only by you but also from your sparring partners, otherwise you train yourself against mediocre boxers acquiring a false confidence. When you are in a close stance all the rules and conditioning become really relative in favor of fastness, power, stamina, and..fortune.
Hope I replied you, I would stop here to not go off topic. Martial art is not my thing anymore, the idea to injure somebody is really dangerous, and the negative feeling that leaves you a bad *real* no sport fight can stay with you per days, both in the body than in the mind

 

[JanneProeliator]

This has been on my mind so much lately! I hope to get me and my daughter involved in either tae kwon do or jiu jitsu!

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Hi.

I am black belt in both taekwondo and Brazilian jiujitsu. Can you tell me where you are and what schools you are thinking of joining? I might be able to help find out if they are legit.

When eve schoosing a martial arts school there is few things that are important. First of all the quality of teaching and professionalism of the gym. But on the other hand what is more iportant is that the hobby you schoose is something you desire to do, it is in convinient location and the athmosphere at the gym is nice.
I would suggest you to go and visit the local martial arts schools and see the trainings live so you and your daughter get some idea of what kind of that training is and if the vibe of the gym is something you like.
It does not matter at all if you can practise it at home with your daughter or not. Everything can be practissed at home if you want to. How easy it is to learn does not matter at all. What matters is if you enjoy what you are learning.

 

[Otis F. Brck]

I currently hold two Shodan in Matsubayashi Shorin Ryu Karate and Matayoshi Kobudo. Also I hold a 3rd Kyu in Kenpo, did six years of Southern Five Animals Chinese Boxing (not progressing beyond beginner level).

 

[Rifleman1776]

Yes, I am a 7th Dan Black Belt and have chaired three National Govenring Bodies for karate in the UK. I teach/examine all over the world and have been practising karate for 42 years. My karate website is via https://kentkarateschools.co.uk and I am Chair to a UK martial arts National Governing Body - https://nakmas.org.uk - Osu..!

I took Karate Do lessons for three years in England back in the 1960s when I was in the U.S. Air Force. My instructors last name was Bell. I always wished I had kept up the training. But, many years later I occasionally took my grandsons to Taekwando classes. Compared to my previous Karate Do training I thought the Taekwando was pretty silly and nothing close to a self defense art. Some in the class achieved black belt ranking after only about six months. Nonsense.

 

[Warrior1256]

Some in the class achieved black belt ranking after only about six months. Nonsense.

Agreed. ANY martial art that awards a Black Belt ranking after so little time is not worth studying for six months.

 

[Center]

martial artist is a way to be, goes well beyond the fight, or the training. We are warriors to survive in this life, as this world is hard and so stony, but a man who is kind to another, and cheerfully helps him along...

 

[Ron Joyce]

Do you practice Martial Arts? What style do you practice and where do you practice at?
How has Martial Arts changed your life?
How has Masonry impacted your Martial Arts and vice versa?

I'm a judoka from UK, 3rd Dan and previously British champion 3 times (although that was about 4 stones ago!). Now a qualified coach via BJA at 62 my contest days are behind me.

Martial Arts - judo in particular didn't change my life, it was my life. I trained a minimum of 5 times a week but often 4 sessions through the week and all day Saturday and Sunday.

The ritual side was easier to follow knowing how important ritual was in judo, and also the respect shown in both masonry and judo is commendable.

 

[BLGunn273]

My kids have been studying Gracie Jiu Jitsu for about a year now and love it. About 3 months ago I began my journey in BJJ. I have my first stripe and look forward to many more years of rolling!


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[JanneProeliator]

My kids have been studying Gracie Jiu Jitsu for about a year now and love it. About 3 months ago I began my journey in BJJ. I have my first stripe and look forward to many more years of rolling!


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Awesome to hear that you enjoy jiujitsu.

Where do you guys train BJJ and with who?

 

[BLGunn273]

Awesome to hear that you enjoy jiujitsu.

Where do you guys train BJJ and with who?

Camden Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Small town school. The coaches are blue belts under Jorge Borras. Professor Borras school is in Lexington TN. Professor Borras trained under Professor Carlos Valente and Professor Rickson Gracie. Professor Borras studied under them when he was stationed in San Diego with the Naval Special Warfare SWCC teams.


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[JanneProeliator]

Great.
In small towns sometimes the instructors are beginners them selves too but that doesn't matter. As long as people have fun learning and it is done the right way.
Remember to travel to Jackson or Nashville or any other bigger place with more advanced instructors when ever you can to pick up some more learning and do the seminars your gym offers.
That's how I started. There was two blue belts and one purple belt in my gym when I started and the purple belt moved abroad. In whole country we had only one black belt and hand full of browns. I was travelling alot to train and compete. I started to teach at white belt because I had background in other martial arts and I was active in seminars so I was giving back the teachings I learned at those seminars. Today it's easy for the beginners in our gym. We have sevarl home grown black belts and there is always black or brown belt teaching usually. SOme times a purple belt might teach a training if no one else can.

 

[BLGunn273]

Great.
In small towns sometimes the instructors are beginners them selves too but that doesn't matter. As long as people have fun learning and it is done the right way.
Remember to travel to Jackson or Nashville or any other bigger place with more advanced instructors when ever you can to pick up some more learning and do the seminars your gym offers.
That's how I started. There was two blue belts and one purple belt in my gym when I started and the purple belt moved abroad. In whole country we had only one black belt and hand full of browns. I was travelling alot to train and compete. I started to teach at white belt because I had background in other martial arts and I was active in seminars so I was giving back the teachings I learned at those seminars. Today it's easy for the beginners in our gym. We have sevarl home grown black belts and there is always black or brown belt teaching usually. SOme times a purple belt might teach a training if no one else can.

Very true, they are having a seminar in Lexington TN with Royce Gracie. My kids went last year and had a blast. We will be going again this year for sure.

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[JanneProeliator]

Royce is a legend.