UNITY IN DIVERSITY FULL CONTACT FIGHTING

It is often wondered, why there should be different styles of fighting. There will always be different martial arts styles, but why should there be rules applied to “contact fighting”?

Bruce Leee has said “As long as an individual has two hand and two legs, he will fight in the same way” Then why do we have Karate Kumite, taekwondo sparring, Judo randori, and wrestling and boxing bouts?

I think fighting is divided only for convenience into different ranges.

Long distance kicking range, medium distance hand range, intermediate knee & elbow range, close grappling and groundwork ranges.

Different ethnic groups have developed their own versions of each range, like kicking developed from China would be termed Shaolin Gung Fu, from Japan as Karate, from Korea as Taekwondo, from France as Savate, etc.

Similarly hand attacks are developed in western boxing, eastern karate, and Filipino Kali.

Knee elbow attacks are predominantly practiced in Filipino Kali, and in Muoy Thai from Thailand.

Westerners grapple and do groundwork with Wrestling and easterners with Judo and Dumog.

So we can conclude that martial arts are divided depending on predominant range and ethnic method of using that range.

But how can free style contact fighting develop without the combination of all ranges and styles?

Practitioners learn one style and get stuck to its limitations and start believing in it as the only truth. Then they say that they respect other styles. You can only respect a style when you derive from it. When you adopt its advantages and discard its limitations, yes for this you have to first open your mind to learning it. That means starting off as a beginner with the novices after already being an expert in your own style (which can at times seem demoralizing).

Lee advocated studying all ranges and imbibing the useful and reject the limitations.

So the difficult to execute high kicks of taekwondo may be replaced by the groin and knee kicks, the high guard of boxig be rejected as it does not protect below the belt, while the rabbit and kidney fouls be absorbed. In grappling the fouls of head, neck locks and hammerlocks be absorbed, while the jacket throws be rejected.

Even on the mat the impact blows of karate be used along with the matwork principles of pinning of judo, along with the locking techniques of Filipino dumog and western wrestling.

Bruce Lee outlined these principles in his Jeet Kune Do and firmly stated that JKD is not a new system. But there are spates of JKD style schools all over the world. The immature martial artists search for a new style will never end.

All full contact martial artists must therefore advocate fighting in all ranges as part of their teaching curriculum.

JEET KUN DO

JKD is not a new art or style. JKD is a concept based on the following principles.

Simplicity. Mechanically, the more parts a machine has, the greater the chances of it breaking down. Accumulation of techniques only adds complications. Being simple in nature, JKD believes in few tools practiced to the point in which they are extremely efficient.

Directness. A line, being the shortest distance between two points, is the most logical path rather than a curved detour to reach the final destination.

In being direct, no excess motion is exerted. For example, If an assailant grabs your wrist, some forms of martial arts may teach you to stomp on their foot, lock the wrist, take them down to the ground, and then finish them with a strike to the throat. The direct approach would be to strike them in the throat right in the beginning.

Effectivity. JKD believes in absorbing the useful and rejecting the limitation. Only techniques which work are taken. For e.g. the sport rules of various fighting are discarded and the foul techniques are imbibed. JKD uses any means necessary to accomplish this task. If grabbed you may bite, scratch, or pull hair or whatever best fits the situation.

Non classical. Practitioners do not wear uniforms, they do not practice forms, and they don't waste time with complicated techniques simply because of tradition. Shoes are worn, and training with equipment is given a lot of importance.

Open mindedness. JKD is open to newer ideas and concepts which work. It is a constantly evolving art.

Fluidity. JKD believes in flowing, there is never an opposition to the forces and energies exerted by the opponent. All JKD techniques and responses are in accordance with the ‘flow’. JKD does not rely on one specific technique or another to counter an opponent. You should be able to adapt to the situation at hand. As an attack approaches, you adapt to it with the appropriate response. The opponents attack becomes your attack, as you fit into the opening created.

Individual Uniqueness. JKD is unique for each individual. The techniques that work for a big burly man are not the same as those which work for a small lean man. Each individual has to travel his journey to find something exclusively his own.

Adaptability Bruce Lee states that JKD can "fit in with any style". This does not mean that JKD can be added to any style to make it more efficient, or vice versa. What it probably does mean is that JKD can counter an adversary regardless of their style or system.

All inclusive, excludes nothing. JKD is not limited to only punching, or only kicking. During training, comfort is to be developed in all ranges. It is fighting with any ability you may have…..

'Using no way as the way, No limitation as the limitation'

MODERN MEDICINE –MYTHS & REALITIES.

Modern Medicine has made many advances & newer equipment has been invented, but have all these resulted in greater patient cure, let us examine.

1. The PATIENT is supposed to be patient with his illness and hence is so named.

And not mistrust the wisdom of the body.

2. The DOCTOR is supposed to care for the patient, keep him reassured with his technical knowledge that the Body is always right in its response to the illness and to provide for the patient’s comfort during the processes of Birth, Growth, Ageing, Disease & Death

3. MEDICINES ARE:-

Chemicals which provide symptomatic comfort to the patient eg.Pain Killers and are categorized into:.

a. Poisons which kill bacteria by destroying Bacterial DNA and thus can also cause

Adverse side effects by acting on body cellular DNA eg. Antibiotics.

b. Substances which alter immune responses/ Processes and thus also effect body immunity eg. Steroids.

d. Anticancer drugs which destroy cancer ‘Cells’ as well as normal Cells eg. Chemotherapy.

c. Miscellaneous Group.

Of all these it is only worthwhile using symptom Relievers, that too occasionally.

4. DISEASE’s are illnesses which cause “DIS-EASE”

A Cancer in the breast may not cause dis-ease.

A Heart attack causes only chest pain of 1 hr.

Usually hypertension has no symptom. Gallstones

And Kidney stones may be accidentally detected after the patient carries them for years without any Dis-ease. So are we right when we use the word?

5. Man is a mammal. There are so many inferior

species under him, cats, dogs, Cattle, fish

reptiles, insects etc., All these lower animals live

life comfortably without doctors, dentists, labs.

X-ray’s, medicines etc. They appear to be more comfortable in their illness and in their lives, whereas with all Our modern medical advances we appear to be LIVING IN FEAR & INSECURITY. What is really wrong with our Medical system?

Let us examine our attitudes:

a.. We identify any & all abnormalities as Disease.

Even if they don’t cause dis-ease eg. Gallstones Kidney stones, Varicose veins, Piles, Tumors, skin infections etc are often asymptomatic

b. We also identify the diseased part as Foreign/Alien.

For eg: We feel a gallstone & Kidney stone is as good as a pavement stone. Lets get it removed even

If it causes no trouble . A lump in the breast has To be removed irrespective of its nature.

A Diarrhoea expells garbage which is not part Of us, so lets stop the Diarrhoea.

c. We believe all lab tests and X-rays & Scanning tells us of the problems in the body.

Actually these tests are letting us know about How well the body is coping with the disease Process. For Eg. If there is a severe infection. The blood WBC count which has risen to Fight the infections and the fever is to increase the immune response. We also believe that the lab tests are more important than the patients state of comfort or discomfort. So abnormal stress Test in a normal patient means bypass surgery. Abnormal lab tests alarm the doctor and this alarm is often transferred to the patient.

d.We also believe that the body is wrong and the doctor knows better:

Hence we expect the doctor to come and set the body right. The body is a Computer of the highest order and The body is always right in its action, response and Manifestation.

e.We believe Modern Medicine can reverse diseases.

After nearly a century of research and billions of dollars spent Cancer , Diabetes, Heart attacks, Strokes are still irreversible. Modern medicine has only improved the diagnosis by expensive Catscans, MRI’s ,Scopes put into all orifices, but very little significant change has resulted in reversing these diseases.

f.We believe that conventional medical thought is right.

All heart attacks patients have to be in ICCU, then why in the US have trails shown that patients treated at home do better?

For years we believed that milk is good for ulcers, now it is considered bad for ulcers.

Fifty years ago, heart attack patients were kept in bed for 6 months, now they return to work in 6 weeks.

So our belief that conventional medical thoughts is right is proving to be wrong.

g. We are also governed by leading thoughts & ideas.

For eg. It is believed that smoking causes Lung Cancer. Why then all lung cancer patients are not smokers?

Why is it that all smokers do not develop lung cancer. ? Do we not question whether cancer is caused by carcinogens or because of cellular DNA changes? Despite the Nobel prize winning discovery that cancer is due to cellular genetic events?

We believe that untreated cancer spreads from one site to another (Primary to Metastasis) How do people operated for early cancer then develop metastasis

Why are we governed by leading thoughts and ideas put forth by some scientist at some time in history.

h. We believe that medicine will cure illness.

Colds will be cured, Cancer will disappear, Diabetes will vanish and Hypertension will settle.

We don’t realise that medicine will only ease us, at the cost of creating some adverse effect elsewhere in the body .A Politician took chemotherapy for a harmless cancer with low malignant activity and has developed Kidney failure and is undergoing dialysis for life.

j.We believe that Doctor is GOD.

Even the Doctor likes to believe that as he feels omnipotent We believe so, because we don’t want to feel hopelessly lost against disease. We believe that all

Manifestations of disease are harmful, Ageing is abnormal & illness is a adverse happening.

k. We believe that Death is the most disastrous happening:

We believe death is an unnecessary tragedy of life, and intensely painful, that it is evil, bad should be avoided at all costs. That the doctor will help us to combat/ delay it. We don’t realize that death is a necessary complement of life and that it is a painless release, the time decided by our DNA and out of control by the Doctor. So as is rightly said “If your time hasn’t come, not even the doctor can kill you!”

6. WHAT THEN MUST WE DO?

We have to change our attitudes.

We have to understand that ideal life style habits like good healthy food, water, air, exercise, good thoughts go a long way in keeping us healthy. Civilization has made our life style irregular.

.Food habits, polluted air, sedentary life styles, smoking, Alcohol, drug abuse have all contributed towards diseases. By correcting life styles, we can go a long way in aiding our already efficient body to combat disease.

7. We must understand that inside our body there are billions of symbiotic beneficial bacteria, fungi , etc living in perfect harmony with our bodies which we must learn to respect.

An occasional infection with bacteria in one site of our body may not necessitate aggressive antibiotic therapy as this will also destroy the symbiotic bacteria all over the body. Further this is assuming that the body is incapable of its own defense.

8. All healing in the body occurs with Inflammation, called ‘ ITIS’ e.g Tonsillitis , Bronchitis etc.

Pain is an essential component of inflammation. Hence we must learn to associate it with healing since pain does not permit us to exert and rests the inflamed part.

9. Also all organs of the body are self cleansing. Food pipe cleans itself by vomiting & diarrhea, Urinary tract by frequent urination, ENT by sneezing & Nasal discharge , Respiratory tract by Cough, Gynec Tracts by Menstruation & discharge. So we must believe in the body’s defenses

10, We must know that the body is always right and knows best how to cope with disease that no support from outside will change the course or the outcome of most diseases significantly. That the doctor can only ease the pain, provide comfort to us, advise us on life styles, provide tech knowledge for us to understand the disease. We must learn to trust our bodies and live secure in the knowledge that all that happens, happens for good. And we must realise that DEATH IS NOT ADVERSE and that THE DOCTOR IS NO GOD.

Cooke in Oxford Companion to Medical Studies writes “ most of medicine is about relief of, and comfort in suffering. and in the main very little to do with saving life"

As it is rightly Written in Love & Bailey’s Bible of

Surgery:

“ From inability to leave well alone,

from too much zeal for what in new &

contempt for what is old

from putting knowledge before wisdom

Science before art. Cleverness before common

Sense

From treating patients as cases and

from making the cure of a disease more

grevious than its endurance

Good Lord, deliver us”

Sir Robert Hutchinson

1871 - 1960

To which I may humbly add-

“from

disrespect for the body’s wisdom

contempt for the disease process

disregard for microorganisms

fear of death and disease

associating illness with death

dissociating pain from healing

awe of medical advances

underestimation of body defences

undue expectation from the doctor

from disbelief in the rules of destiny,

God or Nature,

Good Lord Deliver us.

THE SANITY in INSANITY

(MENTAL ILLNESS : A NEW PERSPECTIVE)

(1) DEFINITIONS

Can we define Insanity? For that we will have to define sanity first.

The difference between the two is a thin zigzag line and we use socially acceptable behaviour as the major criteria to differentiate.

Furthermore if Insanity is defined by sane people, sanity will have to be defined by insane people

(2) STATISTICS

In the U.K. 20% of general population are mentally ill. About 40% of total hospital admissions for systemic diseases have mental illness. Other stats are

6% Population mania & Depression

9% Women mania & Depression

9% Population Anxiety & Neurosis

1% Population Schizophrenia & Pyschosis

5% Population above 65 yrs Dementia & Alzheimers disease

20% Population above 80 yrs Dementia & Alzheimers disease

(3) CLASSIFICATION OF MENTAL ILLNESS

(A) AFFECTIVE (MOOD)DISORDERS (Mania & Depression)

Extremes in mood (affect) are inherent in human condition Distinguishing pathological mood alternations from normal changes in feeling has eluded clinicians for centuries Extreme exaggerations of mood, mania (elation) & depression (sadness) with a marked tendency to recurrence would be called affective disorders by the modern day psychiatrist

(B) ANXIETY & STRESS DISORDERS [ NEUROSIS ]

Anxiety is a common emotional response to the external viciissitudes of life. Paroxysms of persistent feelings of worry and resultant somatic responses of trembling, sweating, rapid breathing & sleeplessness would be classified as Neurotic disorders

In conversion (Dissociation) Disorders i.e. Hysteria, mental disease manifests as physical illness e.g. gait disturbances pseudoparalysis. Aphonia (loss of voice) pseudoseizures (fits) or pseudoblindness or pseudo amnesia (loss of memory)

(C) PSYCHOTIC (Delusional) DISORDERS. [SCHIZOPHRENIA]

These are mental states with illogical thinking, loosening of associations, Inappropriate emotions, paranoid or other delusions & hallucinations lasting at least 6 months.

(D PERSONALITY DISORDERS

Inappropriate & socially unacceptable characteristic ways of thought, feeling & behaviour (the so called personality) constitute this group.

(E) MEMORY DISORDERS

[DEMENTIAS]

Senile dementia implies memory loss after 65 yrs the so called Alzheimers disease

(F) MISC DISORDERS

Substance abuse (drugs, alcohol etc), Behavioural disorders, sleep disorders etc complete the spectrum

(4) PSYCHO GENESIS OF MENTAL STATES

a) A human is born with certain temperamental traits determined by genes. His adult behaviour, his vulnerability & response to stress, his ability to recuperate and his psychological interpretation of the past stressful experiences all depend on genes. Different individuals respond differently & store past events differently in their memory areas of cortex.

b) At birth Freudian Complexes are born. Sigmund Freud put forth his hypothesis of sexual inferiority complexes arising in childhood

The male child is attached to his mother and is constantly worried that the father maydisapprove and according to ‘Freud is afraid that the father may punish him by castration and that he may then resemble his sister; without the penis (The oedipus complex)

The female child is attached to the father and is worried that the mother has already castrated her penis as a punishment (she believes she, like her brother had a penis) (The electra complex)

In adult life the sons inferiority to the father translates as an inferiority to any other man and similarly the adult woman develops an inferiority complex to other women.

As the child grows, the complexes to the same sex magnify and at a adulthood, it is this inferiority that provides the drive for competition, career, marriage, material success, etc as the man tries to prove himself superior to the other men around, whom he identifies unconsciously with his father.

c) Childhood events play a very large role in the psychological makeup of the individual

Frustrations of not getting what one wants, Communication gaps with parents, siblings & classmate jealousy, difference of opinions with the Teachers, peer pressures all contribute to the mind set of the child.

Further traumatic events in childhood years like death of a near one, change of school, physical illness, parental disharmony, failure in class, & realizations that the economically well off children have all the benefits of a easy life without any struggle all contribute to ones psyche.

d) Large turnabout events of life like change from educational institutions to the work place, change from one family to another as in marriage, marital problems, having offspring, change from economic security of the father to economic insecurity of an independent adulthood, all are unexpected stressors to the adult human. His reactions to these changes are largely dependent on the Pavlovian Conditioning of the past by the parents, teachers, society and other influences constituting his inner circle. He is conditioned to respond in a particular manner as dictated by the concepts and ideology of his inner circle. These responses need not be necessarily correct for the situation or acceptable to the individual; but he is forced by his unconscious conditioning to proceed in the custom dictated manner.

Repressions build up in the mind creating great conflict. The individual pushes these to the back of the mind in an attempt to ignore or forget the conflict rather than active solving of the conflict. These then manifest in hostile behavioural patterns in the later stages of life.

e) Stressors at work Place, Social life, personal & family fronts are of the following types- frustration stressors, performance stressor, physical stressor, Bereavement Stressor, Threat stress or all cause psychological turbulence.

f) Freud sub divided the mind into conscious and unconscious mind. The unconscious consisted of ego, i.e. what one thinks he is & superego ie what one thinks he should be. Conflicts in ego & superego create all the turmoil

The Ego & superego are defined by ones past experiences and psychological interpretation of these.

At every moment there is a clash of ego and superego. For e.g. a man might feel he is capable of being the chief manager but he is actually just a salesman. There is now a conflict.

Conflicts are either pushed away to the back of the mind (resulting in repressions) or psychodefences are used to camoflague them. These can be rationalization, intellectualizing, philosophising, escapism, etc. These further compound the problem as whenever the psychodefence is broken the conflict come back with greater intensity