Kali

Majapahit: The Martial Arts Revolution

Kali Majapahit (KM) is a unified concept of Southeast Asian Martial Arts
and traditional healing systems, where the martial art is not just about
fighting, but also about healing and personal development.
Even though Kali Majapahit has its roots in the fighting arts of the
Philippines, it also has elements of Indonesian Pencak Silat, Muay Thai,
Bruce Lees Jeet Kune Do, Hakka Chinese Kung Fu, Western Boxing... and
Parkour!
KM students learn to develop self-confidence and self-discipline, learn
about respect for others and themselves, reinforce their health and energy
level, while at the same time, enhancing fitness level and learning the
deadly Filipino art of Kali.
Kali Majapahits founder, Guro Fred Evrard, has more than 30 years of
experience in Martial Arts and Boxing systems, and owns 14 Black Belts
and Instructor certificates. With such a background, no wonder Kali
Majapahit is so special. From weapons to empty hands, kickboxing to
trapping range, all distances are covered: Largo (long), Medio (medium)
and Corto (short).
It is a common misconception that Martial Arts training is only for men,
when actually everyone, men and women, youth and adults, can enjoy the
benefits of it. Our Kali Majapahit Schools have an average of 30-40%
female practitioners.
Unlike many Martial Arts schools, Kali Majapahit combines the fighting art
with the art of healing the body and the mind. The instructors themselves
are dedicated full time professionals who truly live what they teach. Guro
Fred has been practicing Martial Arts since the age of 6, and his wife,
Katalungan Guro Lila, since the age of 5.
After years of studies and experiences in Filipino Hilot and Chinese
medicine, several traditional massage schools (Thai, Vietnamese,
Indonesian), and western osteopathy, Guro Fred has developed his own
healing system: a synergy of Nutrition, Filipino Hilot, Tui Na (Chinese
acupressure massage), Thai massage, osteopathy, Breathing exercises and

Psychology.
The Health and personal development aspect should not make people
think the practical and self-defense aspect of our art has been forgotten.
On the contrary... Kali Majapahit CQC (Close Quarter Combat) program is
now taught to several Law enforcement units all over the world, especially
one of Singapores best: Police Security Command (VIP Protection Unit).













If you enjoyed this article, and want to learn more about Fred
Evrards philosophy of Martial Arts, Health, and Personal
Development, check out the e-book: THE WARRIOR-MONK

Kali Majapahit sub-systems:

KADENA DE MANO (Empty-hands / Self-defense) is a very efficient sub-
system for CQC (Close Quarter Combat), and teaches how to flow
from one movement to another, using punches, palm strikes,
elbows, knees, head-butts, takedowns, etc. Kadena de Mano was
founded by Filipino Master Max Sarmiento; it means "chain of the
hands".

STICK-FIGHTING (Single and Double Sticks) is great way to improve
coordination, and one of the core sub-systems of Filipino Martial
Arts. Using 1 or 2 sticks, at different distances, Filipino stick arts
come from traditional fencing. Our double sticks system (doble
baston) is called Sinawali ; Our single stick system (solo baston) is
called Dequerdas (for Beginners) and Serrada (for Advanced). They
all come from Inayan Eskrima.

DAGA (Knife). Learnt for knife defense as well as cultural and historical
purposes, knife training develops precision and speed in ones
martial practice. "Blade work" is a specialty of Filipino Martial Arts.

PANUNTUKAN (Kickboxing) and DUMOG (Wrestling / Grappling).
Often called "Filipino boxing", "dirty boxing" or "street boxing",
Panuntukan is also an amazing workout and provides a great boost
to self-confidence. Dumog completes Panuntukan with throws, take-
downs and grappling; they both have similarities with Muay Thai
and MMA.

TRANKADA (Joint Locks and Pressure Points) is a very deep and
advanced sub-system, using locks and counter-locks to control an
opponent or reverse a dangerous situation. It has similarities with
ju-jitsu and Chin-na.

 LARGO MANO (Long Range Combat) derives from the long Filipino
Kampilan sword and is the long range sub-system of FMA. Kali
Majapahit uses the Inayan Largo Mano system.

ESPADA Y DAGA (Sword + Knife) is an advanced concept in FMA and
brings stick (or sword) and knife training together, pushing the
practitioner to become ambidextrous.

SIBAT / BANGKOW (Spear / Long Staff) teaches students to manipulate
longer weapons than the ones they are used to. The bangkow staff is
approximately 150cm long and its use has similarities with
"Northern Shaolin" long staff.

PENCAK SILAT is a fighting art from the Malay peninsula (Indonesia /
Malaysia / Singapore). It is a very efficient martial art, using empty
hands, weapons, sarong, etc. We also find Silat in Southern
Philippines, especially in Mindanao.

KUNTAO is a generic name for the Kung Fu styles of the Chinese Hakka
people in Southeast Asia. The Hakka have migrated in mass,
bringing their fighting arts to Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore,
Philippines, Thailand, etc. Among famous Hakka styles are : Wing
Chun, Pak Mei, Southern Praying Mantis, Phoenix Eye Fist... Hakka
Kuntao has influenced Silat, Muay Thai, Filipino Kuntaw, JKD, etc.

JEET KUNE DO. Bruce Lees Jeet Kune Do and its philosophy had a
tremendous impact on Kali Majapahit. In the 60s Bruce Lees martial
art evolved from what he called Jun Fan Kung Fu (his own
interpretation of Wing Chun) to Jeet Kune Do (the Way of the
Intercepting Fist). JKD has influences from Wing Chun of course, but
also Filipino Kali, French Savate, Fencing, Western boxing, Southern
Praying Mantis, Taiji Quan... Guro Fred had the honor to train in JKD
with PG Jeff Espinous, Guro Bob Breen, and Sifu Richard Bustillo
(one of Bruce Leess first student).

HEALTH & WELLNESS. Our H&W program is composed of Dietetic and
Nutrition, Posture Correction, Breathing, Psychology and Stress
Management, Functional Conditioning, Meditation

Martial Arts History: Training with my Masters:

In a martial artists path, the most difficult part is to find a good instructor.
Someone not only gifted technically, but with a great personality,
pedagogy, sense of honor and humor as well. Personally, I believe Ive
always been blessed with great instructors, but 2 of them really changed
my life. Punong Guro Jeff Espinous in 1994 and Mangisursuro Mike Inay in
1996.
Punong Guro Jeff Espinous was my very first FMA instructor. I will always
remember the first time I saw him, and my first Kali class few hours later.
In the early 90s, I was in the French Kung Fu National Team. I came back
from Spain with the 1st place World Cup Trophy in my hands and an
injured knee. It was time to switch from a tournament martial art to a
more traditional martial art. After my military service in the French
Paratroopers, I went back to Paris where I start looking for a Wing Chun
school. One day, I saw a guy in a gym doing what I thought was Wing Chun:
trapping hands, economy of motion, low kicks? Even though it didnt look
Chinese, what else could it be? I approached him, and we started to talk. I
found out he was teaching Filipino Kali, and that his next class was in 3
hours, not far from here. His name was Jeff Espinous.
The same night, I tried his class. The variety of sub-systems (empty hands,
weapons, kickboxing, ground-fight, etc.) was fascinating. I knew I was
going to learn under him after 5 minutes of class. After 1 hour, I knew I
was going to practice Kali for the rest of my life. I found a 2nd family that
night and I fell in love with FMA.
After a while, I started traveling with Punong Guro Jeff, being his partner
during international seminars, and one day, in San Jose California, he
introduced me to one of his own Instructor and friend: Mangisursuro Mike
Inay.
Meeting with Suro was something. Training under him was magic. He was
charismatic, impressive, but also funny and had an open heart. I remember
living with him and his 2 disciples Emmanuel (Hart) and Jon (Ward) in
their house in San Jose. That was one of the best experiences of my life.

Suro had transformed his garage into a FMA-traveler-guest room, and

"practice" was the main word in this house. Filipino weapons, sticks,
books, photos were all around. Martial Arts Legends pictures like Angel
Cabales or Max Sarmiento were "observing" me in my sleep! I was only 24
years old at the time? It was a like dream!
Practice was great, and Jon and Emmanuel were really there for me ;
training me any free moment they had. When Suro came back from work,
it was again more training, sometime 1 on 1 with me (what an honor).
Even when we were resting at the end of the day, there was always some
kind of training going on: Suro showing us his antique Krises, Emmanuel
playing drums in the backyard and the rest of us being irresistibly
attracted for a Karenza, or the simple game of draw, trying to draw our
Spiderco knifes the fastest. Of course, I was always last.
Those days were gold. In 1998, I moved to Tahiti, with a 100 dollars and a
1-way plane ticket in my pocket. I didnt know anything about the place,
just that I really, really liked the beaches pictures. I opened my first Kali
school there, in the small island of Moorea; the first Ni Tien Martial Arts
school was born; Kali Majapahit was being created. That was the beginning
of my personal path, with all the time in the world to digest what my
beloved Instructors taught me, and nothing else to do but practice, think
and share. After 2 years of training on my own and learning how to teach
others, I decided to go to California in late 2000 to train with Suro Mike.
This trip never took place. In September 2000, Mangisursuro passed away,
doing what he loved most, teaching Inayan Eskrima.
As for Punong Guro Jeff Espinous, I still see him regularly if I go to Europe
or when he comes visit us in Singapore. He is still my Master, my Mentor...
my Friend

Black Belt: Expert or Master?

Nowadays, many martial arts instructors call themselves Grand Master,
Great Grand Master, and even Supreme Great Grand Master (dont laugh
Ive seen it).

I can understand when those terms are used as a sign of respect by
devoted students But, I feel that, in the martial arts world, we have a
tendency to over do it. Instructors are just instructors teachersSome
better than others, some with more experience than others, but in my
opinion, very very few are Masters. At best, some of us are Matres
darmes (master at arms).

After our trip to India in 2011, it became even clearer, that a Master is
someone who has mastered all desires, to fully enter the path of
spirituality the journey is long and complicated before deserving this
title
Did you know that in many traditions, the Buddha, Jesus, Pythagoras,
Socrates, Apollonius, are called Masters We suddenly feel very small,
with our little fists, or our little swords

So how should we call ourselves? It is an individual choice as for which
tradition to follow. Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Indonesian They all have
their traditional names to refer to a martial arts instructor.

I personally think that keeping our traditions alive is important; the world
needs the respect and discipline that the Martial Arts can provide. In our
modern societies, I am convinced that education would be much smoother
if school students were to call their teachers teacher, Sir, Maam,
Sensei, Guro, instead of dude!!

But we shouldnt isolate ourselves from others by "over-using" martial
arts titles. Inside our Kali Majapahit schools, instructors are called Guro (a
custom that came not from us, but from our Filipino students), but outside
the school, we are just Lila, Fred, Guillaume, Ben, Vincent, etc.

After a "spiritual" trip to India, I seriously considered to stop teaching

martial arts at one point. Teaching people how to punch, kick, stab another
human being It felt so pointless, so futile, so empty. Then, Ive realized
that martial arts were just a tool; A way of teaching more universal truth,
about Human behaviors, about health, about psychology, and even
spirituality.

Martial Arts instructors are not special. We are not special. But we are
trying to DO something special. And that makes all the difference in the
world.


Peace.


PS: I am talking about the martial arts world. Some other institutions use
the world "master" to honor not a person, but a function... In this case, it is
very different.







If you enjoyed this article, and want to learn more about Kali
Majapahit Instructor training program, check out our ONLINE
INSTRUCTOR TRAINING ACADEMY:

<www.kali-majapahit.com/ITA>

Personal Growth:
The art of loosing: your best investment!

In the Martial Arts world, many people unfortunately confuse the art of
combat with the art of training for combat. Training should be a
progression, a method. Therefore, the spirit behind cannot be the same as
the one behind fighting. And here is the mistake, the common
misconception: People train with fighting spirit, even anger, when they
should train with fighting attitude and what Bruce Lee use to call
emotional content. Strangely enough, one of the best ways to improve
your skills in martial arts is to invest into loosing.

Lets say you are practicing Chi Sao, and you really dont want to be touch,
you dont want to loose. You will tense up, forgetting the very essence of
the exercise, and will have a tendency to only use the skills youve already
mastered not to take any risk. At the end, you wouldnt improve your
fluidity, and you wouldnt learn anything new.

On the contrary, he, who relaxes, and really does not care about being
touched, knowing that relaxation and feeling are more important things to
learn at this stage of his practice, will not only develop better sensitivity
and intuition in the art of combat, but will also be willing to try new stuff,
to take risk, knowing he is in a secure and friendly environment. Not being
stressed by the will to win, he would also have the time to observe the
techniques used by his partner, consequently learning new moves.

After few years of the exact same training, the student who invested into
loosing, accepting being touched during drills, sparring games, etc., will
develop much better skills in martial arts and in life as well, having learnt
the art of fluidity, (Tuloy tuloy). The other guy will eventually get
frustrated and his intuition will always be overcome by stress, tension,
competition and anger.

The looser becomes the winner, and the winner, the looser.

Personal Growth: Who do we fight?

The chances for a martial artist, who train more than 10 years to get into a
fight, are very small. Less than 5%... So why do we train so hard for so long,
if the odds to use our martial knowledge is so small? Who do we really
fight?
The inner fight:
Our subconscious, also called our inner child, can either be a powerful ally,
a source of intuition and innate wisdom, or a source of illusions, only
allowing us to see the world through the filter of our memory and past
experiences.
All our memories and traumas are recorded in our conscious and
subconscious and if they gradually fade away from the first one, they leave
indelible traces in the second. Thus, even if resolved intellectually
(superficially), a problem will surface periodically (pain, illness, situations,
etc) for as long as it is not treated in depth. The younger the person was
when a particular trauma took place the more it is anchored into his/her
subconscious. Being the most fearful part of us, linked to the survival and
to the instinct of self-preservation, our subconscious prefers to not evolve
rather to make us take the smallest risk.
This is why Buddhism describes the world as illusory. It doesnt mean that
the world does not exist, but that our perception of the world is an illusion.
We do not see things as they really are, but in relationship to the memories
they evoke and awaken in us.
In one word, our vision of the future is guided by our past experiences and
disconnects us from the present moment.
In the martial arts, when facing an opponent, we have to cope not only
with the present danger, but also and especially, with what this situation
evokes in our subconscious. Our subconscious becomes then a more
dangerous enemy than the opponent himself, and our vision of the reality
is erased for the illusion of our past emotional traumas.

It is for those reasons that all ancient and modern texts on the Martial Arts
philosophy talk about the fight against ourselves and the notion of Mushin
(no-thought) ; in order to defeat our fears and free ourselves from the
influence of the subconscious on the intellect. When our intellect is shut
down and our mental is at peace, the connections between our past and
our present vision loose power and only then, the Human Being can obtain
what he illusory thought he had before: Free Will.

Modern over-protection Should human be forbid from moving?

We all know that our modern society pushes us to live in fear. And weve
seen the results of over-protected communities: Lazy, unhealthy, scared,
non-adventurist, bored, depressed, and sometime racist citizens!

What does it mean No Parkour? Does it mean no running? No jumping?
No movement?

Can we imagine for one second, in the animal kingdom, a monkey
politician who would one day claim: OK guys, no more climbing trees
Too dangerous. From now on, we will play on the ground, even if we get
eaten by predators, or get overweight, or get new diseases Doesnt
matter, but at least, we wont fall from trees anymore!

Of course not! Only humans are that stupid.

No politician dares talking about banning cigarettes, alcohol, Mac Donalds,
or KFC. No But moving, jumping, climbing MOVEMENT. That, OMG yes:
Dangerous, dangerous, and dangerous!

We dont want to fight obesity, cancer, heart diseases Noooo, we want to
fight nature: Kids, stop running on the stairs, youre gonna fall. Dont climb
the tree, youre gonna get hurt, Dont fight in school, youre gonna get
punched. But eat like a pig, thats OK; sleep in front of the damn TV, no
problem; play video games instead of getting fresh air; eat chemical,
processed food because organic is too expensive, drink sodas because
water has no taste...

LArt Du Deplacement, or Parkour, is not a new sport. Its not a new
activity. Its a REVOLUTION. Its a handful of healthy, smart people telling
the rest of us, that being overweight, sitting in front of a computer all day,
loosing your hair, wearing glasses All of those are NOT NATURAL And
they are DANGEROUS.

Move. Because movement is a therapy!

And if you fall, get back up and keep trying.

Is it possible that one day, one guy will die prematurely doing Parkour?
Yes, it is. But without movement, we will all die prematurely anyway, so
This is just a wild guess, but isnt it better to loose one (even though
tragic), that to loose the entire human race. And believe me, this is where
were going. We are planning, with the support of big corporates and
governments, our OWN EXTINCTION, and probably the one of the entire
planet.

People need to wake up and start doing things we were designed to do, eat
food we were designed to eat As for me, Ecology is my future; Martial
Arts is my way; A healthy diet is my fuel; Movement is my nature.

Live by your fears or live by your dreams Your choice.

Health & Nutrition: The tips everyone need

The myth that athletes cant thrive on a vegan diet should have died long
ago. But like many other untruths about veganism, it seems to live on.
What about "super athletes" like Carl Lewis, Brendan Brazier, Noel
Polando, Tim Van Orden, Kenneth G. Williams? All amazing, muscular,
energetic vegan athletes, with extraordinary performances in their field...
What about Tony Robbins and his incredible energy, what about public
figures like Mike Tyson, Brad Pitt or Hugh Jackman turning vegan...
Years ago, I did an experimentation and switched from a "part-time
vegetarian" to a full time strict vegan diet for 3 years. Searching for as
many information I could on the vegan life-style and athletic
performances, I end up on 3 websites that introduced me to the RAW
VEGAN life-style, and more specifically to 3 "partially raw" and "fully-raw"
vegan athletes: Brendan Brazier, Tim Van Orden and Noel Polanco.
This, plus many hours of researches convinced me that eating an Organic-
Raw-Vegan diet was an amazing way to nourish the body. Our cousins,
Chimps and Gorillas eat a plant-based diet of raw vegetable and fruits,
with very little or no animal proteins (even though some chimpanzee hunt
on rare occasions)... They are strong, agile, muscular, very little body fat,
and theyre rarely sick...
Ive decided to give it a try, and there surprise!! My body fat went way
down and my energy level went up to the roof. I have never felt better.
Here is an article based on a fantastic "Raw food" book I just bought, called
"The Art of Raw Living Food", by Doreen Virtue and Jenny Ross:
"Around the world, a revolution is quietly occurring as more and more
people switch to "raw food" diets. Raw foodists, with their youthful
complexion, vibrant health, radiant skin, silky hair, and clear eyes, are
inspiring others to add "living foods" into their meal plans. This way of
eating is delicious, easy, and fun... and its the ultimate contribution to going
green for the worlds environment and the best way to stay healthy.

Far from just boring salads, "living cuisine", consists of incredible dishes all
cleverly created from fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains.
Restaurants devoted to raw food are popping up internationally, and
celebrities touting its fountain of youth benefits.
The philosophy behind raw food is both nutritional and spiritual. Fresh
products contain living and healthful enzymes, which are killed when it is
cooked above 50 degrees. I know that the enzymes, vitamins, minerals, fiber,
and pure energy within raw food can heal and detoxify the body. Many
formerly ill people credit their raw diets with saving their life.
The highly processed, cooked food of the standard western diet, contribute to
lethargy, obesity, and diseases. Just by adding a small percentage of raw food
to their diet, people loose weight, heal, and feel better.
Raw food also answers the call to Go Green, since it supports sustainable
organic farming; and as a vegetarian diet, its a cruelty-free lifestyle. Those
who "go raw" find that their intuitive and psychic abilities immediately
increase because of the Qi (life force) of those foods.

In 2004, Medical News Today reported raw food as one of the 7 most
popular diets in the world. "google.com" has 1.7 millions sites devoted to
this style of eating.

This type of food promotes health and life. Raw living food has been
known to:
Increase stamina and internal energy
Improve mental focus and clarity
Lower cholesterol
Reverse certain "life-threatening" diseases and conditions
Promote healthy skin and hair growth
Improve vision
Create a youthful, glowing complexion
Revitalize overworked organs
Prevent osteoporosis
Maintain longevity

 Stabilize moods and emotions

Increase spiritual awareness

The more fresh, organic, raw-living foods we consume daily, the healthier
our minds and bodies will be.
But I have to admit, it is hard to stay on a 100% Raw Vegan diet, not only
for our social life, but also as athletes and martial artists, some of us may
loose a bit too much weight. Like Anthony Robbins says: Discipline only
last for so long. Today, after years and years of research in the field of
sports nutrition (from hard core raw vegan diet to Paleo diet, via
Acid/Alkaline balance), I came out with my ultimate nutrition, getting
the best of each system.

From Paleo diet and Tim Ferriss 4-hour-body diet, I took the following:
-
-
-
-
-
-

No processed food (except food supplement VEGA 1)

No sugar
Very little complex carbohydrates with almost no grains or cereals
Definitely no wheat and gluten
1 cheating day per week where (almost) anything goes
I now include a little fish into my diet

From vegetarian and vegan diets, I took:
-
-
-
-
-

No meat
No processed food
No dairy
80% plant-based diet
Mostly Organic (100% if I can)

From the Raw Vegan movement, I took:
-
-

60 to 80% Raw Vegan alive food

Most of it using a Vitamix blender

From common sense:

-
-
-
-

No coffee
No alcohol
No sweet drinks or sodas
No cigarettes or drugs

So, to summarize it all:
I eat (and teach my students to eat) a 70% organic plant-based diet, of
which 60% is raw and blended. I include fish about 2 times a week, I ONLY
drink water, green tea and my blended green smoothies, I never do fried
food or meat, and I stay away from cereals and sugar. I have 1 free or
cheating day per week, when I do my Carb-Reload, and usually go for
pasta or pizza (vegetarian of course). When I cook, I use only Olive or
Coconut oils.

When did self-destruction become cool?

What happened to us (Human Beings)? When did self-destruction become
"cool"? Why are smoking, drinking alcohol, lack of sleep, etc. so normal
that what is weird is not "doing it", but "not doing it"?
Yesterday night, Lila and I went to a MMA championship to support one of
our friends from the Filipino Team Lakay, in his fight against a
professional Thai fighter. Kevin won by technical knock out on the ground
after only 2:30mn.
But the MMA fights were not the only things happening that night. Lots of
other fights were going on, and I could see around 80% of the 3000
peoples crowd fighting against their own bodies.
I was shocked by the huge amount of ladies (I should say girls, because
when you drink that much, you loose the title of lady!), drinking giant
plastic glasses of beer like if it was water. And it was SO natural. SO
normal!
Its like beer is the new water. We already knew men were stupid enough
to drink it bottle after bottle but women? Why? Do we really feel cooler
with something in our hand? Is it the only way to temporary break the
heavy barriers of our emotional traumas and lack of self-confidence so we
have to hide behind a glass of beer or a cigarette?
Its not because it tastes good! It does not. It is only a conditioning (from
family, friends-, films, society...) that makes us think it tastes good. But try
to give a glass of beer or a cigarette to someone non-conditioned like a
young kid or a wild man in an African jungle, and youll see how good it
taste for a real Human Being!
I was in Asia first in 1991, and even in big cities, you could rarely see a
woman smoking or being drunk. Today, 2010, I live in Singapore and it
seems that almost everybody smokes. Everywhere I look, people are
drinking beer, coke, or try to feel Frenchy with a glass of wine. Go
downstairs the building of any company, and at any time of the day, youll

see 5 to 10 guys (and girls) taking their "Cancer break". A break; Yes,
theyre going to get one. A break from living.
I keep asking myself the same question and I dont find any answer. When
did drinking become cool? When did smoking become cool? When did
getting up in the morning with a headache, bad breathe, and 20mn late for
work become cool?
I dont know. But what I do know is this: I am really looking forward to the
day we, Humans, will finally take a step up, and when drinking water,
being vegetarian, breathing fresh air, not messing up our Ozone, will be
COOL.
I am looking forward to the day when instead of fighting each others in the
name of a Messiah or a Prophet, we will start to apply what those great
Instructors taught us thousands of years ago, and that we never truly
understood.
If we are not capable of taking care of the temple of our body, to love and
respect each other, to live in harmony with our environment, WHY do we
go to church, temple, mosque, etc. Why do we pray or do Ramadan once a
year? To buy ourselves a good conscience? Well, believe it or not, you do
not bargain with God. You live clean or you dont. But no Sunday is going to
buy you a chair upstairs!
Some people think Martial Arts / Boxing / MMA fights are violent, hard for
the body, inhuman... Well think twice. Yesterday night in the ring, those 2
warriors looked much more Human to me than this group of 10 people (5
girls, 5 guys) in front of us, eating those strange-smell-dead-meat-burgers
and drinking liters of beers!

What do we do with our time?

Your life span is approximately 75 years. Thats 900 months. 3,900
weeks. 27, 375 days. 657,000 hours.
Thats what you have to work with...now lets break it down even further :
From age 0 to 10, you dont really do anything besides, sleep, eat,
play. Thats 87,600 hours gone.
So theres 569,400 hours left in your life.
Now lets assume between all the naps you took during math classes in
school, 12 hour sleep binges after parties and adult responsibility of work
most of us will sleep 8 hours a day everyday for the next 65 years.
So from age 10 to 75 well all sleep an average of 8 hours a day.
Thats 189, 800 hours gone.
So theres 379,600 hours left in your life.
And lets say that from age 10 to 22, you were in school roughly from 8am
to 3pm during the weekdays, thats 7 hours for school and high school and
roughly the same for College. But thats only from September through May,
so thats 8 months out of the year (if we compress all the Holidays in
summer).
Thats 15,456 hours gone.
So theres 364,144 hours left in your life.
And lets say from age 22 to 65 youre working a standard 8 hour a day job,
which you probably dont like, during 5 week days for 43 years.
Thats 89,784 hours gone.
So theres 274,360 hours left in your life.
But, lets say that you get 3 weeks a year off for vacation and sick days.

Thats 15 workdays of 8 hours off for the next 43 years. Thats plus 5,160
to your life. So add that back on for a new total of 279,520 hours.
So theres 279,520 hours left in your life.
Thats a remainder of 279,520 hours of free time from age 10 to 75 that
you can use for free time.
But lets get real, from age 65 to 75 we will spend most our time watching
TV or focusing on health problems (being sick or almost) because of all
those years we didnt take good care of our health, diet, etc.
So those 8 hours that were once spent working during the 22-65 years are
now being used trying to catch up with Health.
Thats 20,880 hours gone.
So theres 258,640 hours left in your life.
Now lets factor in the unmentionables, eating 3 times a day will equal
about 2 hours, so from eating alone lets say that number from ages 10 to
75 will be 47,450 hours of eating.
Thats 47,450 hours gone.
So theres 211,190 hours left in your life.
And lets consider the combined hours from all the bathroom breaks taken
per day equals 1/2 hour, for 65 years.
Thats 11,862 hours gone.
So theres 199,328 hours left in your life.
And lets consider grooming. Avoiding the male/female clichs of how
much time we spend getting ready to present ourselves to society. Lets
say, on average, between showering, drying, spraying, shaving, brushing,
combing, deciding which clothes to wear, putting them on, and crossing
the threshold to the outside world, that its 1 hour a day from age 10 to 75,
so that total is 23,725 hours.
Thats 23,725 hours gone.
So theres 175,603 hours left in your life.
Thats about 7 hours a day from age 10 to 75 you can do whatever you
want with.
Most people will NOT DO ANYTHING else than watching TV, playing video
games, arguing with husband/wife/kids, feeling sorry for oneself and
complaining about life, money, the weather, the neighbors, etc., during 4 of

those 7 hours.
2 more of those 7 hours will be spent half-sleepy, dreaming about the
future or the past.
MOST OF US will have, for the rest of our lives, an average of 1 hour a day
being free, happy, doing things we really like, being useful to others,
following our personal path and contributing to the growth of Humanity.
Want a little piece of advise?
Look at yourself in the mirror and GET YOUR LIFE BACK NOW!
Those 7 hours are yours. Use them wisely. Try to make them 8, 9, 10 hours
a day for yourself and the things you really love to do (hopefully, it will
include the people you love.

Posture and Health: Say goodbye to back pain!

The posture of a person tells us a great deal about his state of health, his
psychological state, as well as about the traumas of his childhood.
It is not my purpose to provide here a class of body mechanics or
osteopathy, but only to give some advice, which seems to me fundamental
to integrate in ones daily life, as well as in the practice of the martial arts.
The 10 toes must touch the ground (this is not always the case with
Westerners, due to shoes, worn from the first months of life). It is easy to
correct them, by walking bare feet as frequently as possible and
distributing the weight of the body (its mass) between the 10 toes, the
bowl of the foot and the heel. A bad bone position of the feet inexorably
entails abnormal ligament tractions, provoking compensations,
modification of the balance, joints and muscular weaknesses, torsions and
pinches to the spine and inter-vertebral discs, compression of the nerve
endings, etc.
It is necessary to visualize out two feet as being two triangles whose bases
would be the toes and the summits the two heels. The three points of each
triangle (the big toe, the little toe and the heel) must be touching the
ground to be in balance. If one of the three is not, the balance is broken.
The knees and the toes must go in the same direction. It is necessary to
avoid locking them, and to have flexible thighs not to drag the kneecap and
the patellae tendon upwards. It is good, while standing, to bend the legs
just a little in order not to put too much pressure on the knees.
The pelvis slightly tilted forward and upward to avoid an excessive
camber.
The spine has to be straight, respecting its natural curves without
exaggerating them.
Pull the top of the skull upwards and bring the chin slightly in, in order
to reduce the cervical hollow and thus align the head with the body.

I insist on the word posture because the posture is for me the opposite of
a position.
I often see martial arts practitioners trying to correct their stances, their
fighting positions. That doesnt make any sense because position does not
exist in combat. Combat is nothing but pure movement, continuous,
uninterrupted, and fluid. For a position to exist, it is necessary for one to
stop, which is impossible in a fight. To focus on posture is of course
necessary at the beginning, but one has to rapidly move to movement and
intuition exercises to be effective in combat.
Also, one has less risk of injury while doing martial arts if not training with
complicated stances or positions where joints can get hurt. To correct his
own posture allows the practitioner to fix all the little mysterious pains of
every day life.
Martial arts and sport instructors in general, must be very vigilant on the
correct posture of each student, as well as on stretching exercises which
can be really dangerous if you dont know what youre doing. A lot of body-
mechanic mistakes were slipped into the stretches of classical martial arts
schools, such as a bad knee position when doing lateral split, bad pelvis
position when doing a full front split, or even rounded back for any kind of
stretch.
I was lucky to be able to correct my routines because of appropriate
meetings with physiotherapists and osteopaths, and I encourage any
martial arts instructor to go to such persons in order to protect his health
and his students.

Nutrition Tips: Do we drink enough Water?

H0: 2 hydrogen and 1 oxygen atoms. This element, better known as
water, is the most essential, next to air, to our survival.
Water makes up more than two thirds of the weight of the human body,
and without it, humans would die in a few days. The human brain is made
up of 95% water; blood has 82% and lungs 90%. A mere 2% drop in our
bodys water supply can trigger signs of dehydration: fuzzy short-term
memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on smaller print,
such as a computer screen. (Are you having trouble reading this? Drink
up!) Mild dehydration is also one of the most common causes of daytime
fatigue. An estimated seventy-five percent of Americans have mild, chronic
dehydration. Pretty scary statistic for a developed country, where water is
readily available through the tap or bottle.
Water is important to the mechanics of the human body. The body cannot
work without it, just as a car cannot run without gas and oil. In fact, all the
cell and organ functions made up in our entire anatomy and physiology
depend on water for their functioning.
Water serves as a lubricant
Water forms the base for saliva
Water forms the fluids that surround the joints.
Water regulates the body temperature, as the cooling and heating is
distributed through perspiration.
Water helps to alleviate constipation by moving food through the
intestinal tract and thereby eliminating waste
Water is the best detox agent.
Regulates metabolism
In addition to the daily maintenance of our bodies, water also plays a key
role in the prevention of disease. Drinking at least 2 litters of water daily

can decrease the risk of colon cancer by 45%, bladder cancer by 50% and
it can potentially even reduce the risk of breast cancer. And those are just a
few examples!

As you follow other links on our website, you can read more in depth
about how water can aid in the prevention and cure of many types of
diseases, ailments and disorders that affect the many systems of our
bodies.

For those of us living in hot and humid countries, as well as for active
people, 2.5 to 3 litters of water per day should become a habit.

Health Tips: Breathing and Energy

If the modern man still knew how to breathe properly, he would get
everything he needs to fight against the stresses of everyday life, junk food
that leads him to dig his own grave with his mouth, weariness, pollution,
coldness, depression, his mother-in-law, his boss, taxations, etc.

In brief, there is always a good pretext to not come to grips with his health
and enjoy life at full eagerness! Thus we are often under hypo-
oxygenation. In addition to that, if we live in a place surrounded by
buildings, our brain has to work overtime to function with the tiny amount
of oxygen it has at its disposal.

While hes smoking, the smoker absorbs in one drag the tobacco smoke,
the paper, the nicotine, the tar (the same as the one we use for making
highways), and many other unpronounceable drugs and harmful
chemicals. Tobacco companies are producing those chemicals to make
customers manageable and dependent. As I previously said, F absorbs a
high amount of oxygen while he smokes, thus the brain realizes that the
only moment it can receive a normal dose of oxygen is when F is smoking!

Consequently the brain makes an unconscious association between
smoking and well-being from breathing, and thats how the smoker
becomes addicted to both nicotine and oxygen.

Its possible to stop this confusion by relearning how to breathe properly.
The deeper and the longer the breathing will last, the better it will be. The
blood will be recharged with oxygen, the body will relax, the mind will
become focused, the nervous system is calmed down and the emotions are
stable.

The way we breathe is crucial, because it determines our level of
consciousness and energy (the Chinese word for breathing and vital
energy is the same: CHI). Most traditions agree with regard to breathing. It
must starts from the belly area, not from the chest, and is done in six
phases:

Breathing in by the nose, one first pushes the guts forward out, to make
room for the lower part of the lungs to fill up with air, which loosens the
diaphragm and allows breathing with full lung capacity.

Breathing out, one starts by emptying the belly area, after which the
diaphragm compresses the lungs, removing most of the CO2.

The vital energy thus penetrates into our organism and is transported
along the meridians to be stored in the Tan Dian (3 fingers under the
navel). At a higher level, the practitioner will breathe with the back. This
is a more complicated concept and should be explained in class by an
advanced instructor.

Breathing properly is one of the two most important things we can do for
our health, along with eating real food instead of processed and chemical
food!

Health Tips for Women: Giving birth without pain

To all pregnant women in the world:
The lying position for baby delivery is the most unnatural, painful and
uncomfortable position for a human female to deliver her baby. The
organs are compressed, the earth gravity doesnt help, and the muscle
contraction used (instead of gravity) by the future mother, not only hurts
and tires her, but is responsible for lots of the post delivery problems (low
back pain, vagina tear, abdominal contraction, internal bleeding, etc.).
The delivery lying position actually does not exist in ancient traditions,
and is not natural for humans; it all started with King Louis XIV in France
in the 17th century. It is said that the King wanted his wife to deliver in a
more appropriate and descent position for a queen so he had her lying
down with a cover on her legs...
Whatever the truth, the lying down position to deliver a baby was
unknown before Louis XIV. The French culture (fashion) being
predominant at the time, this (bad) habit became practiced in entire
Europe. Modern medicine and the Catholic missionary priests finished the
work (tragedy) by bringing it to the rest of the world.
3 to 4 generations ago, in India, women were giving birth seated (bend
knees) or standing, gently hanging to a tree branch or a rope (feet on the
floor). Same in China, Africa, America, etc. In coastal countries and islands
(California, Tahiti, Hawaii, etc.), women used to deliver in the ocean or in
lagoons, bended knees with the lower body in the water. This technique is
still applied sometimes in Tahiti, and more and more in modern societies
(Belgium, France, Russia, USA). Researches show (by controlling the heart
beats) that this is 80 to 99% less painful than giving birth lying down.
After 30 years of researches (started in Russia), it also shows that babies
born in water, without the mother suffering, will develop less sickness in
their youth, and will be stronger physically, and have better results in their
studies. They will also, as babies, sleep much better at night, be calmer,
and learn faster. This has to do with the energy field of the baby being on

the same level of vibration than the water, but also with the skull of the
baby not being squeezed by the mother s contraction. It is a well known
scientific fact today, than the osteopathic traumas of a classical (lying
down) delivery are the roots of many problems and diseases for many
people; To the point that it is now consider normal to have a 3 weeks old
baby having an osteopathy cranium session to counter the negative effect
of the mother contractions. Of course, being born in the water, resolves all
those problems at once.
With a bit of knowledge, a bit of good sense, a bit of tradition, and of
course a good dietetic and posture correction, pregnancy and birth do not
have to be a nightmare for the mother nor for the baby.

Save the environment

Take a moment to think: In the past second, one and a half acres of rain-
forest were cut down, destroying the homes of many species of wildlife. In
the past minute, the energy used in the UK was equal to 313 million tons of
oil, which we can never get back. In the past hour, 160 children died from
lack of access to safe drinking water and sanitation.
It is no secret the planet is in trouble. In just 50 years, mankind has
modified the planets environment faster than in the whole history of
humanity!
We live a decisive moment - right now! Just like any change in our lives, it
takes action.
The media has done its fair share emphasizing the problem. Yet, there is a
bright side. Our greatest strength as human beings is the ability to think
and to take action. We can try to put a stop to these global dilemmas.
It is our responsibility to make it possible to meet present needs without
compromising the needs of future generations. We are personally
responsible for the future of our Earth, and each of us has a role to play.
Again, we all have the duty to take action.
It doesnt take more than common sense to understand that using natural
resources to a point that it exceeds sustainability is not propaganda. I
agree with some that it is not about saving the planet; it is about saving
ourselves! Without us, the planet would be perfectly fine. We abused our
resources (energy, wildlife, minerals...) and now we need to find
alternatives before it runs out.
Every day, people everywhere are doing their bit, from recycling
newspapers at home, to developing energy technologies in a lab. We are
finally entering an era where engineering and technology are making the
world a better place. Take the time to think, for just a moment. Now stop,
and act towards the future.
Take a look at this documentary called "HOME". Beautiful footage and an

amazing message that we all have to follow. A wake up call.

Watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU
And remember: THE WORLD WILL CHANGE ONLY WHEN PEOPLE
CHANGE!