The piece of cloth that is worn around the waist of most martial artist is the color black which is a symbol. It is to symbolize the making of a warrior.

The color black symbolizes death. That is the deep darkness we all will face when our human journey is over and it is time to cross over into the Spirit realm.

When we train in martial arts, what we really are preparing for is death. We train to prepare how to die. This black belt you earn in the dojo today symbolizes that you understand what it really is to become a warrior and to die like a warrior.

No fear of death is the reasons for training. To lose the fear that will get in your way during serious altercations is what makes you that warrior to be feared by most on every battle field all over this planet. This is why the warriors of ancient times in our past history were so feared and so deadly. Death was an honor for them. They got to pick their time and day to die. The Native American Indians,  in my heart, mind and eyes, were some of the most awesome of warriors. I love their saying. “Today is a good day to die.” I ponder much on that saying every day.

Training under hardened conditions that would probably break most is what sets you aside to become a true warrior. The black belt is like a badge of honor that is earned through long hours and years of hard training. No one person can make you a black belt, that is done through yourself. Back in the ancient times they didn’t have color belts that standardized what level you were at. Everyone knew your level by how you conducted yourself, not just in the dojo but in daily life! Most highly skilled warriors always conducted themselves like a gentlemen  (or if you were a female warrior you conducted your self like a lady) with respect and manners.

If you have experienced war, you can appreciate peace.

Just by how humble you were was a sample of how deadly you truly were. The more humble someone was the higher their skill sets were for being a warrior. It was an honor to train to become a warrior. You had to qualify to get into some of the elite training sessions and that was done through physically earning that right of passage without complaining, that was to hard to do. Excuses like, “it is to hot or to cold” “my finger just got jammed up”, “I forgot my uniform”,  “my back hurts”,  “I have a bad knee”, “I feel sick today”,  “it is snowing out”, etc..were no excuses not to train.

This humility came out of you through extreme training sessions that were only capable of accomplishment if you had already earned your right of passage to wear or train with other black belts. And that was not easy thing to accomplish.

You had to check your ego at the door. Ego always got in the way of higher learning. The higher level you attained in the combative martial arts schools in the past the more you knew to watch your ego. The shadow self ego would get you killed!

The reason for training in the martial arts should never be to attain a belt but rather to seek perfection in one’s character. We all need to accept that we can be a little better and hard training is the best way to achieve this. In Japan this hardships of training is called Shugyo. By training daily and not allowing any thing to stop your training  (injury or sickness) forged the type of warrior you became.

It isn’t the belt that makes the person it is the person who makes the belt have meaning. The black belt is a badge of honor that is earned through hard style training by never giving up and not giving out. It forges the warrior spirit to continue to press forward even after the body has been killed. That kind of mentality is extremely hard to stop. When I was training some of the men and women who protected our last President, they told me that they are taught the hardest type of person to protect their client from is some one who is not afraid to die and will give up their own life to kill the person they are after.

So I think in today’s world people are hung up on the belts and are not really looking deep into what it is that made these martial arts last through out time. Lack of history, lack of culture, lack of research, lack of hardship type of training is what is missing in most methods today.

So, all in all, a Black Belt means you have just crossed the warriors path of understanding of what hard work is all about without complaining or giving up once you have attained a certain level of grade. Black belt means you are NOW ready to train amongst warriors but does NOT mean you are even close to being the best. A person who is a high grade should be able to defend them self. If you can’t you really need to question your own personal motives. Once your questions are asked, hunt for the best answers you can find. Because it is your butt out there that will be on the line when some bad-ass crosses that line to harm you.

Always with much Respect
Guro/Sensei/Coach Peter Freedman

No related posts.

Coach Freedman has been teaching his own style of Ketsugo Jujutsu for many years now. He has a number of students that are teaching out of their own schools and he is concerned that they may not be teaching the core practices of his style. His style is built on three core practices  which are Footwork, the Nine Angles and the Flow Drill. In order to make sure that all his students are on the same page, he has decided to have a gathering of the Ketsugo tribe 6 times a year. This will be an opportunity to refresh the knowledge of the core practices and to meet with the other practitioners on a regular basis.

This past Saturday April 30, 2011 was the first meeting of the tribe. It was a cool spring day and students from NH and neighboring states met to get some training. Coach Freedman started the class with a warm greeting to all who attended and then talked a bit about martial arts and Ketsugo in particular. He stressed that it is important to know the history and origins of the martial art you are studying so that you can gain a complete understanding of the art you are practicing. He then began to discuss the importance of footwork in Ketsugo Jujutsu. Coach Freedman has identified 50 foot movements that he uses in his system. He took the group through the movements and explained the proper execution of each foot movement. He led the group through the 50 movements which was repeated multiple times.

Coach Freedman next began to demonstrate the usage of the foot movements.  He demonstrated how the foot movements were used to evade an attack with the long knife. By using the movements in the precise angles it became apparent how the movement was effective in the evasion of the attacks. The students then practiced the movements with an opponent attacking with a long knife. people who had not used these movements before were amazed at how effective they were. Coach Freedman demonstrated how the foot movements  along with strikes and locks were a devastating defense for this type of attack.

Coach Freedman next demonstrated leg lock and leg lock techniques. These also come out of the footwork. He had the students practice on long sticks before trying the techniques on each other. These techniques are quite effective and have to be practiced slow in order not to cause injury.

A lot more information was delivered during the course of the seminar. You had to be there to have gotten it all.

The day ended with all the students getting together in Coach Freedman’s back yard and sharing food that was brought by the students.

The date for the next gathering will be on June 25 at the Weare NH dojo from 10:00am to 2:00pm. The cost will be $25. Call (603)529-3564 to find out more information. Anyone can attend.

Below is a gallery of pictures from the day.

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

No related posts.

Students often ask, “Sensei why do you have your students develop sensitivity? “

This is a great question.. Sensitivity is the top secret ingredient in all martial arts. The understanding of this idea will raise you above all the rest in the martial arena.

There are many layers of understanding this idea (Concept) of what sensitivity really is concerning martial play. Lets begin with skin … the biggest organ on the human anatomy. Your skin is very sensitive and was designed by our creator to help us stay out of trouble.

If you get to close to a flame – fire … you will notice your skin becoming hot. The closer you get the faster your skin heats up until you become burned. Winter time if you go outside without gloves you will notice your hands become cold. If you have kids and get up in the middle of the night to relieve your self and while walking in the dark you step onto the kids toy may be some thing hard and pointy … ouch … yup that hurts. I think you are getting the picture here so lets move on.

We always hear that in the martial arts you learn how to defend your self against much bigger and stronger attackers. There is this idea by learning martial arts you can magically defend your self with just a few memorized techniques done in order from prearranged attacks. Well I hate to burst your bubble here but that is just not going to happen.

Now days people are lifting weights and doing combat conditioning drills to help make themselves bigger and stronger so they will become a better fighter. This is all good but with this type of thinking you will only be able to defend yourself as long as you are in good physical shape.

What happens now when you are hurt or injured? What happens when you are sick and drop muscle and have no stamina? What happens when you age and your speed – strength drops?

Here is where sensitivity enters into the picture. By learning to yield or give way like in Jujutsu or Aikido – Tai Chi and other martial art system as well you can now blend with energy instead of clashing with it. Learning to use your skin to notice and feel pressure is one of the best kept secrets in the martial art world. A lot of martial arts teach it, but they don’t make a big enough deal out of it because it is so simple to learn. So they take it for granted and pass it by or even blow it off.

The other day I had a conversation with a service man, who is the hand to hand instructor for his unit. He asked me the difference between Jujutsu / Aiki-Jutsu and Aiki-Jujutsu. The difference is how they utilize the energy coming in from different attacks. Ju-Jutsu is more of a yielding method.. that is what JU means in the Jujutsu.. it means to yield. Just like merging into traffic with your car. Coming out of an exit and merging with others cars going in the same direction you are traveling. You will first need to match the speed while not bumping into other cars.. Merging is yielding.. If I throw a raw egg at you how would you catch that egg without it breaking? You will need to match the incoming speed of that egg at the same time merging your hands with that egg and as this egg touches your hand you go back into your self with your hand or hands that is doing the catching. You tend to cradle this egg in a soft easy approach. If you just threw your hand out there in one place while the egg hit it the egg would then break the time you closed your hand around it. Apply this concept – idea, to human contact.

Aiki-Jutsu is a little different. Aiki means to blend with energy. Here is where your skin comes in. When you feel some thing like pressure or heat from another human being you learn to ease up and blend with the direction of where this energy wants to go. By learning to relax your muscles and allow the muscles to go soft you will be able to notice more feeling in these muscles. Your touch with skin to some thing else, will become more noticeable and heightened. When you feel resistance don’t resist, instead just let the pressure take you over and allow it to win. Just like the old saying in Tai Chi Chuan, (win by losing) so by allowing this energy to push or pull you in what ever direction it wants to go you learn to ride the wave of energy and in that we call blending. Think of this.. you are in a river with rough waters. You are trying to swim and becoming very exhausted. Now if you lie back on your back and just float allowing the current to carry you where ever it goes that is Aiki.

Aiki-Jujutsu is having the best of two worlds blended together. So now you have blending with energy and yielding. Some times you will need to just blend with energy and at other moments in time you will just need to yield with energy … Here is where it may get a little confusing because these two concepts are so similar but also very different. What makes them different is how you feel about them while in motion. Some times you will only need to yield to oncoming energy. Some times will will need to blend with oncoming energy … do what you must to survive is the idea.. but understanding energy and the different methods of sensing it and using it against your opponent is key.

When we practice Arnis – Kali – Escrima and Dumog we utilize the sensitivity drills. In Filipino martial arts we have a term called sticky stick. This is where you touch your opponents stick and try to feel where your opponents movement is going. By easing up on your own stick and following the path of your opponent’s stick through the sensitivity in your hand that is holding that stick, you can feel where his/her stick will go next and by doing this have already countered your opponent. This drill is done back and forth for long durations of time. When done properly you go into a meditative trance-like state and when this happens you are now training by spirit alone, which is truly a wonderful experience. Kind of like the runners high that you may hear about. Now Wing Chun Kung Fu has this same drill Chi Sau (Spelling) and they even do this drill blind folded. Amazing I know, but with the right instructor and lots of practice you to can accomplish a great deal.

Please understand sensitivity is not just limited to the arms. Oh no, you can do drills with your legs, your back all parts of your body. I know in Judo and Brazilian Jujitsu they have sensitivity drills they practice on the ground. They allow their bodies to listen (feel) for which way their opponents weight will shift next and they move right along with it by relaxing and allowing their opponents movement to take over. Also by relaxing you save a great deal of energy as well which you will need for later on in the fight.

I hope this helped you to understand just how important sensitivity is and also please do understand that I could write a book just on this subject but need to stop here, otherwise this article would still be in my computer and you would not be able to read it.

Always train slowly and be safe while working out with your training partners. Try to empty your cup before entering the dojo (school of thought) Be kind to the planet and all who share it.

No related posts.

John Moore demonstrates a knife attack

This is a guest post from John Moore who is a student of Coach Peter Freedman. He is a technology consultant who teaches Ketsugo Jujutsu in Maine. Visit his website at mainemartialarts.com

I live a very peaceful life. I work from home, and I live in a relative low-crime area (unless you count incidents of cow-tipping). And though I’ve trained in martial arts for probably 30 years of my life, I very rarely have gotten into a full-on kung-fu brawl like you see in the movies. That pretty much only happens in the movies.

Yes, I’ve had the opportunity to “test” my jujutsu a couple times while living in Boston. Yes I know others who have as well. However, I like to follow the philosophy I learned from my teacher, Peter Freedman, sensei that, “The warrior is always the last one to pick up a sword.” I aim to be as good a teacher as he is someday.

Last night I had an interesting conversation with one of my students. He’s only been training with me for about two months. He happens to work in corrections, supervising “high risk” teenagers who may be emotionally disturbed and too violent to be locked up with other teen offenders. He gets to do jujutsu for real almost every day. When he talks about his experiences, I listen.

He tells me that what he’s learned in the past couple of months has been extremely valuable and he’s used it. It’s important to understand that there are use of force guidelines he’s required to follow. He just can’t go house and destroy some kid who’s acting up. He’s not allowed to use strikes or chokes (and a bunch of other stuff) unless it’s a situation that requires lethal force.

Some of the benefits he’s reported include:

• He’s now more aware of when someone is about to become violent, he can read the body cues better
• He’s generally more aware of his environment and understands how to position himself defensively
• He’s able to move off the line of attack when charged, attacked, or objects are thrown at him (frequent occurrences). He’s avoided getting hit with chairs on at least 3 occasions since he’s been training with me. He tells me that other people who work there plant themselves and tense up – bad idea.
• He’s able to control inmates better without hurting them
• He did much better at a followup required defensive tactics training than he did when he originally went through
• He feels more confident when he walks onto his job
• All of these things make me feel really good. Here’s a guy who’s using the training in a positive way. Sure, I can teach him how to tear someone’s head off, but if that’s his only skill he’s more likely to hurt someone and get in trouble himself.

Ketsugo Jujutsu, when taught correctly, teaches control and a range of options. Yes, there are lethal tactics. Yes, there are less lethal tactics. Believe it or not, the less lethal stuff tends to be harder to pull off. So, for somebody with two months of training with me twice a week can do it under duress – I like it.

No related posts.

A recent incident in Manchester NH involved a man who started a fight in a bar. The fight moved outside and the man who started the fight pulled a knife. In the ensuing fight he not only stabbed the other guy but his friend and managed to cut off his own finger. You can read it in the Manchester Union Leader here.

Now there is a certain black humor in this incompetent idiot cutting off his own finger, but in another way it is vary scary – knowing that there are these types of idiots out there. I would not like to meet him and I would not want to be like him. Reading this story reminded me why I train for edged weapon self defense. I want to train so that if I run in to this guy, I can get away safely. If I have to use a knife, I will not cut off my own fingers.  Before I came to Coach Freedman’s school I knew just enough about knife fighting to get my self in trouble. All those techniques that I learned in Karate and Aikido might have worked if the attacker came at me with an overhead strike or with a straight in stab. One class with Coach Freedman convinced me that I was sadly lacking in knife defense skills. Any one of his students could have sliced and diced me with little effort. After years of training I at least feel that I have a chance.

I love Coach Freedman’s saying that “ There are two types of people that are dangerous with a knife. Those that are trained and those that are not.” That is something I always keep in mind and that is what keeps me training.

No related posts.

We all know that Coach Freedman wears many hats. He is a father, teacher, musician, knife maker, leather crafter and many more. He is the master of several martial arts, Jujutsu and Arnis being his main arts. This video will demonstrate how many hats he wears. Watch as he observes Sensei Birmingham teaching flow drills during the Jujutsu class. How many hats does he wear?

No related posts.

Coach Freedman’s method of knife defense is the best I have ever  encountered. He constantly emphasizes the dangers of an edged weapon attack and the skill it takes to defend yourself in such a situation. He is constantly training his students in sensitivity to control an attack with a knife. The drill he teaches is very effective in redirecting an edged weapons attack. Watch him in this video as he explains what is needed to survive an encounter with an edged weapon.

No related posts.

We use drills to to learn all the positions that we can possible be on another human body. Once we have the drills down ,later comes the fighting, the locking, the breaks and all that is necessary for your self defense. Our ground drill teaches you how to balance on a human body while on the ground in all different positions and places you can be on the ground.

Drills are designed and structured to teach different things, build attributes that are needed for combat and self defense.  When drills are easy then fighting is easy. Remember drills are not fighting, sparring is not fighting, they only prepare you for fighting. The only way to get experience is really fighting but that means injuries, crippling or killing. We do not want that in our training. We only train in theory. Despite our kicking, throwing, punching and locking drills, this is only preparation for a fight, so that one day if you get into a fight, you just reflex right. When you are attacked or go into battle thinking, you are in a world of hurt. There should be no thought just reflex. When someone goes to stab your belly, you should not think “should I block or kick.”  By the time you think that, you are dead. Someone pokes a knife at your belly, you move your belly, it is a reflex. Someone pokes a knife at your shoulder, you move your shoulder, it is a reflex. All our drills are structured in a way to make us reflex. Someone goes for the arm we move our arm.

If you think that these drills or sparring are actually fighting, you are fooling yourself. What you do in the dojo is different from the street. In the street or battle field you have adrenalin; you have chaos; you have fear and anger. In the dojo, you do not have that. It is a learning environment, you have safety; you pick up new skills; you ask questions. Then you go home and practice and research in a safe way without getting injured. This is the real teaching methodology that got lost. People think that getting hurt and sweating is real martial art, It is to some degree but it is dangerous and unnecessary. We try to keep it as real as possible and to keep learning without injury.

When doing the drills, ask questions. If the teacher does not know the answer they should research the answer not admonish the student for asking. If you ask me a question, that is a challenge for me. I now have something new to research and bring it back to the dojo. I will let you know what every movement of your drill is for and why you are doing it.

So practice hard. Keep learning. Stay safe and be prepared for whatever comes your way.

Related posts:

1. The Meaning of the Black Belt

photo by mishox

Flow Coach Scott Sonnon posted this video about an Indian wrestling group. After watching the video, I will say that I was impressed by the work and dedication of these people. Kusthi wrestling is an ancient wrestling tradition that is practiced in Varanasi, one of the world’s oldest cities. These men live a celibate life where they practice wrestling and bodybuilding along with their spirituality. Kusthi is losing the state support it once had and these dedicated practitioners are trying to keep the art alive.

Watch this video of the rigorous practice they endure every day. Compare it to your own martial arts practice.

No related posts.

I am constantly being asked the question,  “Why is it important to train slow?”  People want to know if  this really teaches us to defend ourselves? They also ask “Why not go fast and really simulate a real fight?” These are good questions and I want to address them here. So take a few minutes and follow me as I make an analogy to learning to drive a race car.

Lets say you want to be a NASCAR racer but you never drove a car before. You may want to drive fast and furious but first you have to take lessons. You now have to learn the to do the simple things like adjust your seat; put your seat-belt on; adjust your mirrors; start the car. To get on the road you step on the brake and put on your blinker. You shift into drive and you look over your shoulder and start to ease off the brake and out onto the empty road. You step off the brake and step slowly onto the gas peddle. NOW! when you are out on the road, do you step down on the gas peddle and go as fast as the car can move or do you get to know the car and feel the road underneath your tires?

As you slowly get use to the car and the road you can gradually speed up the car. But first your mind will be all over the place – watch out for other cars – watch out for people or kids – watch out for small animals. Your mind will be jumping around – break – gas – steering, a little to the right, now a little to the left to get the car to straighten out. You are looking for red lights, yellow lights etc… Stop signs pop out at you. Over time all these little things that you strain your brain to memorize to do become normal to the point where it is automatic and you can spend time on strategy of driving and less time worrying about every thing else how the car works or operates.

When you go to a school for car or motorcycle racing that they first sit you down and it will be mostly class room time and lecture before you ever get a chance to drive out onto the track or sit in one the cars. When you are ready to drive out onto the track, they will have you walk it on foot so they can talk and explain to you where it would be the best time to start downshifting and clutching into the turn and when and where to step on the gas coming out of the turn. They would show you where you would have the best chance of passing another car and where would be the worst places to pass another car. Once this is over they would have you go back  into the class room and discuss what you just saw and felt. By now because you went (SLOW) and first (WALKED) around the track, you got a chance to see every bump and dip on that track.

The next step is they put you into a car and they drive around the track in slow motion talking to you all the while you are driving. They give you commands and a set of instructions when to down shift and when you should break and when to step on the gas when to speed up and when not to speed up. You go around this track hundreds of times slowly until you can learn their safety methods and proper racing techniques so you wont become a danger to yourself and other drivers. (follow the rules of racing).

Now once this accomplished they bring other cars out onto track with you and your instructor communicates to these other cars by way of two way radio. They set up fake scenarios like you are actually racing but only done in very slow motion. They talk you through each maneuver you do until it becomes ingrained into your being and you can actually see and understand what they mean. Once they feel this has occurred you are allowed to have a mock (fake) race and they practice giving you instructions through a radio in your helmet while you are racing to see how you follow their directions under stress and how well you listen to them.

Jujutsu is a lot like racing a car. The rules in Jujutsu would are the concepts and principles of why things work and when they would work. We must understand that we are dealing with the human anatomy here and we don’t want to (Crash and Burn!) hurt our training partners or our selves. Always safety first should be in the forefront of your minds eye.

Most of the techniques are extremely dangerous and are designed for crippling and killing, you just cant do them fast with out learning how each technique really works first.  Each student must learn to go very slowly (to walk the race track) and learn all the proper methods and techniques , so that the brain and body can learn to move in the proper way. As you start to feel comfortable with the flow of the series of movements and with the  timing and angles then you can speed it up a little bit providing your workout partner knows how to go along with techniques you are applying to him/her.

Just by going slow it can really help you to be able to see more options. You will see  openings,  gaps and weakness in your opponents defense. If you should happen to get into a real bad situation with another person who has the same kind or set of special skills that you now posses, you will have a better chance to counter their attacks and go around their defense and win (stay alive).

When you first learn jujutsu you are learning things that go against the joints which if you go too fast can really over extend the joint or even worse break the joint and really hurt your workout partner.

There are three speeds I teach to all students:

• slow speed for learning,
• medium speed for practice,
• fast speed for fighting

If you train fast all the time you are actually slowing down your ability to learn and that is counterproductive. Also by going fast, you are promoting fear in yourself and in your training partners. By going fast you lose the ability of understanding what you are doing. By rushing through your techniques you can’t see the cool counter techniques that you can see when going slow. By going fast you concentrate to much on the end of the technique and miss the important things, like the beginning and the middle of what you are practicing.

Health wise by training fast is not to good for longevity. It raises your blood pressure and it hurts your joints. Also it taxes your nervous system. Yes you will be fast but over long periods of time with age creeping up on you, joints will start to wear out, your nerves will cause you to shake. Your Ki or Chi or Prana will go in different directions. From a healing point of view  I have learned to go very slow and take your time and this will produce better and safer results.

Going slow teaches us which way to go under pressure. By training fast we lose our sensitivity. I love what Bruce Lee, the founder of Jeet Kune Do, said in his movie “Enter the Dragon” talking to a young student he points his finger up and says,

“It’s like a finger pointing to the moon”

He then goes on to slap the student who was staring at his finger and says,

“Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory”

That pretty much says it all right there, but I feel it actually went right over every ones head. You see every one seems to concentrate on the finger (speed – lots of techniques) and they are missing the rest of the big picture, – All That Heavenly Glory. A real shame.

The Tai Chi people have it right. They know the importance of slow training.. So does the special operation groups in the military or law enforcement. They train really slow. When I first got an opportunity to watch and train the military, one of the instructors came over to me and said we train very slowly here so that we may learn more. I smiled and nodded in agreement with him and after I was finished training them they liked my methods of hand to hand. Not one person got injured and every one learned really effective techniques and had fun.

So remember, go slow, pay attention and do not miss all the heavenly glory. Train Slowly, train safely, train well.

Related posts:

1. The Meaning of the Black Belt