Turn Your Body into a Weapon

Friday Knight News

"Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men." Miyamoto Musashi

Turning your body into a weapon is an arduous task. It requires speed and strength and most often it will also require a certain level of flexibility. These three foundational elements are needed to achieve the dexterity and coordination necessary to engage in combat with an opponent to any degree of safety. A martial artist that uses this approach must engage in body hardening skill training to work both offensively and defensively. This approach sometimes can lead to physical deformity if the practice is pushed to an extreme.

This is why the use of a heavy bag, makiwara, mook jong, iron palm bag, and body striking implements are so common in various styles. Of course, physical fitness plays a large part in this mix. A martial artist seeking this methodology must be constantly honing his instrument because without the maintenance, the power of the weapon degrades. This is also true of the body’s ability to withstand and defend against the weapons of the assailant.

One of the greatest advantages of this type of training is that it generally gives the practitioner the element of surprise in self-defense combat situations. This is because no one in their right mind would ever consider the possibility of going up against armed assailants empty-handed. It is just the nature of combat that people armed themselves when they know that they are going into a confrontation. When a target appears to be unarmed, it generally creates an opportunity for the defender to trick his aggressor into dropping his guard.

However, many times in strong arm robberies, muggings, or assaults like the knockout game criminals will rely on numbers to sure up their confidence. In many areas throughout the civilized world the use of a weapon even in defending yourself can land you in more trouble than what the criminal’s punishment would be. Still some martial artist contend that learning how to utilize a tool is a superior method for self-defense. As your skill level, and your ability to utilize the weapon is not as dependent upon physical superiority. This is an important point considering that everyone faces injuries and old age if you are lucky enough.

My approach is to try the middle path, it is better to rely on your mind as the weapon. Learning to utilize various weapon types as tools of self-defense help sharpen our focus and understanding of the concepts necessary to emerge victoriously. While at the same time, spending additional time hardening the body’s natural weapons helps us maintain our physical and mental strength. This is what being a warrior knight of the martial arts is all about to me.

"A warrior is always engaged in a life and death struggle for peace."  Morihei Ueshiba  

Mushin University "Self-Knowledge the Ultimate Knowledge" is the literary school of hard knocks from my book Enlightenment Kicking and Screaming, (The Paradox of Martial Art Training). It is also the foundation of the concept that all martial art styles transform their practitioners into people of character, making us the modern day equivalents to knights of the martial arts. As our goal to teach and train both body and mind in the defense against our own inner critic and self-defense against aggressors. 

Enlightenment Kicking and Screaming

The following are links to my Kindle version books from the "Dream Walker" series. My stories are about martial arts adventures that are intertwined with paranormal or supernatural events. The following links are to the Kindle version books from the "Dream Walker” series. Our adventurers find themselves on a quest where they are confronted with both conspiracy and mystery. Their challenge is to unite their mind and body skills together utilizing what they have learned in the martial arts with the transcendental power of dream mediation. They attempt to do this while they are trying to make a life for themselves and elude those that seek to use and control them.

Conversations with a Sage (Book 1 of the Dream-Walker)

Conversations with a Sage: This explores Xander Davidson's early encounters with the mysterious fog like Dream Walking martial art sages. He ponders if they are real or if they are only remnants of his dreams. He mainly keeps this secret world to himself as he tries to copes with abuse, growing up without support or guidance and the mystery of his family's past. 

Xander and the Assassins Gift (Book 2 of the Dream-Walker)

The Assassins Gift: Xander Davidson struggles with the conspiracy of his family and the group that is actively trying to manipulate him to join them or die. The young Dream Walkers learns an early lesson to be careful about whom they let into their circle.


Warriors of Perception (Book 3 of the Dream-Walker)

Warriors of Perception: Xander Davidson and his band of friends embark on a mission to free themselves from their oppressors. They bravely face the challenge all the while vying for the right moment to turn the tables.

Jace Lee The Shift (Book 4 of the Dream-Walker)

Jace Lee The Shift: We find a new apprentice, Adam, that is fighting for his life. He is struggling to understand the amazing skills of his mentor, Jace Lee; a younger man that has trained under Xander Davidson. All the while his mentor attempts to reconcile the fact that his skills do not match up with the other Dream Walkers.


Jace Lee No Agenda (Dream Walker Book 5)

Jace Lee No Agenda: Jace Lee attempts to find himself on a self-imposed vision quest of sorts. Instead he finds himself being stalked by the same group that had previously sought after his teacher, (Xander Davidson). Instead of mastering his odd Dream Walking skills he finds love and the potential loss of his powers.

Jace Lee and the Tutelage of Ming Wu: Dream Walker 6 

Jace Lee The Tutelage of Ming Wu: Jace Lee rejoins his teacher Xander Davidson as they cope with a possible combined threat (the mysterious), Ming Wu and the Council that has continuously monitored the Dream Walkers.