Friday, May 22, 2015

Real Ki Power

Friday Knight News

 "Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well." John W. Gardner

Can you develop ki from everyday martial art training and meditation? First of all what is the real power of ki or chi (inner strength), in the martial arts? I'm guessing is not just in kiai-jutsu, at least not as an energy force that protects you from having to defend yourself from a determined attacker. Although a good kiai can have strong ki, and it can help stun an unsuspecting attacker. So don't bet the farm on it being able to save your life by itself. I would also venture to say that most martial artists are not able to use psychokinesis to draw their katana or a lightsaber even if they happened to have one.

Can your Kiai Stop a Bear?

Ki doesn't give you super powers either, even if martial art hucksters try to sell you that story. We all have heard about people who have lifted cars to save someone or similar such incidents. All of this can be explained by the dump of the hormone epinephrine or adrenaline into your system. So anyone can do this under the right set of circumstances, it doesn't take years of martial art training to unleash this ability. Although your martial art training can make you better able to cope with the stress of facing an attacker. The better you are able to handle stress the easier it becomes to manage it on the streets where it really counts. As there are no referees to call time, or count points to determine the winner. This ability to handle stress can be viewed as a type of self-hypnosis. So, is it a mental power?

Image result for karate shout photo

If so, is there an argument for clairvoyance? I'm inclined to believe there is, but not because of the martial arts helping you to develop some Jedi skills. Learning how to judge and read people and knowing how they might respond with an attack can go a long way toward making it seem as if we are mind reading. Being able to stay calm and focused can often make us more aware of external clues we might have ordinarily missed. We, as human beings, may even have an electromagnetic sensitivity to the energy field that is projected from the heart. This is just one possible explanation for your body responding to the little hairs on the back of your neck or the funny feeling in the pit of your stomach triggering before danger.

The kanji for ki reminds me of hot steam rising over a pot of food over a fire. So the release of ki is that release of energy from having a finely honed and tuned body from years of training. Ki is the height of relaxed concentration. Ki to me is a combination of doing ordinary things so often with great focus that you are able to do the extraordinary things automatically.

"Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." Aristotle


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.       

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