September 21, 2023
YMAA staff writer Gene Ching interviews Rory Miller, a writer and teacher living peacefully in the Pacific Northwest. Rory Miller is the author of a dozen books and videos about real-world violence as it pertains to traditional martial artists. Highly recommended reading and viewing for anyone interested in real-world safety and situational awareness. Rory has served for seventeen years in corrections as an officer and sergeant working maximum security, booking and mental health; leading a tactical team; and teaching subjects ranging from Defensive Tactics and Use of Force to First Aid and Crisis Communications with the Mentally Ill.
January 18, 2021
Fights are not static. Things move. People move. Bear-hugs and headlocks and all that stuff happen sometimes in a fight, but they are transitional actions. You do not get bear-hugged just to be held (except by bouncers). A Threat wraps his big arms around you from behind either to pick you up and shake you (disorienting and intended as an intimidating show of strength) or to drive you into a wall. Maybe to throw you over a balcony. If you practice technique-based defense, will they work if the Threat refuses to stand there? If he is using that headlock to slam you from wall to wall?
December 7, 2020
The Records area at Rusafa Prison Complex in Baghdad is enclosed by a chain-link fence and was almost always crowded. It’s a stressful place, with inmates being processed in and out, Iraqi military, police, corrections, advocates, politicos, and sometimes families of the convicts are present and a small handful of American advisors.
January 30, 2017
The following are important things, some little, some major, that lend themselves well to simple drills or exercises. Backing up is almost never the answer. Unless you are excellent at reading and remembering tactical terrain, you might not know what or who is behind you.
January 5, 2017
Before you begin the sequence it is good to stand in wuji for a moment to focus your intent and your qi.
In an age where karate training is often viewed as a family pastime for some or a career path for others, many of the older and more traditional forms of training have slipped from use, replaced in many cases by a quest for physical entertainment.
A philosopher and teacher of the ‘Way’ began addressing his students. He produced, from behind a screen, a large glass container and a box of fist-sized rocks. After a few moments of carefully placing the rocks into the glass container, he came to a point where no more would fit. He then turned to his students and asked: “Is it full?”
Training does have to be adjusted and changed for modern day, but the principles and essence should remain the same. We are constantly striving to preserve the teachings of our masters, and we should be very cautious when to modify them.
There has been a clear and obvious downward shift in the average skill level of students, and even masters, of today compared to the masters and students of old.
In ancient times, many students would unconditionally sacrifice their lives to their training and beg masters to take them, often striving to prove themselves worthy for many weeks, months or years before they were accepted.
My Long Fist grandmaster, Grandmaster Li, Mao-Ching, spent 23 years and 1 month in the Chinese military during harsh wartime conditions while he trained everyday, under Great Grandmaster Han, Chin-Tang, one of the foremost traditional martial artists and graduates of the Nanjing Central Guoshu Institute
People are weird. They have an almost infinite ability to learn and communicate. At the same time, this amazing ability is used as much for fantasy and entertainment as it is for information and survival. Take, for example, the rhinoceros and the unicorn.
Traditional martial arts is not supposed to be glamorous, and conditioning is not a very glamorous process, being a very repetitive and monotonous type of exercise requiring many years of training.
Traditional martial arts is not supposed to be glamorous, and conditioning is not a very glamorous process, being a very repetitive and monotonous type of exercise requiring many years of training.
Through many years of history, experience, and practice, martial artists realized that in a fight, there are generally three factors that determine victory.
Through many years of history, experience, and practice, martial artists realized that in a fight, there are generally three factors that determine victory.
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