Lydia [JG said:
" post_id=375307 time=1658053044 user_id=57]Of course there are many other types of exercise, there have been quite a few posts over the years regarding the subject, so feel free to comment with your own advice and experience
A healthy and sound body helps increase a healthy and sound mind and soul.
(Apologies, I started this reply almost not knowing what to say and I ended up typing for half an hour.)
I'm gonna give an advice for those that, like me, grew up thinking (or maybe being conditioned with the idea) that Pilates was "for women" or "a weak exercise", or simply for those who believe they should learn and earn more out of an exercise, other than just physical/mental/spiritual benefit ("just" being sarcastic here).
I'm talking about Chinese martial arts here.
I'd say this advice 'should be' more directed to men (as they may feel themselves more of a warrior doing/learning something that was designed for having a clear upper hand in close quarters combat, but I strongly encourage women to take up martial arts too.
First of all, many of the Chinese styles have been fashioned after animals and this alone should be a good enough reason to attract many in learning it. Animals have skills and qualities we can still only dream of and have been evolving for longer than us, so it's only fair that we learn something more from them (other than not destroying our environment).
Second, on a health care level, some Chinese styles (Snake, Monkey, Seven Star Mantis, Drunken boxing, etc) require a particular level of flexibility and strengthen muscles in an elastic way, aiding the flow of energy over the mere "strengthening the muscles" like deluded MMA "fighters" may think is a good way to make yourself into a deadlier or better fighter.
I'll skip the HUGE list of benefits that comes from having a flexible spine so for your Kundalini can rise more effortlessly.
Third, on a functional level, (in my opinion) learning a martial art that can give one that edge in knowledge and confidence necessary to know they CAN get out of a physical confrontation as the unharmed party, is more useful than just having a flexible, strong body and not knowing how to use it if someone enters our comfort zone with hostile intentions.
Four, and I HAVE to add this for the sake of Truth, when you learn how to push your physical limit past that of others, when you know how much damage you can deal and you know EXACTLY what moves/techniques/dodges/blows/type of fist will work in any situation where you'd NORMALLY (as we are Human and may respond to fear and immediate stress in a more or less different way) FREEZE or become too scared to think properly... martial arts are probably (along with Knowing Yourself thought meditation.. would have put a Void Meditation link here but the JoS websites are down at the moment, on my end at least) the best way you can prepare yourself and boost your stats up so you can be ready.
And if you never have to fight in your life, you'll have a body strong, hardened, flexible and capable like that of very few others compared to hundreds of millions who choose to sit there and way for things to "get better".
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Personal note on martial arts:
I've been studying them since 1988 and visited many and various styles and nationalities when it comes to martial arts, and ALTHOUGH I strongly encourage you to take up an of these Chinese styles that promote flexibility and an animal-like strength and agility, I have found that sometimes that's not enough when you're faced with a real life opponent (who may or not be shouting insults your way, raise the voice to appear 'bigger' or other shit like that).
Real life fighting isn't cool like in videogames or movies. You enter a fight with nothing but mastery of Shequan (Chinese Snake Style) and you'll likely freeze in fear. It's a Human response and nothing to be ashamed of. You may not WANT to fight, and you may NOT WANT to hurt anyone, so you'll be in conflict with yourself.
I know a fair amount of styles, and let me tell you.. very often I felt like I was still completely helpless because I didn't want to use them. You may feel that if you'll kick your opponent's ass you'll be arrested and go to jail, and that thought isn't going to leave your head so easily. If you've been attacked and you fought someone, you may have felt this at least once in your life. Maybe it wasn't the police you feared, maybe it was your mom when you were in 3rd grade and that kid just started a fight for no reason, maybe you feared your parents scolding you for being "bad" for defending yourself.
Mental trauma when it comes to fighting someone is very various and colorful. But it should NEVER stop you from defending yourself, your family (non Human/Animal realm family included) or even your property.
For this reason, I only REALLY recommend these above Chinese styles for the incredible flexibility and spiritual aid as some of the stances even resemble Yoga.
But for ACTUAL FIGHTING, I only recommend 2 styles:
I might divide them into
1. for those that prefer a long range fighting, are fast, want to keep the opponent away, like tradition and wooden dummies and
2. for those that prefer short range fighting, are stronger over fast, don't have a problem getting very close to the opponent if it means ending the fight quickly, believe martial arts should be effective in a fight before they are elegant/beautiful/choreographic/cool to watch.
Number 1, as some may have already guessed is WING CHUN.
Apparently, WING CHUN was born in a time or REAL need in China. From what books report (then again, I haven't found other believable sources on this subject), the Qing Dynasty (the last Chinese Empire) had BANNED martial arts in China. Knowledge of martial arts (unless they belonged inside the imperial army was strictly forbidden and punishable by death). According to the books I read on this topic, there were 5 main "animal style themed" temples in China in the cradle of valleys and mountains where Chinese martial arts where born, and the Qing burned them all down and killed everyone in them to erase martial art knowledge. The monks were obviously outnumbered, cornered and weren't expecting something like this to happen. Those that managed to escape and not being burned alive went into hiding and lived like that for the rest of the Qing Dynasty, keeping their traditions and knowledge alive in hiding.
Because this was a time of need, known martial arts like these couldn't be used in the open, so they created a new style that was "odd" and didn't look like a martial art at first, but more like a ritualistic dance or something.. but that odd bunch of "kata" had in them the combined effort of the creme-de-la-creme in Chinese martial arts, and Wing Chun was secretly created.
The greatest thing about Wing Chun (in my opinion) is that while all others martial arts in the world have "attacking moves", "blocking moves" and "evading moves", Wing Chun sums these three up in a simultaneous single move. You don't block and attack, or evade and attack.. you evade-block-attack at once, and you can use 3 limbs at a time if you include the leg that front kicks the very disoriented opponent's leg or groin, etc.
In my case, I now mostly adopt Wing Chun and adapted it to hand techniques (Mantis Fist and Phoenix Fist, as they concentrate a lot of force in one tiny area and can, as a fact, break facial bones fast, causing intense pain and ending a fight in seconds).
I recommend this for more skilled martial artists who already have a good degree of knowledge with different styles, as this strongly helps seeing and appreciating the multiple advantages Wing Chun offers (and I'm saying this because 15 years ago I used to think Wing Chun was worthless.. I obviously didn't know enough).
Number 2: BAJI QUAN.
Bajiquan is also known as "The Fist of Eight Extremities" and is all about getting very (VERY) close and personal with an opponent and striking not only with your fists and feet but with the eight extremities of your body (Fist, Elbow, Foot, Knee, Hip, Shoulder, Back, Head).
Bajiquan is so effective that Taiwanese forces and other military organizations/police have selected it among over 200 other martial art candidates as their official style.
The main thing about Baji Fist is that the main concept in it is to "advance, advance, advance" (and strike at every turn).
Most martial arts require space to punch, more space to kick and generally tend to establish a "permanent distance" between the fighter and the opponent, so this concept (and the opponent's training) becomes crushed when the Baji user gets so close, constantly, until he/she wins either by neutralizing the opponent or having the opponent flee (seeing no apparent way of defeating this advancing, fearless foe who doesn't care about getting 'too close').
It seems that Bajiquan already existed during the infamous Qing dynasty as it was (apparently) the official martial art of the Emperor's bodyguards. This style has in fact been also labeled the "bodyguard style", for it's high effectiveness.
In my case, I didn't really appreciate the true crushing power of the extremely well grounded Bajiquan when I was partecipating in Kungfu-Wushu championships in my youth, as I was too busy thinking that the cool Van Damme flying split kick was the shit and Jewllywood would only show us flying Chinese men who fought for an hour without breaking a sweat... so it took me my sweet time to truly learn what this meant in an actual fight, and add to the style something of mine, inventing moves and making it "specifically my own", like Bruce Lee would say.
I strongly recommend Bajiquan as a style for people who are "less than agile" and more bulky, but with the reminder that you should STILL work on your flexibility in order to keep your body strong and spiritually ready to learn more.
Also, no one said you can't add to any other style something that is your OWN invention. As long as it is functional and effective and doesn't put you in a position of disadvantage, I encourage you to do this.
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I really wasn't planning to write something of THIS length, but being this the result of over 30 years of my study, I hope you'll find this useful, Brothers and Sisters.
HAIL SATAN FOREVER!
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