The Way of Least Resistance

Today I launched my 3 new DVDs, Internalising Karate, Bridging Hard and Soft: Vol 1 Fundamentals and Chang Dao: Chinese long Sabre at the  Ray Hana's Superstore  in Perth WA. It was great to meet some new people and wonderful to see some old friends too!

And just like that... All of my 3 new videos have been approved for download and are available from Amazon.  Just click on the links or pictures below! [Note: Amazon have just confirmed that the download option is only for the US and its territories.] Internalising Karate Bridging Hard and Soft Vol. 1: Fundamentals The Chinese Long Sabre: Chang Dao

Just in time for the Christmas season, I'm proud to announce the publication of 3 of my instructional martial arts DVDs today (one is a re-issue to facilitate a download version which is coming soon). These are: Internalising Karate Bridging Hard and Soft Vol. 1: Fundamentals The Chinese Long Sabre: Chang Dao For a description of these DVDs go  here ! The direct download versions of the above videos are now available in the US but it will take another week or two for them to become available in other countries. Copyright © 2015 Dejan Djurdjevic

Introduction For a long time I've wanted to do a piece on what have sometimes been termed "bridging forms" - forms that help students transition from the external arts to the internal arts. The problem (or blessing - depending on how you look at it) is that none of the 5 or so "bridging forms" I know are in any sense a "bridge" from anywhere to anywhere.  They are a combination.  They combine features of the internal arts and external arts. That's all. Personally I think this is deliberate.  And functional.  They don't need to be a "bridge" to anything.  They work perfectly well on their own.  They are just a combination of "hard" and "soft".  To think anything otherwise is to imagine that "soft" is better than "hard" - instead of realising, as Chen Pan Ling did, that the best fighter will use an appropriate combination of hard and soft techniques to achieve an optimal result.  In other wo...

Let me say this upfront: I have  absolutely nothing against people practising any martial art for non-defence/combat reasons. In fact, my own reasons for practising martial arts have, for a long time now, mostly been of the "non-fighting" variety.  I love the "art" side of it: the physical expression through movement, the perfection of form, the development of skills and coordination.  I love the exercise, the movement that ensures practical flexibility into old age despite the toll of wear and tear from injury, illness... and just life . If you're looking to martial arts for "effectiveness" in the sense of an activity that will keep you physically and mentally well, I can't recommend martial arts enough - in particular the Chinese martial arts and even more so the Chinese "soft" or "internal" arts. But effectiveness for "fighting"... well, that's another story. To examine that issue, we first need to...

I've decided to "break the drought" in my martial writing by doing a series of coaching clinics. The I'm going to "kick off" (pardon the pun - you'll see why) with the move sometimes called "separate right leg". It has often been interpreted as a kick - however with the toes in prominence it makes little sense to me. Here is the sequence: You start off in "single whip". You open both palms and lean back.  You also happen to look back (more on why later, but the direction of gaze is important). You preform an inward sweeping anti-clockwise move with your left arm and a corresponding clockwise turn of your right arm. Your right arm then glides down at an angle over the top of your left which is pulled back slightly. Surprisingly, you then sweep both hands back in a clockwise arc, looking at your arms as you do so.  Again, I'll discuss the significance of the head turn in a moment. The arms continue in a circle...

I have lately become quite disenchanted with using the term "internal" or "external" in describing myself as a martial artist. For 25 years I've practised the internal Chinese martial arts (and some external Chinese systems) along with my karate. Yes, I've tended to move more towards the internal arts in my own weekly practice. That's because it's a lot easier on my body. But I've never "switched" from one to the other. Apart from the obvious references to the 3 main arts of China that comprise the neiji (internal) family of boxing (xingyi, bagua and taiji) I suppose I have also used the term "internal" to refer to a gradual "softening" in my training so that it was "smarter" - ie. more efficient, more economical, less reliant on simple force and more on timing and placement. However judging by comments I get via email, Twitter, G+, YouTube and Facebook, a very large percentage (dare I sugge...

Introduction In Parts 1 and 2 of my article "Bridging the gap between karate and the internal arts", I discussed my design of an experimental or "research" form ("kenkyugata") - one that is an "external/internal hybrid".  In this essay I wish to describe and discuss the "final product" in detail. The goal of this project was to create a form for external martial arts practitioners (in particular, karateka) that enables them to assimilate  into their practice some  of the principles/concepts  (意 or "yi") of the internal arts relating to efficient momentum transfer - both for defence (effective evasion and deflection) and counter attack (landing blows more securely and with "whole body" force multiplication). Above all else I wanted this kata to be sufficiently familiar to karateka : I wanted to avoid the need for them to undergo lengthy training in the outward form  of the internal arts  (called 形 or "xi...