"Anyway, about 10 years ago (pre-DMT), I was half way to my black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and I have been thinking of getting back into it maybe to go all the way to black belt"

I had mine, but it was well over 10 years ago now. I don't think I could get right back into it at that level. I prefer yoga and dance/flow arts, but I appreciate the warrior aspect of certain martial arts.

For you guys that are interested but dont like the idea of hurting others, check out jiu jitsu. It's not called 'gentle art' for nothing. There are no punches or kicks. When we spar, we actually call it 'rolling', or 'flow rolling', exactly because it is a very fluid movement, as you can kinda see in the video I just posted. And as soon as you get to the joint locks or chokes, the person can tap out before they get hurt or go to sleep, so there isn't any real damage done. Also I like that while practicing it is incredibly spiritual for me, it does not make any wild claims about 'energies' or 'death touches', it is totally a no-BS approach, there are no rigid rules on how the form should be, it's all about what actually works, about mechanical principles, leverage, positioning, timing, etc... And all that has been tested thousands of times in actual practice against fully resisting trained or untrained opponents.

Yesterday the world famous Royce Gracie came on a surprise visit to our school, it was awesome. He was teaching us a throw and he kept stressing the details, how it's not about using strenght, its just technique and timing, and once you get it, throwing an 80kg person is as easy as just throwing a small backpack over your shoulder, really! If you don't know who royce gracie is, he revolutionized the world of martial arts by doing winning the first major style-versus-style championship against way bigger opponents back when people were still wondering what would happen if a karate guy met a judo guy, or if a taekwon do guy met a jiu jitsu guy, etc.

But yes juggling/flow arts are awesome in their own way, and totally something I'd like to practice more.

I tried Aikido a few times, but never kept it up. What I remember in the few lessons I had was using my opponents energy against them. Also, like BJJ, it isn't about punching and kicking, but causing your opponent to become submissive through holds and throws and is based more on defence... am I getting this right? It was years ago since I had those lessons, so i'm sure there is a lot more to it.

I guess I could just google it

Psychedelics can be used as warrior medicine.

Since i've last taken Kambo & Ayahuasca, i've have come to the conclusion that the christian worldview of presenting you other cheek to the attacker is basicly a victim complex and it is definatly wrong for me to do so.
You can't be tolerant to the intolerant.
Its a mental thing, if somebody attacks me now, i am gonna retaliate immidiatly without thinking, without judging, driven by only one instinct: survive!
That includes the option to hit first, when neccessary.
Thats why i learned some dirty street fighting tricks which are brutal, but effective.

I am not a very strong person, so i have to increase my chances, if i have to kick somebody into the balls or attack his eyes, so be it. Don't expect me to fight with some outdated sense of honor.
Somebody attacks me, i do whatever necessary to avoid damage to my body/mind even if i have to kill/cripple somebody.

Don't get me wrong, i am not searching for trouble, neither do i start conflicts or escalate them.
If there is an option to avoid the fight i'll take it, but i refuse to be a victim.

I agree with your mentality, Ryusaki. My journeys on high doses of mushrooms instilled in me a sense of the warrior spirit, to protect myself, my family, and my tribe. Confidence is key in certain situations, which is why getting rid of the ego completely, in my opinion, is neither necessary nor desirable. Is road rage bad and should it be prevented? Of course, but if someone got out their car and attacked your family, you better defend against them.

Sometimes psychedelic communities in the west can forget that the warrior path is just as important as the shaman path. In fact, in many cultures, the shaman is also the warrior chief/leader.

EDIT: A good way to sum up my position is to live like a dog. Let the moment guide you, and you guide the moment. Let food, sex, and sparring fill your day, in some form at least (say what you want, but we always play fought as kids [and still do, as adults] where I'm from, and we consider fighting normal and acceptable so long as it's for fun and nobody gets seriously hurt; I like to think we are hardier for it). Even if sparring means friendly competition in a video game, human men need to satisfy the primal urge to spar, fight, and sometimes kill - otherwise it is satisfied for them in acts of terror and violence. I think if American society were less puritanical about the whole thing, there might be better/more outlets encouraged for young boys and men.

I love Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I second everything endlessness has to say on the subject. Although I'm off the mats for a couple of weeks because of a bruised rib.

You'll find the people are really cool. You go 100% when you roll, then tap out before bad stuff happens. That is healthy for your ego and it means your peers also have nothing to prove.

You'll find that the douchebags tend not to last, for the reasons stated above. Plus it's great for your conditioning. I'm working in strength, conditioning and flexibility training on days when I'm not rolling, though you don't need to do that.

It doesn't even matter that you don't know what you're doing when you start. Just aim to survive and make it as difficult as possible for your oppenent to do what they want to do. That is fun in its own right, plus it benefits you defensively and it benefits your partners training also.

Like endlessness said to me in chat the other day,

"It's not a sprint, it's a marathon"

Damn right. It's a journey, that starts off exciting, then gets more and more exciting as you progress.

Check out the video below, another cool BJJ documentary.



Peace

Macre

I train muay thai, and personally I don't see a conflict between the two, or at least there doesn't have to be one, unless you make it so.

I got into muay thai to improve my fitness, but it comes with so many other advantages as well. Why I chose muay thai specifically was also because there is such a tremendous amount of respect and tradition in the sport that I highly appreciate. If anything, I think training it has made me much more peaceful and calm, it has also taught me to control my feelings very well. I used to have a flaring temper when I'd get upset, but I understood that there is nothing to gain from lashing out at someone when you get angry. This also applies to situations where someone tries to pick a fight with you. You gain so much self-confidence trough martial arts while at the same time realising how brutal consequences spontaneous acts of violence can have. There are of course people who will use their martial arts training to beat up people on the weekends, but I want to believe that is a small minority of practitioners, and I'd say it is more likely to make you more intolerant to violence, knowing the possible consequences.

Martial arts definitely also teach you to be humble. If you take on a martial art, and decide to spar doing so with a cocky attitude you will be put in your place very fast by those in the gym who have been training for longer. Most martial arts are also very technical, and there is always room for improvement no matter how good you get. Just like self-improvement in general, it is not a process that has a definitive goal, teaching you patience and discipline.

So in conclusion, martial arts don't have to be about violence at all. You can just train on the bags and pads if you like. There is a special kind of beauty in the movement in martial arts. It is like dancing, mimicking your opponents movements and adapting to them with your own.

I'm definitely in favor of martial arts. Like almost everything else, the person using it is the one who determines whether it is positive or negative.

Peace

Great post. I love Muay Thai and I am considering getting back into it. In fact, someone I roll with is a Muay Thai instructor.

I agree with the comparison between martial arts and self improvement, which makes them compatible with psychedelics, in my opinion.

Peace

Macre

Nice bump

Illuminated, cool, Muay thai is sooo brutal, gotta respect those who can stand it haha. Just today I was doing some light sparring with a friend who trains some boxing and muay thai and I felt like a fish out of water... It's hard not to get 'blind' when the strikes are coming in haha. I got hit on the chin with a light straight right and it already made me a bit lost for a second there, I can't even imagine what it must be to do hard striking sparring regularly

Yo macre, very glad to hear about you training! I just got my purple belt the other day, happy with the continuous improvement.. Would be awesome to roll with you someday!


By the way, did you see the other docu from the same producers:

i can dig it.

i trip and fight at the club sometimes.
its sorta part of the job.

i prefer massive pot for fighting though.

Yeah dude that would be cool. Good work on the purple belt man, that's really impressive. If you're back in London next year then we could roll then.

Thanks for the video man, I'll check that out later.

Peace

Macre

Flinching is something everyone does when they start, but you learn quite quickly to get rid of that reflex
But indeed before you get used to it your reaction is to pretty much just curl up into a ball to avoid the punishment
That's also something I like about Muay Thai, the conditioning. The training is grueling, but it eventually makes you hard as a rock, especially your shins.

But definitely no denying that it is brutal, especially on the professional level. The hardening of the body is so important because in Muay Thai more than any other martial art I know you block most of the hits with your body. Footwork is not emphasized in the same way as in boxing for example, there is not that much evading.

Here is an example, don't try this unless you've been kicking the heavy bag for 20 years
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDMnT8hrT-U
Maybe one day...

I'll have to give BJJ a try at some point too. I'm curious, does height matter at all when you're rolling? I'm a solid 2 meters (6'7), and it definitely helps in Muay Thai

Peace

Illuminated, do try it out, I can only recommend. It's such an intricate art of control and submission, it is fascinating if you have a curious mind. It's very mental and strategic. The rabbit hole goes deep, you can explore it your whole life and you'll never know everything.

And yeah height can help, im lanky myself and the long limbs provide good leverage for submissions and ease to recover guard etc..


And Buakaw is a beast ! Gotta respect that kinda thai toughness. Not for everyone haha

Just got my brown belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu!

The closer I get to black belt, the more I realize how much I don't know, how much I still have to learn... Seems it's an endless journey !

I've been cross training lately with wrestling/judo, I feel it is essential to be proficient in takedowns. I haven't been training any striking lately but I'll definitely go back to that at some point.

I've had to use my martial arts skills twice in real life in separate ocasions, both in the last 6 months, once to save a person on a psychotic breakdown from hurting themselves, another time to control an aggressive person attacking two women at work. Both times what I used the most was clinch/standing control work, and held the person until police/ambulance arrived.. I didn't throw any strike, was just control.

I never want to participate in violent/dangerous situations, but it feels good in the back of my mind to know that if necessary, I am able to use martial arts in a non-agressive way to help people being safe.

I'd love to train on psychedelics with some likeminded psychonaut one day.

How bout you guys, anybody else training martial arts?

I train.
I've been doing it awhile.
15 years or so.
I don't hit it hard like I used to a decade ago though.
I'm confident in my ability to handle myself in typical situations.

I used to microdose and spar.
That was always nice.

Awesome!

To persevere training for such a long time is a lot of commitment..

What discipline do you train in?

Endlessness! Happy for you and your latest belt! =) Keep it up man.

Unfortunately there are a lot of crazy people out there, but it’s always nice to know you can beat up anyone, anytime--or at least give it an honest shot. Which is how I started feeling in life about the age of 16, once I had two years of boxing under my belt. Then I got into Taekwondo (I like ITF more than WTF.) I started in Argentina, where we would train Taekwondo in bare feet on cold concrete floors.

So I am a striker who has done very little ground work (although there is groundwork in ITF, plus I just liked doing Jujitsu with my friends, but formally took very little Jujitsu classes.)
To me sparring is martial arts, and everything else just preparation. I love being able to hit hard, and work with someone who hits hard, and really go at it with a black belt or red belt, but you can’t do that always because it’s too much damage on the head (more if you are working with kicks to the head, which is what I like.)

It’s nice to just play; throw all the punches and kicks you want but do it with 60% force, laughing with your partner, having fun. Learning. This is all I am in for. I don’t care about the forms, I don’t care about the “lessons”, about the history, about the numbers in Korean. I don’t submit to any authority—naturally, classes became unbearable for me, which is why I work out alone now, as finding a GOOD honest place (dojan, dojo, etc.) is EXTREMLEY hard.

Many times the black belts fight like total beginners (they actually don’t fight, but if they did that’s what their level would be.) A lot of the times some high degree black belts will get a real kick out of yelling, or being DISCIPLINED…and all that nonsense…If I see any of that I am out of the class faster than you can say Jack Robinson.

I love Martial Arts. To me Martial Arts is LOVE. It’s very hard for people to see it like I do. Many think it’s violent to spar. Hitting people is bad they say. These people don’t understand that a sparring partner is on the game with you, i.e., not defenseless. It’s a game. Just like chess. Do you take a chess move personally? Neither do sparrers.

Sparring is not violent. You are violent! If you feel violence and aggression, that is you! Not the action. I say this completely confident because when I spar, very few times there is any aggression at all. What I feel is love. If you do feel violence or pride, you need to control that, just like in chess.
The best fights are with LOVE, and loving sparring partners.
Sure, some forms are beautiful and can slightly perfect your technique, but sparring is everything. And the best sparring is when you lock in with the partner and exchange blows for two whole minutes. No backing down, no moving around; just blow after blow, after kick, after punch, until someone just falls from lack of breath.

But yeah I can’t stand the dojo politics…it’s all childish stuff…And I am a grown man! So, the only class I will stay in is one where I meet good sparring partners.

And yeah, I train high on weed all the time! Lifting weights or long distance jogging is cool on shrooms too. A crazy experience in my life was throwing kicks and punches after a changa breakthrough. I was literally the fastest I’ve ever seen someone punch (well, except for Mike Tyson in his prime, which is who I was modelling my punches out of.)

Of course, the best time to get psychedelic is at night after training.

Sorry for so much words, its just a really long subject=)

13 Postures aka Shi San Shi mostly.

Congratulations!

I trained BJJ and no GI for some time, had to stop due to some herniated discs... everytime I try to return something happens, like having a rib poping out. So I got stuck at blue belt, I wish I can come back one day to continue BJJ.
Meanwhile I´d been training MMA (all at the same gym or "family", mostly technique... got to learn some boxing and I am quite decent at kicking... for a man of my size, and also smashing people´s heaad against the fence (kindly called "the chesee graterr"

I think psychedelics and martial arts are quite connected, it´s funny to think about a few BJJ tournaments sponsored by some "ayahuasca company" (Eddie Bravo stuff) and also another tournmanet where the main price was a huge bag of premium weed, won by Jeff Glover I think.
Then you have Joe Rogan talking about DMT with people like Mike Tyson or other fighters... and I remember having saw a BJJ gym where the do mushroom microdosing : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27Mbdec0jlk. (that´s how we roll at our gym).
Also... one funny thing I heard from Kilindi Iyi, he claims that all the eastern Kung fu style thing, was ment as a martial art in the astral world... ancient tribes would go to war in the astral realm too by astral projection, that´s why you have this "tigger and the dragon" flying stuff they do.

I found that climbing has a lot of these characteristics as well. I love doing it, but i sometimes get scared as well. Like with psychedelics, i've had several, maybe too many, of these moments where i realy felt like "oh my god, what have i got myself into this time?".