The Shaolin Secrets Blog

The Mastermind concept is a success concept that teaches you that if you want to get something, be someone or improve yourself, get into a group of other like minded individuals that want the same thing.

By doing so, you magnetize yourself and the others in the group to attract and get what you want faster.

This Mastermind group is sharp. Like a razor. The energy in the room is unbelievable and there are already people in the room who have seen improvements of 100% to as much as 500% in their businesses and other areas of their lives.

Some have started from scratch in January and already have a viable business up and making money.

Some have quit their jobs, started new careers and have never been happier. Others are still in the same career but are building businesses in their spare time with the goal of switching careers.

Some...shall we say...are dragging their feet.

Now you might ask yourself, "Self, why would anyone spend money to join the group, travel thousands of miles and take time away from family and friends to not take the action that they said they wanted to take.

Simple...it's Fear.

Fear of the unknown; fear of success, fear of failure...fear of the Boogeyman or the monster that you just knew was hiding under your bed when you were a kid.

Whatever the fear is about, it can hold you right in place, doing nothing, going nowhere, living your life out one agonizing day at a time while you long for something different.

Unless...you attack your fear.

My Mentor taught me this weekend that logical thinking doesn't conquer your fear. Writing out plan after plan and list after list won't do it.

Talking to your friends won't do it. Going to the gym to work out won't do it. Having a drink will do it temporarily but the fear will be there, along with a headache, when you get up in the morning.

Nope, one thing and one thing only beats Fear...Action.
Action. Fast action. Decisive action. Action that gets you moving in a forward direction towards what you want.

This weekend my Mentor used me to teach the group and myself this lesson.

He had me stand in front of the room in a neutral position. He told me to relax, be grounded and breathe.

He began doing energy work on me; slapping different points on my body that hold energy, hitting two energy points on opposite sides to free up blockages, and also striking different points that had uneven or "dirty" energy to get it released and moving.

While he was doing this, the crowd was cringing and making faces. They thought he was hurting me, but the more he slapped and whapped me, the bigger a smile I started to get.

Then, we got to the teaching part.

Here he told me he was going to hit me in the gut and I was not to take a step back. I was to stand my ground and not let him knock me off balance.

I wasn't allowed to be in a deep stance or to put one foot back; I had to stand there with my feet shoulder width, breathe and relax.

He said he was going to hit me three times and every time I took a step back, we had to start over again at one.

For those of you that don't know, I'm not a large man. At 5'6" and 161 pounds, I am what the Irish would call "wiry".

My Mentor is a National Collegiate Wrestling Champion and World Champion in Kung Fu. He's about 5'8"-ish and in the neighborhood of about 230 rock solid pounds.

This...was going to be fun.

After the first couple of shots to the body, I had moved on each one and had to start over. Everyone in the crowd had graduated to the "Oh My God He's Really Going to Kill Him" looks on their faces.

While I was trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, he looked at me and said, "Stop trying to not fall over. Clear your mind and attack the punches with your stomach instead."

Three solid punches, wham, wham, wham...and I didn't move an inch.

The crowd burst out into applause as I bowed to my Mentor and showed respect for the lesson I had learned. He turned to the crowd and told them that what they just saw was a metaphor for fear.

"When you feel fearful, you have to attack it. Instead of trying to figure out why you're fearful and what might happen, just go.

Attack. Get after whatever it is that's making you afraid and as you can see, you'll come out on the other side feeling better than ever about yourself and you will have achieved what you wanted."

I realized right then that while I had been taught this by my Instructors in different ways, no one had explained it to me in this way...until now.

This is one of the most powerful lessons you or I could ever learn.

When you're in class and it's time to spar, it's okay to be anxious, nervous and fearful. Almost all the students I work with and talk to, especially the women, dislike sparring.

The cure is to do what...that's right; get in there and spar.

Because as soon as you start and you take that first shot...boom; no more fear.

Attack your fear. Go after what you want. Don't worry about the "what if's". Decide what you want, make your plan of action...

And Attack Your Fear.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. - To learn more about what your proper mental state should be and how the ancient Shaolin Temple of China trains their Warrior Monks to be the toughest on the plant, get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and get Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I.

P.P.S. - I haven't forgotten about my promise. The announcement I have is coming in the next couple of days. Stay tuned.

Sun Tzu may have been a Shaolin Warrior Monk in a previous life.

In Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I, available at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com, many combat principles are taught and recently, I saw one of them being demonstrated at a boxing match.

There were two fighters going at it in the center of the ring. One was tall and wiry; the other short and stocky.

The taller fighter had the superior reflexes and reach advantage. When he was allowed to hit first and stay at a distance, he was constantly peppering the shorter man with jabs and the occasional one-two punch.

When he was able to score several times, he unloaded a jab-cross-hook combo that staggered the shorter fighter, put him in the ropes and then unleash a barrage of bombs on his stunned opponent.

The shorter man either has Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I or he has read Sun Tzu, because he did a very smart thing.

He kept his guard up, kept moving his upper body to avoid a clean shot, and then fired an uppercut-cross shot that rocked his opponent backwards.

And then he stuck his nose in the taller fighter's chest and started smashing him.

He followed the principle that says, "When your opponent leaves a void and gives ground, fill it." He also followed the rules of fighting a taller man; get in there, take away his reach advantage, get your body on him and start banging.

As I was watching this see-saw battle, I was thinking of all the principles that are in Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I and how they can apply to every form of combat arts that are out there.

Jiu Jitsu, Thai Boxing, Karate, Kung Fu, Boxing, Wrestling, (not the Hulk Hogan type of wrestling) and others. What's beautiful about these Volumes is that they contain the foundational principles of combat that apply to everyone regardless of style.

Get your copy of Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I. Study it, dissect it, put it under your pillow and try to absorb it through osmosis. Do whatever you have to do to get this information into your head.

And maybe you can be a contender.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. - There are many people out there that are action-oriented; they see something they want and they go for it. They get things done and they are successful. Others read about it, think about it and generally stall and get nothing accomplished as they fill their brains with information but take no action. If you've been reading these letters and you don't have your copy of Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I, get off the fence and get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com. You will be in awe when you finally get your copy and finally see for yourself what all the fuss is about.

Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I is written in the manner which old Chinese Masters would teach; they would tell you something but it would be up to you to figure out what it meant.

A great example of this is in Bruce Lee's movie, "Enter the Dragon", when he is working with a young man and to make his point in the lesson he says to the boy, "If you concentrate on the finger, you miss the moon and stars in all their heavenly glory."

To which the boy says, "Uuuhhhh...okay." And bows.

Sometimes we all feel like that boy.

What is the principle that is being taught when they say, "When the movement is visible, the striking is too slow."

Simple. It's the strike or kick that you don't see that knocks you out. It's the submission you don't know that catches you. It's the boyfriend your daughter has that you don't know about that causes the problems.

Oops...maybe we better not bring up that scenario.

Here's an example. I was training with a bunch of guys years ago that liked to out on the pads and go for it full on. They were into takedowns and submissions along with the banging each other around.

This was right around the beginning of the UFC and mixed martial arts craze so all these guys thought they were MMA fighters. That led to some spirited workouts, if you know what I mean.

I was fighting with this one guy who I knew had a wicked spinning hook kick and spinning back fist. What made it effective was that he didn't use it like a point fighter; he knew how to use it in close, offensively or defensively.

I was working on attacking him, getting him cornered and then banging on him, keeping him smothered so he wouldn't have room to spin.

I got a good blitz on him, backed him into the corner, body shot-uppercut-hook, down to one knee he went.

Impressed with myself, I backed away to let him up, thinking I had clearly shown I owned him and now we could re-set in the center.
The next thing I knew, I was lying on my back, hands up on guard around my temples, as my Coach and several fighters were looking down at me.

My Coach was saying something, but he sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher; wah-wah-wah-wah-wah-wah.

As things slowly started coming back, everyone started to come in more clearly and the telephone that had been ringing non-stop in my head finally got answered.

When I felt well enough to stand, I asked Coach what happened. He said, "You did a great job cornering him and putting him on the deck, but you didn't finish him or wait for me to break it up. When you backed off, he nailed you with a spinning hook kick in the ear."

I had never seen it coming.

Last thing I saw was him down on one knee with one hand on the deck. Apparently he had launched from that position and hit me perfectly under the ear on the bone that helps regulate your balance and other important things that keep you upright and awake.

There were many lessons in this knockout. The principle that I took away was that it happened so fast that I never saw it coming.

He had covered his intentions and waited for the perfect time to nail me. He had hidden his attack in his "defenseless" position.

Because I didn't see the hit coming, I was completely relaxed and vulnerable when the strike landed, giving me a brief nap on the canvas.

Morale of the story; be ready. Plan for what it is you want and the pitfalls along the way. As you are going after whatever it is you want, keep your eyes open and pay attention. Keep your eyes on the target and watch for traps.

It's the one you don't see coming that will get you.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. - To learn about this principle and hundreds more, go to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and get your copy of Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I. There is lesson after lesson contained in this volume...as long as you are focused on the moon and stars, and not Bruce Lee's finger.

At which point, the student would attack, grab, or do something that had nothing to do with what was taught in class.

This happened quite a lot when I first started teaching, but I wrote it off as students just being eager to learn everything all at once.

But the questions didn't stop repeating itself. The kids I expected it from; their favorite question is...let's all say it together..."Why?"

When the adults kept asking the same sort of question, I started to look at how I was teaching. I looked at my own training and how the Masters worked with me.

Then I figured out what was going on.

I had been breaking a rule; a "principle" of success. This principle is taught in the old saying, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and he is fed for life."

I had been teaching students things that would only work in certain situations. "When the bad guy grabs you with his right hand on your left wrist, do this; but if he grabs you with his left, do this." "If he grabs you by the neck, do this; but if he grabs you by the lapels of your jacket, do this."

I was teaching technique, not principles.

Techniques work in certain situations. You memorize the situation and the reaction, and then practice.

The downfall is most techniques only work in the situations they are designed for. If you try to execute a defense against a lapel grab, but you go to do the defense against a choke around the neck, odds are it won't work.

Principles are universal; they work all the time. Gravity is a principle. Every day, rain or shine, you can count on gravity working. If you throw a guy with a nasty hip throw, he isn't going to float away.

Mr. Gravity will assist him on his way to the deck.

Once I figured this out, I began focusing on principles when working with the students. I started teaching the principle behind what we were learning, and then I would show them different techniques that used that principle.

Their performance and level of skill improved almost immediately. They weren't stressed out by having to memorize and practice a million different techniques. All they had to do was remember the principle and let it flow from there.

In Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I, which contains thousands of years of the history and training secrets of the legendary Shaolin Temple, principles are taught and explained way more than technique.

The Warrior Monks of the Shaolin Temple understood that true mastery of the arts comes from understanding the principles of how and why things work, not from memorizing techniques.

If you are in business, management of people; anything to do with helping or teaching others, you can spend time answering questions, one at a time, fixing their problems like a babysitter...

Or you can teach them the principles; the thinking behind the answers.

Then kick them in the pants and let them go out on their own and discover the answers as they apply the principles for themselves.

That's how you Teach a Man to Fish

Best,

William Huff

P.S. - Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I is available at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com. Get over there today and get your copy so you can learn how the legendary Shaolin Temple of China trains the finest martial artists in the world.

Mixed Martial Arts are on the verge of becoming main stream in today's sporting world. Pride and UFC pay-per-views, the Ultimate Fighter television show, local fight promotions and even underground no-holds-barred fighting promotions are popping up everywhere.

When the UFC debuted, it brought martial arts, particularly the grappling arts, out into the public's eye.

At first, when MMA started, the grappling arts were coming out on top. Not many martial artists had been exposed to judo, jiu jitsu and other grappling arts, so they were easy targets in those first fights.

It didn't hurt that the grapplers, knowing the strikers and no idea about the grappling arts or how to defend against them, scheduled to fight only strikers and not other grapplers.

Then, after a few years, martial artists caught on and saw the need to add to their striking arsenal. They learned from their mistakes, absorbed what was useful, looked to improve it and add it to what they already did well.

Now, the MMA world has changed.

MMA fighters are considered some of the finest athletes in the world. The professionals are training eight hours a day, five days a week, twelve to sixteen weeks at a time to prepare for a fight.

Wrestling, jiu jitsu, kickboxing, boxing, karate, kung fu, sambo, judo, the list of arts that these guys are cross-training in is endless.

What's funny about this is that it's following a trend that's been popular in Hollywood, fashion and other areas of our culture.

Retro is in. Old School is cool. What's Old is New. Again.

MMA may be the latest and greatest craze; cross training is the rule and not the exception when it comes to MMA and sports in general.

But the Shaolin Temple and the ancient Warrior Monks were the original mixed martial artists.

Thousands of years ago, there weren't thousands of martial arts styles, all specializing in whatever it is all these different arts specialize in, all arguing that their art is the "Ultimate Death Art" and the only "true" or "proven" system of self defense.

That is all a load of good, old-fashioned horse puckey.

The Pankration guys can say they were the first and oldest; I'm sure there is someone out there that this letter is going to get hot under the collar and they're going to let me have it with both barrels.

Almost all martial arts can trace their roots back to the Shaolin Temple, even the grappling arts. One of the first arts that comes to mind is Chin-na, but I know there are others that focus on the grappling or seizing arts.

Think about it. How could it be possible that in a time were there was hand-to-hand combat, fighting with weapons and possibly from horseback, for grappling not be a part of martial arts training back then.

The ancient warriors in those days had to be able to defend themselves in any range of combat, be it up close and personal or from horseback shooting a bow and arrow.

We could get into how come there are so many different styles of martial arts and where they came from, but not today.

My money's on the Shaolin Temple. Over two thousand years of history, knowledge and producing the most amazing martial artists on the planet. Thousands of years of combat and combat training. The original mixed martial artists.

Now that's Old School.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. - Don't believe me; get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and get a copy of Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I and see how the Warrior Monks of the Shaolin Temple trained and were the original mixed martial artists.

Last Friday my wife and I joined some friends for dinner and a comedy show at the local entertainment complex.

Dinner was great - garlic lobster and shrimp noodles - and then we went to the comedy club.

There were two comedians on before the main act and throughout the entire club, the laughter...and the booze...was flowing freely.

The booze turned out to be the deciding factor that would turn the evening into a lesson on martial arts training.

During the show, there were two couples that began to have an interesting evening. One couple was a "domestic partnership" of two females; one very feminine and the other...not.

The second was a typical Southern California, vanilla, married couple out for a night of dinner and drinks without the kids.

The first couple must have gotten an early start on the sauce because the "alpha" of the pair was loud, obnoxious and clearly marinated. She was loaded and enjoying herself immensely.

Apparently there was colorful language and general rudeness to all parties surrounding this couple and the wife of the second couple made the mistake of turning around and politely asking couple #1 "would you mind..." and "keep it down..." and other things to that effect.

Bad idea.

OD 1 (Obnoxious Drunk #1) was not in the mood for a manners lesson and the constant harassing of the polite couple in front ensued.

During the entire show.

First the female tried to talk her way out of it. Then her husband got involved and tried to talk to the OD and that didn't work.

Then OD's partner got involved and was trying to talk her partner into calming down and being quiet.

When that didn't work, a manager was brought out to speak with her. That also turned out to be useless.

It all came to a head when the husband of the berated nice lady had finally had enough and began to tell the OD what he really thought of her, her language, her attitude, her lifestyle and about everything else he could think of.

By now, security was involved and all parties were on their feet, being restrained by their loved ones or official looking club security.

The OD, seeing that she was on the short end of the stick when it came to firepower, knew she was getting the heave-ho out of the club.

So what do you think she did.

If you answered, "Well, she obviously saw she was outnumbered, and clearly she was out of line and in the wrong, so I'm sure she left."

Wrong answer.

She did what most agitated drunks, bullies and thugs do in a situation like this...she picked the closest and weakest target, reared back...

And knocked the bejeezus out of the man's wife, who had her back turned and was looking the wrong way.

As the wife folded up like a wet taco, the OD turned and ran out of the club as fast as she could, with her partner chasing after her in hot pursuit.

I later learned that the OD and her partner got in their car, hit two or three cars on the way out and were stopped and arrested by the police just before they got onto the major freeway that would have allowed them to get away.

I also later learned that the wife, while she had taken a hard shot, was going to be okay. Both she and her husband were upset by the assault; they were shaken and their confidence shattered.

As it should be. They both made a series of serious boo-boo's that got them in that position and then neither one of them had the training (or the sense) to see that they were in a potential violent situation and to Get Prepared.

Martial arts training would have prepared them for that situation. They would have recognized what was going on and would have been able to act and position themselves in such a way that both of them would have been safe and able to deal with the situation.

Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I is an excellent example of the kind of training these people needed. That volume contains principles, techniques and philosophy all taken from the written recorded history of the Shaolin Temple of China.

That, along with a qualified instructor, should be the first thing that couple looks into on Monday.

Nothing like going to a comedy club and having your evening turn out to be not so funny.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. - Go to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com to get your copy of Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I. That way, you'll be prepared for a night out at the comedy club.

No, our troops didn't travel to China to train at the Shaolin Temple. And, Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I, available at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com/, wasn't out yet.

So how did the Shaolin Temple help us out.

Simple.

During World War II, our fighting troops were trained in the art of warfare. Shooting skills, small unit tactics, explosives, calling in air raids, the whole deal.

What most people don't know is that they were also trained in the martial arts.

They had to know how to fight hand-to-hand, hand-to-knife and hand-to-firearm. Our troops were involved in all kinds of warfare, from trench fighting to house-to-house clearing, or fighting in the jungles.

They had to be prepared for anything.

The martial arts that they turned to were the stand up grappling and throwing techniques. Many of the jiu-jitsu arts that are out there can trace their roots back to the seizing, grabbing and throwing training at the Shaolin Temple.

Now, the long-lost fighting system that we used to train our brave fighting soldiers has been released. Now you can get your hands on the same training and field manuals that helped train our troops to defeat the enemy during World War II.

Go to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com/lightning-ju-jitsu.html and see for yourself.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. - That's not all; guess which President of the United States used these very same training techniques to be the Fighting Fit President. Get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com/lightning-ju-jitsu.html.

P.P.S. - And don't forget, the big announcement I said was on the way is in work and due out any time. The finishing touches are underway and you won't be disappointed.