The Shaolin Secrets Blog

Getting punched in the face is good for you.

It’s invigorating; gets your juices flowing. It’s an eye-opener (Or closer, if you take one in the eyeball.)

It’s the Ultimate No B.S. Detector. You may think you are a superstar and that your skills are g-o-o-d, but when you take one in the chops, it’s a reality check.

And before you think I’ve lost my mind, think about this - getting popped upside your melon reveals your true character.

Let me explain. Last night I was watching the very cool new series on the Discovery Channel called Planet Earth.

During one of the scenes, it showed wolves hunting caribou. They said that the wolves weren’t as fast as the caribou, but they were patient and would chase the caribou until it was tired or tripped up on the terrain.

Sure enough, the caribou tripped, and the wolf caught up. And then something strange happened.

The caribou just sat down on all fours. The wolf hadn’t bitten him or anything; the caribou fell, the wolf caught up and just touched the caribou with its nose, and the caribou surrendered. Just went still and sat down.

Then the wolf started attacking. Apparently, that’s the caribou’s natural reaction once they feel they have been caught.

That got me to thinking. What happens when people who aren’t used to getting hit take a hard shot.

They freeze. They’re so shocked, they just lock up.

And that’s when I realized how important it is that not only is your training realistic, but it’s critical to make sure that every once in a while, you make sure you get hit.

I personally know this to be an absolute fact. Last Friday, I worked out with a bunch of martial artists and we were blasting each other. I’m still sore and black and blue in a couple of places but the knot on my forehead has gone down a little.

But I’m glad. I feel great. It was great because even though it hurt when it happened, I didn’t go down.

I didn’t sit down on all fours and let the wolves eat me. I took my lumps and kept on keepin’ on. My thinking was if they are close enough to be hitting me, I must be close enough to hit them back.

And that’s why in the Secrets of the Shaolin Temple, available at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com, the Shaolin Monks teach about the proper frame of mind for your training and how to train your body to toughen it for defending yourself.

They realize that all the martial arts knowledge in the world won’t help you if you get hit and freeze up or quit.

And it’s not just physical toughness we’re talking about; it’s the mental toughness that’s the biggest weapon you can have.

It won’t matter if its stress from work, challenges with the spouse or kids or your training partner trying to blast you one.

You’ll look each challenge in the eye and say, “Is that all you got.”

Learn how to develop that mental toughness and discover why getting punched in the face is good for you at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com.

You’ll laugh the next time someone takes a swipe at you.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. – Keep in mind that while training hard is important, injuring yourself or your partner to the point that you can’t work out at all is not good. Always train hard and be safe. Get over to http://www,shaolinsecrets.com and learn how to train hard with the Secrets of the Shaolin Temple.

At the Shaolin Temple in China, there is an outer wall that surrounds the Temple grounds.

To gain entry to the outer courtyard, you must go through a gate of the outer wall. This gate leads to a temple and series of other buildings and another courtyard.

And as you get deeper and deeper into the Temple, you must pass through more gates and doors. But if any of them are locked and you don’t have the key, you can’t get to the next courtyard or deeper in to the Temple.

Many of the situations you find yourself in – in life and the martial arts – are just like the gates of the Shaolin Temple.

For all of us, there are defining times in our lives where we have what I call, “Ah ha” moments.

You know; those moments when an answer to a problem you’ve been struggling with pops into your head and it’s so obvious that it hits you like a left hook.

You have been dealing with the problem for awhile. You’ve read books and gone online for help with this problem. You’ve consulted with experts on this problem. You’ve talked to friends and family at length about the problem.

But nothing seemed to work until that one moment.

That one moment when somebody said something, and they said it in such a way, that it clicked in place in your head, just like the last number unlocking a combination lock.

All of a sudden, all the information, all the guidance, all the work pays off and the answer is just, “there”.

It was there all the time – you just couldn’t unlock the lock because you didn’t have all the numbers yet.

That’s exactly what the Shaolin Secrets – the Ancient Training Manuscripts of the Legendary Shaolin Temple of China, available at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com - can do for you.

These training manuscripts contain the principles and techniques that the Shaolin Temple has used for over fifteen hundred years to train the finest martial artists in the world.

The information in these training manuscripts can unlock the secrets in your martial arts techniques and skills. You’ll see things in your movements and skills that you never noticed before.

One martial artist I was working with this morning told me he had no idea he was hurting himself and holding back his abilities by not doing just one principle contained in the Shaolin Secrets.

Once I showed him this one principle and how to use it, his ability to break his opponent’s balance and flatten him with a takedown became almost effortless.

Unlock you hidden talent and abilities. Get the last number to open the lock on your gate to mastery. Get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com today.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. – Many people go through life NOT lucky enough to get enough information to where their lock finally opens. Be the type of person who jumps at an opportunity and get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com.

It’s three miles offshore on the Atlantic Ocean and I am piloting a 19-foot fishing boat in a sudden gale that has blown up.

The seas have gone from under a foot to six to eight foot waves; they keep crashing over the sides of the boat, filling it up with water and then slowly running down the deck and out the back of the boat.

The wind is howling and even though we are only a few miles offshore, I can’t see the coastline at all.

My Dad is trying to secure all the fishing gear and get us ready to run into the Boynton Beach Inlet, rated one of the most dangerous inlets to navigate in Florida – and that’s during calm seas.

He has me in charge of keeping us under power and the nose of the boat pointing towards land and moving forward so we don’t swamp and sink.

I am thinking about eight million other things and scared out of my wits – and I lose focus and get us turned broadside to the waves – and we get slammed by a big one.

Water’s everywhere; I can barely see because the salt is stinging my eyes. Fishing gear is everywhere, the motor has stalled and my Dad looks at me and screams, “You had better pull your head out of your !@# and get with the program or we are both gonna be swimming home!”

If the water wasn’t enough to shock me back to my senses, Dad’s timely wisdom was. I did as I was told and “pulled my head out” , got the engine fired, pointed us towards the shore and stood on the power, draining the water out of the boat and getting us headed home.

Fast-forward to yesterday. One of the martial artists I was working with yesterday had a terrible sparring session. His footwork was off, he couldn’t get his timing right. He was basically getting his rear-end handed to him.

We spoke later that day and I told him I noticed he was struggling at the workout. He told me that he had a million other things going on in his mind.

He was thinking about work, about various things going on in his life – and he was trying to work on four or five different ideas for sparring at the same time.

Then he said he just needed to “pull his head out of his!@# and get with the program.”

In the Shaolin Secrets, available at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com, it does NOT use this exact saying.

It DOES teach in great detail how to program your mind and control it while you are in a combat or stressful situation.

There are details on not only how to use your mind, but how to use your breathing and your body to achieve high levels of focus and calmness so you can perform your best under pressure.

You may not find yourself in a boat off the coast of Florida about to sink with your Dad yelling at you, but as a martial artist you will find yourself in those situations that are stressful and require you to “get it together” and perform at your best.

Get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and get your copy of the Shaolin Secrets today.

Best,

William Huff

This morning I was training with a friend of mine who is a Black belt in jiu-jitsu and a multiple Black belt in the Shaolin Arts.

We’ve started working out together – me because I want to improve my ground game and him because his striking needs some work.

I started him on principles of body mechanics and movement (which you can learn about in the Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I, at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com) for striking and then moved into some drills.

He picked up on the mechanics pretty well and after an hour or so, I could tell that if he just put in the time, his striking would improve quite a bit.

I did have to warn him; I told him that while he was developing his striking and footwork, it would be a good idea to fight once in awhile…bare knuckled.

No gloves. No equipment. Just a mouthpiece.

He looked at me as if I had lost my mind. I told him, “Let me explain.”

I did some full-contact training before. Right when the UFC first started, I would get with a group of guys, pull on the gloves, shinpads and mouthpieces and we would get after it.

Punching, kicking, elbowing, knees, takedowns, the whole deal. And we would wear each other out.

These guys had been doing the MMA thing longer than I had so I was getting my rear end kicked on a regular basis. Quite frankly, it was great for my development but I was getting a little p.o.’d at being the whipping boy

So one day, I suggested that we went in bare knuckled. In the Shaolin Arts, we always trained bare-handed. When you got in to fight or spar, it was just like if you were going to on the street.

No pads to cushion the blow. No walking through kicks because it hit your headgear and didn’t hurt enough to put you down. No eating of a punch so you could get close enough to grab the guy.

Nope; we were going to get in there and get it on as if it was for real – not with the anger of a real streetfight, but with the energy and the dynamic that hey, if you get hit – it’s going to hurt.

They looked at me as if I had something growing out of my forehead. “Are you nuts?” one of them asked.

I said “No. But if we are going to be truthful to ourselves and see what really works in a self-defense situation, let’s treat it like one and take the safeties off. It’s the only way you’re going to know what truly works.”

I convinced them to try and let’s just say…I wasn’t the whippin’ boy that day. All there fancy MMA techniques went out the window. When faced with the fact that they were going to get blasted in the chops with a bare fist, everything changed.

Their timing and distance was shot. Their head movement and body alignment disappeared. When they tried to punch me, they would lean away with their heads while they threw their punches because they didn’t want to get hit in the face.

I knew it was going to happen – and it was what I told my partner today.

You are going to move and fight one way when you train with gloves on and full equipment. And when you take the gloves off and the bony knuckles are flying…almost everyone’s movement and technique changes.

In your training, you have to develop the fundamentals, use solid technique and develop the principles behind your skills, like those contained in Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I, at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com.

But you also have to “take the safeties off” and go live with your training once in awhile. You can’t do it all the time because you’ll get hurt and the training will start to become no fun.

But it is important to do it so you can learn and feel what and how your body and mind moves and reacts when the threat of damage is real. You’ll catch yourself making mistakes and moving in ways that are fundamentally unsound out of fear – fear of getting hit or getting hurt.

Tackle that fear. Train with the bare hands once in awhile. Learn what it’s like to take one to the face and keep on going.

If you ever find yourself in a situation where you are out on the street and you have to defend yourself…you’ll be glad you did.

Remember – training and sparring is one thing – bare knuckled is another.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. – The Warrior Monks of the Shaolin Temple were the original bare knuckled fighters. They have been training for over fifteen hundred years – without pads – and are some of the finest martial artists in the world. Get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and learn more.

Pretty harsh, isn’t it?

It doesn’t matter if it’s harsh or not, it’s the way of Mother Nature. And you can learn a lot from Mother Nature.

I’ve written to you before about the awesome series on the Discovery Channel this month called “Planet Earth.” For the past five years, the Discovery Channel and BBC traveled the globe documenting the wonders of nature in high definition…and it is one of the coolest and most informative things I’ve seen on television.

Last night I watched something that had previously never, ever been seen by human eyes until they captured it on film.

The rare snow leopard, which lives high in the jagged, steep mountains of central and southern Asia, was captured on film hunting on the mountainsides for food for her cubs.

Jagged crevices, loose rocks and boulders, the steep face of the mountainside…she practically glided over everything. Huge, padded paws silently moving her forward. A huge tail that helps her with her balance; powerfully built and fast as the wind.

Once she saw her prey, the chase was on and watching her fly across and down the mountain after her quarry was breathtaking to see. Scientists had never even seen this before and it was almost magical to watch.

What was the most impressive was that the snow leopard – who’s so strong that they can carry up to three times their bodyweight – dragged her catch back up the mountainside all the way from the bottom of mountain to her den where her cubs were hungrily waiting.

What a lesson in nature – in life – and in the martial arts.

The prey – he was running not to get eaten. The snow leopard was running to catch dinner for herself and her cubs. It was decided by who was the strongest, the fastest and who wanted it badly enough.

In nature, they don’t practice. It’s always for real. It’s 100%, all-out, win or get dead.

Now, it would be tough to train in the martial arts like that because if you have one session that doesn’t go well, you get dead. That’s a bummer and definetly can keep you from improving your game.

So what do you do. You study nature. You study the animals. You study the martial arts. You get your hands on every piece of information that you can that can help you run faster, be stronger, strike harder and be able to defend yourself anytime, anyplace, anywhere.

Like the Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I, available at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com.

The Shaolin Temple has been studying and spreading the Shaolin Arts for over fifteen hundred years. The Shaolin Arts are heavily influenced by nature and animal movements and there are many examples of this in these ancient training manuscripts.

To learn how the Shaolin Temple uses animal-like movements and principles to teach you how to be the hunter and not the hunted, get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and get Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I today.

Best,

William Huff

A famous Chinese War General once said, “Never take more chain then you can swim with.”

What in the world does that mean.

It could mean a lot of things, but here’s a story that might help.

I was fighting with a guy and getting my rear end handed to me. He was about six feet tall and around one hundred and ninety pounds. Long legs, lightning fast feet and quick hands.

The Chinese would call his fighting style like a Dragon; he could do it all. Hit you coming or going, use angles on you, sweep or grapple – he was pretty complete.

I had decided that I wanted to spar with him and work on my distance game. At 5’6” tall, I wasn’t going to win a kicking contest, but I figured by focusing on footwork and angles, I could cancel out some of his kicks and speed.

Well…like the General said, I was swimming with way too much chain.

By trying for the distance game, I had put myself right in his firing range. The more distance I had between us, the worse it was for me. It got to the point where he had hit me so much, I was flinching or freezing when he came at me, which is Not Good. I think I might have even hit myself once.

Finally, I got sick of the beating I was taking and decided to drop some of the chain I was swimming with. I stood still for a moment, making myself an inviting target, drawing an attack in.

He launched his attack – at which point I closed the distance, stepped in between us as I caught his arm – and tossed him into next week, landing on him in the process.

From that point on it was the kind of up-close-and-personal affair that I enjoy. Big toe to big toe range, smothering, trapping, kicking in close, elbows, etc…the fun stuff.

I did much better from that point on, even though I still got my azz kicked. This guy was talented and the beating he gave me taught me a ton.

The biggest lesson was what the General said. Sometimes you’ll find yourself in a situation and as you reflect on it, you might catch yourself saying, “What the h@#$ was I thinking.”

This is where your idea or decision falls under the “Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time” category.

When you get to this point, it’s time to “stop swimming with so much chain.” Drop it as soon as you can. Do what you have to do to not waste another second in the situation.

Change tactics, strategy, position, whatever you have to do. But Do It.

It’ll be much easier to swim.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. – The Shaolin Monks know a thing or two about military or martial strategy. In Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I, at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com, you will be taught the principles and techniques that have been used by the Shaolin Temple to train the finest martial artists in the world for over fifteen hundred years. Get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com today.

In 1998, Tom Hanks won an Oscar for his portrayal of Forrest Gump, a slow-witted white boy from Alabama.

The movie follows Forrest’s life and places him in some of the most pivotal moments in history, such as the Vietnam War, the first segregation of a college in Alabama, Watergate and more.

At one point in the movie, Forrest utters a line, “…life is like a bunch of chocolates – you never know which one you are going to get.”

That got me to thinking that maybe the director and producers forgot to put in the scenes of the movie where Forrest was training at the Shaolin Temple.

Let me explain.

I was at a coffee shop with an elderly Chinese gentleman who had studied the Shaolin Arts for his entire life. He had been trained by his family who generations back, had trained at the Shaolin Temple.

I was going through a challenging personal time and was in full Marine Corps mode, which means I was using the f-word as a noun, verb, adjective and anything else I could think of.

As I sat there, ranting and venting, he was looking at me with the annoying smile people get when they know something you don’t; that look that says, “Bless your heart…you don’t have any idea, do you.”

When I ran out of breath, the Chinese man looked at me and said, “Bill. Life is like this.”

He took his hand, held it out flat, palm down and started moving it from floor to ceiling, mimicking a wave moving up and down.

Then he said, “You’ll go crazy if you try to make it like this.”

And he took his hand and drew a flat line in the air in front of us.

He said, “Waves are never flat. There is always energy moving, pulsing and going in many different directions. There are times when you can channel this energy and then there are times when there is no controlling it. Sometimes you have to go where the water takes you.”

Whoa. He was right.

In Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I, at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com, there are references and passages that teach the principle of water as it relates to combat and the martial arts.

To find out more about this and many other principles of martial arts and combat, plus the information that has been used for over fifteen hundred years to train the legendary Shaolin Monks, go to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and pick up Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I.

Forrest and the Chinese man were right.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. – A couple of weeks ago I hinted that there is some big news on the way. I wasn’t kidding; it’s just such a huge project that’s taken longer than expected. It’s coming soon – and it’s going to be awesome. In the meantime, get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and get Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I.

In China as well as the Shaolin Arts, the Dragon is a symbol of many things.

In China, people born under the sign of the Dragon are described as “Born Masters of Ceremonies”, as well as “feisty and gifted with power and luck.”

All the Dragons I have met or know fit that bill exactly; and male or female, they are very attractive to the opposite seks. Usually very successful in everything they undertake as they easily attract people that assist them with their goals.

In the Shaolin Arts, the Dragon is the animal that has all the powers and characteristics of all five of the Shaolin animals. Even though it is the most powerful of all the animals, there is one characteristic of the Dragon that can make you successful in the martial arts…and in life.

Flexibility.

Professor Charles Mattera, the man who was given the responsibility of spreading the Secrets of the Shaolin Temple, available at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com, to the world has built the largest martial arts organization in the world.

While meeting with him last week, we talked about philosophy, the martial arts and how the principle of the martial arts can be used in any area of your life if you just apply them.

I asked him what he thought was the most important principle from the arts that he had learned. He looked me square in the eye and answered without hesitation, “Flexibility.”

“It’s the reason I wear a pendant with the Dragon on it. It reminds me everyday of how being flexible and adapting to every situation has helped me to be successful and happy.”

In the martial arts, you can go in with a set strategy in your head as to what you are going to do to your opponent, but as Iron Mike Tyson said, “Everyone’s got a plan…until they get hit.”

Say what you want about Tyson the person, but Tyson the fighter is right on with that statement.

Are you flexible enough to adapt when your best takedown is snuffed by your opponent. Can you adjust to a situation that you thought was going to go one way but turned another.

Flexibility is the way of the Dragon and it can help you in the arts and in life. To learn more about the Dragon and other martial arts principles and training secrets, go to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and find out about the Secrets of the Shaolin Temple.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. – Over the next two weeks there are big events coming up as I travel for projects related to the Secrets of the Shaolin Temple. There are several events planned for May and June so stay tuned.