The Shaolin Secrets Blog

July of 2001 and I have been called into a building on the grounds of the Shaolin Temple that no white people have been allowed into before.

It feels like a billion degrees out; the humidity is off the charts and to make it even more fun, I feel like I am going to barf from nerves since I am about to fight for my next rank in the Shaolin Arts…at the friggin’ Shaolin Temple…against a guy I have never seen or heard of…whose going for his Masters rank…in front of two of the highest ranking Masters in the Shaolin Arts.

Piece of cake.

In the Temple hall, it’s dark; the walls are ornately carved with different symbols out of a dark cherry wood. The ceilings have to be about twenty feet high. The floors are a slate-grey granite rock; there are chairs lining the walls, leaving the middle of the floor empty.

This is where we are about to get it on.

I’ve never seen this guy before; he’s a bit older and larger than I am and all I know is that he’s a cop back in New York City and he’s been training a long time.

At this point, I am doing the absolute wrong thing and allowing my mind to run wild with all sorts of negative thoughts – he’s better than I am, what if he’s too fast for me, what about this, what about that…

You know - all that junk that puts you in less than your best mindset for doing anything, much less entering into combat.

I’m called to the center of the floor, we face and show respect to the Masters and then each other. My brain is somewhere else, my heart’s racing and I don’t think I’m breathing…

I don’t remember hearing the word “Go”. I don’t remember much of anything in that time period – one minute I was standing there, paying my respects, the next…

I was stuffed underneath one of the chairs that were lining the walls and my opponent was on top of me, blasting me in the face with punches.

All that junk that was running through my mind must have caused me to have a momentary HUMA condition – Head Up My Azz – because I didn’t react or see anything coming…he was just on me and wearing me out.

After the umpteenth punch to my melon, I removed my head from my azz and got very focused. No negative thoughts, no negative anything – just one thought…

“Oh yeah…let’s get it on, baby!”

From that moment on, the match went very differently. I won’t go into specifics other than to say I stopped imitating a punching bag and didn’t visit the chairs or floors for the rest of the fight.

But that wasn’t the best part – or the lesson – that I learned.

At the end of the match, the Professor has us show respect again to each other. My opponent and I stood there facing each other – bloody, gasping for air and covered in dirt and grime…

And broke out into huge grins, grabbing each other in big bear hugs. I looked him in the eye and told him, “Thank You.”

I told him thanks for stuffing me under the chairs - for punching me in the face. For kicking me upside my head when my guard was wrong.

I thanked him because he was teaching me. He was showing me where I was good and where I needed work. He was forcing me to see where I was in my skills and testing me to see how much heart I had.

He also reminded me to be grateful. Be grateful that I was healthy enough to be able to train and take a beating. To be able to do what I love and most importantly, to be grateful that I get to work with and help others through the martial arts.

That’s why I’m writing to you today. I wanted to say Thank You for helping to make Shaolin Secrets a success. May was the best month ever for the Secrets of the Shaolin Temple (http://www.shaolinsecrets.com) and it would have been impossible without you.

It is my honor that Professor Mattera choose me as his partner in this venture and it is also my honor that you join me every day as we spread the priceless lessons, principles and secrets contained in the Secrets of the Shaolin Temple.

All the best,

William Huff

For thousands and thousands of years the Chinese have been practicing the ancient healing arts.

There are systems and methods of healing that people have used and claimed that it has cured all sorts of ailments – too many here to even attempt to list.

But did you know there is one thing it can help eliminate that isn’t even a physical ailment – although you can physically feel it?

Yep – it’s Fear…and you can make it go away by learning a few simple techniques.

When you get into that high pressure situation where your throat gets tight; your breathing gets shallow and you get that funny feeling in your stomach…with just a few movements and breaths, you can wipe that right out, re-energize yourself and feel like a lion.

Tips and techniques like these are sprinkles throughout the Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I, available at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com. The Shaolin Monks of China knew that Fear is something that could keep their Warrior Monks from being and performing at their best.

That’s why they teach how to overcome Fear and banish it from your body.

To learn how to banish Fear and much more, get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and order Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. – How to banish Fear and much more will be covered on the Free Teleseminar that is coming soon. There is also going to be a live Q & A session where you can ask questions and I’ll also be asking that you send in any questions you may have that you’d like to get answered. Details to follow in the next day or so (I’m lining up a few surprises but I don’t want to announce those until they’ve committed to the date and time) so stay tuned.

I was in the lead of the platoon on a force march to the rifle range…and had no idea I was about to learn what pain really meant.

It was oh-dark-thirty in the morning, cold and raining and we were being force marched (walking really fast with sixty pounds of equipment on) to the rifle range. As you can imagine, when there’s thirty guys all struggling under their load of equipment and they are all different shapes and sizes, it’s tough to keep everyone together.

I was the lead man and the smallest, and for some reason, the guy behind me kept grabbing onto my pack and trying to pull me backwards instead of hustling himself to the front.

As small as I was and lugging around all that equipment, trying to drag his almost two hundred pounds wasn’t helping a bit. I turned around two or three times and told him to knock it off and shake it out; he needed to pull his own weight and get those recruits behind him to catch up.

He didn’t listen. After about the fourth time of his hanging on and dragging me backwards, I made a command decision; I was going to knock the snot out of him and see if his listening skills improved.

So I turned, cocked my arm back, and slapped the crapola out of him.

This stopped the whole platoon like a car wreck on the freeway, as they were all looking down at their boots and hup-two, hup-two’ing. They all just ran right into the back of each other as we abruptly stopped.

The Drill Instructor, seeing me hit the next guy and watching the platoon pile up, came unglued. He came running back, got in between the two of us and started reaming us both a new you-know-what.

Which is when the guy I slapped took a swing at me from around the Drill Instructor.

I ducked it as the Drill Instructor turned to start yelling at him…which was when I reared back and tried to take the other guy’s head off…

And knocked off the Drill Instructor’s Smokey Bear Drill Instructor Cover (hat).

It was like time stood still. No sound, no movement, nothing. Just the picture of his cover falling – almost as if it was in slow motion – into the mud.

In a flash, I was on my back like a turtle with the wind completely knocked out of me. The Drill Instructor had back-kicked me so hard that he had sent me flying onto my can. He had the other recruit by the neck and was dragging him off to the side of the road where I was sucking wind, trying to get up.

He sent the rest of the platoon forward, turned to my partner in crime and I, and began thrashing us.

Push-ups, mountain climbers, squat thrusts, sit-ups, jumping jacks, over and over and over…all with our packs on in the pouring rain, covered with mud.

I remember holding the up position for push-ups (called the front leaning rest position for you civilians), my arms shaking like a leaf, my breath ragged, my chest filled with a searing pain as I struggled for air when the Drill Instructor leaned in and taught me one of the most important lessons I’ve ever learned…

“Huff, pain is just weakness leaving your body. Don’t be afraid of it and don’t run from it. Pain is temporary and always goes away. Pain also let’s you know that you’re alive. It let’s you know you are growing. So if it hurts, that means you’re doing it right.”

I must have been growing and doing many things right at that moment because I thought I was going to die right there on the side of that road.

But I didn’t. I learned my lesson and never forgot it.

In the Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I, at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com, the Shaolin Monks teach about how to deal with pain, look at pain and what it means in your training. It goes way beyond anything my Drill Instructor taught me and what you think it means.

The Shaolin Monks understand that pain is a part of the process and how you deal with it will make or break your development as a martial artist.

Go to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and get your copy of Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I so you can start to learn how to conquer pain, fear and anything else that may get in the way of you and your goals.

Best,

William Huff

I saw the punch coming the whole way – and couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

It landed cleanly…beautifully…flush upside my head and I heard that funny sound you get in your ears when someone rings your bell.

I instinctively pulled my head back and leaned away – a Big No-No – so that my head was perfectly positioned for…you guessed it…his follow-up punch.

“Down Goes Huff, Down Goes Huff”. I felt like Joe Frazier when he got floored by Muhammad Ali.

My partner who was taking time out of his busy day to teach me something was a 7th Degree Black Belt in the Shaolin Arts who had been training since he was ten years old and at the time of this butt whuppin’, he was north of forty.

Ii was young in my career, in my twenties and a 2nd Degree; I had gone to him looking for the “secret” technique that would make me a better fighter. I knew I didn’t understand the fight game and I desperately wanted to be the best I could.

I had been pestering him for weeks to “teach me more, teach me more”. He had been doing his best to be patient with me, showing me things here and there, but he kept going back to two principles of fighting, instead of teaching me a killer new move.

Me being young and stupid, I said, “I don’t care about principles; show me the good stuff.”

Idiot.

He smiled and said, “Get your gear on. I’ll show you something very cool.” Excited dog as a dog at a cat convention, I got on my gear and went onto the mat.

He was standing there with his gloves on, still wearing his glasses. I said to him, “Don’t you want to take those off?”

He looked at me with a straight face and said, “No, I’ll be fine.”

Uh-oh. That can’t be good.

It wasn’t. All I saw were blurs of red as his gloves darted in and out like a serpent’s tongue; around my guard, through my guard, over my guard.

I could see his every move, but it was like I was stuck in molasses. It seemed like every time he moved, I was in a terrible spot to do anything about it.

My punches were missing by a mile – I think I even hit myself once. At one point I was facing the wring way, he was blasting me in the back of my head and yelling, “Turn around – you’re facing the wrong way!”

Oh – is that what I was doing wrong? Thanks.

After it was over, I had my tale between my legs and started to offer my humble apologies for being disrespectful and not listening. He would hear nothing of it.

“Bill” he said, “Don’t apologize. Never be sorry for trying to grow and learn. Yet as you are asking questions, open your ears and your mind. The answers are there and being given to you, they just might not look or sound like what you wanted.”

He then proceeded to repeat again the two principles he had been trying to teach me and when I wouldn’t listen, he whooped me with them.

Those two principles were distance and timing.

Distance and timing are two critical parts of the fight game and all success in fighting can be linked to how well you understand and use them. Technique is important, but techniques are a dime a dozen.

You can have a million techniques that are super-sharp; if you can’t get into the right spot at the right time to deliver them, big deal. Your technique is worthless.

The Shaolin Monks of China know this. That’s why in the Secrets of the Shaolin Temple, (http://www.shaolinsecrets.com) these two principles, as well as many more, are covered at length.

The Shaolin Monks, being Chinese and not the largest of people in the world, know that it can’t be all about physical size and strength. They know that it has to be about proper timing, distance, body mechanics and energy.

If you want to learn more about these principles and other, get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com and get Secrets of the Shaolin Temple.

Then maybe you can avoid facing the wrong way while you sparring partner teaches you a lesson.

Best,

William Huff

The ball took off on a bee line – about six inches off the grass – and then hooked left into the deep underbrush where the “Beware of Rattlesnakes and Mountain Lions” signs urge you not to chase after your ball.

My Coach, who was standing nearby along with my wife and her friend, all did the right thing; they complimented me on what I had done right and then gave me a pointer on what to fix in my golf swing.

The girls each took a turn and of course, hit very nice shots.

Next hole, I get up to the tee, make my practice swings (which my Coach says are perfect) and then try again.

Bee line right, skimming across the grass in what they call a “worm-burner”.

They moved ahead where the golf balls were downrange and I sat there in my cart for a moment.

“What is going on?” I said to myself. “I was hitting lasers on the range earlier and now I can’t hit the broad side of a barn with hand grenade…what’s happening?”

Then I realized what was going on. The key was in my martial arts training.

I realized that on the driving range, all I was thinking about was the swing, not hitting the ball. I wasn’t thinking or worried about anything else.

But on the golf course, I realized I was tense; my chest was tight and I had a little bit of butterflies. I had let my mind slip; I wasn’t thinking about my swing – I was thinking about my Coach watching, my wife possibly laughing at me and my desire to crush this stupid little white ball.

In short – now that I was doing it for real, it was a totally different experience in my head. Doing it was different from practicing it.

In golf, martial arts and anything else you want to get good at, practice is important. But just practicing over and over and over isn’t going to be what it is that makes you good.

It’s being able to do and use the skills you develop while practicing that make the difference.

For example, you can practice hitting focus mitts for hours. Jab, cross, switch kick, cross, moving in circles, bobbing and weaving…until it’s so easy you can do it sleepwalking.

That’s great, but if you never get into the ring or on the matt and try to use it while someone else is trying to smack you upside your head, you won’t what it feels like or how you’re body and mind are going to perform.

That’s why in Secrets of the Shaolin Temple Volume I, available at http://www.shaolinsecrets.com the Shaolin Monks teach you why it’s important to not just train, but to test yourself often.

They don’t use the words “competition” or “test”, they call it “measuring your progress”. The only way to do that - is to “Do It” – do the thing it is you are practicing.

In the martial arts, that means get on the gloves, get out on the deck and get it on. In golf, that means get out there and play a few rounds. In sales, that means get in front of some customers and sell them something.

Only then will you get the true feelings and feedback you need to measure your skills and see where you need to work more.

Makes me wonder if the Shaolin Monks would make good golfers…

Probably not. Those robes they wear would be murder on their swing.

Best,

William Huff

“John Rain is an assassin.

Half-Japanese, Half American – he’s a former military man who found his way to the CIA and when his country betrayed him and broke his trust…he vanished.

Now, he is a ronin – a samurai with no master. He contracts his services out to the highest bidders on three conditions:

No women or children, the target must be a principle or head man in something diabolical, and there can be no back-up team or other parties on the contract.

He’s a killer – with a conscience.”

John Rain is author Barry Eisler’s main character in his John Rain series of books. Barry is a former CIA operative and lawyer for international companies who is now a best-selling author with his books being translated into multiple languages and one of his books is slated for movie production.

There are many things that make Barry’s books a must-read. The exotic locales they are set in, the characters that you get to know and have feelings for, the way he weaves a story so suspensefully that you literally find yourself looking at the clock and saying, “How did it get to be two in the morning already? I’ve got to put this book down and go to sleep.”

But what really gets you is the realism of the lifestyle and physical encounters John Rain finds himself in. Barry credits a who’s who in the martial arts, self defense and combat arts world for his research on the physical encounters while drawing on his own experience as a CIA operative for how John Rain moves and operates.

But I think Barry may have left out a credit – or John Rain didn’t tell Barry that he studied the Shaolin Secrets. http://www.shaolinsecrets.com

Yes, there are way too many scenes in his books where John Rain realizes that he’s in trouble and uses principles contained in the Shaolin Secrets.

In one scene, it’s a principle he uses in combat, when a man slashes at his throat with a knife and John Rain steps inside the circle capturing the attacker’s wrist with both his hands, putting himself in the best position to counter.

In another, he takes one of the principles and uses it mentally. He finds out that he is the target of a contract; that he’s the one being hunted. What does he do? He goes on the attack, turning the tables on his adversary, forcing him to move and turning the hunter into the hunted.

Barry’s study and description of physical principles and combat situations in his books are a credit to him, his research and his understanding of the arts. What you’ll find amazing is how many of the principles he describes and has John Rain doing are contained in or have a basis in the Shaolin Secrets.

To see for yourself what devastatingly effective principles and techniques are taught in the Shaolin Secrets, get over to http://www.shaolinsecrets.com.

Best,

William Huff

P.S. – To learn more about Barry Eisler and John Rain, go to http://www.barryeisler.com. But be careful; once you start reading, they’re hard to put down.