Uechi-Ryu.com

Very disappointed as some of Laird's videos have been removed from you tube.

Keating Interview - Part 3

RF
Well that's a perfect segue to talk about kung fu. I went to China five times, for business, from the early '90s to about 1996. In between I sought out famous masters and their schools, not to be a wise guy but to learn…I was thoroughly disappointed each time. Obviously the stuff must have worked at some time in history [probably not since the boxer rebellion] but I don't know what it is, they just don't make effective fighters, everyone knows this but its not spoken of, and even in San Shou, look at them fight, they use western wrestling and boxing techniques (a apt example is Cung Le), where's the kung fu?

Keating
Right, I agree, and this goes back to something Sir Richard Burton said.

RF
The explorer? The guy who searched for the source of the Nile?

Keating
Yes, that Sir Richard Burton. He said this stuff about methods, systems and styles is nonsense, because any human being with two legs and two arms all move on the same matrix.

There are a set of universal motions that govern man under times of stress and violence, and you may think you will move a certain way but very rapidly you learn you don't.

The rest may be developmental, it may be healthy, it may be beneficial and entertaining, but when it comes to life and death combat; all human beings whether they are seven foot tall Africans or a tiny guy from Canada, it doesn't matter, everybody moves the same.

RF
And responds the same with adrenal rush…

Keating
Exactly and this is what Burton was trying to say, that you must access those core movements and core mechanics and motions, because that is what is going to guide you.

I can't believe I'm quoting Mike Tyson, but he has a
point...

He once said, "Everyone has a plan... until they get hit!"

Tyson was referring to how his fighting style could
overwhelm the best trained boxer in the ring because his
opponents weren't prepared for the reality-check he
possessed in his thunderous fists.

The same goes for self defense...

"Everyone has a plan... until they get attacked."

In other words, your training may be giving you a feeling of
confidence because you've been able to hit your training
partner... disarmed that plastic handgun... and escape that
headlock on the ground.

But without the proper "programming", all of these
techniques will still fail you in the horrific brutality of
a real attack.

There's actually a scientific reason for this...

You see, when you're attacked, your brain automatically
switches from your Frontal Lobe (the place where reasoning
happens) to your mid-brain (where your fight, flight, submit
and posture mechanisms reside - some people call this the
"reptile" or animal brain).

The problem with self defense is that you PRACTICE when
you're in your "frontal lobe" or a "state of reasoning."

In other words, you have the ability to "think" of possible
defenses for specific situations and then imagine what you
will be able to do when you're attacked.

But those complicated defenses crumble apart when you're
forced into your reptile brain.

There's a great big blind spot right between your eyes, you cannot see things coming straight in.

Many people who do some type of Asian weapons work do not comprehend how superior western fencers really are and don't realize that if they were to face off with a fencer using a real weapon, they would be run through helplessly.

Keating
I think if a person were to learn one thing, it should be fencing, not these other arts, and not that I'm against them but I'm just saying to get it all complete in one package, that is well explained, well understood and scientific…and again this goes to difference between a fighting art and a fighting science. I prefer a fighting science. Western arts have rarely pushed too much religion or superstition, but what they have done is applied geometry, mathematics and science to these combative equations to produce a high degree of replication, and success in combat.

James Keating

Introduction by Jerry Van Cook

How do you introduce someone like James A. Keating? Anyone interested in self-defense who doesn't already know who he is has to have been living in a cave. That said, there may be a few of you who have slipped through the cracks so I'll do my best to fill you in.

As far as I'm concerned, Keating is in a class of his own when it comes to the study, application, and teaching of realistic self-defense. For well over 30 years now he has made it his life, and literally thousands of students have been the beneficiaries of this pursuit. Whether they came to him in order to study firearms, sticks, knives, unarmed combat-or more importantly the integration of all forms of defense-they went away with both new skills and a new outlook on protecting themselves and their loved ones.