I was chatting with a person on FB yesterday who is critical of me for selling DVDs of my instruction. He believes that I promote myself, and he interprets this as me telling people I'm a master. Bottom line -- he doesn't think I'm good enough to sell instruction on DVD, compared with other higher-level instructors.

Then I received this email from Alan in Orlando, Florida:

"Thanks for your wonderful work and your excellent DVD segments. I feel I'm learning more from them than I did from my previous experience taking in-person classes many years ago."

I also reminded my critic on FB of the young man in Beijing who wrote to me telling me how my DVDs helped him bridge the language barrier between him and his Chinese Xingyi teacher, and my instruction was responsible for the progress he had made in his teacher's class. He understood the principles the teacher was trying to get across because of my DVDs.

As I explained to my critic on FB, I could teach at the local YMCA and none of the trolls in Facebook Land would care. I could advertise my classes and no critics would tell me I don't have the right. But I have a different set of skills, with my radio and TV background, that help me teach a different way, by producing DVDs, podcasts, and videos for online instruction. I am simply reaching students a different way. If they can learn from what I do (and they do learn), why should anyone else care where and how I teach?

Once you put yourself online, even when I continue to insist I am not and will never be a master, a chunk of the martial artists out there will be threatened. They will attack. They see you as competition. Despite their claims of being the real deal, and nobody else is the real deal, and other people are promoting themselves, in the end their criticism comes from insecurity.

Seriously, shouldn't you be practicing instead of sitting at a keyboard on the East Coast or in France passing judgment on other teachers? Yeah. I think you should. And then, the next time you look in a mirror, ask yourself how your heart-mind got so terribly off-track; how your "spirit" got so dirty. You see, you are not my target. If you are at a higher level than I am, my material is not aimed at you. I help people all over the world get back into the internal arts, or take them up for the first time. Anytime I do that, it develops an audience for the art, and I often refer people to good teachers in their area so they can learn in person.

What could be a better win-win situation than that? Unfortunately, a lot of FB martial arts warriors don't want a win-win situation. They believe if I win, they lose. And they actually think they have some strange right to judge other martial artists. Well, here's a wake-up call. I'm helping people, not only by selling DVDs and teaching through my online school, but also by promoting other teachers through my podcast and blog.

WTF are YOU doing for anyone other than yourself?  By the way, my new Bagua Elk Horn Knives DVD will be ready next week. It's pretty damn good. I'm no Liu Jingru, but you will learn more on this DVD than you will from his DVD. I guarantee it or your money back. :)

If you are looking for a great introduction to the art of Tai Chi Chuan for beginners, the Chen 19 form is a short, easy-to-learn series of movements that can be practiced both for health and for martial art.

The Chen 19 was created in the 1990s by Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang. 

The most popular tai chi form in the world is the Yang 24 simplified form that was created in Beijing to provide a standardized form. It took off because it is short and can easily be learned and practiced by Westerners who do not have the time or patience to do a longer form on a daily basis.

It seems logical that the Chen family saw this and decided to create their own form to compete with the short Yang form.

The Chen 19 is perfect. The basic movements can be learned in a weekend and it takes about five minutes to perform, easily fitting into a hectic modern workday.

I have practiced both forms. I taught the Yang 24 when I first began teaching Tai Chi, but after I switched to Chen style in 1998, the only "short" form I do is the Chen 19. I prefer the body mechanics of Chen style, and the "lively" body method.

My first Chen 19 instructional DVD came out in 2008. Last year, I revised it. I take you step-by-step through the entire form. The DVD runs just over 2-and-a-half hours. Besides solo instruction, you will also see me coach a student through the movements. You learn by watching him make mistakes and get corrected on camera. It's the next best thing to being in a live classroom setting. Each movement is taught with detail that you won't find on any other tai chi instructional dvds.

Check out a clip from the DVD here. It is available in standard and Blu-Ray versions. If you or someone you know is curious about trying Tai Chi, this is an inexpensive and convenient way to try it out.

I get to meet a lot of dedicated martial artists when I do interviews for my Internal Fighting Arts podcast.

I've had Mark Chen's book, "Old Frame Chen Family Taijiquan" on my bookshelf for years, but the only thing I knew about him was that he is a disciple of Chen Qingzhou. When he was recommended recently for the podcast, I pulled his book out again and realized he had a refreshingly clear perspective on Taiji -- down-to-earth and free of mystical woo woo.

He agreed to talk with me a few days ago, and gave a very good interview about training with traditional martial arts instructors. It was a very enjoyable interview, especially his stories of training with "old school" teachers.

Mark has also studied with other gongfu masters, including Guo Lianyin, Bill Gee, Chen Youze, and Zhang XueXin.

Follow this link to listen to the interview with Mark Chen on Audello. You can listen online or download the file.

It will be on iTunes within a few hours.

This is the 29th Internal Fighting Arts podcast I have done, and I am enjoying it more than ever. I get a great feeling in promoting these instructors, who have worked so hard and gone through such pains to learn Taiji, Xingyi, Bagua, and more. I'm very happy to give them a spotlight and provide information that listeners don't get in the national martial arts magazines. It is also fun to provide "real-world" interviews. I try to peel back the curtain so listeners can get some behind-the-scenes information about the real world of high-quality internal gongfu. 

Enjoy!

"Hey, what are you looking at?"

Every boy learns to recognize this question. It's one of the first things a bully will say when he chooses you for a target.

It doesn't matter how you answer.

You might say, "I'm not looking at anything."

"What? Are you saying I'm nothing?" the bully will reply.

And then he walks closer. He is ready to fight. 

As adults, these types of encounters are not as common, but they do happen. Often, the bully is replaced by someone with more sinister motives -- someone who wants to do us harm.

Dan Djurdjevic is a martial artist from Perth, Australia who has developed the concept of "flipping the script" on someone who is verbally setting up an assault. 

You can "flip the script" when you reply to a leading question with something that the potential attacker is not expecting.

For example, he might say, "What are you looking at?"

He is expecting you to be afraid and reply, "Nothing." Then he can continue with his script.

But what if you give him something he isn't expecting, for example, "Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention, I just found out my wife has cancer."

He would be completely thrown off his script. He would not know how to react, and the threat might be over quickly.

Or, you could smile and reply, "Hey, how are you? I haven't seen you in a while."

He might stop in his tracks and wonder what the hell is going on. You could say, "Oh, sorry, you look like a good friend of mine that I haven't seen in years. You look just like him."

In the latest Internal Fighting Arts podcast, Dan Djurdjevic gives two or three great examples of how he flipped the script on a stranger who appeared at his door one night with a knife held behind his back, a robber who was looking to take his money at the train station, and he describes a funny story of how a friend disarmed a potential attacker by saying something that made no sense at all.

It's an interview that will give you some great ideas, but it's also great self-defense. If you can avoid a fight, that demonstrates that you have the ultimate self-defense skill.

Here is a link to the Dan Djurdjevic interview on Audello (listen online or download the podcast).

Here is a link to the podcast on iTunes.

Here is a link to the podcast on Stitcher.

Make sure you subscribe to the Internal Fighting Arts podcast and hear interviews with top internal martial artists around the world.

Do you have a question about training in the internal arts? If so, you can click the link below and leave your question in a voice message. I may use it on the next Internal Fighting Arts podcast.

If you don't have a question about training, can you describe your biggest challenge as you try to make progress in your training? If so, click on the link and leave a voice message.

If I select your question or comment for the podcast, I will give you a heads-up before it goes online.

You will need to be on your phone or on a computer with a mic.

Ask your question by going to my page on SpeakPipe.

I hope you join me in helping listeners around the world, because if you have a question or a challenge as you practice martial arts, you are not alone, and other people may benefit from our discussion. 

Dan Djurdjevic (standing) with his teacher Chen Yun Ching.

One of the things I admire about the guests on my Internal Fighting Arts podcast is the determination they have, and the pains they go through, to learn and to develop their martial arts skill.

The latest interview -- with Dan Djurdjevic -- is no exception. Dan is considered by his teacher, Chen Yun Ching, to be a master instructor in the style of Chen's father, Chen Pan Ling.

Dan lives and teaches in Perth, Australia. He and his brother have a school in Perth called Traditional Fighting Arts and he has an excellent blog called "The Way of Least Resistance."

This wide-ranging interview touches on subjects including the teaching style of Chen Yun Ching and modern-day self-defense.

As an attorney with experience as a prosecutor, Dan has an interesting angle on self-defense. The section on "flipping the script" is outstanding; a tactic that every martial artist needs to hear.

Click this link to listen to the podcast on Audello, or to download it to your hard drive.

You can also listen to the Internal Fighting Arts podcast and subscribe to it on iTunes.