9 Compasses and Workout of the Week #28

The Cabal Fang Workout of the Week is two-parter.  Enjoy!

Cabal Fang Workout of the Week #28

Part 1: A nasty little pyramid with no breaks.  This works great with two heavy bags, one standing and one lying flat.  But if you only have one or none at all, you can either make one or punch the air.  No excuses!  Start with Splay Punch x2, Punch x2 from Mount, Punch x2 from Guard, Standing Punch/Kick x2 vs. the upright bag,  Then Splay Punch x2, Splay Punch x4, Punch x4 from Mount, Punch x4 from Guard, Punch/Kick x4 Standing.  Then Splay-Punch x2, Splay-Punch x4, Splay-Punch x6, Punch x6 from Mount, Punch x6 from Guard, Punch x6 Standing.  Keep going until you get to 5 Splays and all strikes x10.  Next round 4 Splays all strikes x8, then 3 Splays and all strikes x6. etc. back down to 1 Splay and all strikes x2.

Part 2: Find your compass and meditate on it.  There’s nothing worse than feeling lost.  To find out where you are and start heading in the right direction, get our your handy compass.   This holds as true in the realms of mind and spirit as it does in the realm of the forest.  When you want to orient yourself in the great outdoors you use a physical compass; to get your mental, spiritual bearings, get out a symbolic compass.

Yes, I said meditate.  Here’s how.  Look at the 9 “compasses” listed at the bottom of this post.  Which one seems appropriate to the problem, pickle, or situation you’re dealing with at the present moment?   Once you settle on a choice, memorize it.  Close your eyes and imagine that the North pole of the compass is tattooed in glowing letters on your forehead, the South one on your lower abdomen just below your belly button, the East one on your right shoulder, and the West one your left shoulder.  Set a timer for 10 minutes, assume your chose meditative posture and close your eyes.  Imagine that compass situated on your body.  Which words are glowing most brightly?  Which aren’t glowing at all?  Try to make them all glow evenly in your mind’s eye.

Below you’ll find 9 compasses that will help you orient yourself if you give them some time, consideration, meditation, contemplation, and prayer.

 Maybe the Being/Action compass is what you need.   Sometimes you don’t know if your problem is bad thinking or poor choices.  North/South is the “Being” dipole while East/West is the “Action” dipole.  There is no “wrong way” on a compass is there?  Of course not.  Just as there’s a time to go North or South depending on where you’re headed, there’s a time to accept what you’ve been dealt (“I am not”) and a time to reach down deep and assert your will (“I am”).  There’s a time to take action (“I will”) and a time to refuse to take action (“I will not”).   Sometimes these things overlap — inaction becomes an action, acceptance can become inaction, and so on, like a four-way game of rock-paper-scissors.  To figure out which direction you need to go, meditate on this compass and see if you can find your way out.

Or maybe you have a goal in mind and you don’t where to start.   Try the Ways of Achieving compass.   Not sure which quality you need to cultivate in order to hit your goal?  Meditate on the the Qualities of Manifestation compass.

When it doubt, go with the Hermetic Quaternary.   If you’re looking for direction but you’re not sure which compass is best, go with the one that’s been around since Eliphas Levi first wrote it down in 1854.  It’s about as powerful a tool as you could ever hope for.

Go ahead, give it a try!

Directions Hermetic Quaternary (a.k.a. “The Powers of the Sphinx”) Qualities of Manifestation Being/Action
North/Up To Know Purpose I am not
South/Down To Will Intent I am
East/Right To Dare Passion I will
West/Left To Keep Silent Determination I will not
Directions Western Elements Tarot Suits Astrology
North/Up Earth Pentacles  Ox/Taurus
South/Down Fire Wands  Lion/Leo
East/Right Air Swords  Man/Aquarius
West/Left Water Cups  Eagle/Scorpio
Directions Holy Grail Bloods Archangels Ways of Achieving
North/Up God & Goddess Uriel  To Visualize
South/Down Ancestors & Kin Michael  To Practice
East/Right Heroes & Friends Raphael  To Execute
West/Left Sacrifice & Nourishment Gabriel  To Plan

 

Blood Symbols and Cabal Fang Workout of the Week #27

This week’s workout is a three-parter.  You can just watch the video (see below) or if you like words over pictures, here are the details.

Calisthenics.  Complete 3 sets to failure  of Narrow Push-ups and Hindu Squats. We’re not keeping score.  But if we were, you’d get extra points for doing more than 50 of the Push-ups and more 100+ of the Squats.  This segment was created using PTDICE.  Getcha some.

Shadowboxing with 1 pound weights.  Set a timer for 10 minutes — no breaks! — and shadowbox with #1 hand weights or 16 oz boxing gloves.  If you don’t imagine your opponent you’re wasting your time.  Really visualize what you’re striking at!

Meditation on blood.   Violence is a serious matter, and blood is not to be spilled lightly.  How can you call yourself qualified to draw blood in defense of yourself or someone you care about if you haven’t even take the time to understand and appreciate the sacredness of blood and what it symbolizes?  There are four types of blood — the mythological blood of Gods and Goddesses (holy blood), the blood of ancestors and kin (family blood), the blood of friends and heroes (royal and/or cultural blood), and the blood of sacrifice and nourishment (the blood that’s spilled to keep us spiritually and/or physically fed).  Set a timer for 10 minutes, assume the meditation posture of your choice, and spend this time meditating on these four types of blood.  For a deeper experience, meditate on just one of the four types of blood and do this exercise four days running.

 

Cabal Fang Workout of the Week #26

Pre-dawn Roanoke 581 South Tanglewood

I’m on the road this weekend, in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge, so I did this workout and shot this video yesterday [Note: Unlike some folks, I never, ever post any untested workouts or exercises].

I’m in the mountains visiting one of my kids who’s away at school. Which leads me to the internal, spiritual aspect of this week’s workout. 

This is something I try to do every day, with varying levels of success of course, but that I’m keenly aware of today as I have a chance to see someone I no longer get to see every day. 

Remember martial artist friends — surviving another day means nothing if each day has no meaning, no purpose, no significance.

Cabal Fang Workout of the Week #26:

Jump Rope ConditionerSet a timer to beep at 1:00 min. intervals. Cycle through these 3 exercises 3 times (9 mins total): Jump Rope AFAYC, Bodybuilders AMAYC, and Heavy bag (constant contact). Video below!

Awareness practice.  For the remainder of the day, try being fully present in, and aware of, what’s going on around you. Try to fully taste every flavor, hear every voice and note, smell every perfume, and so on. Sure, this is great self-defense practice. But it’s mainly a way to savor the miracle of your existence — to help you remember that there is sacredness inside every life experience.

Workout of the Week #25 and Indigenous People’s Day

Update 7/18/19:  My club still uses the flag but we’re now called Cabal Fang Temple, and we’re a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational charity.  Visit our website or purchase our 12-week personal growth program at Smashwords, Amazon, B&N, or wherever fine e-books are sold.

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Original post:

Can't spell it? Doesn't matter. Maybe that's another way to disrespect it? I don't know, but I kind of like it. Click photo to read the article at NPR.

Can’t spell it? Doesn’t matter. Maybe that’s another way to disrespect it? I don’t know, but I kind of like it. Click photo to read the article at NPR.

Monday is Indigenous People’s Day (a.k.a. Native American Day)!

For some reason there’s a connection between Columbus Day and Italian heritage.  That’s unfortunate because there are so many truly praiseworthy Italian figures — Giordano BrunoMichelangeloRaphaelBotticelliLeonardo da VinciTitian,  Pico della MirandolaPetrarch,  Dante Alighieri, and Giovanni Boccaccio come to mind — whom proud Italians could celebrate instead!

It used to be fringe idea that Columbus wasn’t really worthy of a holiday.  But over the last ten or twenty years, a slow tide has been steadily rolling in.  Colonialism’s gloss has rubbed away, humanity’s awareness has grown, and in some places we’ve seen the second Monday in October become Indigenous People’s Day.  Yesterday Vermont joined the ever-growing cadre of states and localities ditching Columbus Day in favor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

UPDATE 8/17/47: But is that really a good thing?  It’s tough.  I mean, to the 2 million members of the Knights of Columbus — I personally know two members who care deeply about their communities and do great charity work — Columbus is a hero. If we only allow holidays and monuments to perfect people there will be holidays or monuments at all.

Onward now to your Cabal Fang Workout of the Week — WOOTW #25

This month at the Order of Seven Hills our external concentration is Sparring.  And with that in mind, to help build up your lungs in case you have to fight and/or run for your life, I humbly introduce…

Escape Plan Drill: This one’s great to pull off on an outdoor track or a nice path through the woods.  Set a round timer for 1:00 min. rounds with no breaks, or start a simple countdown timer to beep every 60 seconds (personally I’m a fan of the Timex Ironman watch).  First round, shadowbox with as much speed and sincerity as you can muster.  Second round, sprint around the track or down the trail as fast you possibly can — flat out.  Third round, keep going with as much speed as you can muster, either walk, jog, run or (if you’re superhuman) keep on sprinting.  Repeat that set four more times for a total of 15 minutes.  Take as few 12-second breaks as possible to finish standing up.

 

The Raven, the Niche and the Podcast

No, I’m not a mega-fan of C. S. Lewis and/or The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.   I just figured that I wrapped my title around that of a famous book it might catch your eye.  Did it?  Sure it did!

Anyway, I was really flattered to get a request from Vargas over at the Raven Tribe who asked me to appear on his Raven Talk podcast.  You’re always a little nervous when somebody asks you for an interview — are they planning to grill you alive?  Make fun of you?  Are they going to pull a Howard Stern on you?  Ya never know.

But my unfounded worry promptly dissipated once I got on the line with Vargas.  He was a polite and truly interested interviewer who seemed genuinely fascinated by the unusual martial arts niche we’ve carved out with Cabal Fang.  I really had a blast talking with him.

Hop over there please, and give it a listen.  Let’s make this his most popular podcast to date so that I’m guaranteed another invitation soon!

Meet me at Zinefest Tomorrow and WOOTW #24

This week the Cabal Fang Workout of the Week is coming out on Friday instead of Saturday because tomorrow I’m tabling at Richmond Zinefest 2016!

If you’ve never attended a Zinefest, you have to experience it  at least once.  It’s hundreds of independent writers, reporters, activists, DIYers and artists selling and trading their homemade wares — pamphlets, books, magazines (a.k.a. “zines”), artwork, you name it.  Unfiltered and unedited by the big-name publishing houses.  Big, Raw.  In your face.

The event is free and open to the public.  Saturday programming is at Richmond Public Library, 101 E Franklin St., Richmond VA from 11 AM to 4 PM.  Please come out, buy some stuff off my table, and shake my hand.

AND BY THE WAY this year, for the very first time, I’ll be distributing the Hermetic Library Zine!  Check this thing out — beautiful, eh?

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Now for the Cabal Fang Workout of the Week.  To wrap up Grappling Month I humbly introduce to you…

  • Grappling Conditioner #4: Complete 50 Get-ups, 50 Bodybuilders, and 250 strikes vs. heavy bag (elbows, knees, hooks, uppercuts and other short range attacks only) – all as fast as you can.  If you finish this entire thing in less than 21:04 you’ve got me beat!

My Vote for President Goes To…

My vote for president goes to the person who, if he or she had been riding in my passenger seat this morning, would have been grinning right along with me as we listened to RATM bang out The Ghost of Tom Joad.

My vote for president goes to the candidate who detests bullies and never bullies others, who only uses violence in defense of life.

My vote goes to the candidate who’s measured and thoughtful, who’s never vengeful and lives by the adage, “Repay kindness with kindness; repay evil with justice.

My vote goes to the nominee who looks at governance by the light of the maxim, “Seek not the paths of the ancients; seek that which the ancients sought.” — who looks forward rather than backward and  who believes in evolution (not just the biological kind, but the political, social, emotional and spiritual kinds too).

My vote goes to the contender who moves gracefully through the world and believes that humanity should learn to do the same — that social problems, environmental issues, conflict and crime are all interrelated — who believes that climate change is the greatest threat humanity faces.

And if my perfect candidate isn’t on the ballot?  My write-in vote will go to the person who gets closest to my ideal.  If that means that a detestable person gets elected, well that just means that America will get what she deserves.

Although I have disagreed with him in the past, in this case I must side with Komgun.  My heart is cultivated in the garden of wind and moon, and I would not vote against my heart even for a bribe of 1,000 gold pieces, even it means drinking a poison cup.

 

 

 

WOOTW #23 — Now with 270% RDA of Vitamin C!

So the other day I’m thinking, “I wonder if I’m getting enough Vitamin C in my diet?”  Don’t ask me why I thought that.  How should I know?  I mean, okay, I barely eat any fruit at all because I’m all lo-carb and what-not, so I  guess I just thought I should check or something.

And I’m looking at food labels and I see that just 3 of these baby peppers I really like have 270% of the RDA of Vitamin C.  Does that make any sense at all?  That’s twice the Vitamin C of an orange — with 10% of the calories and 15% of the cost.

You know what?  Screw oranges.  You are hereby expelled, dismissed, banished.  I grow tired of you.  Leave me!

Anyway, on with Cabal Fang Workout of the Week.

WOOTW #23 — Another Grappling Conditioner and the Hourglass Meditation

  • Another 10-minute  Grappling Conditioner.  Pick out the heaviest medicine ball you have, preferably 10% bodyweight or so.  Set timer for 10 minutes and complete as many  sets as you can before the timer beeps of 8 Walking Lunges per leg (crushing your medicine ball with a good Cross-arm Clinch the whole time), 8 Get-ups (hugging your medicine ball throughout), 8 Medicine Ball Push-ups, and 8 Splay-n-Punch (you can put your medicine ball down for that).
  • The Hourglass Meditation.  This variant of the Middle Pillar Exercise is actually the second half of a longer exercise called the Caduceus Ritual (if you want the rest, pre-order the martial arts book and you’ll be one of the first people to get it).  (1) Start by standing in a relaxed position with with hands out at your sides like the letter “A” and breathe deeply. Imagine that there is energy in the earth beneath your feet, powerful energy being incubated in the earth, in the form of swirling prismatic colors.  Close your eyes and inhale as you imagine the warm, prismatic light entering through your feet and flowing upward through your body.  (2) Slowly bring your palms together as you inhale and draw the earth energy up through your feet. Bring your hands up to prayer position at chest level. Hesitate with lungs full and airways open as you envision the light filling you up.  (3) Begin to exhale. As you do, slowly part your hands and raise them up into a “Y” position.  Conceive of the prismatic light exiting through your arms, head and hands like a shower of multi-colored sparks.  (4) Continue to exhale as the sparks fall all around you.  Slowly return your arms to “A” position. (5) Hesitate with lungs empty and airways open.  Imagine the shower of sparks and energy re-entering the ground where it came from.  (6) Repeat for as long as you like, but 5 or 10 minutes should be enough to leave you feeling relaxed and present.

WOOTW#22: 4X4 Tires and The Hadouken Meditation

There’ll be no overtures today you bilge rats!  Only gather ’round on the quarterdeck and shut your filthy scupper holes — there’s work afoot.  Arrr!

Why am I talking like this?   Well, I’m just warming up for International Talk Like a Pirate Day on Monday the 19th of course!

Cabal Fang Workout of the Week #22

This one is an auto tire workout followed by a standing meditation.

  • Auto Tire 4X4s.  Get an auto tire, set a timer for 4 intervals of 4 minutes each, and put on a pair of gloves.  For the first two intervals (8:00 total) complete as many sets as you can of 8 Tire Slams, 8 Tire Push-ups, and 8 Tire V-ups.  Then shoulder the tire and head out.  Go as far as you can — run, jog or walk as your fitness allows — until the timer beeps to end the third interval.  Turn around and try to get home before the timer beeps to end the 4th and final interval.  Take as many 12-second breaks as you need to finish. [Tip: Put your arm through the tire, reach up and grab it palms down.  Hug the tire to your shoulder so it doesn’t bounce.  Switch sides every minute or two.]  If you don’t know the tire exercises, download the tire booklet by clicking here.
  • Standing “Hadouken” Meditation.  Set timer for 8:00 and stand with feet a shoulder’s width apart.  Relax and imagine that you are forming a softball-sized ball of invisible energy between your palms.  Inhale as you gently rotate your hands in one direction; hesitate with lungs full and airways open, then exhale as you rotate your hands back to starting position.  Hesitate with lungs empty and airways open.  Repeat.  [video here and below].  As you do so, imagine the warmth of the energy on your palms and really make an investment in your full attention — you can only get out of it what you put into it.  Intensity is the secret sauce that insures results in everything you do!  This is a great exercise for beginners who struggle with focus during seated meditations, and it’s also a nice change of pace for experienced people looking to let some fresh air into a stale routine.

A Blunder, Some Hunger, and Feeling Younger

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Twinkies are not technically food. On the other hand, two or three of these on a cheat day. maybe every six months or so, ain’t gonna kill ya.

When I got back from vacation back in August, I decided to eliminate meat for a week to cut calories and drop the weight I put on.  Worked great — the weight fell off — and so I decided to stick with it for a while.  After a few weeks of meat only 1 day per week, I re-realized what I realized back in 2000 when I gave up being a vegetarian after 14 years:

Not eating meat makes me fat.  

Some people can do it, like the vegetarian bodybuilders I read about online and in all the magazines, but I just can’t.  I get a taste of carbs and my cravings are irresistible.   Meat makes me feel full and curbs my appetite.   And then Mark Hatmaker pointed me to an article about training over age 50.  One of the things the article pointed out was that people over 50 need more protein than younger folks.  Vegetarian experiment concluded!

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This is an old drawing I made of the Tree of Life as part of my spiritual project a couple of years back. It’s a little out of whack because that was before I saw Mr. Watt’s post on how to draw one. (https://goo.gl/6GEP08)

While I was poking around some related websites I came across some stuff about how intermittent fasting makes you leaner and stronger.  And then I re-realized something I realized a couple of years ago when I was fasting one day a week for a spiritual project I was working on:

A weekly fast day helps you shred. 

So does bulletproof coffee, it just makes you a grumpy old meanie if you do it two or more days in a row.  So I’m doing a 12-hour fast on Wednesdays — one cup of coffee with 1 tbsp of coconut oil or 2 tbsp of heavy whipping cream at 5 AM and nothing further until dinner at 6 PM.

Coffee is most excellent.

I’m getting a cholesterol check next week.  I’ll post the results.  Can’t see how a tablespoon or two of fat is that big a deal one day a week.  I mean, if I was eating breakfast I’d have two eggs, and if I was having lunch I’d have salad dressing, meat or cheese.  I think net fat is actually lower on fasting days.

Have you tried any of these techniques?  Are you 50+ years of age?  Share your experiences in the comments, please!