Tag Archives: caduceus

Stand Tall: Training Involution #130

Posted on November 10, 2018 | Leave a comment

The Magician — he is acting out the Hermetic axiom “As above, so below”

This month our martial focus is Mettlecraft and our internal, symbolic focus is the Staff.

Mettlecraft month means we’re all digging deeper.  Those of us who haven’t licked Self-Destruct Sequence in under 40 mins quite yet are working our way up to it.  For the Staff, we’re finishing every club meeting with the Caduceus Ritual (see Chapter 19 of Cabal Fang: Complete Martial Arts Study Course).

The Caduceus Ritual aligns your spine — physically, intellectually and spiritually.

  • Physically, you stand straight, breath deeply, and vocalize certain tones.   This slows heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and so on.
  • Intellectually and mythologically you see yourself as a conduit through and between the energies above (sky) and below (earth).
  • Spiritually you allow yourself to fully experience the ritual absorb its significance.

Let’s go put all of this together.

Stand Tall: Training Involution #130

  • Did you finish Self-Destruct Sequence in under 40 minutes last week?  For instructions click here.   If so, do half of the reps as a recovery this week, and think about beating your record next week.
  • Did you get through at least half of the reps?  If so, do 2/3 of the reps this week.
  • Did you get less than half of the reps?  No problem, just try to do more reps this week than last.
  • Did you fail to even try?  There are no excuses in Cabal Fang.  Work around handicaps and limitations.  Modify or substitute exercises as needed.  If you’re wheelchair-bound, equate 12 exercises as closely as you can to the 12 in Self-Destruct Sequence and go.
  • Embody the Caduceus Ritual for the rest of the coming week.  Practice standing tall.  Hold your spine upright, keep your shoulders back, and look people in the eye when you talk to them.  Log your performance in your training journal.

Don’t  tell me what you can’t do.  I only want to hear about what you can do.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Hermes’ Winged Helm and Workout of the Week #74

Posted on September 30, 2017 | Leave a comment

This week I’m going to hook you up with a little knowledge lecture about Hermeticism.  Why?  Two reasons:

  1. Because Hermeticism is the backbone of the spirituality of Cabal Fang,
  2. And people often ask what the hell Hermeticism has to do with martial arts (like Fernan Vargas did on the Raven Talk podcast).

Here’s the video — hope you find it fun and enjoyable.

And now for Cabal Fang Workout of the Week #74

Cabal Fang Workout of the Week #74

  • Slip ball.  Get in front of your slip ball for 10 minutes.  If you are serious about boxing or kickboxing you should be doing this twice a week until the end of time.  Pursue slip ball with enough sincerity to be sweaty when you’re done.  Don’t know how to use a slip ball?  Watch this.  Don’t have a slip ball?  Put anything on the end of a string and hang it up, or make a proper one by drilling a hole in a tennis ball and running some para-cord through it.
  • Power kick pyramids vs. heavy bag.  Set timer for 10 minutes.  Throw a Side Kick pyramid to 4 with left leg forward, switch stance, and do another with right leg forward.  Switch stance.  Throw a Roundhouse/Switch Kick pyramid with left leg forward, switch, and then throw another with right leg forward.  Repeat until the timer beeps.  Kick as hard and fast as you can for max power.  Each pyramid = 1 kick, then 2, 3, 4, 3, 2, 1 with only a short beat between groupings.  See if you can get through 12 pyramids — the whole thing 3 times — before the timer beeps (that would be 192 kicks).
  • Caduceus meditation.  Symbols effect your mind in ways that words and sounds cannot.  One of the best ways to use and interact with symbols is to sketch them in your own hand.  Draw a caduceus on a  piece of paper.  Then prop it up such that it’s at eye level when you’re in your chosen meditative posture.  Narrow your eyes to slits, regulate your breathing, and meditate on the drawing for about 10 minutes.  Record your thoughts and impressions in your training journal.

A caduceus (courtesy of Wikimedia)

Did you enjoy reading this?  Then the Cabal Fang book will blow your mind.  Buy a paper copy on Amazon or from Createspace or download the ebook here.

 

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

Posted on September 24, 2016 | Leave a comment

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.

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