Willpower & the Supernatural
By Haydn Ellis, founder Brutal Training

A couple of months ago Kelso gave me a sensational book entitled, “Training Methods of The 72 Arts of Shaolin”. First published in 1934 this book attests to presenting the 72 most hidden arts of the Shaolin Monks. It makes fascinating reading as you wind your way through various hard and soft style techniques. The book includes methods for jumping, striking and hardening the body.

The author, Jin Jing Zhong makes special mention of one his tutors, Guo Ze Yi. I quote from page 17:

“Our tutor was very good at ‘instinctive’ Gong Fu, it is also called supernatural Gong Fu. This style differs from other schools (as) it rests upon the subconscious and uses hidden psychic forces. (That’s) why it was called the ‘Fist of Subconscious Mastership’. This Gong Fu has other names too: Ren Zu Men ‘Teaching of the Ancestors’. (My emphasis added)

The abilities that the 72 secret arts pertain to develop are nothing short of supernatural by our modern standards. Some verge on unbelievable. But, after witnessing a Shaolin monk throw a pin threw a pane of glass I now believe that anything is possible. I’ll leave it up to you to buy the book and review the hidden arts. There is however, one thing all of the arts have in common. Repetition. Not hundreds, or thousands but tens of thousands everyday. These monks would do the one thing for hours on end.

On a very small scale I have been performing a strength & conditioning bodyweight circuit everyday. 500 situps takes a while to perform. Approximately 30 minutes. I know this in advance and sometimes it is agonising to start the reps because I know I’ll be doing the same thing for quite a while. And not only that, I’ll be doing it again the next day, and the next, and so on.

Some people ask me how I have the willpower to perform such repetitive exercises day after day. I know for a fact that the only way to achieve greatness in anything is through brutal repetition. Here’s the thing that Zhong’s book taught me that, although, profoundly simple, blew my f*cking doors off.

One of the five demands of training is that Spirit should conform to Will. This doesn’t make much sense initially and throughout the book there are numerous references to applying a strong will in attempting to persevere. However, tucked away in one part of the book is a seemingly inert statement:

“The exercises should be performed daily irrespective of will.”

Do you have any idea how profound that is? It seems like Nike have it right in all their corporate wisdom. It doesn’t matter if you have the willpower to persevere the repetitions still get done. This has had a huge impact on me. No longer do I need motivation or to harden my resolve. I simply know that the reps have to get done whether I like it or not and I do them whether I feel like it or not. It is not dependent upon my willpower to accomplish the reps. ‘They’ just get done. In fact, they seem now to do themselves. I feel almost as though I become a witness to the training. It is here that I begin to understand the initial statement of ‘Spirit conforming to Will’. Eventually, the spirit of what you do takes over and you no longer initiate but rather follow the spirit of repetition.

Until you have done something hard, arduous and painful day after day for long periods of time you will not really understand any of this. Like all truths the proof is in the ‘doing’ NOT in the intellectual acknowledgment.

“For the first time (this) book describes (the) full training methods (of) all 72 Shaolin Arts. (These) become available to all who are ready to practice them persistently and with an open heart. Training methods described in the book allows (one) to develop supernatural abilities, far beyond (the) abilities of an ordinary man.”

Good luck with your training.