Ninjutsu Training Online

Well. I have had some great comments on the counter surveillance and “the eyes have it” posts so here is a bit more on the subjects!

1)      Eyes Up and Left: remembered imagery

2)      Eyes Lateral Left: remembered sounds, words, and “tape loops

3)      Eyes Down and Left: Internal dialogue, or inner self-talk

Now what about the counter surveillance tip? This one comes directly from the field (No I won’t tell you where!) Look for Busy eyes! It is not a normal phenomenon to have your eyes wandering continuously, checking things out etc. It could easily be a sign of someone who is out of place and or up to something not of a good nature. Now this tip goes both ways, as you should be taking in everything around you, but do it in a manner that utilizes “wide angle” perception. Taking in a wide field and then sorting what is relevant to you, The casually moving or focusing your attention on something or someone in a discrete manner.

Surveillance and Counter surveillance tradecraft skills need constant practice in order for you to become proficient, so get going and don’t become the strange guy staring at everyone!(LOL)

Bufu Ikkan

Observing and memorizing a particular area, skill, facial feature, name…whatever, is a critical skill that any aspiring ninjutsu practitioner should learn in their intelligence gathering repertoire. It sounds easy, just to remember something, right? But think on how difficult this can be, when you are learning a new skill set, or a quickly observed name on a letter or even a license plate. Training yourself to quickly identify, remember and then to recite back your observations is a skill set that can be developed and enhanced with diligent practice.

So let’s start with a exercising your brain!

Drill 1) Each week add a session to your training regime that includes puzzle solving, Chess, Sudoku, learning a new language, or even learning new words and phrases in your native tongue. This not only challenges your brain but actually helps it develop new neural connections and potential skill sets!

Drill 2) Observation! Go into a new store or someone’s office etc and mentally take note of everything you see, smell and hear(yes all of your senses), when you get back to a “safe” area, mentally dump all of this information into a written log. Review it later when you have an opportunity to go back into the area and see what you might have missed.

Drill 3) License plate drill. When you pull into your next parking spot, look at the two license plate numbers next to your vehicle and remember which side they are on, write them down and leave them in your vehicle. When you come back recite them to yourself and then visually check to see if you got them correct.

Ok here are three drills, but in addition to this when you are trying to remember something practice deep breathing! When it’s time to study or remember something new, switch your breathing pattern to be slower and deeper.  Deeper and slower breathing actually stimulates your brain to produce Theta waves which normally occur when your brain is in hypnogogic sleep. As you begin to breathe in deep and rhythmic manner, you will begin to feel calmer and then be more receptive to learning and remembering more of a situation, skill or observation!

Ok, now get out there and add this lesson to your practice!

Bufu Ikkan

So you are being watched or followed? Well, it isn’t as easy as just hiding in the bushes to get away in today’s world, especially with the advent of new technologies such as GPS tracking, cell phone syncing etc. But let’s take a simple scenario and see if we can teach you a few methods to improve your odds of escaping successfully.

You have recognized you are being followed as you are shopping in a mall.

1)       Play it cool and continue to act as if you have not recognized the situation.

2)      Stop and immediately turn into a store of interest

3)      Wait near the entrance, but off to one side so you cannot be seen easily(behind a rack), as the subject enters, pass behind him and enter the crowd once again.

4)      If this fails, step into a new store such as the Gap or Abercrombie( these 2 stores usually have a second entrance) and see if there is another door out of the store, and exit through this one, immediately change direction or enter another store

5)      Change your hat, shirt or coat to change your appearance

6)      Pull a fire alarm and run!( not always the best option)

Alright, this is just a taste, but you can be followed on foot, or in your car, by criminals looking to steal from you or possibly even to kidnap you. Understanding and knowing how to recognize that you are under surveillance is the first part(awareness of your surroundings), escaping or losing them is the second half.

Here is a drill: have a friend or training partner follow you as in the scenario I described earlier, now you apply the basic ideas(minus the fire alarm one!) and see if you can escape or evade their operation. It is not as easy as you might think but if you have read some of the earlier posts on Hensojutsu you may have already come prepared with a quick change kit, or something that is reversible in color etc. Being prepared is the essence of a Ninja Warrior’s survival, so get out there and see if you can practice this basic of drills on Counter surveillance.

More to come on this topic!

Bufu Ikkan

Kaizen, literally translates as “improvement” or “change for the better”, and it should lie at the core of every ninjutsu practitioners way of life and training. Let me explain something, life is about change, everything changes, grows, collapses, and is different all the time, and the only way to stay growing is to improve a little each day. Improvement can be small or great, as an example I was up early this morning and knew I needed to work on my cardiovascular endurance as I have been a bit behind these past few weeks, so I bundled up a bit(it was only 16 degrees) and hit the road. My goal was to shave off some time from my previous 5K time a few days before, I made it back and felt pretty good, I looked at my time for the run and lo and behold I shaved almost 50 seconds/mile from my time! I am not saying that I will be able to do this every time I run, but by challenging myself to do more I did, and so can you. So what are you going to be working on improving? I have a few ideas for you below:

1)      Increase your flexibility 10%

2)      Increase your strength 10%

3)      Increase your knowledge of orienteering skills

4)      Learn and use 3 new knots

5)      Learn 2 ways to light a fire without matches

6)      Improve your taijutsu fundamentals

7)      Read 2 new martial arts books and apply it in training

8)      Learn 3 new nutritious meals and add them to your diet

9)      Learn to shoot a new rifle, shotgun or pistol

Just 9 little ideas for you to take and apply(or not, if you are a slacker), with 2013 coming to a close and the Holidays upon us, I want to ensure you all don’t cut yourselves to much slack in your training and growth in ninjutsu, so get to work Ninja’s!

Bufu Ikkan

Happy Thanksgiving to each and every one of you and your families! Now as a Ninja I must prepare for Turkey feasting so it is time for a 5k run.

Bufu Ikkan

Ninjutsu covers a wide variety of techniques and tactics for surveillance. One of which that I review with my students is the art of tracking. Tracking can serve you in several manners, one of which is the ability to locate or follow an enemy, and a second is the ability to locate game animals to help supplement your nutritional needs. Now there are many skills you will need to gain to become a proficient tracker, and I will be publishing more on these subjects at a later date, but here are 8 basic items that indicate movement through an area.

8 Primary indications of movement through an area:

Crushed or bent grass or vegetation

Broken twigs or leaves

Overturned stones or leaves

Mud displaced from streams or wet areas

Sticks or rocks impacted into the ground

Broken cobwebs

Mud or scratches on stones or logs

Depressions in the leaves or ground

Well, yesterday I did a little practice on some deer, but overnight we had a nice dusting of snow, so I think I may get out there and see what I can follow today!

Train in the outdoors is a key to developing real world skills!

Bufu Ikkan

Ninja Warriors,

As you know, modern and ancient ninjutsu practitioners are and were, what I call an “information vampire”. Constantly seeking information and knowledge. Well in my recent reading I came across some interesting information regarding the NSA’s ability to glean information on you from your phone. I happened to be reading a military story of the British SAS and SBS use in the war in Iraq. What hit me wasn’t how well interalted they were with our Delta Force operatives but the following story. During the war, most phone lines and cell towers were destroyed, which prompted foreign and local contractors to come in and set up a whole new cell tower system. Once this was running, over 100,000 people a month were buying in to the new network and utilizing cell phones as their primary means of communication. What was very intersteing was that the NSA recorded and tracked every cell call in Iraq. They were able to decipher messages of various terrorist groups, high level officials etc. but what was very scarey was their ability to form a web of where an individual was, or where they had been going to form intelligence so that an individual or group could be set up for a direct action, snatch, hit whatever.

This ability was based on the various metadata and GPS coordinates the phones were scanned for, almost very similar to what has gone on in the USA. So don’t believe that the capture of information off of individuals phones is as harmless as we are being told by this shadowy organization. If they are capturing the information it is valuable to them or another agency for use. Just like the ancient Ninja of Japan gathering information on their enemies and forming a web of intelligence, the NSA is no different, so beware of your communications at all times.

More to come on protecting your communications.

Bufu Ikkan

Hello Ninja Warriors!

Well, here I am on the road traveling a bit over the last 5 days, but just to keep myself active I have been working on  short but intense workout for my physical conditioning. Take it and I hope it works for you, like it has me!

Ninja Road Warrior Workout:

10 minutes flexibility work

Forward Lunges(25 per leg)

Pushups( pyramid starting at 10( 1st set 10, 2nd set 9….)

Situps (Pyramid starting at 10)

Plank(forward, side, back 30 secs per position)

Burpees ( 1 set 15)

Mountain climbers ( 1 minute)

Cool down with flexibilty work

15 minutes Meditation and breathing control drills

Bufu Ikkan

With all of the articles and news stories out there about someone (or the government) listening in on our calls, invading our email accounts, even merchants tracking us in their store by our phone GPS! I thought it might be a good time to start at rock bottom level here and put out some lessons around a Ninja’s Digital Privacy tactics. So without further ado, let’s start at the basic password protection!

Alright, how many passwords do you have? If you are like me A LOT! Work passwords, email accounts, websites, banking, credit cards, facebook, twitter….. do I need to go on!?? I don’t think so, but take a look at what you are using for your passwords and review them against this top 20 utilized list:

1)123456

2) 123456789

3) password

4) adobe123

5)12345678

6) QWERTY

7) 1234567

8) 111111

9) 123123

10) photoshop

11) 1234567890

12) 654321

13)000000

14) abc123

15) 1234

16) adobe1

17) macromedia

18) azerty

19) ilove you

20)aaaaaa

So how many of these are you using? And you wonder why it is so easy to hack into someone’s accounts, steal an identity, open a loan, take out a credit card etc all on the basis that most people do not adequately protect  their password to critical accounts. Don’t be fooled, your email account has tons of information about you, so much so that if I had access to your account for 15 – 30 mins, I could steal your identity! Pretty scary and I am not even very good at my computer hacking skills. So youst me when I say it is not difficult to pry into your retail accounts and then to go out and become you!

So this is your first lesson, get going now and update and upgrade your passwords!

What you want more, well not until you step it up ninjutsu practitioners!

Bufu Ikkan

I cannot tell you how many times, that I have been asked this question, “how would a ninja physically prepare for a mission?” Well, the training would include many if not all of the aspects contained in our Ninja Warrior Conditioning course, which I pull for our class workouts. The Ninja warrior conditioning course structure includes the following principles and or areas to prepare one for the rigors of a mission or life.

Pulling and grip strength ( Have you ever climbed a rope or rock?, then you know why this is important)

Anaerobic and Aerobic conditioning

Burst – recover – burst, especially handy in E and E!

Jumping skill (height, depth etc)

Agility

Mobility/flexibility (Keeping your body supple and loose)

Conditioning

Pain and metal tolerance enhancement

Strength improvement (strength to body weight ratio)

And of course nutrition, recovery, speed enhancement etc!

OK, now you are getting the point here, a ninja warrior either today or in the past had to train in a physically demanding manner which developed specific attributes that would enhance his mission survivability. Of course being physically sound throughout their life also enhanced the potential over all life span and everyday health. Physical training is a core fundamental that the ancient and modern ninja live each day.

Stay tuned for more Ninja Warrior Conditioning articles and videos coming your way!

Bufu Ikkan