Recently one of our students was explaining his results from a training experiment. Another student said she had gotten similar results and they began discussing where they thought this would lead. We were smiling because their discussion was heading exactly where the lesson was supposed to.

Now this is not a totally unexpected result when training but at the time none of us were together. One student was at home in California, the other at her home here in New Hampshire and we were at the dojo. All of this was happening live online because of the pandemic.

Makes you think...

What if where students are learning is not as important as how they are learning?

Since 1992 we have been trying to help people see and understand this amazing martial art, which can provide them with a key to being safe, healthy and happy. After all these years of teaching the ninja sciences we came to understand something surprising.

Learning doesn't happen in the space between the student and the teacher. Learning happens in the space between the students' ears.

Historically martial arts instructors were very selective of their students. This was because they would enter into a mentor and apprentice relationship that would last many years as they led their students to discovering the secrets of their art. This was the way of martial arts for centuries.

Then in the 1960’s after Elvis got a black belt in under a year, everyone wanted one. This kicked off the change in the martial arts industry from teaching the arts for mastery to selling black belts. They switched from the proven mentor and apprentice educational model to the rote memorization and regurgitation of today.

This selling of belt ranks was accomplished by dividing curriculum information into small simple packets and making rank advancement based mostly on time or classes attended, basically just participation. Breaking learning into subjects for belt ranks that can be learned by rote memorization is the most economical way to deliver information to the most people, which was good for business.

However, teaching separated into these small packets and moving people along based on time versus comprehension leaves gaps in their understanding which will eventually create a point where the student simply can't learn anything more advanced. This point would lead to frustration for students and cause them to quit training. The martial arts industry response to this was to lower requirements to meet the lack of understanding. This way customers continued to feel good about themselves and kept paying.

This isn’t just happening in the martial arts. Our entire educational system for decades has been “teaching for testing.” Scientific research in neurology is showing that the divide and separate teaching model is not how the brain builds learning. The brain needs to make associations and connect concepts across intellectual borders to form neuronets of understanding. It was clear to us that effective martial arts training must be based on this concept.

In order to become a martial artist we believe you must first be a martial scientist. You must take responsibility for your own training and do the science. Martial arts techniques are scientific teaching models that need to be experienced over time, taken apart and learned from, not just memorized and then rotely repeated for a prize. 

We understand the idea of holding the student to a standard of complete understanding and NOT just bribing them with a belt rank scares most martial arts school owners. They think no one will want to train like that and it will be bad for business.

We spent years trying to force this thousand year old unending martial art into the chopped up belt ranking teaching systems of the martial arts industry and frankly it just didn’t work for us. Mainly because we were more interested in the student's understanding than their belt rank. We knew there had to be a way to promote self responsibility and real understanding in the student and at the same time, stay in business. So we turned to science.

We looked at physics. We explored human physiology. We found and tested a number of educational models. We researched psychology and neuroscience to understand how the brain works. It was then that we discovered the ancient mind sciences and training methods of the ninja mirrored the modern understanding of the neuroplasticity of the brain, which is the key to learning.

Simply stated, it isn’t what we are telling our students that matters, it is what they discover and then more importantly what they are telling themselves based on their discoveries that leads to understanding.

The students from our online training session weren’t waiting for us to give them the answers to memorize, they were experimenting and discovering principles on their own.

Unlocking the secrets of the martial arts is not done by blindly following teaching methodologies designed to sell belts to the masses. It comes from students taking responsibility for themselves, alone, with a training partner or in small training groups, using scientific experimentation to unlock the power and potential of neuroplasticity.

The pandemic limited our ability to train in person and probably won’t be the last crisis to interfere. But effective martial arts training is not about students coming to the dojo to get a belt, it's about us using scientific experimentation to systematically lead our students so they discover the magic of martial arts on their own.

If you are interested in joining the Shinobi Science Training Community online or locally just click below to apply.

Members are welcome to join us live on Zoom for Ninja Lab classes where we go through training experiments step by step to uncover the principles of ninpo taijutsu.

No need to worry if you can’t make a session. You can access a six-month archive of recorded Ninja Lab classes to watch at your leisure.

Then you can visit The Training Board where members can ask questions and share their results from their own experiments and training.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of material available with the Shinobi Science Training Community. You have access to hundreds of hours of training material to use whether training alone, with a partner or in a training group.

You start with the Shinobi Science System, which introduces you to the use of the Shinobi Formula in kata models with three sets of Ninja Lab experiments to unlock the principles of ninpo taijutsu.

Followed by the Advanced Shinobi Formula course, which unlocks the dual aspect of using the Shinobi Formula for not only learning ninpo taijutsu but also for the use of ninpo taijutsu in an actual conflict. This one course could change your entire understanding of ninpo taijutsu training.

The Ninja Mind Science course uses modern science to explore the focus, awareness, and meditative techniques of the ninja which lead to the understanding that there is no separation of mind and body. All the training that follows, while physical, is designed to use neuroplasticity for you to develop the perception of the ninja.

When properly applied, the kamae reflects the ninja's heart. This means that our physical nature conforms to our intentions, and there is no division between our interior and exterior aspects. This state of integrated mind and body action is totally natural, and can be observed readily in the movements of animals as they interact with their environment. Only human beings seem to develop the need to be trained in natural body motion. -Masaaki Hatsumi

Next are the Skill Set Courses. Each uses the Shinobi Formula in the fundamental kata models of Koto Ryu and Gyokko Ryu to help you discover the six primary skill levels of ninpo taijutsu:

1. Body and Weapon are One
2. Evasion and Escape
3. Distance and Alignment
4. Timing and Intent
5. Cover and Control
6. Decision Making Under Pressure

Advanced Training For The Nine Capabilities is one very large course using the Shinobi Formula in the fundamental kata models of Koto Ryu and Gyokko Ryu to discover and explore the nine capabilities of ninpo taijutsu:

1. Effortless Power
2. Controlling Balance of Opponent
3. Using Energy of Opponent
4. Being Untouchable
5. Sensing Intent
6. Affecting Intent
7. Seeing Future Outcomes
8. Creating Situational Reality
9. Invisibility

The Specialty Courses are next, each using the Shinobi Formula in all the Ninja Lab experiments to look at the specifics of each subject:

1. Kunoichi In Ninja Lab
2. Weapons In Ninja Lab
3. Locks, Throws And Chokes In Ninja Lab
4. Ground Fighting In Ninja Lab

And last are the Historical Ryu-ha Courses where we will explore the kata models of each school using the entire Shinobi System by applying the Shinobi Formula in all the Ninja Lab Experiments. All of these will be evolving and growing as we go through each of the kata within the different scroll levels. The traditions being worked on currently include:

• Togakure Ryu
• Gyokko Ryu
• Koto Ryu

Our intent is to create an online science based training group made up of smaller training groups around the world, supporting each other in exploring all of ninjutsu. This is the goal of Shinobi Science!

Shinobi Martial Arts
95 Plaistow Rd Unit 9B
Plaistow, NH 03865
(603) 382-9456