What is Warrior Flow?

“Proficiency fosters competence, which enables you to stand in that space between courage and fear called confidence…”

You know, ever since I launched Warrior Flow there have been a number of inquiries as to what exactly is “Warrior Flow”?

So, I’ll explain it because I think there are a number of unique things that separates Warrior Flow from other systems of fighting.

Warrior Flow pure and simple is a system of fighting designed to train people through the Warrior Mindset, “in the body” that they already possess and to be able to fight at an optimum level for their lives and win the fight. That’s right, win the damn fight! Especially if it’s for their lives!

Warrior Flow is not just a martial art, but a philosophy, and the science of winning in combat. With an emphasis on bringing the fight right to the enemy with ruthless efficiency for the sole purpose of their utter destruction and the preservation of yourself. Warrior Flow above all “abhors” the spirit of fear and will never entertain it nor take counsel of it.

On these points, there should be no ambiguity!

You see the only fight that really matters, that really counts, is the one you win for your life or those you protect, everything else is all bullshit, a duel, a game.

Anyway, there are no forms or pre-ordained techniques in that the focus is on developing people in the body “first” refining their movement as they grow in skill. This process I have in the past referred to as “polishing” and is in line with the Japanese philosophy known as “Kaizen” or “continual improvement”.

In other words, rather than training people in a bunch of techniques the ultimate goal is to enable them “in the body”.  Again, “in-the-body” to continually improve in which over time their movement becomes so “refined”, so “smooth”, so “seamless”, so “creative”, that they “transcend technique”.  

Meaning they reach a point where their ability to deal with another person’s motion becomes so well developed. That it pretty much doesn’t matter what the attacker does because at the end of the day, as one of my Masters use to always say, “…you’re just dealing with motion”, and nothing more. This philosophy along with “Don’t let it happen in the first place”, pertaining to a potential attack, and a number of other concepts that I learned from my Masters over the years form the core underpinning that has shaped my training philosophy and the “why” I do what I do the way I do it when I do it.

This alone is a radical departure from the way in which many arts are taught because in most martial arts the emphasis is on technique or the development of tools, and not the actual mechanisms of how things work within the known universe. Don’t get me wrong there’s nothing wrong with tool development or technique because you can’t have a fighting system without it. however, if you’re going to teach them at some point you need to train people how to make them work under dynamic conditions, and you can only do this by developing their body’s to respond appropriately without conscious thought.

To achieve this, Warrior Flow focuses on teaching you with an understanding of what are the four basic stages of learning, they are.

• Subconscious Incompetence (you don’t know what you don’t know).
• Conscious Incompetence (you know what you don’t know and you want to learn it).
• Conscious Competence (you know what you know and you now have but to merely practice it and refine it through trial and error until you can do it. But at this stage you still have to think about it).
• Finally reaching Subconscious Competence (where you know, what and how to do what you do, without having to think about it. You just as Nike would say, “Do It”).

Folks, this is the way you and I learn and have learned everything that we know from learning how to walk to doing math, throwing a baseball, to driving a car. Sometimes it takes years or even decades, sometimes months or weeks, hours and in some cases, depending on how much we’ve developed over time we only need to have someone clarify something for us at a point and we have an “Ah-ha movement”. That epiphany where all of the light bulbs come on at the same time. Where in a microsecond our brain makes all of the right connections and that one piece to the puzzle that was missing falls into place.

We do this constantly and even if we are not consciously thinking about these things either intuitively or through general observation, but in any event, we are always doing it. Also, the quality of what you practice and the mindset and understanding or context is important. Just because folks do something doesn’t mean they are doing it right. You can be sincere in what you do and be sincerely wrong!

When I’m training people and understand I’ve been doing this long enough both in and out of the military to know this for a fact. When training people you need to;

1) show them,

2) tell them what it is,

3) explain to them how it works so they can practice it,

4) then have them practice it until they forget about having to think about it.

Show them, tell them, make them do it, make them forget…

Next!

Folks, I'm sorry but it doesn't happen any other way…

Understand that the purpose (and definition) of training is "to cause a change" and since there is no one size fits all Warrior Flow employs a variety of methods and modalities to develop people. Through proper training, everything that you and I are capable of doing in our bodies, whatever they are, we are already capable of doing as long as we move within the natural range of motion in our bodies.

You see you and I are already born with, all of the physical tools, the balance, looseness, sensitivity, body unity, etc. to protect ourselves. The key is to learn to recognize them, understand what they are and how they work “again” in the known universe, and develop them for fighting. Since we do this stuff “all-of-the-time” throughout our day all Warrior Flow does is focus on training you to develop these qualities to the “nth” degree for fighting.  That’s it!

It’s funny because we use these things all of the time in our day-to-day activities and yet when it comes to fighting people act like we can’t do these things or that they don’t exist. To me, this way of thinking makes no sense and is not logical on any level.  

Warrior Flow is also based on the philosophy that all men are basically the same (i.e., that we are all human and bound by the same laws of physics and human physiology), that within those physical laws we can only do so much and move but so fast because we all have limitations. So, the “qualitative” difference between one man or another is training both physically and mentally.

By training people in what they can do and training them to overcome their limitations they are able at some point of transcending those limitations by working around them (or making a way) and become capable of neutralizing the physical advantages of much stronger and large opponents. Not by magic but through the proper application of how we as human beings interact with other people both mentally and physically during an altercation.

Understand that the bad guys are not “gods”, nor are they beyond destruction, they are men. They bleed and have fear just as the rest of us and just because they have the capacity to be evil doesn’t make them brave. Frankly, too many people in my view give the bad guys way too much credit and this only serves to make people fearful and lose trust and confidence in their abilities.

This mindset IS NOT the Warrior Flow way... and never will be!

The key is can you stand in that space if you need to and do what must be done should your moment of truth arrive?

This is what the Warrior Flow training is designed to resolve for you. To give you the ability to stand in that space, that sense of gravitas. The sense of freedom, clarity, and singlemindedness of purpose to do what must be done without hesitation, without irrational fear, with focus.

Now, because Warrior Flow focuses on what is possible within the laws of physics and what we as humans are capable of. At the same time, Warrior Flow does not shy away from concepts because we may not fully understand the mechanism as to how a thing works. In other words, truth is “truth” and we are not afraid to go there to find the truth, because the truth may be uncomfortable or beyond our current understanding. The key is to be scientific, logical, skeptical, but also we must possess the wisdom and the courage to suspend disbelief and at times take the leap of faith and see how far down “The Rabbit Hole” goes.

Equally important Warrior Flow from a mental standpoint trains people to recognize, overcome or manage their fears.

As I’ve stated in other writings, much of what we call fear or as I like to refer to it as “irrational fear”, doesn’t just reside in our minds but probably more so “in our bodies”. It is this lack of understanding and lack of focus on developing the body through a proper modality of training in a logically progressive manner that inhibits the development of overcoming and managing fear. 

In fact, I’ll go on to say that most reality-based martial arts actually do more harm than good. In that their approach to self-defense is not only self-defeating but one that actually “reinforces” people’s fears instead of training them to overcome them.

Without changing how the body responds to fear and stress I believe (I know) it is “impossible” to achieve the state of Flow I like to refer to as the “Warrior Flow State”. That state where all under Heaven seems to fall to your will. Where everything seems to become a focus of your will.

Nowhere is the ability to enter into the Warrior Flow State more critical than when faced with your own mortality or that of your loved ones. Very few things in life are more stressful than that. Warriors and those who have been in harm’s way understand this because they have lived it.

However, and I want to be clear on this point the way of the warrior and attaining the skills of the warrior and more importantly, the Warrior Flow State is available to anyone who is willing to pay the price. To develop the ability to achieve above what they think they are capable of in the body they already have through proper body movement dynamics, and learn to fundamentally “re-pattern” their body. To become “better” in both movement and thought and their “perceptions” of what is the art of the possible.

Now, contrary to what you may believe the military or anyone else for that matter, does not have a monopoly on the warrior arts nor the truth. We are all human and even those like myself who have served in the military at one time in our lives we were not Marines or Soldiers, we learned and became those things. And just as we learned so can you.

Now, envision that idealized self the person you not only want to be but were born to be. Imagine, seeing in your mind just for a moment standing in that space at a point in the future looking back from where you were. Already, feeling yourself occupying that space, stronger more capable than before, “better”.

When you are trained to possess the “moral certainty”, “mindfulness” and “perfect clarity” as taught in Warrior Flow and to see the world as it is. Having experienced in the body what it’s like to push past fear you not only know what to do but are able and willing to do something about it.

The Warrior Flow is all about this.

Warrior Flow is uniquely designed to create a “shift” in your thought process, to help you see in your mind that which is possible. But in order to do this, you must first be able to feel and know it in the body.

In Warrior Flow we have a philosophy: proficiency fosters competence, which enables you to stand in that space between courage and fear called “confidence”.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t credit the training from my Masters, Grandmaster John C. Perkins and Grandmaster Tim Carron who trained, shaped, and taught me the methodology of not only how to develop my own skills but teach it to others. For this, they have my eternal gratitude.

Warrior Flow is the culmination of nearly forty years of experience both in and out of the military too include training people in the military, law enforcement and people who provide VIP protection on five continents. This program is specifically designed to achieve a level of “presence” to stand in that space where they choose to position themselves both in their personal life and in the world.

The next step is yours. If you think that Warrior Flow is for you then CLICK HERE and let your journey begin.

I hope you find this material informative. In the future, I will continue to post on different aspects of Warrior Flow and other self-defense related topics.

Thank you.

     Al Ridenhour

     CEO, Creator Warrior Flow State™

Al Ridenhour is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the US Marine Corps with 28-years of service active and reserve with multiple combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. He has also served as a Law Enforcement consultant to the NJ State Police Special Operations Section, NJ Transit Police Operations Section, The NJ Regional Operations and Intelligence Center, the FBI Philadelphia Bomb Section, and subject matter expert to the US Department of Homeland Security's, Explosives Division. With nearly 40-years of Combative Arts experience, he is recognized as a self-defense expert worldwide and is highly sought out for seminars, workshops, lectures, and special individualized training.  He is the author of "Warrior Flow Mind" (2019), Co-Author of "Attack Proof: The Ultimate Guided in Personal Protection (Human Kinetics, 2010) and the Co-Author of "How to Fight for Your Life" (June 2010).

For more go to https://protectyourself.mykajabi.com/

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