Gentry Martial Arts

After fifteen years of teaching martial arts in both the collegiate and commercial setting, author Brandon Sieg has seen just about everything and has an opinion on most of it. "Drops Against the Stone" is a compilation of essays written to educate his students beyond a one minute "mat chat" at the end of a class. It goes deeper, to the heart of things. Some discussions might be held over dinner after training- anecdotes and somewhat cathartic tales about students who do or don't "get it," or musings of the benefits of the martial arts with real world examples. These are often mingled with martial arts history, culture, and tradition as it is relates through the eyes of an academic. It is martial arts and the world at large viewed from the lens of a martial arts eccentric-a martial arts education through rants, ravings, musings and memoirs. While written to guide his students, chances are much of it relates to your own martial arts journey as well. From training to trends in the martial arts and society at large, you won't always agree with his opinions, but "Drops" challenges you and encourages you to sincerely pursue the martial way.

GMA believes that differentiating between martial arts practitioners and martial arts students is not a question of semantics.

Either one is legitimate, depending on personal motivations. Those individuals who practice the martial arts for solely recreational and social reasons can enjoy being "practitioners." But if someone wants to truly make a commitment to gain a deeper understanding and excel in the martial arts, then that person becomes a "student," which implies he/she should do just that - STUDY. The GMA reference guide is intended for both practitioner and student -for enjoyment or for more serious examination. We hope that anyone and everyone can benefit from these quality resources. Much to our dismay, other earthly demands prevent us from investigating every resource out there or giving a full review of all of them. That is not to say there are not other quality works out there, but this is a safe place to start. Of course, opinions vary, we trust you will accept these reviews as written in the good spirit we intend.

5 best self-defense authors/books for anybody

1) Gavin DeBecker-The Gift of Fear and Protecting the Gift (about kids). These two books could be textbooks or supporting documentation for lots of self-defense books. It gives you a look into the minds/tactics or predators and stalkers and how they interpret things. Perhaps more importantly, it makes you more self-aware of how you interpret things--various interaction, imagine fear or misplace it, etc. It is groundbreaking for why we really should trust our instincts. I have used contents of this book to council students/victims at DePauw. Protecting the gift is a must read for any parent and offers concrete advice and suggestions to improve your child's safety but also not get an ulcer over it. A lot of this information is incorporated into our Kids FAST program and even our Lil Dragon Stranger Danger section. I put this number one because it is informative and requires no practice, just the ability to learn

2) Samford Strong-Strong on Defense. This is an older book but worth seeing if your library has it or you can find a used copy online somewhere. A great book on mindsetting-getting in the right frame of mind in order to deal with some worst case scenarios. The book will get you thinking about situations you probably wouldn't otherwise, and that is perhaps both the primary point and primary value-the mental rehearsal that is necessary to improve your chances. Chalked full of real world examples, he gives glimpses into the dynamics of home invasion, carjackings, etc. and how compliance and giving up control of the situation only makes matters worse. The purpose of these examples is to start the process of mindsetting and developing a strategy beforehand so that you might be able to spring into action should you ever need to. Like Gift of Fear, the reading is not about physical combatives, requires no training or extra knowledge. Thus, as a generic book for everyone, it ranks number 2.

3) Rory Miller- Scaling Force, Facing Violence, Meditations on Violence, Force Decisions, Conflict Communications , etc. The only reason Rory is not number 1 is because most of his books are written for people who are a little more serious/advanced in their martial arts/self-defense training, and some of the material is written for people who train. Thus, if you are GMA student, READ HIM NUMBER 1!!! (We wouldn't have hosted him for a seminar if it wasn't important). But everyone can learn a lot. I can remember setting Sgt. Miller's first book down and saying to myself, he just wrote the book I wanted to, only he said it more poignantly and has been in "deeper water " than I have. Rory's writing is a great balance between humor, blatant honesty, and surgically and succinctly making points. From predators and types of attacks and dynamics, to training methodologies and flaws, to legalities, to mindsetting, his books are comprehensive. Despite his numerous titles of overlapping subject matter, there is surprisingly little regurgitation amongst the collection. His work has had a profound impact and a disproportionately large influence in what we do at GMA given the brief time I have worked with him. Because he doesn't sugar coat anything, his books are definitely mature, and on rare occasion, you might be a bit disturbed at a mental image or comment. But Sgt. Miller is one of the few that has been in the belly of the beast and returned to tell the tale, so if you want him to tell you what it is like, then don't get mad when he describes it to you.

4) Lt. Col. Dave Grossman - On Combat and On Killing. These rather large books discuss the psychology of violence and killing –from both the predator and defender standpoint--on a more macro and society level. But you learn more about the psychology of violence from reading these books than decades of training in most martial arts schools who simply don't know what they don't know. On Combat looks at things from an individual level more than On Killing. They are required reading for various law enforcement and government agencies. I have given copies to many of my students who were being deployed to Iraq of Afghanistan, and they were all very appreciative. One even set up a study group to discuss this book with members of his unit!

5) Bill Kipp-Turning Fear into Power. Perhaps this book could be /would be higher if I were not already very familiar with the material as a result for teaching FAST for 15 years. A very good, systemic approach to self defense training and skills (not martial arts training). I would also encourage any of our students well versed with FAST to consider reading it, as it will give you even more insight, detail, and context for what we do in the classes. If you haven't done a FAST class, you will want to after this book!

GMA believes that differentiating between martial arts practitioners and martial arts students is not a question of semantics.

To supplement our classes:

For the martial arts lifestyle:

Martial Arts themed sojourners tales:

5 best self-defense authors/books for anybody