Re: Yellow Bamboo question to frase and pete


"martial arts lady" <mddleagedcurious@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1148112646.306787.29260@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Well this is the first time I have heard of a YB person doing a test in
a Karate School! IIRC people here claim there has never been one in a
martial arts school. It seems to fly in the face of the conventional
opinion here and people here seem to be ignoring this evidence. Can you
tell me more about it? Is there a video of it? Were the attackers YB
students or were they brought in just on the day for the test?

http://www.mtdorakarate.com/
Yes I believe they took a video. The attackers were regular students (MA,
not YB-associated). From what the instructor told me, Alvin has family in
that area and went to the States to visit them, stopping in to the school to
give a demonstration.

If it really happened as they said- how would you explain it? How would
others here explain it? Peter? Fraser?

Power of suggestion? Paid stooges or what?

I seriously don't believe they were paid stooges. She said they didn't get
anything out of it monetarily or otherwise; these were just regular MA
students. I would say most likely power of suggestion. If one were to
believe the students and instructor at their word, they were not influenced
one way or the other by belief, and tried their best to hit him but could
not, although one student did manage to make contact, brushing against him
as he rushed forward but was still not able to hit him per se as he
intended. That being said, their experience with it doesn't necessarily
make YB legitimate. Human judgement is still subject to human error and
they (yes, the collective lot of them) could be mistaken.

E.g. let's say a friend of yours believes he's seen a ghost, tells you about
it and asks if you believe him. You reply "I believe that you believe
you've seen a ghost"... which is not the same as the question he asked.
This is my personal take on the Mt. Dora demonstration: a group of people
saw and experienced what they took to be legitimate evidence that at least
some aspects of YB are legit *but this doesn't make it so*. The Fraser/GDS
video will be a permanent black eye for YB which they'll probably never be
able to live down; unbiased personal testing of such claims are necessary
and YB failed in that instance, simple as that. Apparently the 'official'
word on this is that Alain had not gone to Bali for the proper teachings
therefore he wasn't fully ready to do the knockdown, plus the attackers
weren't "angry" enough- weak excuses IMO. If a non-YB, neutral person such
as Fraser were to knock down YB's founder (Serengen), who is claimed to be
able to knock down someone regardless of their intent, this would
permanently put the matter to rest (in the eyes of many, it is already; for
those who give more of a benefit-of-the-doubt, a knockdown of YB's head
honcho would settle it for good- for the starry-eyed gullible who *need* to
believe, they would make additional excuses as no evidence of disproof would
ever be enough).

She (the instructor) said Alvin came across as genuine, that she was trying
to ascertain if he was a b.s. artist or not, and she felt in this case he
was forthright about everything, adding with a laugh that he came off in
person as a "laid back surfer-dude", not as some profound spiritual guru. :)
Again, she came off as a realistic, down to earth person and not some
spacey, aloof individual prone to gullibility. Also very pleasant to talk
to, and intelligent. Since it has been a couple years since I spoke with
her (I called the school, and never wrote down her name, but did note she
was an instructor) I'm unsure of exactly who she is on the "staff" page.

For awhile, the Mt. Dora web page had a YB link on it, offering their
instructional videos. I don't know if they were also offering classes for
awhile. But the link is gone and it seems they're not associating
themselves with it anymore. Why would they do this if they saw positive
proof..? Don't know but I would put my money on this: primarily they are a
MA training center. Not too hardcore as the web page suggests, but a more
family-oriented, less strictly regimented training center which if the case,
certainly doesn't take away from the expertise of their top instructors. To
offer up the video of the knockdown (they said they would do that, but
haven't, and probably won't), and associate themselves with YB (esp. now
given that the Fraser/Alain video is on youtube, google-able etc- you guys
are celebrities now! ;) is opening up a HUGE can of worms that they'd rather
REMAIN CLOSED. Doing so would hurt their credibility in real-life MA
instruction. They simply don't need the controversy it would create and
let's face it there are jerks who would find the opportunity irresistable
and would harass them just to give them a hard time.

The woman I talked to said even given the outcome of the test, she didn't
think it would have much of a chance of catching on, since a great deal of
time and effort is required to train in it (the sport exercises, for hours
as you move up in the levels, 3x a week, the mantras and so forth, but esp
the physical exercises which are quite draining); it requires a lot of that
4-letter dirty word that no one likes: *work*! People in today's society
want instant gratification, and tend to not think long-term. The time
requirements to be a YB practitioner are considerable.. so probably not,
even IF there is some legitimacy to it (knockdown or no).

The other thing that intrigues me is that IF it did work- why they are
not clamoring to have more training? I would think that if anyone here

The time requirements (when they're already busy with MA to begin with) as
well as the reasoning I gave above probably account for that.

was knocked down the first thing they would do when they stand back up
is to sign up themselves? Did they think it was real or some trick?

The guy I talked to who had been knocked down described what happened,
saying at the moment he fell he felt a sensation going through his body like
a strong heat combined with what felt like an electric shock. I'm not
vouching for this mind you, just repeating what he said. I don't know where
the school stands right now on the whole YB deal; they have a phone number
listed if you care to find out more but the above is basically all I know
about the Mt. Dora incident.


.

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