Andy Dickinson: Ancient Tradition, Modern Warrior

This is not a story book. It is how one man striving for knowledge pioneered his own philosophies and brand of martial arts after immersing himself in not one, but several martial arts ranging from the traditional and stoic forms of ancient Ju Jutsu in Japan to the highly athletic and dynamic martial art of Taekwondo in Korea.

Dedicated to discovering the true meaning of spirit in the term mind, body, spirit that is often used to explain the benefits of martial arts, Andy has spent more than 20 years studying and researching meditation and how it can be integrated into his martial arts without becoming dogmatic or religious in any way. Now, with a couple of simple skills his martial arts practice has become a profound method of spiritual growth and awareness which takes his students on a true journey of mind, body and spirit. This book explains in simple terms how this is done.

The real quality of the martial arts experience is to be able to use the lessons to enhance every aspect of your life. Being able to keep a cool, calm head at home, or in the board room at work, or during conflict – be it a disagreement, argument or worse.

There is no denying the importance of having a robust effective martial art that you know will enable you to defend yourself – after all, this is martial arts that we are talking about. The martial arts can act as the working surface for awareness. This can be applied to any movement. The working surface is the point of contact between you and what you are doing.

In this book, Andy has presented a series of techniques and their defences. The moves are just one interpretation of what is possible and there are plenty of other ways to do all the defensive moves. In the process of presenting the moves, Andy gives a narrative of various topics on why he does each defence the way he does. This is very useful but you may not agree with any or all that he writes. In the words of the famous Bruce Lee, take what is useful and discard the rest. Most of the moves that he has presented have evolved and been assimilated into his current Ju Jitsu system: Northstar Ju Jitsu.

Andy Sensei rarely teaches in a physical class. All of his teachings are available worldwide on his global online academy.

"It is my hope that Northstar Ju Jitsu will transcend borders and attitudes and unite people of all cultures in peace." ~Andy