Why do the flowery, circular techniques of many traditional martial arts fail in a real fight? In this mind-bending solo episode, Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander presents a radical metaphysical thesis: these ornate movements were never designed for the physical world. He argues they are techniques mined from the astral and spiritual planes—effective against entities, spirits, and in dream realms, but ineffective against a determined boxer or wrestler with “satsui no hado” (murderous intent). Drawing parallels from Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Dr. Strange’s mudras, and the energy constructs of Green Lantern, Alexander explains that these arts are tools for “spiritual battle.” He explores the dangerous category error of applying astral software to physical hardware, and why combat sports like boxing and wrestling dominate in the material realm. This is a foundational episode for anyone interested in martial arts philosophy, consciousness, and the science of realms.

Listen to “The Astral Combat Manual: Why Flowery Techniques Fail on Earth (But Rule the Realms)” on Spreaker.

Following is the transcript cleaned in accordance with the DTS Method Protocol as outlined in the book The Human Signal. Read it and buy it on Amazon or Books by UniquilibriuM.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (00:01) The reason why ornamental martial arts techniques do not work, as far as self-defense and combat are concerned—and this is key in the waking, physical, material world—is because they are flowery.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (00:31) And hinting to what it actually is, a lot of the ritualistic movements, these things that in some styles are classified as animal movements, and some of these very circular, flowery, extravagant movements… the reason why they do not work, especially against people who have intent, is crucial.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (01:02) I like to borrow the term from the Street Fighter movie and games where they brought out something called Satsui no Hado, or murderous intent. But those who are either crazed, or mad, or just violent… and then you have people, of course, who train in things like Boxing, Kickboxing, and Wrestling—things that don’t have belts necessarily, but the training is done specifically for the application of combat. Muay Thai is included among these, and various other martial arts. So, the reason why these very “traditional”—some people call them traditional—martial arts do not work…

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (01:52) If you can think about things like Aikido, you can think of even the modern state, the contemporary state of a lot of Capoeira, and what it has become. And practitioners don’t realize this, because these things will work on people who are untrained, or slow, and stupid, and don’t have any real intent to prevail in a fight or combat of any kind. But this is key: They’re not effective in our physical, material world.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (02:31) Because they were derived, and mined from, and gleaned from what could be considered to be the Astral Plane, or Spiritual Plane, or Soul Realms. They are from non-physical realities and other dimensional types of combat. Where these techniques would work is against the inhabitants of these other worlds that are not this Earth that we live on.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (03:05) So, they could be considered spirits, demons, angels, aliens, even various other types of entities. These movements—and something that has come to mind when I was researching this before, to help to bring it into a little bit better understanding—are like what people know about, for example, the Mortal Kombat video games and movies.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (03:33) There’s this thing, there’s a place called Outworld where the various combatants go to, right? It’s not Earth; they travel to this Outworld.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (03:43) This other realm, this other dimension, this other place that is infused, or it’s innately magical and mystical, right? And so in the combat, combatants there, they can conjure various different projectile weapons and energy weapons from their bodies.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (04:11) Just like in the Street Fighter video games, right? And then they become movies and there are, you know, they can project fireballs, and various different kinds of powers that seem to be superhuman. But what they really are is when you use certain of these movements…

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (04:28) And the most accurate description from pop culture comes from characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, like Dr. Strange. Where there are these different mudras if you will—and mudra is a term from Yoga.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (04:46) But basically, it gets like “hand Yoga.” They look like gang signs to some people, right? It’s a form of sign language in a way.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (04:56) But with your entire body, and various different positions that you put your hands, your body, even facial gestures. Combined, sometimes, with various different sounds. And so, I’m thinking now in our world, when you look at things like Tai Chi and Bagua…

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (05:25) And even some of the hand movements that you will find in other art forms where they are very “handsy,” and you see these very intricate-looking positions of the hands. And the understanding has been lost in translation that these are primarily for doing spiritual battle.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (05:55) So, sometimes long ago I heard someone—and I don’t recall who said it—but they used the term “spiritual” and they said it’s a “spear ritual.” As a spear is a weapon, and they used the word “spear” and the word “ritual” separately; that spiritual is a spear ritual, that that’s where it derived from. I don’t know about that, but this is also like that.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (06:19) These are—I’m just bringing in things in various different ways to discuss this to drive this point home. That one must understand… and then I’ll give now, finally, here, my personal experience and understanding.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (06:38) That a lot of these different combinations, these geometric forms—whether they be circular in these certain combinations and these flowery and dance-like movements—and some of, not all, but like the Kata, right? What I’ve found is that they’re very effective in spiritual realms, using certain hand techniques and positions like I was discussing earlier, or sharing earlier, about Dr. Strange from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the different hand signs and the mudras, right?

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (07:13) Which is an idea that comes from the Vedas and Hinduism, and it’s basically Yoga with your hands. All of these different things work very effectively in the Astral Realm. The Spiritual Plane, the Soul Realms.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (07:30) These other non-physical realities in which consciousness resides and which—borrowing a term from The Matrix—it can adopt a “residual self-image.” We can conjure…

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (07:49) These different forms of energy manipulation, and directed focus, and even energy weapons or various different energy tools and applications. Which, another thing is coming to mind from the comic books, but this one from DC Comics, is Green Lantern with the energy constructs that are formed by thought. So, all of these different examples… And a thought that I’ve long understood, but haven’t articulated, was that a lot of what could be termed Metaphysical Sciences…

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (08:34) Which is what my degree is in. I have a Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate. I’m a Philosopher of Metaphysical Sciences.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (08:43) In Metaphysical Sciences, a lot of this stuff comes from mythology. You can find this magic in the comic books.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (08:59) And a lot of those are masterclasses on these legends, and what these powers actually are. And a lot of the magical spells, witchcraft and wizardry and all these things, and the say… the speaking of the spells and the moving of the wand and all those things are very similar types of applications of how to use these powers.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (09:24) But they are for a certain type of realm. A realm that in some ways seems to be, because of the way that forms change, but seems to be more permanent and more eternal than the physical. Even though the physical and the spiritual are co-eternal, just like energy and matter are co-eternal. You know, when you look at the—so, my Eternality Axiom—when you understand about, for example…

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (09:53) Do you understand the First Law of Thermodynamics, that energy cannot be created or destroyed, right? If it cannot be created, it’s always there. If it can’t be destroyed…

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (10:02) It always will be there. It’s conservation, right? Which, “always” and “conservation” are temporal synonyms for eternity or eternal.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (10:12) And then you look at Einstein’s equation, E=mc², which tells us that matter and energy are equivalent. Therefore, if energy cannot be created or destroyed due to the Law of Conservation, it’s eternal. Then matter is also eternal.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (10:28) We know that we’ve turned some… we turn matter and gotten some energy out of it with the atomic bomb, right? And then we also know that, with Fourier Transforms, we have an understanding of an analog of how physical information—physical reality, the vibrations through physical medium like oxygen molecules, and through various different things that vibrate like wood and speakers—how that can then be encoded and translated into information. And then, through an inverse Fourier Transform, translated back into the physical world.

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (11:03) And so we have a nice understanding here. But a lot of people have mistaken… And because of where, through meditation, a lot of the information and understanding about martial arts has come from…

Dr. Hakeem Ali-Bocas Alexander PhD (11:22) The people using them were doing spiritual battle and winning, and misinterpreting… bringing back that knowledge into the physical world for it being effective here. When not all of it is. Most of it is to be relegated to the spiritual world with your residual self-image. And that’s where this resides, and that understanding should be taken very seriously.