Yes, I know it sounds “foo-fooey”. It sounds like some metaphysical garbage that the “No Touch Masters” try to peddle, but it isn’t. More than anything, as a martial artist, your state of mind is paramount! So, before we start breaking this down let’s take a minute to discuss why this is so important.
Martial arts is about fighting and fighting is purely about punching and kicking, throwing, winning fights and looking cool doing it. Well, yes, that is part of it. But to be able to do those things you need to have a few aspects that come from training.
There have always been three methods of execution for the martial arts. The level of importance has been debated heatedly for probably thousands of years but here they are (in no particular order)
1. Power
2. Speed
3. Timing
And the debate goes on….
Power is important. Being able to impact hard and cause damage is important, but if you are too big or have too much muscle you are slower. If you focus on speed, you may not have the same power, but you can hit many more times. Then comes timing. Timing (in my way of thinking) trumps everything else. I don’t have to be the fasted person in the world, or the most powerful if my timing is good and I am accurate. Kit dale, a very well accomplish BJJ combatant, once said this…
To have great timing you have to be in the present. Being in the present (being now) gives you the ability to stay aware of what is going on around you, as it happens. But what are the ramifications of not being now?
Let’s say you get punched in the face. That sucks. No one like getting punched in the face. It hurts. It really hurts. However, while you are living in that feeling, you are stuck in the past. That punch in the face happened a few seconds ago. If you are still focused on it, you have probably received a few more hits that also sucked. In that case, you are in the past, and therefore, not in the present, not NOW. There are consequences for not being now (such as getting hit more times that you would like).
Let’s say you are facing an opponent. You are planning to do a certain move/technique. You are waiting for your attacker to throw that first strike. You are so focused on what you think he/she is going to do that you didn’t see the telegraph for the attack that they were actually delivering. This throws your game off and you end up reeling, trying to catch back up to the flurry of attacks. In this case you were in the future. You still probably got hit a few times or at least one good one to remind you to stop daydreaming. Either way, the outcome of not being in the present moment sucks.
There is a saying for this in Japanese; “Mushin no shin” or “Mind without mind”. Today, it is commonly written as just “Mushin” or “No mind”. I interpret this as “no thought”. Thinking distracts you from the ability to flow with the movements of your opponent. Have you ever been training and it felt like you knew what your opponent was going to do just before he/she actually did it? Maybe you had that “Matrix Moment” where time seemed to slow down. I myself remember two of those moments (from outside training).
The first, I was walking around a corner. There was a work truck there, but I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t see the dog tied to the vehicle. I guess I startled the dog too because he lunged at me. I jumped back very quickly (as I didn’t want to be bitten). However, I was so focused on the dog that my two to three-foot jump back felt more like something from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I felt like I was in the air for meters, and all in slow motion. I wasn’t obviously, but I think I understand the Chinese kung fu movies better now. These feats that you see in them, flying backwards away from attack or seeing the attacker in slow motion is more of a state of mind than an actual physical feat. At least that’s my interpretation. The second happened while I was playing softball. There was a line drive right at my head. Again, I saw the ball in slow motion. I could hear the ball cutting the air and could almost see it slowly turning over and over as it tried to reach my face. I moved and caught the ball. Both threats to my personal safety brought me into the moment very quickly and potentially saved me from something that would have sucked.
So how can you train that?
There are lots of mental exercises and meditations out there (no, those are not the same thing) that are for getting you more present. I have one that my long-time friend and Tai Ji master taught me. I use that. YouTube is a great reference tool if you have trained in the past and know roughly what to do beyond the physical side. However, it is always best to find an experienced instructor. If you are in my area, I will show you what I do. No stings attached. If you are not and you’d like to know more, please reach out and ask.
Learning to be NOW is not only beneficial for combat. This helps in every aspect of life. How many of us drive distracted, or even walk around looking at our phones, potentially stepping into traffic. Being NOW isn’t something mystical (as much as I like to think it is sometimes). This is the ability to do one thing at a time. If you are driving, then DRIVE. Focus on that, and that only. If you are talking to someone, then put your phone away and do that. Be engaged in what you are doing. Be an active participant in your life. The things that you will start to notice will be almost magical, I promise.
Brad Dotten
Ronin Combatives
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
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