Luciano wrote:
You can work on your fitness. You can work on your technique. But what about
the part of you that does the thinking? The part that makes the decisions
that ultimately determines fitness, ability and level of success. Is this
part working for or against you? How would you know?
The correct intention is a serious principle, so this long post.
I will try explain my point. Please, don´t confuse this topic with that
others about unique mindset. Now I want amplify this theme.
To make comparations with Morris Method approach I will use some quotes
extracted from morrisnoholdsbarred.co.uk:
| Quote: |
| The guiding principle that underlies all fight training is to train as you need to fight. That means mentally and physically preparing to take on someone who can fight in the multidimensional sense of the term, |
“Mentally”, in my actual view,
is about thinking and flux of thoughts. In all human fields we suffer a
influence of some previous idea and impressions. We are into a sphere of
thoughts (coletive, cultural and individual) in time and space. So, any
profession (or action in real world) have your own type of specific brain
conditional functions (wire with multiple synapses). In other words, all
human action have a modus operandi or pragmatic method to reach
better results and evolve. And all method contents a specific
theory/line/vision behind it.
“Method of no-method”
But in respect to fight´s needs, I never remember any
thoughts during my spontaneous manoeuvres, even after the complete execution
of the movements and tatical/strategical transitions in the struggle. Some
coaches call this like “hyper concentration”, “focus”, “flow”, “Zone”, etc.
Or “tunnel vision”…
Anyway, how to recreate this process in training
without artificial drills or hard didatics like “jump in sea to learn swim”?
How to transit in this altered state of atention
without fall in linear/rational thinking and yours prejudices (delay in
response and others disadvantages in real fight) derived of usual training?
Some training habits (thoughts and all ciclic images
and repetitive internal and verbal definitions words added in “minds eye”)
can be very counterproductive to be carry on to the real fight:
Fight = Chaos, fear, fury, fatigue, stress, atavics
instincts, limitation in environment, light speed, surprise elements,
resistance, sharp weapons… versus Training = ruled by order, confidence,
securance, good health, social behavior, expectation, cooperation, safety…
The “intelligent” fighter (in tactical-technical-strategical
sense) can succumb to a less intelectual, but more savage and non-rational,
adversary. It´s not new to us and the cops…
The
US
army made the .45 to this type of oponent.
Sadly some traditional martial artists are proud
because they memorize thousands of detailed and sofisticated techniques (to
much cerebral approach = Motor Oriented Response).
Old TaiJi Quan had three movements. Ancient Hsing Yi
had five. Modern boxing have four strikes with hands. Paradoxically MMA have
little arsenal too. Include some fighters win only with one predilect strike
(see CroCop round kick to the head / Fedor Emelianenko finishes in
ground-and-pound with hammer fists).
Probably this reduction and proposital limitation of
alternatives help in adaptation and improvisation during the fight. Of
course this approach hit the Empty Mind topic too (if it is possible or
real).
However, the problem remain: How to cultivate our
natural state without alienation in civilized society – everyday simple
activities – but in same time use it freely in fight requirements?
Athletes experiencing these “natural state” moments
cannot explain how they came to be there, and report that the state is lost
as soon as they become aware
of being in it. From their observations it appears that ‘being in the here
and now’ involves integration of the conscious and unconscious aspects of
movement, that is the voluntary decision to act and the reflex that
facilitates the action. Becoming conscious of the moment
seems to destroy it.
Finally,
| Quote: |
| Although over the years I have successfully processed from every conceivable angle all of those components that need to be addressed within fight training, I have never been able (to my satisfaction that is) to organize these components into a definitive training method that I could easily pass on to others. That is, never until just over a month ago, when, parked up in a layby in the Shropshire hills with the kids asleep in the back, a notebook on my lap and looking westward toward the land of my fathers, I suddenly saw all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place with absolute clarity. |
Does this final
I ask this because in fight this ‘suddenly’ (on ‘being in the moment’) decision without any preconceived idea are very common,
Mr. Morris,
Thanks for attention,
Luciano Imoto
P.s.: about the “Zone” and another psychological (and sometimes non-orthodox) approaches of this topic please see:
http://www.artofperformance.co.uk/
http://www.rmaxinternational.com/home/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=111&Itemid=277
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
http://www.uppsalaonline.com/uppsala/berserk.htm
http://www.uppsalaonline.com/uppsala/somafera/somafera%20-%20the%20body%20wild.html
Steve’s reply:
From a fighting perspective, there are many different
styles of thinking, many different mindsets that you might need to call on.
Different problems mean different solutions. Sometimes you have to think and
act like lightning. Other times, you have time to plan. The brain as a whole
is more than capable of adapting. But you have to see the picture as a
whole. Sometimes I’ve been like a fucking alligator, cold-blooded, just
‘snap’ — got ya. Sometimes I’ve been emotionally hot and violent. Other
times I’ve been extremely lateral and cunning. Sometimes I’ve planned ahead
by five seconds what I’m going to do to the guy. Sometimes I’ve planned
ahead six months. I’ve had fights in gyms, toilets, bars, on the roadside.
You name a place, I’ve had a fight there.
But at the same time I still have to do everything else you do in life. I
don’t walk around ‘like a warrior’. A lot of guys feel they must ‘be in a
mindset.’ You can even see it in their faces and body posture, the way they
look. They’ve got this stupid look on their face, and you know that in their
head they think they’re in samurai movie. It’s so artificial, so false.
So how in training can you facilitate and not inhibit the mental response?
You’ve got to push it to a point where injury is possible, but you hold
back. That’s why the dissimilar and aggressor training is ideal, and you
need a partner of like mind. Imagination can play a tremendous role in
taking it to the next stage. And again, that’s what kids do. Even animals.
Watch cats play at hunting. They look like it’s for real, but there’s no
mouse there, just a leaf. But the responses are all being trained. With
visual imagery, you’ve tricked the body into responding.
The real difference is, the cat knows what a mouse looks like. And it’s
using its natural inherent and bequeathed behavioural patterns without
interference from the conscious mind. It hasn’t got any false examples. But
we do. Lots of them. That’s why I say, watch the fight. So you can build the
imagery on which you can work, even if you’re by yourself on a bag. You can
fill in the gaps with imagination.
When I was in Malaysia as a kid, I saw a
belt lying on the ground. We’d had snakes in the house, and I naturally
thought it was a snake. I was up in the rafters until my dad walked in and
told me it was just a belt. My body, everything, responded as if it was a
snake. Now, in my training, I can do the same thing. I have very strong
visual imagery. People ask me how I train without partners, and that’s how I
do it.
And if you get good at it, you can build composites of different types of
fighters. By watching, you can put together imaginary opponents in different
ways. This is where your intellect can come in, to analyze the picture that
you’re seeing and form new concepts and principles, strategies, and tactics.
It really is the left brain and the right brain playing ping-pong with the
image.
Usually when people talk about morality in martial arts, they’ll then hook
in the other aspects of religion into their martial arts, which is
unnecessary baggage. They end up sitting in a pose going through these
actions, and you know that in their mind it’s not the case of mu shin, they
just haven’t got anything there. They’re just sitting there waiting for
something to happen, like they took a pill.
You said that as soon as you become conscious of this unconsciousness in
action, it goes. But in my experience that’s not true. Again, it rather
depends on what was happening at the time. You go through different levels
of development.
The first step is being mindful of what you do. Even to the point of
self-correction. Say you go through a door and you slam it behind you
without meaning to. You go back and go through the process again. And you do
that with everything throughout the whole day. It is rather like your mind
is actively concentrating on what you’re doing. It’s very difficult. You can
build the tool for it through concentration exercises. I would look at say a
line on a wall or ceiling or any defined line, and follow the line with my
eye without skipping from one point to another. It’s harder than it sounds.
The rest of what I do would sound too esoteric! I’m not putting it on here.
Important to all this process of concentration is perception of time.
Because if you haven’t got this perception of time between the tick and the
tock, so to speak, you’ve missed it. If you work say with stick and you do
synchrony drills (Trish experienced it), you do a synchronized drill and
then you start to syncopate on the beat. That will teach you to sense that
within a process there’s an interval of time, as well as between processes
there’s an interval of time. And after you do that for a while, you find
that your perception of time is better. If you’re merging with traffic,
going through a revolving door, crossing the road, striking a ball, throwing
a ball, catching a ball, they all improve. They’re all based upon the
unconscious calculating when and where and how to move within this
restricted time frame. You’ve enhanced that area of the brain which does
that.
As we were typing this up, Trish was talking about how when she drops
something she sees her hand fly out as if it doesn’t even belong to her, and
catch it. Now, the Sartori moment comes when you’re consciously aware of
that. And that’s the place where I’m living now. That’s why when people ask
me, at 64 how can you be getting faster? That’s why.
And you need to learn to sense not only what is external to you, but what is
internal. So, kinaesthetically, you need to sense the body in action. To
watch it, like an observer. So rather than plugging yourself into a machine
so that some sports scientist can tell you what your body is doing, learn to
sense the joint angular changes in alignment, sequence, rate and timing.
Feel that the whole body is engaged.
You’ve probably read on the site where I talk about walking. That for me was
always the best way in, because it was at a pace where I could do this
internal process of sensing the interconnectivity of my body with itself,
the ground, and the environment. Interconnectivity is a word often used, but
when I see the people using it, they’re obviously not connected. Look at a
good athlete instead. He’s doing it at an instinctive level.
Lots of people use this little formula now to talk about the stages of
learning. I wasn’t aware of it until recently, but I’ve been practicing it
for years: when learning any skill, first you are unconsciously incompetent.
You don’t know anything. Then you’re consciously incompetent; you start to
realise you don’t know anything. Then you become consciously competent. You
can do it, but you really have to think about it. Then you become
unconsciously competent. You don’t have to think about it; you just do it.
But the level I’m working at, and anybody who has mastered anything is
working at, is the level of being consciously unconsciously competent.
You’re aware of the unconsciousness in action, and you can intervene in the
process.
Now here’s the problem with this. It’s easy to say all this, and even
believe you’re doing it, but it’s something you can only arrive at honestly.
It just comes through the process of being mindful. And that’s a long
process. I started it when I was seventeen or eighteen, when I read my first
books on Buddhism.
Now, what I do, I can actually have a sense of what is happening and I can
replay much of the action in my mind’s eye. I have captured the important
bits and I can go over them again afterward. I’ll lie in bed and re-edit the
fight in my mind, of what I would do differently next time. So rather than
having flashback images characteristic of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome,
I’ll actually use flash images as a positive way to teach myself. And that’s
what dreaming is about. You’re having a dialogue between the recognition
networks of the brain and the generative image networks of the brain.
Because they’re interconnected, you can strengthen both.
I think the first step on this journey is the ‘consciously incompetant’
step. There’s a lot of guys out there who haven’t even reached that
stage—they don’t even know how fucking incompetent they are—yet they claim
to be masters. That’s your first hurdle.
Then you need the technical drills, situational drills, conditional
fighting, etc. to take you to that level of ‘unconscious competence.’ You
must be drawing on real experiences, and feeding them into your imagery
system. That’s how you can progress much faster. Watch the fight, watch the
fight, watch the fight. And be like a cat with a leaf.
Luciano wrote:
| Quote: |
| But at the same time I still have to do everything else you do in life. I don’t walk around ‘like a warrior’. A lot of guys feel they must ‘be in a mindset.’ You can even see it in their faces and body posture, the way they look. They’ve got this stupid look on their face, and you know that in their head they think they’re in samurai movie. It’s so artificial, so false. |
Musashi said the same in his Five Rings Book: make
the mundane mindset your warrior mindset (and vice versa).
| Quote: |
| You said that as soon as you become conscious of this unconsciousness in action, it goes. But in my experience that’s not true. Again, it rather depends on what was happening at the time. You go through different levels of development. |
So, after all your tips Mr. Morris, I presume you live 24h by day in this natural state, ready to fight but at the same time ready to feel yourself.
This balance between external and internal body perception I want to bring to my ordinary life, without any all that “unnecessary baggage” attached in martial arts (one of many reasons behind that Mysticism topic).
Tommy wrote:
| steve morris wrote: |
|
As we were typing this up, Trish was
talking about how when she drops something she sees her hand
fly out as if it doesn’t even belong to her, and catch it.
Now, the Sartori moment comes when you’re consciously aware
of that. And that’s the place where I’m living now. That’s
why when people ask me, at 64 how can you be getting faster?
That’s why. And This: And you need to learn to sense not only what is external to you, but what is internal. So, kinaesthetically, you need to sense the body in action. To watch it, like an observer. So rather than plugging yourself into a machine so that some sports scientist can tell you what your body is doing, learn to sense the joint angular changes in alignment, sequence, rate and timing. Feel that the whole body is engaged. And This: Now, what I do, I can actually have a sense of what is happening and I can replay much of the action in my mind’s eye. I have captured the important bits and I can go over them again afterward. I’ll lie in bed and re-edit the fight in my mind, of what I would do differently next time. So rather than having flashback images characteristic of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, I’ll actually use flash images as a positive way to teach myself. |
Are of great interest to me and something I can
identify with. There are a few posts you put up the past couple of days
that make great sense and for me I connect in a different way. I feel I
train somewhat as you do. I don’t mean the actual training method but in
the fact that you are a bit older and so aren’t training for any matches
or fights etc. Also the time thing. You may not do it because of time
constraints, but you had mentioned once about having no set routine.
You can make going up and down stairs with the baby into exercise. That
is how I train, in bits and pieces, very intense, and brief, here and
there throughout the day (or not) combined with a couple of times per
week of longer trainings or specific skill training (BJJ, karate,
personal MMA type stuff etc.). I’m all over the place. Sometimes I might
be running up and down flights of stairs at work or flipping aircraft
(DC-10) wheels. Once per week Kyokushin sparring just to keep in tune
with contact and the BJJ rolling here and there. Nothing special….but
I don’t really need it. I’m not preparing for anything. It’s just what I
do. I’m not fighting anymore and I’m definitely not getting into street
fights anymore but I just always like to train as if I might have to at
any moment. “But” I also feel a comfort of knowing I really have nothing
riding on my training and that I’m just doing it to stay somewhat in
tune.
But getting older “and” faster is something I can
get into! However I have to wonder how much genetics plays into this for
you. My knowing about you through reading about you on your website etc.
I would guess that you are pretty gifted. Meanwhile my body these days
is held together by spit and tape Surgeries, busted up feet,
shoulders and elbows. But I don’t complain and I don’t slow down. So
getting faster and more pain free would be a bonus.
So the points I list as an interest to me, as
well as others are parts that I pick out of your method to suit where
I’m at. Just an older (older, not OLD) training “as if.”