FIGURE 5
Nonattachment does not mean that you suppress your reactions – reactions are part of what is to be human and are necessary for life – but it does mean that you become more sensitive to them in order to sense earlier when you are being pulled off balance. This is represented by the smaller waveform that is close to the straight line (the point of balance) and is a much finer level of vibration or sensitivity. In this way, you learn not to commit so much energy to your reactions, which will in turn allow you to pay more attention to your goals.
Preparation for the Unexpected
As mentioned earlier, we must always keep in mind what it is that Martial Art is training us for. The aim of this book is to gain an insight into how Martial Art strategies and practices can help you in everyday situations. Therefore, we must learn how to prepare for this eventuality. One of the main differences between martial sport and Martial Art is the fact that in a sport conflict situation (for instance a tournament bout) you know where, you know when, you know how (what rules) and you know whom you are going to fight. A real situation, on the other hand, very often means that you do not know any of these things. Martial Art should teach you to be prepared for the unexpected and then to be able to adapt almost instantaneously to the conflict as it unfolds. I once witnessed a cyclist riding down the road in a busy city centre, quite obviously daydreaming about being somewhere else. As the cyclist rode down the road, a careless van driver (who was about 10 metres away) opened his door and the cyclist continued towards it, saw it just in time, then reacted instinctively by swerving. The cyclist missed the door but his overreaction meant that he lost his balance and came crashing heavily to the ground.
This story illustrates very well what a real conflict situation is like. The cyclist was daydreaming and not living in the present moment. This state of ‘waking sleep’ tends to be extremely common in the average human being and because of it, the cyclist was not aware of the door opening soon enough to recognize it and make a controlled evasive manoeuvre. Instead, it was left to the cyclist’s reflexes, operating at a much finer level of recognition, to perform the manoeuvre. However, he over steered due to his body’s adrenaline reaction and consequently his balance was destroyed and no further riding technique was possible. The situation happened totally out of the blue – one minute the cyclist was daydreaming of holiday beaches or winning the lottery and the next minute the cruel reality of life almost literally slapped him in the face. His inner state changed with lightning speed from one of habitual daydreaming to one of extreme fear. In that split second his whole life and state of being had changed, perhaps not forever but certainly for the near future. This is exactly what happens in any unexpected situation.
So, we must first build a robust state of awareness so that opening doors, depressive thoughts, abusive parents or bosses, or physical attacks do not surprise us and we become aware of their presence at the earliest opportunity. We must then build a presence that is strong enough to deal with the situation, as opposed to an absence (a symptom of which is the aforementioned daydreaming). Then and only then will we be able to rely on any technique that we may have learned to deal with the attack.
The Four Main Areas of Study
Having studied Martial Art now for over 25 years, it has become clear to me that there are four main areas of study that need to be addressed. These areas make up as it were the anatomy of a martial artist. They are each linked and interdependent on one another, and provide a different perspective of the same picture. A practical understanding of each area is essential if one is hoping to study Martial Art authentically. The four main studies are:
1 Meditation: This is really about the relationship you have with yourself and it opens the lines of communication between your mind and your body via sensation. This develops a state of awareness sensitive to both the inner (Yin) and outer (Yang) aspects of your life and strengthens the balance between your body, mind and spirit; I will refer to this balance as your presence. Awareness and presence form your first and second lines of defence respectively.
2 Chi Kung: The practice of Chi Kung harmonizes breath and movement. It is, if you like, a moving form of Meditation. It develops internal energy, strengthens the natural breath processes and develops freedom of movement. Chi Kung enables you to meditate whilst moving.
3 Martial Science: This is the study of body mechanics and the laws that govern human aggression. It is the study of techniques and their applications. It introduces various strategies based on common patterns of attack. By studying Martial Science, you will learn how to meditate whilst in relation to another human being.
4 Martial Art: Martial Art trains your ability to express yourself in all kinds of conflict situations. This is the culmination of the previous areas of study. It allows you to find areas in your life where you can apply your self-defence skills. Martial Art enables you to meditate whilst dealing with real situations in your life (as opposed to the artificial setting of a dojo or gym).
An Energetic Language
An Intelligent Warrior needs to develop an energetic language, a communication with his/her own body that allows them to experience their study from the perspectives of the body, mind and spirit. It is only by working from this perspective that we can make the written word come alive, and the process of embodiment can take place. Over time, Westerners have become increasingly more divorced from their own bodies; they view it from the outside, looking back at themselves as if in a mirror and asking questions such as: ‘Am I desirable?’ ‘Are they better than me?’ ‘Are they better looking than I am?’ This is a symptom of a materially based society, and in such a society, it is inevitable that we start to see our own bodies as material objects and begin to have attitudes towards them. This in turn may bring feelings of isolation, of separation from ourselves and the world around us; we are wary of people, suspicious of ulterior motives, anxious about the future or afraid of being alone. In this way we become strangers to ourselves, always commenting and judging with our internal conversation and becoming increasingly vulnerable to one of the most powerful fears in man: the fear of loneliness or from another perspective the fear of not being loved. We have lost the ability to sense our bodies from the inside, to connect, appreciate and celebrate the feeling of life itself within us. Therefore, perhaps the greatest benefit of studying Martial Art is to regain the ability to connect with one's own life and the energies that animate it.
In terms of meaning, consciousness (mind), energy, and the body are clearly defined as three facets or cooperating functions within one indivisible system. Among these, mind is the initiator of systematic movement, so it is the directorate, or high command. Energy is the capacity of systematic movement. The body is the army. Ming and Weijia (1994: 11)
Before your opponent can strike you they must first rummage around to find an available hand to do so. Sun Li
Introduction
The word ‘Meditation’ conjures up many different images in people's minds, from shaven-headed Buddhist monks to stoned hippies to New Age dilettantes. Therefore, before beginning our study of Meditation we must clearly define what it is. The word ‘Medi-tation’ originates from the same root as the words ‘mediate’, ‘medi-um’, ‘medi-an’ and, most interestingly, ‘medi-cine’. This is significant, not as an etymological exercise, but as a clue as to why the word was first used to describe the practice. We find signposts pointing towards a sense of balance (mediate) and of being in the middle (medium, median), and a hint that somehow this has
