So much of martial arts is reactionary. Do you know what I mean? If abc happens, then do xyz. While this is not bad at all, it can put one in the mindset of becoming reactionary.
For sure, it can be very empowering knowing that if you find yourself in a bind of any sort, that there is a solution, there is a way out, and/or a way to turn around the situation to your advantage. It can be downright therapeutic coming to terms with that philosophy, and not just give up and succumb.
There is another piece to this puzzle that I recently discovered. This is one that is not overtly discussed. It is alluded to, but not in an extremely direct manner.
I will reveal that in this blog post, but before I do, I must exercise a word of caution for this. This is not intended for those folks who already have violent or confrontational tendencies. Those who have those tendencies need to actually go in the other direction, and be patient and pick up on cues and practice empathy.
The idea is this:
You dictate the terms.
This may seem like an offense-oriented tactic, and in some ways, it is. But what you are doing is you are getting the ball rolling. Don’t think of it as aggression, though. Think of it as being decisive, and achieving a goal. You can view it as being proactive.
Once you have done that, then you can employ all the reactionary-based martial arts strategies that there seems to be an abundance of.
BUT I AM NOT SAYING TO START A FIGHT!!! Don’t think of it like that!!
Think of it like this - in order to break the potential tension of a meeting, bring some chocolates for everyone, and encourage people to take a piece! You just initiated the tempo!
In boxing and Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do, there is the principle of “Breaking the Rhythm”. What that means is that you have to first SET UP the rhythm. Once your opponent gets used to your tempo that you set up, you break the rhythm pattern, and do something unpredictable that they did not expect.
When you initiate the first engagement, you can play more on your terms.
Let’s get out of the world of combat and go into the real world. Working for somebody else vs. starting your own business. When you start your own business, you are throwing the first punch, you are dictating your terms. You will then need to be able to react effectively to all that come at you.
When you’re in a meeting, you talk first vs. waiting to hear what everyone else has to say, and then you respond. If you talk first, you might be able to bend the direction of the meeting to the direction you’d rather see it go.
Initiate first, then react.
Some martial arts styles are seen as very aggressive styles, such as Wing Chun, Krav Maga, Pentjak Silat. But the truth is, if you look at many of their training drills, they get aggressive AFTER an attack has been thrown. It’s almost blasphemous to think that the martial artist throws the first punch. And in the physical sense, it is. However, not in the metaphorical sense. The “first punch” from the martial artist could be verbal, to dictate what will happen next, such as, by saying, “How’s everyone doing today? I had an amazing day, I’d love to hear about yours!”
That right there could be the first punch! That is setting the tone of the engagement.
It is challenging to get into this mindset in martial arts, where most of the technical concepts are reactionary.
So how do we physically train this concept in martial arts? Well, in our style of Kung-Fu (which is called Choy Lay Fut), we are predominantly a hand striking art. What we do is the striker telegraphs to the target holder what technique s/he wants to throw - the target holder sees the telegraphed motion, and sets the targets up immediately. This is training the the striker to be decisive, and choose something. This is also training the holder to be able to read the signals for what’s coming and prepare. Very importantly, it is also training the striker to work in harmony with the holder, to be able to hold successfully for a good hit. Think about the meta behind that!! As a striker, you have to not only initiate, but also make sure your partner is aligned with you!!
It’s a very valuable drill, that promotes a very unique mindset in the world of martial arts.
Energy manifests in many ways, and in particular, mental, verbal and physical. The more you study martial arts, the more you start seeing that walls between mental, verbal, and physical energy start coming down, and you can use principles fluidly between the three.
One of my teachers said something very valuable to me, many years ago, when I decided to start teaching professionally. He said, “Don’t wait for something to happen - MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN.” This is absolutely employing the mindset of us, the martial artists, to dictate the terms. This takes confidence. This takes being able to take risks. This takes a belief in self. This takes not acknowledging the possibility of failure. This takes a proactive mindset. The martial arts world has not been very clear about expressing this in the past, but that changes today. TAKE ACTION. START SOMETHING.