Habits can be good or bad, the word generally has a pejorative (bad) context.
But habits are incredibly powerful and can be deeply ingrained in a surprisingly short period of time.And hard to get rid of!
That applies to good ones too, such as training reactions.
Do our reactions, which we train to become natural, become as deeply ingrained as habits, SUPPLANTING our previous (prior to training) modes of reactions? Or are they conscious-only constructs which will abandon us when reacting un-consciously?
NM
Habits
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Dana Sheets
- Posts: 2715
- Joined: Mon Feb 25, 2002 6:01 am
Well in certain cultures (including ours for awhile) they were very successful at "converting" left handed writers into right handed writers. I don't know if those folks also reached for their toothbrushes with their right hand, but they did learn to write that way.
So learned behaviors can be modified, but instinual behaviors...I dunno - I doubt you could supplant the fight/flight/freeze with something else. But you might, through conditioning, be able to reduce how often one of those three things happen.
So I don't know if you can ever "replace" things but I do think through training you can make something much more likely to happen than something else. But nothing much about humans is 100%...other than death and taxes.
Are their any behavioral or evolutionary psychologists in the house? Care to comment?
So learned behaviors can be modified, but instinual behaviors...I dunno - I doubt you could supplant the fight/flight/freeze with something else. But you might, through conditioning, be able to reduce how often one of those three things happen.
So I don't know if you can ever "replace" things but I do think through training you can make something much more likely to happen than something else. But nothing much about humans is 100%...other than death and taxes.
Are their any behavioral or evolutionary psychologists in the house? Care to comment?
Did you show compassion today?
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Bill Glasheen
- Posts: 17299
- Joined: Thu Mar 11, 1999 6:01 am
- Location: Richmond, VA --- Louisville, KY
Interesting subject.
On another thread in my forum, I discussed a recent article in Journal of Asian Martial Arts.
The slow, high road
In it, the author (a Russian Systema practitioner) makes the case for being able to access "learned" (high road) behavior in a life-threatening situation. These methods are used by the Russian Special Forces.
The article is really quite good. The author goes through a lot of contemporary peer-reviewed and "martial industry" literature to make the case for what we do - teach people new habits through slow, long-term training.
A classic example used is training someone how to fall, or - more importantly - how not to fall. The basic flinch (fear) response when you fall suddenly and very hard is to stick the hand out. The problem there is that it virtually guarantees a shattered wrist if the fall is hard enough. The better way to fall is to tuck the arm and possibly slam it down with its full length when hitting pavement. It may not feel great on the gravel parking lot, but at least you have a fighting chance of getting back up again and saving yourself in a deadly encounter.
Physiologically speaking, this is all about neural pathways in the brain. Without getting into a lot of neural anatomy, there are two major pathways chosen to respond to a situation. Ninety-nine percent of the time when you do something, you are accessing learned pathways in the brain. These have been labeled as "high road" pathways by their spatial orientation in the brain (Ledoux). But when you put your hand on a hot stove, a different and programmed response happens. You act first and realize what you did later. This is often called the "low road" pathway. It bypasses thought, and favors gross-movement speed.
Using the fall as an example in the article, the method advocated to teach new habits is to train the person slowly and in stages so you operate beneath the flinch (low road) response. So you get the mats out, and get the person down on their knees where it isn't going to hurt so much to fall. Over time as the person develops this high road response, you up the ante. At some point the person is able to fall on a hard surface "without thinking" in a manner that protects the wrist from being shattered.
A good deal of your kata training is like this. GOOD kata have low and high road responses that look very, very similar. That way if you suddenly freak in mid-movement, or if you are suddenly sucker-punched, the transition to and from low road (flinch) response is seamless.
- Bill
On another thread in my forum, I discussed a recent article in Journal of Asian Martial Arts.
The slow, high road
In it, the author (a Russian Systema practitioner) makes the case for being able to access "learned" (high road) behavior in a life-threatening situation. These methods are used by the Russian Special Forces.
The article is really quite good. The author goes through a lot of contemporary peer-reviewed and "martial industry" literature to make the case for what we do - teach people new habits through slow, long-term training.
A classic example used is training someone how to fall, or - more importantly - how not to fall. The basic flinch (fear) response when you fall suddenly and very hard is to stick the hand out. The problem there is that it virtually guarantees a shattered wrist if the fall is hard enough. The better way to fall is to tuck the arm and possibly slam it down with its full length when hitting pavement. It may not feel great on the gravel parking lot, but at least you have a fighting chance of getting back up again and saving yourself in a deadly encounter.
Physiologically speaking, this is all about neural pathways in the brain. Without getting into a lot of neural anatomy, there are two major pathways chosen to respond to a situation. Ninety-nine percent of the time when you do something, you are accessing learned pathways in the brain. These have been labeled as "high road" pathways by their spatial orientation in the brain (Ledoux). But when you put your hand on a hot stove, a different and programmed response happens. You act first and realize what you did later. This is often called the "low road" pathway. It bypasses thought, and favors gross-movement speed.
Using the fall as an example in the article, the method advocated to teach new habits is to train the person slowly and in stages so you operate beneath the flinch (low road) response. So you get the mats out, and get the person down on their knees where it isn't going to hurt so much to fall. Over time as the person develops this high road response, you up the ante. At some point the person is able to fall on a hard surface "without thinking" in a manner that protects the wrist from being shattered.
A good deal of your kata training is like this. GOOD kata have low and high road responses that look very, very similar. That way if you suddenly freak in mid-movement, or if you are suddenly sucker-punched, the transition to and from low road (flinch) response is seamless.
- Bill
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RACastanet
- Posts: 3744
- Joined: Thu Mar 11, 1999 6:01 am
- Location: Richmond, VA
"Well in certain cultures (including ours for awhile) they were very successful at "converting" left handed writers into right handed writers. I don't know if those folks also reached for their toothbrushes with their right hand, but they did learn to write that way."
The catholic school I went to tried unsuccessfully to correct my lefthandedness with the result being my penmanship is lousy. However, when young and learning to shoot I found just about every rifle and most handguns were built for righties. Since getting hot brass in my face or down my shirt was not fun I switched to shooting right handed. As a natural lefty I'm an equally good shot from either side.
Rich
The catholic school I went to tried unsuccessfully to correct my lefthandedness with the result being my penmanship is lousy. However, when young and learning to shoot I found just about every rifle and most handguns were built for righties. Since getting hot brass in my face or down my shirt was not fun I switched to shooting right handed. As a natural lefty I'm an equally good shot from either side.
Rich
Member of the world's premier gun club, the USMC!
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Norm Abrahamson
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- Contact:
Habits
What does a Nun's dress have to do with martial arts?
Sincerely,
Norm Abrahamson
Sincerely,
Norm Abrahamson
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Bill Glasheen
- Posts: 17299
- Joined: Thu Mar 11, 1999 6:01 am
- Location: Richmond, VA --- Louisville, KY
Folks, read my post above. Then check out this thread.
Has your student "used" his/her karate?
- Bill
