Your "aha" moments.

[MikeK]

We mentioned aha moments in another thread, so what were those aha moments that made the light go on for something, or made something seemingly complex simple?

Some of mine are...
My current training partner using the phrase "If they can't stand they can't fight, if they can't see they can't fight, if they can't breath they can't fight". Yeah we can pick it apart but it did give me what my basic goals are for both low intensity and high intensity encounters in a simple sentence.

Just want to clarify that, "if they can't stand they can't fight, if they can't see they can't fight, if they can't breath they can't fight" can be taken literally but also a bit symbolically. "Can't stand" can mean several things including taking their balance, giving a stunning head shot that staggers them, moving them onto lousy terrain and many other things. "Can't see" can include anything from taking their eyes, to a hand in front of the eyes, being behind them or anything else where you can see them but they can't see you. Can't breath can mean choking someone but also making them gag, a shot to the gut or solar plexus or anything that keeps them from taking a breath. You'll get the idea.

Hock Hochheim in one of his knife fighting videos uses a sentence along the lines of "any kick, any strike, any grab" when describing what to do in a knife fight. The word "any" clicked because instead of thinking about the proper text book technique I started just doing.

Raffi at a seminar, or it could have been on a Summer Camp video, made a joke about what a technique he was doing was called, and he said "this one". I realized that while naming a technique is good for teaching and organizing we can also get caught up in the names or making techniques overly discrete. Doing away with names has really allowed me to keep more "stuff".

I'm not sure if Raffi or Hock meant the same thing as what I took from what they said, but they were still good "aha" moments for me.

[Stryke]

My current training partner using the phrase "If they can't stand they can't fight, if they can't see they can't fight, if they can't breath they can't fight". Yeah we can pick it apart but it did give me what my basic goals are for both low intensity and high intensity encounters in a simple sentence.

I can often drag folks down from the ground even if there kicking at me , I`ve fought of guys while being choked and having fingers jammed in my windpipe , and Ive been hit in the throat and fought on . I do tactile work with my eyes shut and can fully function when eye gouged .

Movie quote Mike , its all about the fight in the dog .

but good thread

some of my aha moments , harmonies , voids , two points form a circle , real grounding , then anatomy and physical training , , different ranges of movement , and the concept of a flow state

lots of my aha technical moments come from night of the living dead work

[fivedragons]

Posted by Stryke: "I`ve fought of guys while being choked and having fingers jammed in my windpipe , and Ive been hit in the throat and fought on . I do tactile work with my eyes shut and can fully function when eye gouged . "

Have you seen "Unbreakable" by M. Knight Shamalyan? If not, you should. One of these days, you're going to realize that you're not like most people, including most criminals.

"Aha" moments that I've had, seem to tie in with things that I heard about and didn't really understand as a child. Just sort of percolated until I saw the meaning.

Take Mary Poppins for example.

"You say tomato, I say tomahto, and when it hits you in the face, you won't care what it's called."

"Anything you can do, I can do better, and I will, if you try to do it to me. Suks to be you."

"When you learn how to laugh, from the heart, you will learn how to fly."

[Bill Glasheen]

This is a good thread.

I agree with your thoughts, Marcus - to a point. The pepper spray demo that Rich conducted and I was the "victim" in is a classic situation that puts the kabosh on the seeing thing. While my eyes were swollen shut, I was still able to run laps, hit the bag, grab weapons of opportunity and use them, etc.

However...

I see Mike's point as well. ANY advantage is worth taking. And sometimes just good posture or the right projected attitude will save you from an ass whoopin. Thank god on that one, because I'm not one who likes breaking a sweat on the street if I don't have to.

As to the naming of techniques, Mike, well... I go on both sides of this one. On the one hand, I like educating my people. You very well know that the vast majority of jazz musicians know their fundamentals like nobody's business. On the other hand, it is my opinion that what you do isn't nearly as important as how well you execute. So having the "just do it" mindset can bring you far. You can do the superslowmo detailed analysis later on when braggin to your friends.

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

For what it's worth, Mike...

There was a very famous professor of psychology at UVa by the name of Raymond Bice. I suspect that by now he is long retired, if not pushing daiseys. In any case, he was an extremely popular professor. Undergraduate students would fight all four years to get into one of his classes.

Dr. Bice spoke of "the aha principle." I find it interesting that you can't find much about it when Googling. But he thought of it as a very real episode of inspiration that was the result of a confluence of activities in the brain.

Just yesterday I was reading up on some inspirational Asian mumbo jumbo that talked about levels of understanding in fighting. My God... It's a wonder that anyone can get anything out of the Asian words of wisdom mixed with a liberal dose of chi-speak. And yet in hindsight... if I squint my mental eyes...

It's really not that complex - once you get it. Er... Yea.

- Bill

[Stryke]

I see Mike's point as well. ANY advantage is worth taking. And sometimes just good posture or the right projected attitude will save you from an ass whoopin. Thank god on that one, because I'm not one who likes breaking a sweat on the street if I don't have to.

Oh I agree totally , but never look , just take , nothing wrong with grabbing the throat while you punch , gouging the eyes while you crank the neck etc etc .......

just dont rely on the magic bullets ..... and dont train them as fight stoppers , just as well as in the continuim .

[Bill Glasheen]

There was a very famous professor of psychology at UVa by the name of Raymond Bice. I suspect that by now he is long retired, if not pushing daisys.

Well it turns out that the man still lives.

Nice article here...

Raymond C. Bice Jr. Turns 90 This Month; Creator of 'Bice Devices,' Storyteller and Administrator, He Spent 50 Years at U.Va.

Bice's 500-seat lecture at times had a waiting list of more than 100 students, some of whom sent flowers, poems and other treats to attempt to gain entrance to his course.

He combined household items and off-the-shelf parts to illustrate some of the more difficult psychological concepts. One such "Bice device" demonstrated how the human pupil responds to stimuli. Bice focused a magnifying glass on the eye of one of his female students. First, he showed her an inanimate object. Next he had a male student remove his jacket and saunter in front of the young woman. "Her pupil opened 200 percent," Bice said, in a Richmond Times-Dispatch article in 1994.

I'm constantly amazed at how educators and philanthropists manage to live so long. I think there's a connection.

- Bill

[MikeK]

I see Mike's point as well. ANY advantage is worth taking.

That's not really the point I was trying to make, so maybe I wasn't being clear. You're 100% correct about that any advantage is worth taking and Marcus is right about the "fight in the dog", but the little saying we use is more about having at least a vague sort of game plan where you are trying to take those three things from an opponent rather than wondering what to do next. If you take one you still go for the other two. It might be clearer if I'd said steal their sight, take their breath and break their base.

Just want to clarify that, "if they can't stand they can't fight, if they can't see they can't fight, if they can't breath they can't fight" can be taken literally but also a bit symbolically. "Can't stand" can mean several things including taking their balance, giving a stunning head shot that staggers them, moving them onto lousy terrain and many other things. "Can't see" can include anything from taking their eyes, to a hand in front of the eyes, a flashlight shined in their eyes, being behind them or anything else where you can see them but they can't see you. Can't breath can mean choking someone but also making them gag, a shot to the gut or solar plexus or anything that keeps them from taking a breath. You get the idea.

As to the naming of techniques, Mike, well... I go on both sides of this one. On the one hand, I like educating my people. You very well know that the vast majority of jazz musicians know their fundamentals like nobody's business.

I am too Bill. I learned my scales, modes and variations like the Spanish and Hungarian Gypsy scales years ago, but after awhile you stop thinking A Phrygian or Lydian and start just playing the notes. In a way the name of what you're doing is meaningless when you're actually doing it and they can get in the way if you start thinking of them.