Dexterity

[theletch1]

Another thread on the board got me to thinking about some of our techniques in aikido. Many of the techniques that deal with joint locks require a certain level of dexterity higher than say a balance breaking technique. Let's take shiho-nage as applied from a roundhouse punch. It takes a pretty good level of manipulation as you take control of the energy, redirect the weapon (fist) apply the lock all while moving at a speed matching your attacker. The other thread was dealing with folks who have a problem with dealing with that surge of adrenalin that you get when the fight/flight instinct kicks in. When that kicks in you will loose a bit of your fine motor skills on a level commensorate with your ability to deal with the adrenal dump. My question for you all is does your school do anything to deal with this loss of control or to deal with the adrenal dump? If you do, what?

 

[Yari]

Hi Jeff

Yes, we do.

I do many things: change of enviroment, mind set and what ever I can think about just to stress the students and make them understand and think, feel and react and then learn.

/Yari

 

[Doc_Jude]

Another thread on the board got me to thinking about some of our techniques in aikido. Many of the techniques that deal with joint locks require a certain level of dexterity higher than say a balance breaking technique. Let's take shiho-nage as applied from a roundhouse punch. It takes a pretty good level of manipulation as you take control of the energy, redirect the weapon (fist) apply the lock all while moving at a speed matching your attacker. The other thread was dealing with folks who have a problem with dealing with that surge of adrenalin that you get when the fight/flight instinct kicks in. When that kicks in you will loose a bit of your fine motor skills on a level commensorate with your ability to deal with the adrenal dump. My question for you all is does your school do anything to deal with this loss of control or to deal with the adrenal dump? If you do, what?

Paul Linden (Aikido 4th Dan) teaches Aikido coupled with Feldenkrais, a type of body work that you can perform alone or have performed on you by a Feldenkrais practitioner. The founder, Moshe Feldenkrais, was one of the highest ranked non-Japanese Judoka of his time & used body awareness skills to do it. Body awareness and the nervous system education gained from Feldenkrais can help alleviate the "loosening" of your movement from adrenal dump.

Here are some sites about this:

http://www.feldenkrais.com/method/article/aikido_karate_and_the_feldenkrais_method/

www.asogomi.com/PDF/AE/LindenAE-API.pdf

http://www.bonnernet.com/sites/aoc/writings/articles/index.php#a1

 

[theletch1]

Doc, thanks for the links. I'll be doing a lot of reading in the next few days it seems.

 

[tellner]

Feldenkrais and various methods of preventing or minimizing the physiological effects of adrenaline can help. But they are not 100% effective. And they rob you of evolution's most important gift for surviving an emergency. Even highly trained elite soldiers experience these things. The absolute greatest cop I've met - survivor of thousands of incidents in the line of duty, a fantastically skilled and sophisticated martial artist et cetera, ad infinitum - says that "In about 5% of the fights I was in I was in calm, pure no-mind warrior mode. The rest of the time it was 'Oh, ****! mode.' "

The simple fact is that under stress your body will react as if it's under stress. The complicated stuff won't work unless you have completely internalized it, you have incredible self-control, you utterly outclass the other guy or you are fatally underestimating the situation.

The solution is pretty simple. Don't rely on the ornate complex techniques for your self defense needs. Practice them for other reasons. They may well come out in application when you least expect it. But they're gravy, not the bacon and eggs.