How do you train for the psychological portion of a confrontation

[sgtmac_46]

I know we all train hard to handle the physical portion of a confrontation but I'd like to know how the community (the MT community, of course) likes to handle training for the non-physical part of a confrontation?

Over the years I think I've found a couple of principles that help some:

1. Conflict isn't the enemy ... it's an opportunity to effect positive change.
2. In the verbal portion of a conflict it's helpful to begin with the end in mind. Which means, I need to figure out what my preferred conclusion is to this confrontation and work toward it.
3. If the attack does come ... welcome it. It is yet another opportunity to effect positive change.

I'd love to hear (read) how everybody else thinks about these issues.


Best Wishes,

Explorer

Respectfully, I never found much 'positive' about rolling around in a dirty gutter with sum drunken/drugged nutcase trying to kick, punch and bite me.

I approach conflict resolution from a logical point of view of trying to first detour the conflict from becoming ego based.

When it comes to violence, however, I approach it from the point of view of assertive violent aggression mated cold deliberation. In other words, if I have to hurt someone, I hurt them as quickly and efficiently as possible.



There is a certain 'elegance' to human physical conflict, but I would never call it 'spiritual'.........it's actually as opposite of spiritual as one can get. It is the truly carnal. Two chimpanzees pounding on each other until one is unwilling or unable to continue. Any attempt to spiritualize it more than that risks creating an illusion, imho..........in fact, it's my opinion that martial artists can be divided up in two groups when it comes to 'self-defense'.............those who seek to learn to do something about violence and those who seek to do violence more efficiently and effectively.

The first is certainly more idealistic, but the second ends up being more practical when it comes time for actual violence. It's this, that I think creates the dichotomy where those who consider themselves martial 'artists' resent the practices of others who utilize their skills for a more pragmatic purpose........they seek through their development of skills to do something about violence, rather than to engage in more effective violence.

 

[Kyosanim]

For the psychological aspect of fighting, our teachers train us to practice from an emotional state. We (are supposed to) practice every technique from a state of fear (this guy's gonna kill me!), anger (this guy's gonna kill my family!), indifference (I don't want any part in this nonsense), confidence (You cannot stop me), and compassion (my drunken uncle is complaining about the government again!)

Since all real fights are emotionally charged, we should practice from those emotions.

On a non-fighting side to this, each combative lesson contains a principle both used for fighting and also for life lessons. For example, the lesson of "entering" teaches us the importance of seizing opportunity when it presents itself and not letting a chance for success pass us by.

I'm sorry man but to me this whole training from a state of fear sounds like total BS. Their is no way in hell that is going to prepare you for the adrenaline, or really anything else. The only thing I can think of that this would do is create a train of thought that will show up in a time of stress (IE someone threatening you) and you cause you to overreact and make the situation worse. Now perhaps I am misinterpreting your meaning in which case please explain I am not beyond convincing, but this is based on the impression I get from the post.

Not trying to be a jerk but it just sounds like a bad idea to me.

 

[kaizasosei]

Interesting exercises. I used to have drama class in school and i miss it sometimes Could be usefull exercises but i'm leaning more towards what Kyosanim said.

There's such a huge difference between reality and play. But if someone has enough experience or really makes an effort almost like a method actor, i can see it being possibly rewarding.
However, the underlying fault in the exercise is that in each situation you are in total controll or fear, but the point is to get that feeling of losing controll and still functioning. The controll thing which may be a bit too much powertriping can even spiral out and cause overreaction in nonthreatening situations. And for real danger may even make the shock of reality worse. Even the baddest fighters know the shock and respect it.

But i would be up for trying the exercise myself to know better. I'm thinking that everyone probably dreams up all kinds of situations to the point of even working up a bit of a heartbeat. I guess if you can somehow scare yourself enough...?? just thinking... how-?

In a situation where you are not scared at all, i think acting is great, but acting can get you in a lot of trouble and when you're in trouble it's best to be yourself or not talk at all.


j

 

[sgtmac_46]

I'm sorry man but to me this whole training from a state of fear sounds like total BS. Their is no way in hell that is going to prepare you for the adrenaline, or really anything else. The only thing I can think of that this would do is create a train of thought that will show up in a time of stress (IE someone threatening you) and you cause you to overreact and make the situation worse. Now perhaps I am misinterpreting your meaning in which case please explain I am not beyond convincing, but this is based on the impression I get from the post.

Not trying to be a jerk but it just sounds like a bad idea to me.

I'm not sure exactly what he's getting at, but I suspect he is talking about training under adrenal stress.......if so, he's right.

Training while creating an adrenal state is the state of the art in military and law enforcement training, and actually began in the military, where it has shown quite effective in instilling proper responses while under stress.

So, actually, far from being a 'bad idea', it's actually quite a good idea, and works........it's why in law enforcement we attempt to recreate as much as possible the sights, sounds and states of a real critical incident, and then train the proper responses under that stress.........it's why we have shock knives and video simulators that cause shocks to the trainee when they are 'shot', and use simunations to cause contact and 'pain' to simulate the real battlefield as much as possible.

 

[Chris Parker]

No, as I said earlier, this actually goes against every single Japanese Martial Art training I have ever come across. Training under adrenaline is not only good, but essential, however training under emotional extremes (how Himura's post reads to me) is the exact wrong way to go about it. The basic idea of the Japanese concept of mushin is to control, or supress, those emotional extremes under the effect of adrenaline. And for a system derived from Japanese arts, it doesn't sound particularly much like Himura's instructors have understood this basic element (my apologies, Himura, but that is the way it's coming across. I understand the "logic" of this approach, but it is simply a very bad idea. I'm trying to do this without judgement, though, as I'm sure there are many reasons that they are very good instructors, but in this they are way off base... unless we are misunderstanding here?).

 

[sgtmac_46]

No, as I said earlier, this actually goes against every single Japanese Martial Art training I have ever come across. Training under adrenaline is not only good, but essential, however training under emotional extremes (how Himura's post reads to me) is the exact wrong way to go about it. The basic idea of the Japanese concept of mushin is to control, or supress, those emotional extremes under the effect of adrenaline. And for a system derived from Japanese arts, it doesn't sound particularly much like Himura's instructors have understood this basic element (my apologies, Himura, but that is the way it's coming across. I understand the "logic" of this approach, but it is simply a very bad idea. I'm trying to do this without judgement, though, as I'm sure there are many reasons that they are very good instructors, but in this they are way off base... unless we are misunderstanding here?).

After reading his post again it's possible I may have misunderstood what he was saying. Key to training under stress is learning how to control the emotional response not give in to it. It's a little unclear to me as to what he meant.