MartialIntent
Black Belt
Yep, that's exactly what I'm talking about - too many of us get caught up in our techniques - and let's be honest, while they've all got something to offer in a bust-up, they still all contain inherent limitations which means all of our systems become cumulative totals of thise limitations [when viewed negatively]. But that's not the point, we'd need to cease the negativity with regard to our own techniques and accept their implicit worth. That's the first point. The second -and more important- is our "self talk" as you put it. This for me always has been the differentiating factor.RoninPimp said:
Self talk conjures in my head something a little counselling-groupy to me though. I'm all for the NLP approach but it has to be done in the context of SD. I try to relate recall of those life-and-death situations [and as I say I'm talking life and death without the benefit of hindsight]. I'm sure we've all got caught in these situations throughout our lives.
Fair enough, all this may sound a bit new-age but I like to think of it as radical
Discovering it was something of an epiphany for me, hehe. Seriously, give it a go: spend a moment recalling such a situation. We've all had them, I mentioned some upthread: right from the simplest losing your mom in the store as a kid through choking, being hit and knocked down by a car and falling off ladders through to being glassed, stabbed, shot, whatever. I don't believe it's the objective seriousness of the situation but rather the subjective, "I'm gonna die here," response. If you've had any of these I'm willing to bet the visual, auditory and physiological memory has been ultra-clearly branded into your subconscious forever. If you've got it, pay particular heed to how you resolved the situation *within yourself* physically - I mean you're still here, you must have pulled through right? That's the key - how did you cope, how did you control the overwhelming adrenal rush, maybe you were wet with your own blood perhaps or thought, My god, is that my bone, that shouldn't be there... You get the idea. How did you curb the panic, what did you do to focus, what became important [severe stress has a phenomenal way to clear the mind]. Once you've got to there, hold the sensation and at all times remind yourself that you did in fact crack this b**ch and survive to tell.The lynchpin of the theory is to be able to recall the control of this situation if and when you need it to harness your physical responses for a no-messing, real damage fight.
For me, the physiological recall: elevated HR [I've measured], retained muscle memories and coping mechanisms can be staggering. It's self-hypnosis or NLP by any other name but it's a surer way of mimicking your own response to the genuine defensive fight. Couple this with a little visualization, a little positive self talk and our hard won techniques, and this is how I believe we move towards becoming truly good life and self-defending artists as opposed to truly good in-house fighters.
I haven't expounded on this previously so I'm surely interested in any opinions. I'm just attempting to give a way to produce a positive outcome to a notion [the impossibility of adequately training for real world SD] which is too often tied in its own complexities. Though at the day's end, I'm still for getting out and "socializing" with one's street brethren.
Respects!
