What you should be thinking instead of what you are thinking
by Don Pierre de Tours, OGR
Just about everything I'm going to tell you, I have every intention of contradicting. This is because the reality of combat transcends the written or spoken word. Today's solution is tomorrows trap. Bruce lee warned us about attaching ourselves to "forms." This is very true. There is no technique to personal combat as much as there is a process to it. (In the Orient, it would be called a Way.) It exists as your viewpoint; how you look at what you're doing.
Of course, how you look at a thing directly determines what there is to look at.
Properly confused? Good. It's hard to teach someone who thinks they "know" something, so let us begin in this confusion.
Confusion is the ground that the seed is planted in. The plant we'll grow is called chaos.
This one is easy. The Ultimate Technique, as such, doesn't exist. It's that simple. In practice application, the Ultimate Technique is whatever you can get to work at any given moment. Since all technique has a counter-technique, searching for an "ultimate" is a total waste of time.
The closest we'll ever come to an "ultimate" technique is when the mind and perceptions of the fighter are calm and clear. (Get used to this idea; I'll return to it often.)
For such a simple idea, there's a surprising amount of controversy surrounding it. I've heard some postulate that training slowly will encourage a fighter to move slowly. Ignorant nonsense. (If someone attacks you, I doubt very much if you'll move as if you're sedated.)
When we're born, we're born with very few abilities. Everything we do, we do because we've learned how to. As affects this discussion, we do these things in the manner that we learned to do them. When it comes to practice, there is no such thing as "for now." Each repetition of a physical act promotes the probability that we'll do that act the same way next time.
There's a reason that "technique" has developed and evolved, especially in the fighting arts. Bad technique died with its adherents, good technique didn't. If your instructor is showing you a technique, particular a basic one, do your utmost to practice it accurately. When pressed later on, you'll find it's usually the "basic" technique that'll save you.
In fact, anything you study, study accurately. The way you practice is the way you'll do it later on when you're not practicing. The only way to insure accuracy in practice is to do it slowly. As slowly as your inabilities dictate. In order for a technique to be right, it has to practiced right (Please, pardon the grammar.), so don't hurry through it on your way to be "somewhere else." (the "somewhere else" you're hurrying to is right now.) Take your time and get it correct.
Before I forget, it takes between three to seven thousand repetitions of a physical act before it becomes a condition response, a reflex. (Just thought I'd throw that in there to make you feel better.)
We have a tendency to not practice the things we're good at. Understandable, because if you're like me, you have a lot of other things to work on. This doesn't do our "strength" any good. I've found that fighters who have a natural ability in some aspect of their discipline rarely get any better with that ability. Since they can do it, why practice it? The end result is that we end up becoming blind to our "strength."
The other things that get practiced, we end up becoming pretty good at. Much better, after a while, than what we initially thought we were good at.
Here's another level of this concept to consider -- the interchangeability of weakness/strength.
It's like a coin. Each side seemingly opposite, yet the reality of the coin is actually in between them.
Consider a fighter with more strength than you have. Obviously, their "strength" is in their power. So what would I try to do with this power? Certainly not get in the way of it! So, immediately my Game has become one of mobility. Understanding that, I know that if they generate power, unless they have something (like me) to ground this power, they have to absorb it themselves. So, not only does it take their energy to create this power, it also takes their energy to absorb it.
Against a powerful fighter, I'll use mobility and draws or invitations to encourage them to spend their energy without getting hit by it. Once they're tired, I'll close and end it.
Their strength became their weakness. My weakness, the inability to match their power became my strength.
It it's not your own, you're going to lose.
If an engagement is going badly for you, or, assuming clear perceptions, you see it's about to go badly for you, disengage. In the words of Robert Heinlein, "A motion to adjourn is always in order."
Never let your opponent control where and how the Game is played. Easy enough to say, of course, but once you learn how to do it, the better at it you become, the more effective your Game will be, regardless of who is technically "better."
Tall people will be quite happy to engage at longer, sniping distances. Shorter people will be effective in close. Speed-demons will pop away at you. So rush the tall ones, circle the short ones, and stand further away from the Lightning Rods. Do whatever you have to so as not to play their game.
Also, keep in mind that even if you're controlling the play, this can change in an instant. Time to disengage if you can.
The drug of choice for young'uns. They're the ones who, while having it, simply don't believe that it'll ever go away. (I had a hairline like that once.) Speed is a Game of youth, and if you're young, well, have at it. It's great to have. Just don't count on keeping it forever.
As we age, we slow. Not my idea. I don't like it either, but there it is. And if you don't die young, you'll get old.
Remember the earlier paragraph about training? If you train relying on your speed, as you age, what you trained for goes away. If our training is accurate, then our actions will be accurate. If our training is in speed, then our actions will be quick. Please notice that there is no bridge between those two sentences. A fighter either gets one or they get the other. Where speed really comes from is from the familiarity of thousands of repetitions and from being relaxed while the activity is done. Don't go looking for speed, don't try to be fast. Let the speed come when the speed is ready to. Don't force the issue. It'll just make you sloppy. (Of course, if you practice slop, don't expect anything other than slop to result.)
Ever fight one of those real old cusses? Ever notice how little they do and how slowly they do it? Ever notice how effective they are? Clearly, speed has nothing to do with longevity or effectiveness in any combat art.
Speed can also be countered by distance. The farther something that's moving has to travel, the longer it takes to get there. (It also takes more energy on their part, too.)
As fatigue sets in, speed goes away.
Building one's Game on top of speed is like building a sandcastle right next to the water at low tide.
Timing, when it's done to you, feels like the other person is moving much faster than they are. (Which is where the speed-illusion probably comes from.) A sure indicator of when you've been timed is when you feel like an ass; like you have concentric rings pasted across your chest.
Timing is the awareness of where your opponent is, where they're going, and when they have to go there. If you time your attack for when they're in the middle of one of the "have to"s, you'll generally get them. If you don't, they be so busy keeping you from getting them that you'll have time to disengage and reform.
Timing gets better with experience. As we learn more and more how to read the body of our opponent, we can tell more and more about where they're going and when they're going to go.
The rest is just aim. (You practice that, right?)
Targets are stationary, but only move when you must.
Moving just to move will give away your natural cadence of motion to your opponent. Always be ready to move, just don't do it until you have to.
Moving into and out of range at unpredictable times can keep your opponent from relaxing while sometimes affording you an opportunity to get them. Moving can nullify a speed or reach advantage your opponent may have. Moving out of the way of an attack can also keep your own offensive capability intact by not using any of your potential for action in a defensive mode.
Never block anything that would have missed anyway. (Since there's no point to moving, why move?)
This one's so simple that it's often overlooked. Simply put, stand or position yourself in a place or posture that you can attack from without having to do anything first. If you do anything prior to attacking, your opponent will see it and know that you're on your way. It's called "telegraphing." There is no place where the old cliche' is more true than in personal combat: Form follows function. Each and every act or motion you engage in should only have one goal... to kill. If you want to look pretty, take up dancing.
Another difference between an effective fighter and someone who has just become a target is in who still has the energy for the fight. If you waste your energy and your opponent doesn't, it won't be you.
Don't waste your energy on an attack that you know won't work. (This isn't referring to feints.) Not only are you wasting your energy, all attacks leave us vulnerable to counterattacks.
Do, however, encourage your opponent to waste their energy. The easiest way to do this is to get them angry. (I didn't say it was the wisest.) Fear can be another emotion evoked in your opponent. (I didn't say that this one was wise either.) Actually, any emotion will do. Fighting from an emotional base is very draining and it tires one quickly. It also takes longer to recharge from an emotional drain than it initially gives up in increased energy.
While running on emotional energy, the quality of attention is lowered. This quality of attention also steadily diminishes, frequently unnoticed until it's almost totally spent.
Stay alert but calm. Keep breathing (a class on breath itself should be taught).
If you can create a bogeyman in your opponent's mind, do so. This bogeyman will act as a fifth column, wreaking havoc with the rear lines of your opponent's attention. The more intimidated your opponent is, the easier it is to keep them intimidated.
Their attention goes to places where it doesn't belong. Fear thoughts are frequently visual, and any inner visualization ties up enormous amounts of their attention (in addition to being an emotion).
If you find yourself intimidated by an opponent, simply attack them. At worst, you'll be right. Then again, it might just be intimidation.
One would think this was an easy one, yet it doesn't seem to be.
The question is simply where are you? It's only where you are that you can do or affect anything.
Are you concerned that you're not winning the match? That's not where you are. Winning or losing are for later, not for now.
Ego concerns. Am I looking foolish? Who cares. I'll ask them later. Not now.
What am I doing now? If I pay attention what I am doing, how I'm doing will take care of itself. If it's not directly concerned with the combat in the immediate now, it's for later and just don't bother yourself with it.
And don't forget... that sword is sharp. Pay attention to it as such.
The first tool of the mind is the body. What's going on in the mind will show up there. Pay attention and look for it. You know more about this than you'd believe. Remember, we're descended from hundreds of thousands of generations of survivors. We're still mostly animals. Use it.
This should actually be a subtopic of "pay attention." The question is, what are you out there for?
This is easy. The only reason to pick up a weapon is to kill someone with it. You have to stay alive to do it.
Having a purpose engenders focus. Focus places the attention on the task at hand. Focus puts side issues to the side and keeps the goal and purpose at the front.
Having no mass, thoughts can start, stop, and change direction instantly.
Nobody is so good that they can't be gotten to. And nobody is so bad that they can't get you. If you find yourself in a conflict in which you are not doing well, change the way you're looking at it. Don't accept the thought that you can't get to them. Look for way in. If you find yourself being gotten too often, look for what they're using to get you and stop it.
If you look for the answer, you're a lot more likely to find it than if you don't. Just look. There has to be a way in.
Even if you die, make it cost. Make it expensive. This idea should be the flip side of the coin that "purpose" is on. Never ever surrender. As soon as you do, your chances of surmounting the obstacle diminish to zero. If you have one working eye and one working hand, your chances are more than zero. (Few things are more dangerous to you than when you close for the kill. It's at this time that you figure you've won, it's over, and that you just have to finish them off. They may be waiting for just the same thing, so until they're dead, remember they're not dead.)
From the time you pick up a sword, each and every act you engage in until you put the sword down should have only one purpose: The immediate demise of your opponent. Defense has never won anything... only an attack will. (Yes, your defense will keep you alive long enough to accomplish this end.) If you take a defensive mind-set, you will hesitate when you should not. You will wait for a "better opportunity." This will get you killed. For myself, as soon as the fight starts, I kiss my butt good-bye. I know that I'm gonna die, I just ain't dyin' alone. Quite often, the first opportunity that arises to gut my opponent, I take it.
You don't want to work in the kitchens in Valhalla. You don't want to carry your own bags to hell.
I call it that because I'm not young and I'm male. I also plan on getting a lot older.
In short, don't go after anything you can get them to bring to you.
Think about that.
Better think about that one too. Each day you're a little bit further from one and closer to the other.
This isn't the bad news.
This is another simple one that has a lot of controversy behind it. It has way too much emotion attached to it as well, not to mention a lot of wishing that pigs had wings.
There is no such thing as a dangerous weapon. All weapons are inanimate objects that have no life or use of their own. (If you put your sword on the table and leave it there, the only thing it will do on its own is rust.)
There are, however, dangerous people. For a dangerous person, their primary weapon is their mind. If you wish to be a dangerous person, study your mind. In this manner, you won't be a hazardous person.
© 1999 Wayne A. Spinaci
SWORDandMUG