I decided a short time ago to write this for a friend who had asked me about my thoughts on the viability of tai chi/chi kung training as it pertains to combatives training. While many are either seemingly pushing the woo-woo, chi-power, metaphysical powers of chi kung or tai chi, or trying desperately to re-transform it into a powerful fighting art, I thought I’d take a few minutes to offer some rather tangible functional benefits it ‘can’ contain, as is:

1.   It teaches one to lengthen movements. As movements are shortened dramatically by the effects of adrenaline, fast styles and techniques over-reliant on speed often fall by the wayside and don’t have near the desired impact in real situations as “in the dojo”. (As an aside, the techniques, poses themselves, and positions aren’t nearly as important the control, relaxed power, and deliberate movements it promotes. Actual combative concepts can replace traditional ones with the same mechanics in-play)
2.   It can teach proper use of the kinetic chain for maximizing power and efficient movement. Proper power development…and power is a more important than speed in a violent scenario, the vast majority of the time.
3.   It teaches slow deliberate practice, which leads to efficient myelination/”uploading” from proper, progressive, and correct conditioning of skillsets for function. We’ve likely all heard the “slow-is-fast” maxim but training things deliberately and with purpose sets them more permanently, in proper context, and with greater efficiency.
4.  It can teach breathing, both while static (the “interview” phase of developing conflict) and while moving in a dynamic arena (active/aggressive). I realize this is given tons of lip service but many don’t seem to really know why, but the major reason is because when adrenaline floods our system, we tend to predominantly stop breathing, putting access to our training and conditioning “off-line.” (We panic, forget, disconnect from) Remembering to breath and having done so out of various constructs, triggers us to do so when it matters and keep us “online”, therefore having accessibility to prior training. (hopefully correct and aligned with what actually happens pertaining to real violence)

5.  It teaches body control and relaxation. Simply, the more relaxation one can achieve within the restraints of adrenal-stress response, the more subtle, explosive, and decisive the movement(s) following and the less chance of a powerful counter.

6.   The grounding/rooting and balance helps one to “sit on” one’s shots, as well, putting proper body weight into those mechanics. Footwork is the fundamental fighting tool. Without balance, agility, movement, power generation, angling, zoning…..all other skillsets fall by the wayside.

7.  As an aside, I often hear critique on the hip-punching done in tai chi/chi kung/karate/kung-fu, etc. However, as we can see from case studies, violence videos, mixed martial-arts matches, personal experiences from experienced people….taking longer trajectory to the target has shown little to no problems of connection from the various ranges/stages of fighting. Punches from the hip often fall under the depth perception line caused by adrenaline/extreme focus, are heavy in power, and connect far more often than the bullshit myths in martial arts will have you believe.

8.  While this may be a stretch to those long-timers in the “internal arts”, I’ve often (personally, so take with salt) made a correlation of the 2 types of Chinese breathing (Buddhist – regular, belly expands when inhaling & Taoist – reverse, chest expands/belly contracts when inhaling) with relaxed or controlled breathing and tension or stress breathing. Relaxed when at rest, at ease, or able to be controlled when under minimal or containable stress. (including during low-level or pre-escalation conflict) Tension breathing when exerting oneself physically (including fighting).

9.  It can teach self-control, discipline, and patience…3 monumentally-important elements when dealing with conflict management and pre-violence escalation, not the least of which are important in cultivating proper violence mindset and state-change capability.

Notice I use the word “can” for more than one of the examples given as, remember, this is in reference to this practice being combined with actual fight training, that which hopefully correlates and reinforces our innate survival skills and instinctive fighting mechanisms. Can all these things be found in other training methodologies and personal manners of fight training? Absolutely. However, I find these elements often go unexplained as to their reasoning (or unknown, for most trying to make the correlation) or context as it relates to real-world issues.

The “Dual Process Theory” of human thought has been around for some time, in varied incarnations, how generally decision-making is done by 2 different processes. The most recent that has gained momentum is from Daniel Kahneman, who in 2003, came out with the terminology of “system 1” for what’s inevitably intuition, and “system 2”, regarding reasoning.

Now, these 2 systems sometimes overlap, let’s take driving as an example. As we learn to drive, a lot is going on upstairs – focus on what others are doing on the road, our pressure on the pedals, reeling in the environment around us, worrying about directions, etc. A lot to take in. This would qualify as system 2, as we’re perpetually having to make conscious decisions based on analysis of best possible outcome. As we become more experienced, a lot of these processes become automatic based on time, like-scenarios, prior familiarity –  system 1, intuitive. There are also times where these processes come into contact with one another. In events where our safety or protection is at stake, system 2 may take too long to come up with precise solution to the problem, so we default to system 1 – intuition takes over and, based on prior experiences, comes up with the best possible solution to the immediate problem, “overruling” system 2, which is taking too long to give finality with something that needs immediacy.

While, apparently, there are still some flaws in the theory (I’m not a neuro-scientist nor do I claim to be), it’s an interesting and relevant theory pertaining to self-defense and personal preservation.  Even if some parts of the theory are unsound or the theory itself is proven lacking over time, there’s still a lot of validity here when explaining threat analysis and recognition to students or civilians.  There are 2 points I’d like to gloss over here:

1. It has the potential to make for a much easier idea to transmit to students or the general public as opposed to something like the Cooper Color Code, which often tends to draw a lot of confusion, over-thinking, and paranoia in the average student, even when given clear explanation. Telling them that they’re hardwired to notice important things in their vicinity that may affect their well-being automatically and their rational thought will be alerted when more complex decisions need to be made makes for less paranoia, less overthought, and less confusion over the minutiae that so many self-defense instructors love to harp on. Stop being paranoid and perpetually looking for irrelevant things that stand-out, analyzing constant stimuli, assessing people – and let what’s already innate look for the important things that ‘are’ relevant to your safety, while you continue on with your day as needed. Being jacked and forever honed-in is not healthy.

2.   Maybe entirely hypothetical (maybe not) but what if (just what if) this is related to actual violent conflict as well? It would explain a lot of things we see regularly with real violence, social media, Youtube videos, case studies, first-hand reports, etc….even with trained people. Under heavy duress, most people revert back to primal means of survival – innate survival skill/instinctive fighting/naturally-occurring technique, – those things which system 1 gravitates to to overrule system 2 (trained response), which often takes conscious thought or “upload time” when/if it goes against what’s survival-driven evolutionarily. If System 2, or trained responses that aren’t in line with evolution, take too long, are too complex, or don’t go along with what’s hardwired – system 1 or intuitive response to something that threatens our safety or survival, kicks in, overwriting poor or unnatural training, no matter how conditioned or for how long. If it’s in-line, it can enhance and supplement our natural innate survival response mechanisms.

Something to think about. If oftentimes, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one, or at minimum the one that helps us understand and go about our day with the most calm and confidence, then maybe this has more than a little validity. And now, to wait on the theory’s durability…

What if (just what if) so many grandmasters and masters (and sokes and sifus and datus and guros and tuhons and pendekars and….) have it all wrong? What if mastery isn’t intricate knowledge ‘within’ the system, its protocols, and its techniques they’ve chosen to dedicate their life to representing loyally and thinking they’re part of some delusionally-important generational chain? What if true mastery is knowing not to be duped into believing that the system is greater than you, knowing you control the system, that the system is nothing without you, and that it’s simply a vehicle or tool to be used to achieve a specific temporary purpose (and then move on)?

FLINCH RESPONSE(S): I’d like to leave this here as I’ve had the same belief for a long time. So many are stressing the importance of THE startle flinch response when, in fact, it should be made very clear that we have startle flinchES. There is no universal flinch response we all have to every given surprise stimulus, despite the claim of many self-defense experts. Do some people-watching. I’ve seen people scared from surprise heavily increase breathing while grabbing their heart. Getting burned by a hot stove causes an explosive pullback and often a grab of the burnt body part, but not raising the hands up in front of the face. Tripping and falling forward causes an outward/forward-moving and often double-locked arm extension but torso doesn’t retract back, for obvious reasons. (that falling thing) I’ve seen someone getting salt or sand in our eyes recoil back, not with an arm projection and body jerking back response, but with an “elbow shield” covering the eyes. Blinking without any other reaction at something light and non-damaging coming towards our face. (How does the brain distinguish?) Someone pulling your chair back at a party causes a flail or “spasm”, desperately looking for a way to regain balance. A great idea is learning to re-focus quickly on “the target” or cause of the initial surprise and at least training your brain (hitting one’s significant other from having a water fight is not recommended) to think of immediate counter-offense.

So, to summarize:

1. As stated multiple times, there is no one universal flinch (even for the same person at various times of the day/different mental states/daily intangibles/different stimuli) Watch America’s Funniest Home Videos, When Animals Attack, or any number of “Fear Factor”-like videos on Youtube for confirmation.
2. It cannot be weaponized (we can dictate what comes after, not during) To weaponize the flinch itself would come from prescience. With not knowing any of the stimuli mentioned above until  that moment, repeated prepping/training for multiple different flinches still presents a lag in selection, rendering “weaponization” moot.  The minute anything is altered, whether by experience or training, it is no longer unconscious, reflexive, or evolutionary…it’s familiar/experiential or trained. A flinch, by its very design, is a reflex (the “startle reflex”). Conscious response to known stimuli is not a flinch, it’s a conscious response projected outward.
3. Not every scenario draws a flinch. Sometimes some people, or some people in some scenarios, simply don’t flinch. It doesn’t happen 100% of the time.

A close friend happens to be a chef and over the years we’ve found that many of the knife safety rules of proper usage that apply with cooking and knife management for self-defense cross-over seamlessly. It’s an often neglected part of teaching knife as a tool for self-protection. Specific to self-defense purpose: safe carry, safe/fast/protected deployment, dropped blade protocol, accessibility, no showing off, no fancy handling for demo, blade AND point awareness, knife etiquette (handling of others’ tools, perceived but unknowing threat display), multi-uses to justify daily carry for potential legal consequence, vision to notice signs of carry in others, clean cutting over the multi-cutting flash we often see on Youtube. It’s a far cry using a blade within the art than it is practicing it for isolated and specific purpose. Whether teaching, or at least practicing for personal use, an important part of understanding and implementing proper blade use. Attached is a very simple, basic document pertaining to cooking but you can see some transferable elements already:

http://www.nfsmi.org/documentlibraryfiles/PDF/20110314110311.pdf 

In the knife community, here’s what we mean by “successful presentation.” Many tell me “Then what? What if he calls your bluff?” It’s more than this. In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada we have the largest Pinoy population in Canada. (As an aside, this is where I grew up in my combative martial arts youth, surrounded by quite gifted weapons folk, which I benefitted from being surrounded by sometimes 4-5 times a week) There are a lot of Pinoys here that can take care of themselves…FMA, boxing, street smarts, predisposition to violence…many 1st generation immigrants so they grew up in PI. In high-school, we had a group of guys that were always heavily into bodybuilding, steroids, aggression that always went out to the bars to fight and intimidate, etc.

Now this is a second-hand story but it was confirmed by the individual in question, to me directly at a later date. Roid rage with alcohol can be a very dangerous combination, often for those around the individual as they become very unpredictable and aggressive. One of the gents that I know was looking for trouble outside. He saw a short Pinoy gentleman standing outside the night club having a cigarette, minding his own business, as most Pinoys do until provoked…a target. He approached the guy and started getting in his face (easy mark: small, seemingly peaceful, not looking for trouble, having a cigarette) Face-to-face, a couple inches away, frothing at the mouth, threatening, finger in face. Next thing he knows the gentleman has a knife to his throat, pressed up against the wall, asking politely and with total calm “I’m sorry, I didn’t fucking hear you the first time, could you repeat, please.”

Turns out that while my acquaintance was beaking off, the other man had been deploying his blade while finishing his cigarette with the other hand. My acquaintance started whimpering and apologizing, actually shedding a few tears, seeing his life pass before his eyes. Naturally, the Pinoy let him go. Upon asking the guy the next time I saw him what had happened, he filled me in on these exact details, admitting he filled his drawers. He told me “Isn’t what you do FMA and knife?” I nodded and he said “Respect. Never again. Total calm and I had no idea where that weapon came from.” This is what successful blade presentation can accomplish coupled with calm, subtle deployment, surprise and the perceived will to use. It’s not just showing it as a deterrent. (Of course, legal consequences always omni-present, as usual)

I’m going to post this in response to a couple of requests on the OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) Loop. There are some I know have/can explain this with greater precision than I but I’ll get the post going and they’re welcome to add, subtract, multiply or divide. First of all, someone tried to tell me the other day that the “LOOP” is solely linear and in-order. (No, no it’s not. Webster’s can help greatly with this) Context is imperative in the processing ability of the orient and decide phases of the loop. The more context available, the better the ability to process the level and type of threat and decide on A (a, not “the”) correct action, or no action, sometimes also a completely valid response, context-dependent. How we process internally is a combination of what I call/use as “I foresee” (or i4c): a mix of *intuition (from previous like experience of similar/relatable stimuli that transfers) and external stimuli including *congruence (what’s actually happening vs. your perception/accurate previous experience, etc. – are you over- or under-reacting), *culture (prevalent here for me, what the cultural norm is in one place is not in another and will stand out), *context (the 5Ws and appropriation of the 5 – do they fit into the given context – person, activity/action, location, time-of-day, reason) and *clusters (usually more than one signal presents itself to give you growing information to validate course of action)

These can be pre-influenced internally by a number of things as well: religion, upbringing, previous training, experience, belief structure, etc. and processing speed is based on the above)
Now, this all is great outside of the ambush or surprise attack where situational/environmental awareness is a hugely beneficial tool. In my estimation, this circumstance has one fall back on an instinctive combination of proper/correct previous training and innate survival response coupled with self-control and the ability to push forward from the point-of-reference, which far too few work….knife already in stomach, on-ground being kicked, having taken a big shot, etc. etc. etc. (Another post but keeping it simple for the sake of post-length)
Though complex, all this takes a far shorter time than it takes to explain to someone else. As they’re infinite, I’m not going to delve into specific examples. As usual, the more this is researched and understood, the faster one comes to understand what happens cognitively.

While I realize this is a controversial topic, even among high-level experienced fighting exponents, I’m an advocate in training of learning not to divulge important information to your opponent on pain tolerance or threshold. Learning to control screaming/yelling, minimizing facial reactions, controlling body language under pressure, testing limits of tolerance (the maximum level of pain you can withstand, within reason or hitting a safe tolerable level) AND threshold (when you start to acknowledge pain), extending “time ’til tap” or eliminating “submission” training altogether (even the term infers of learning to submit to a superior opponent when things get tough, which can lead to bad neural conditioning), extending past your believed maximum limit in cardio, etc. Up to and including pain-conditioning itself. These elements build both critical areas of mindset and self-control/resilience mid-physical training. Stacking both simultaneously leads to faster and correct conditioning.

An example of an implementable specific breathing program that I worked on over the last few years and use for my own training. This can be for a 30-, 45-, 60-minute jogging session I go through during the week, working both aerobic and anaerobic capacity. 4 minutes at pace (whatever pace-of-the-day dictates), 1 minute bursts, 35-40 second recovery time; I tend to go late morning or early afternoon when the sun is at its hottest here, making it more of a battle of attrition and suffering, but that’s personal choice.

AT PACE – breathe in (mouth closed), out through mouth blowing, breaths in rhythm to 4 steps. (inhale for 4 steps, exhale for 4)

EXPLODE – breathe in (as with a cold, runny nose – quick “inhalations”), blow out hard (a “shhh”, as in trying to shush someone when loud, obnoxious, or disrespectful – like a misbehaving child), following the “every 4 steps” idea but with increased breathing as there’s an increase in steps.

RECOVERY – panic breathing (quick inhalation), quick exhalation (as in blowing out candles). Panic breathing puts you back in-control faster than stopping/deep breathing/abdominal breathing can and while moving-replicating stress response far more accurately, much faster recovery time

MONITORING: All the while, I’m using “autogenics” or “moving mindfulness” (paying close attention to my body’s responses: lightening steps for foot impact, knees tightening up from heavy footfall, muscles tensing, shoulders down…go up-and-down body acknowledging and fixing what’s not)

LEVELS OF BREATHING: find comfortable level (chest, mid-level far more accessible under physical exertion than the always-recommended abdominal variety). As you move into your cooldown, start moving down with your breathing until it becomes controlled abdominal/meditative breathing. (where most do yoga, meditation, qi gong, etc.)

In tai chi/qi gong we’re explained the difference in Taoist (breathe in/chest expands) vs. Buddhist (breathe in/abdomen expands) breathing but never “when” to use them. (regarding the Japanese kiai as well) For any who’ve fought, abdominal breathing during is almost impossible, which usually “internal” stylists have never done or simply don’t have a reference point. Keep your gaze up while running, pulling in details, working situational/environmental awareness under stress/close inoculation replica. (Harder than you think, often the tendency when participating in heavy exertion is to look down)This kind of breathing expunges any excess CO2 from lungs and immediately fills them with fresh air without any leftover CO2 so at their maximum capacity.  A “sigh” can be used either directly before the panic breathing or momentarily thereafter . Sometimes this is involuntarily and will happen after the burst but still acts as a calming mechanism to help keep your breathing on-line.

The goal is:  a) to start forming an anchor from walking/movement/steps to breathing. This can be transferred to daily movement as well, timing your breaths to your pace of walking, running, wheelchair rotations…whatever preferred.

b) to control your breathing throughout the activity, never having to gasp, pant or hyperventilate, over the length of the run, thus learning to correlate your movement with your breathing. I’ve noticed, since implementing this into my training regimen, a far greater stamina in activities related to combat (grappling, clinchwork, boxing, stickfighting, knife sparring, etc.), a far shorter recovery period and a greater explosiveness during training.”

To add, while I agree with much of the attention paid to the idea of “being gray” (blending in, #3 in the “On Concealment” article), I think it’s often harder than many give it credit for. It’s not just solely “being gray” but being truly adaptive and improvisational to the social circumstances dictated (in another culture, for instance), where prying eyes or different orders are often watching within those same circles. I had to alter some adaptation methods that work very well in Canada to acclimitize here in CR as they simple failed and exposed me to some situations that I otherwise would have avoided easily.

Here overlying societal and traditional stigmas can sometimes cause someone foreign to stand out in a greater way than they even imagine and I’ve seen it countless times with North Americans living here. (and poor patterning, cultural awareness and lack of transferable skillsets to the new environment are big drivers here and often go unrecognized) And it’s most often them that become targets for low- and high-level criminals. It’s sometimes a very profound element when living abroad. Me blending as a white, blue-eyed, North American in transparent ways is simply not achievable but dress, language ability, colloquialisms, acceptance of certain cultural aspects and ability to blend with both lower-, middle- and upper-classes (that have very different stigmas and I have times where I’m accessible to all, sometimes in the same day) give greater tools.

For me, here, #3 is a far greater ability of equal value to the other two whereas, for others on the page, it may have far lesser value. (Intra-state, intra-province holds minimal need for big changes and can be adapted to fairly easily, granted and admitted)