Making starts

All martial arts are about action. They are about crystallising sensory input, consciousness and physical dexterity.

All actions start with a thought. A single decision must be made before we can move. That decision is "it's time to move". 

In 2008, the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig published their research into the relationship between thoughts and actions. Basically, they set up experiments where they could measure the brain activity of a person who was conducting physical activity. Their brain signals were monitored and timed. 

In the study, published in Nature Neuroscience, participants could decide if they wanted to press a button with their left or right hand. They were free to make this decision whenever they wanted, but had to remember at which time they felt they had made up their mind. The aim of the experiment was to find out what happens to the brain in the period just before the person felt the decision was made.

What they discovered was quite amazing. It seems that before we make a "conscious" decision to do something, our unconscious mind is already preparing us for movement. Scientists have surmised that this would prevent our conscious minds being clogged with the many thousands of minor decisions that make up our day.

So what relevance does this have to martial arts? There are practitioners who seem to move like lightning, and with reflexes that are simply amazing. This is no accident, and does not come from building big muscles and heavy exercises. Sharpness comes through repetition. Even slow training like Tai Chi will eventually increase speed of reflexes, as the memory of the movement helps the unconscious mind to prepare for movement in detail.

From a philosophical standpoint, the Buddhist saying is "a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step." 

...Only we now know that even before we decided to take that single step, our unconscious mind had made that decision for us. 

... Or perhaps, the single step is an unconscious thought that we have yet to perceive.

Either way, as we struggle to make the right decisions, perhaps the answers are there already. We just have to find a way listen to our unconscious mind.

Latency in Martial Arts

Ever had an argument with someone and not come out of it well because it happened so fast that you could not express yourself correctly? It's terrible. You spend the next few days thinking about all the things you could have said. It can play on your mind for a long time. 

One of the biggest deciding factors in any conflict (physical or verbal) is your personal latency. 

The word Latency is used in many fields of industry. For the sake of this article, the engineering definition for latency is as follows:

Latency is a measure of time delay experienced in a system, the precise definition of which depends on the system and the time being measured.


My definition of latency for a martial artist is:

Latency is a measure of time delay experienced between the sensory observation of danger and the correct physical reaction.

My father told me a story of a soldier who came back from war. His family celebrated his safe return by throwing a party. During the party, his daughter surprised him by jumping on his back, and he swung around and smashed a glass in her face. Although this is a very sad and  extreme example, the soldier interpreted his sensory input as danger, and as a result, did not  deploy the correct physical reaction.

Whether it is a heated debate, or someone trying to mug you for your money, life forces you to make decisions quickly. If you do the wrong thing, it is probably because the parameters of your latency have been compromised. The price you pay can be high. So what can you do to improve your latency and enable you to make the correct decisions quicker? Let's take a look at some of the things that slow you down and how to make improvements:

Body weight: If you cannot handle your own body weight correctly, you cannot hope to physically react quickly - whether it is running away or just moving out of trouble, making yourself physically mobile is your highest priority. 

Economy of effort: Learning to move correctly will not only reduce your day-to-day physical stress, but will improve your ability to move quickly. Any martial arts class will give you a way to do this. 

Experience in physical contact: Self-defence classes and martial arts classes are very good at putting you into non-threatening physical contact with other people. They enable you to discover more about how the human body works.

No formal training: Violence is - by it's very nature - chaotic. Having a technique - a set way of defending yourself is very important. Having faith in that technique is even more important than you think.

Sensitivity: By this, I mean two things. The first is the ability to read situations and people's body language. If you are aware that you are angering someone, you can change your approach or walk away before the conflict becomes physical. The second is in a physical conflict, where you should be able to use all your senses to observe your opponent's state. This will give you the important information to end the conflict.

Fear, anger and other negative emotions: This is by far the largest barrier to your latency (remember this is about making the correct physical reaction). Fear roots your feet to the ground, turns your brain to mush or makes you over-react to situations. Anger makes you resort to violence where none was required.  One of the biggest differences between modern martial arts that have evolved in the ring, and the more ritualistic, traditional arts is that the modern arts do not have any strategy for calming the mind.

The more ritualistic traditional arts have elevated their practice to a higher level than mere ring craft. They transcend physical conflict and in doing so, resolve many of the reasons for it. There is a taoist phrase that sums it up:

"There are two types of people. The warrior and the sage. The warrior is a powerful person who covers his own weaknesses and exposes the weaknesses of his enemies. The sage merely has no weaknesses. He gives himself up, and in doing so, gains everything."

Making room for things

There's no getting away from it... My house is full. Two children, all their toys. It's bedlam here. Something has to change. But what? Do we have a throw-out of old toys and junk? Do we buy a new house? Do we get an extension on our present house? Do we re-organise furniture? 

There are so many options. 

When meditating on this problem a couple of weeks ago, I was struck by a realisation that our lives are like this. Sometimes we want to change, but we cannot  because there is no room in our lives for change. It made me think about the bigger picture of how I was living my life.

I came to the realisation that there was a lot of emotional clutter caused by useless activities I was doing, simply because other people wanted me to do them.  I decided to stop doing these things. Now let me be clear, there is a lot of things that people ask me to do, which are useful. These things, I continue to do. This is not a slackers mandate.

I started this two weeks ago, and although at times it has been challenging, I have space in my life again. But a strange thing has happened. New opportunities have started to present themselves to me. It seems that the meditation is correct - you cannot possibly get new things and change in your life until you make room for them.

As for the house - I guess a clear out is on the horizon. Now I just need to work out what we need and what we don't. As far as my stuff is concerned, it is easy. Somehow, I think my Wife and the children's stuff will be a more difficult issue.

Something new is coming

I recently attended a social evening at a new consciousness centre in Somerset.

Nestled in the tiny hamlet of Otterhampton, the Parsonage Side Retreat is the brainchild of the Bexx family and the culmination of many years of hard work. They have taken an old set of buildings  and created a nurturing space with accommodation for 17, and large rooms for hire and meditation spaces.

Those who are familiar with the Monroe Institute and their use of Binaural technology will feel right at home with PSR's state-of-the-art CHEC units. Nestled within these small rooms, advanced sounds are played to alter your state of consciousness and allow you to experience profound states of meditation, learning, focus or relaxation.

Other more conventional activities are already planned, with healing, meditations, chanting and consciousness workshops. Visit the website to find out their up and coming schedule.

As I sit and ponder this impressive facility that the Bexx family have created, my mind is drawn to one of my favourite quotes by Rumi: 

‎"Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love."

To me, it is clear that they have been strongly drawn by love to create a space for exploration, contemplation, healing and discovery. It is evident in the very fabric of the building - a building that will be the foundation for positive change for many, many years to come.

Ten percent worry

About two months ago, I was playing on the sofa with my 1 year old daughter. She grabbed my arm and I jumped through the roof in unexpected pain. On closer inspection, I found a sizeable lump under the skin. There was no discolouration of the skin or any pain - just when it was grabbed by a small child with sharp nails. It looked for the world like a cyst of some kind.

But it played on my mind, and later that evening, I searched my body and found two other lumps. One was about 4 inches from the original lump, and the other was under my other arm, near my armpit.

I scoured a couple of medical dictionaries, and made a self-diagnosis of Lipomas. Lipomas are benign cysts of fibrous material that appear in the layer of fat under the skin. There is no medical reason why they appear, they just do. I was 90% sure that these lumps were Lipomas. I rang the doctor's surgery several times to make appointments, and the administrators were so unhelpful, I decided to wait a couple of weeks until I had some time off work.

When I finally got an appointment, my doctor took one look and said they were probably Lipomas, but that I should go for an ultrasound scan to be 100% sure that they weren't malignant cancers. 

I was very pleased that the doctor agreed with what I thought, and went along to the scan. The doctor who took me through the scan explained everything. We saw the first tumour, and we could see clearly that it was the correct colour and that there was no blood supply. He repeated the procedure with the other two lumps, and they all showed up as Lipomas.

It was at that moment that I realised that the 10% of doubt had been weighing me down for a month. I really don't like worrying about things going wrong until I am certain that things have gone wrong. But it goes to show that doubt can drag you down and lay you low.

So what have I learned about this?

• Doctors' receptionists are a layer of unqualified triage. If you have a worry, be assertive and insist. I could have saved two weeks of worry if I had been more insistent. If my tumours had been malignant, I would have delayed vital treatment.
• If you find a lump, get it checked out by qualified doctors and specialists as soon as possible. Not knowing is far worse than you think.

Ultimately, it has been a timely reminder of my mortality and that I should be living my life more. I'm not sure how this shall take form, but watch this space.....

The age of the phone?

The last 3 years have seen an explosion in the popularity of smart phones. Whether you want one or not, unless you have lived under a stone, it's impossible to avoid seeing one in action.  

These phones are like mini computers, allowing the user to not only make telephone calls, but also manage communication and information from a variety of sources, including SMS messaging, internet, email and wifi networks. They take and edit photographs, play music and films. The very latest ones now offer face-to-face video calls. 

I believe that these communication devices were inevitable. As humans, we have an instinctive desire to keep in contact with the people we care about. As more and more of our lives is consumed by the demands for work, the smartphone allows us to keep reassuring each other without having to step away from our desks or shops. Conspiracy theorists would no doubt have a field day with this idea. However, it brings me to my first point..

Are we becoming too reliant on this technology for reassurance? Is it a crutch? Undoubtedly, many people will be using their phones as a means of emotional support. It is so reassuring to know that the emergency services, all your friends, and all of the information and all  the services that the internet offers are there for you - instantly. You can get your friends social status and personal information at the touch of a button. A recent survey with teenagers said that they would rather go without anything else than their phones (perhaps this is no surprise to parents of teenagers!). Are we breeding a generation of phone junkies who fall apart when separated from their phones? Perhaps.....

But, I truly believe the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks. There are so many areas of society who have benefitted from the smartphone. Many people fear information overload. I consider this as a challenge to our generations, but future ones will adapt. I see the increasing complexity of our technology as a sign of humanity's collective consciousness improving. The more connections we make, the more knowledge we share and the more issues we discuss will only serve to broaden our understanding of what it is to be human.

Love them or loathe them... smart phones are going to be with us for a while. The challenge will not be whether we can make new technologies, but whether we can resist using them for personal gain at the expense of others - like warfare, unethical selling and spying.

Modern Weapons

One of the joys of learning traditional martial arts is that you get to train with some pretty interesting weapons. There are swords, knives, sabres, spears, whips and all manner of sticks. Personally, I love the Chinese Straight Sword (or Jian). I find it a quick, light, precise weapon that suits my body size and style. I love the movements and postures. The Chen sword form is one of my favourite forms.

But in the real world, how can I possibly carry my sword down the street without attracting lethal retribution from the local rapid response unit? In short - I can't. It is against the law for me to have a sword in public when I am not travelling to and from my place of practice. And what's more - swords are a relic from a bygone era. You are more likely to be confronted by an attacker with a concealed weapon like a knife or a gun. If an assailant has a gun, your sword is going to be pretty useless.

There are a whole plethora of small weapons that can be concealed. One of the most popular is a metal pen that can be used as a weapon:

But to be honest, any hard, blunt object can be jabbed into your assailant's tender spots - sharp handle to a brush - anything. Use your imagination.

Have you seen "The Men Who Stare At Goats"? It is a film about an American military group who were inspired by the new age movement. It is an interesting subtle film - well worth a look. But what has caught the imagination of modern martial artists has been this clip:

This is an actual weapon that was produced - and is still being used by the US troops in Iraq.

This seemingly innocent piece of plastic is used to exert pressure against the vulnerable parts of the body to cause pain. This pain can be used to neutralise an attack and then as an aid to make your assailant compliant.

Although the movie calls them "Predators", they are called "Defenders" in the shops. I have one of these weapons, and I have to say they are brilliant. Although they are ruthlessly efficacious, I don't believe they are a good weapon to carry, because they do not have an innocent use. Even a hand gun can be used to hunt for food (theoretically). There is no innocent use for the Defender. It is purely designed to inflict pain.

Traditional weapons like nunchucks, three-piece staffs and the 10 piece whips were all based on rice flails - things that were in everyday use during simpler times. So consider the applications that the Defender videos show, and try to find everyday things that are close to hand - like pens, keys, hairbrushes, coins, combs, torches (maglites) etc. They could become your best friend in an emergency.