Take a friend or a kid and two or more tennis balls. Mark one or more of them in a pattern or color and walk around your partner while he is standing. Throw the ball at him and say the color or marking out loud with this designation. If the color match the ball the partner will move out of the way and intercept the ball and continue to throw it to you with the least amount of stoppage or change in direction and if the color doesn’t match he will just move out of the way. You can do this with almost any object but tennis balls tend to leave less scarring on the face if you accidently impact hard. In a room without expensive chinaware it is also beneficial to note the bouncing about and the ricochets of the bouncing balls. Remember to keep breathing and to keep the eyes relaxed and not on the ball. Look at more than one thing at once and your coordination will relax into action better with little time.
Month: October 2009
Have a partner place their fist on your neck and press. Feel the tension from your body resisting the movement and allow the leg which is in the direction or closest to the continouation of the press to negate the movement and no more. Have your feet rest under your hips and your hips above your feet so when the neck is under pressure your entire body spreads the pressure and moves to avoid injury and no more. Do this with eyes closed and from all directions without aggressiveness. This way you have the chance to clean out the flinch and the fear control over you and you can use them as tools rather than them wielding you. Continue to spread the fists over the entire body and also have your partner squat close to you and press the legs and hips with his fists. It is a good way to relax and to move naturally. Once you covered the entire body move to the head and here allow the fist to align with the contact without becoming uncomfortable as the pusher and as the person being pushed remember the eyes are very soft and avoid sticking someone else thumbs there.
Breath without stop during the drill paying attention to let the breath stay within bounds of comfort as well. Avoid pulling too much air inside and becoming stiff and avoid breathing to shallow and becoming less dense.
Both should have their eyes free from focusing solely on the partner. The worlds is big and there are a lot of people with tire irons…
Place yourself in a position such as the static push up and have a partner walk toward you and away from you. Your job is to strike him in any way you can without creating discomfort for yourself in twisting or bending of the spine. Keep your eyes relaxed and remember to think of yourself first. This way you learn to strike from a point of comfort and avoid getting into an uncomfortable position just to hit.
If you are already in an uncomfortable position like being chocked from behind repeat the drill and avoid escalating your discomfort.
Even if you have a knife to your body you can lessen the injury. When you give up you are hurting yourself and that makes no sense. This does not mean you need to look hard and tough. Sometimes you can survive using your wits and communication. In fact most life is like that and it is a shame not to use skills you are honing each day. Consider though that we work on breathing and moving and when you add talking you need to first maintain your awareness of the former and add to this. This way you will not be completely out of the water and it is wise to work on this before it happens.
Give your partner a whip rope or a stick and have him close first one eye. Now try to reach him first with your feet as he swings and moves himself to either deter and avoid you and you change places and closed eye from time to time. Next close both eyes and work again minding to keep the movement minimal and paying attention to the speed we work in. Breath and note if fear is driving you or you are choosing at which speed to move. The stick drill is also great to do while sitting on the ground and moving in this way.
Keep an open mind and change heights and locomotion as the work requires.
Take a partner and walk toward him to hold or hit him as you please. His drill is to push you or hit you and you work to first evade with the body and to use his movement to bring him to you. For example if he raises a hand to push you away, make contact with it and come through the channel it creates while you use his movement to add some of yours. If he wants to push you away than his arm is moving away from him with force and you simply add a bit to it to connect and control his movement. A beginning where you simply make contact to just feel his movement will aid you greatly in this drill to understand when to start moving and how to move with him rather than try to impose your own intern.
Once you are close and your legs are inside him (meaning you can place your feet or one foot within his or very close and you know you can move freely with his body without learning or bending your own form) place one hand or arm gently on his head and with a step bring your head and your hand to lever his head with the movement of your body moving. This takes paying attention to your movement as most tend to tense up and use force to bring the person to them but this also plants us in place and limits both sight and awareness on our side. Use your legs for walking and eyes to look around so you remain free and aware of what is around you. There will be a clip to show the work later on. Once you are all comfortable with this work using your heads work with headbutts and the aforementioned tactic of bringing the partner to you using whatever he brings you to lever him down and once he is down start kicking your partner to help him learn that staying in the same place is not always a good idea with someone you are at his feet.
Keep breathing and remember to keep the mouth closed and relaxed through this drill unless you are over amorous of your dentist 🙂
With a partner hit each other one at a time using either limbs or the body taking 10 breaths to complete each movement. Use your body and limbs to escort the attack to you without moving away at first and simply feeling the movement and the tension in your partner. This looks weird but it lets you move with your partner without trying to move him and thus to actually feel without fear and tension. Do a few of those from different sides and different limbs. Now pay attention to where your body wants to go as you feel the tension from the attack and let the body move as you still let the limbs simply touch and feel the attack ( you may feel you are already moving him or her without intention because he will feel the lack of resistance and his movement will be grander than his intention) Do this for a while and work on matching his or her speed or less so you avoid flinching by awareness. Start to move as you feel the tension and now while in contact feel where there is an opening and add to the movement still keeping with the 10 breaths per movement and keep the breaths even and relaxed. This is a hard drill especially in the beginning where if feels ridiculous to guide the hits in but consider that when you clean the tension and fear and allow your partner or partners to enter, you will be free to do as you wish as you are within the movement.
Take a partner and cradle his head in your hand on your body. Start by turning in all directions at normal height and than on half and full squat. Add to the turn another direction such as back and to the right and again follow all heights. Now add bending and curving your body in a way to make the head more comfortable on your body, for example you create an inner curve in your right chest as you turn right and bend forward and go to half height. During this both work on breathing without stop and on staying as comfortable as possible. Try to work so you choose your steps and alignment rather than complying with another. This way you will be free even in the hold. Continue by repeating the drill on the ground sitting and laying flat and here add another focus to use your eyes all the time and to spread you awareness all around rather than what is already in reach. Give yourself permission to reach the heavens first with your eyes. Continue by using your legs to lever your partners body and limbs in movement in order to control them more aptly and remember to avoid getting levered yourself by keeping your breath and tension within your awareness and having the right goal.
A third partner with a whip to let you know when you forget to use your eyes and calm your mind is a great add on to this and any drill.
The Martial Art of Walking 