It is obvious when people apply force on us they want a response that meets their expectations. Any deviations from this will cause frustration and other emotional and mental effects on them. One of the simplest and most affective to work with is pushing and pulling on your partner.
Start by one person standing and his or her partner placing one hand on them with no tension. The standing person works with his body to push the hand and relaxes a few times and then you change the location of the hand and repeat this drill. This shows you how you tense up against unwanted contact and from awareness you can clean this excess tension from your body and head.
Repeat this basic drill while half down on the squat and here you have an added bonus of working on two things at once both tensing against the contact and remaining free from excess tension while in the half squat. It is important to remember the word ALSO in your general work as what we do does not come to replace anything but to contribute to what it is you want to do. If you are paying attention to your breathing it cannot come instead of paying attention to the direction of your barrel or your hands on the wheel. This allows you to extend your awareness rather than focus it as a pin from here to there and be more alive in life and not just in practice.
Once you worked your awareness to this tensing up against contact move to being pushed and pulled lightly by a partner or more and you simply move with the contact with no resistance to see the effect it has on you with no resistance.
Now start walking from A to be and have your partner come to push and pull you whenever he wants and you work to do two things at once. You move with your partner and continue to move to B at the same time. If for example you are walking toward the tree and your partner is pulling your neck backwards you still have freedom in your legs hips and spine to move in the direction you want (escape evade or simply get home to the lovely wife) and since we worked on awareness to the tension coming from contact we can release it with the continued breathing and keep being free without resisting or using as little force as possible.
Repeat this drill a few times and add sticks to push and pull with starting with the broad side and advancing to the tips (not in the eyes people unless your partner stole your glass eye…) since sticks allow you to further understand your body reactions and the freedom the body has in all the parts rather than focusing on the outer contact.
Once this is done hand your partner a stick with no pointy ends and have him stand in place. You will work toward him from different directions and he will place an obstacle in your way using the long side of the stick. Work this drill and change places frequently or even with a third party calling out the switch so your mind will release the role it takes and simply breath and move.
Continue to having your partner walk with the stick and you come to place your arms around him (placing your arms around his legs without stopping is one way to do it) and he uses both the long and short of the stick to move you and remain free. It is important to the work of the stick person to avoid becoming a pusher or trying to keep the oncoming “hug” at a fixed distance and work freely with what fits the moment you are in (sometimes you push, sometimes pull and sometimes with awareness you can see where your partners are not paying attention and you can control their movement by touch alone there)
Move to both partners trying to place their arms around each other without the other persons arms or legs around you and here one side will alternate at will working to get his job done or just staying free with no limitations to his movement. The partner will experience these differnet levels of work and will be able to notice how his own work is dependent on the nature of work in his contact and thus clean his mind and body from this type of leaning on outside behaviour.
Have fun and work honestly
Month: November 2010
Survive the tool in YOUR HAND
We often work against attacks which involve tools such as stick knives shovels and the like but not hurting yourself with your own tools is seldom practiced. People who for example work with long light blades such as machetes know that drawing the blade back from a cut using just the arm can end in it coming back to the source of the movement which is your body (please consider how much you can affectively learn from this sentence alone)
Start by holding a tightly rolled magazine in your hand and have a partner work to have your relaxed hand hit you and your job is to do the least amount of work to avoid getting hurt. Continue to the excellent standing drill of person A needs to get person B to point X and again A works to use the magazine to his favor and B works to avoid getting hurt and to not reach point B (not an elephant trunk)
Continue to do the same drill only now hold unto a full length stick such as a walking stick or a mop and once you feel more comfortable with the stick replace it with a hammer. People think you must be effortless all the time and once you are good you will not be using force at all and that is silly. If you need to push a car you will use force. If you need to drive a person from A to B you can use much less force but still move yourself and working with unbalanced tools such as a hammer will help you clean out the misconception of work not being just that work. Remember we aim to employ the least amount of force and harm to ourselves and others and we can truly do great things, all of us but only honesty will get us there.
Once the hammer is done with you start with a chain and use great care as you will have less and less control of it if you resist your partner or partners in this drill and the role of the chain in this drill is to show you how much we tense and resist when there is no benefit to us by acting so. The more you will tense up and try to move others you will be hurt by the chain in your hand. The more you will move yourself you will have the chain by your side.
Now let us use a great new tool called a flat trowel which we will use before the knife to be able to push and lever with it on the body and limbs. The shape of it like an upside down triangle which is opposite to a regular sticking knife and thus allows us to explore evading harm to ourselves in an expanded way. Because the angle is revered you will feel a point boring into you whenever you decide to play smart with the blade and rotate on the tip which you can do on a static plastic blade but not on a real moving one especially if you are holding the blade and your partner is wisely taking advantage on your reluctance to move yourself.
Once this is done and the bricks are in a row repeat with a not too sharp blade and remember breathing and paying attention is key and not winning a practice drill. The more ego you have the less you learn about yourself and the less good you can achieve.
The Martial Art of Walking 