Our bodies and minds are built with a level of tolerance.

Our bodies joints, connective tissue, muscles and all other systems are built to perform in different conditions and evolution and our behavior created a biological machine with the ability to survive and even thrive in conditions that would kill many other animals on this planet.

Our ability to fast is unique and if you take humans and other members of the ape family and starve them. The humans will be the only ones to survive. There are many other examples and this principal lives in our tissue and in the operating system which governs it.

Our minds too have a capacity to survive many horrors and trials. History shows how the human spirit has both the will and drive to survive and make its mark.

When we regard striking, too much force creates a balancing force in the nervous system. The body’s defenses create a counter balance of tension or muscle activation in the opposite direction to avoid injury in the muscle tissue or a tear between the tendons and the lesser strong structurally muscles. Proper training with tempo in mind will ease this natural mechanism and build deeper awareness to the movement and also the required strength and coordination in the body tissue and movement to allow the body to produce more force without excess tension.

Divide your speed into ten gears and start at one. Start striking and playing with your partners at speed of a stroll and with attention to the speed of your breath, let the speed come to you and with patience let the speed increase while avoiding the pitfalls of excess tension masked in lack of awareness.

Breath is key here in the process of unlocking both speed and power. Force is a measure our egos cherish but winning is not achieved by the heavy sword but by the swift and agile blade. Place your focus on the breath and on the marriage between movements in different parts of the body to create one whole. Here, the joining of the parts vastly outweighs the sum.

Coordination comes both inward and outward. First we regarded breath and then comes the coordination outward. Start at the soles of the feet. Do they press the ground or move on it with ease. Do the feet move from the muscles of the legs or from the hips? Does the center of mass reside between the legs and stay there or can it move to aid in your strikes and other movements?

Angles are to be assessed and chosen with care. A sword hitting on the blunt side or even a few angles off the tip of the blade will not go further than skin and may not end the fight. The same way that pressure with one angle will tighten a screw and the opposite will unscrew it, we can create the same affect on a human body and in our daily toils by being first sensitive and secondly open to shift the angle in the exchange between contact and impact.

Twist is another factor in striking well. Aiming to twist limbs and body will end up in excess pressure. Begin by letting the body move within the breadth of one breath back and forth and as you feel moving side to side and turning is comfortable and easy, climb the same ladder as done when approaching speed and allow the body to spread the twist throughout the body. Twist on contact should not be considered twist but screw as in a sinking into the contact type of movement. The different layers of tissue, pressure and tension require dynamic movement shifts to continue moving with the entire body and avoid attempting to overpower a single point or line in favor of the entire person.

Vector  is the direction an object is going toward. When striking, we usually commit to a vector before contact and in doing so, we lose so much in the interplay between contact and impact. Nature does not waste and all the receptors in our limbs and body are there to help us use our movement in the best direction and that the direction changes from moment to moment. Contact comes first and by using our body alignment and mass, we are able to strike much deeper than using just force and speed. Alignment in posture and in how we move in contact decides how our power manifests in the contact. Alignment allows us to use minimal muscle activation and optimal freedom of movement to create a strike which is both affective and unharming to the sender.

choice of contact – Students of the martial art are used to aim their strikes with particular knuckles in their firsts. Their knees or any other body part their martial art favors. Actual battle is liquid poured over a searing surface. Drops of blood flying and other parts as well. Aim with what you will but be open in mind and heart to change what is in use from elbow to shoulder, from toes to knees and striking to grappling to using a pinch of dirt on the ground. Once we open ourselves to this, the options are boundless and a block becomes just another step toward where we aim.

Intent – Both love and hate are strong drives and both are used in novels to push the protagonist to the goal. There are however side effects which mar the movement and affect when we strike with malice or a desire to win. A healthy ego is a vital part of us but when we place our desire to harm in our fists, elbows and heads, the outcome is detrimental and our center is shifted outside ourselves in a way which hampers with our attention to location and outcome and the quality of the movement and affect are lessened. Striking with the intent of lessening the aggression (fear/anger) of the contact will allow for better calculation of movement and avoid responding to the fear prompt the outside is sending you in a

Obsession with the plan – There is a sense of security and trust in executing a plan. We plan travel routes and are so used to working according to plans that taking a stroll without a route seems unnatural these days. Blocks to strikes work because we try to force one plan over intuition and sensory awareness. When we release our obsession with executing a plan and let our bodies and minds figure things up, the envelope of the objective can evolve as the encounter evolves and we can become both mission oriented and flexible on how to get there. Then, there will be less blocking and more intuition available to all.

Seeing what is invisible – Till now, we dealt with what we know and feel. That is by nature, just part of the story.

Here, I find that games are the best way to unravel what is unsees as they allow us to open our eyes without the hampering of our egos.

Check where your balance lies,

Check where there is movement without need,

Check where there is muscle activation which serves nothing of use,

Check where your eyes are focused or not and does it serve you,

1. Freeze frame – have a third party or a automated cue to freeze while in practice and as you freeze. You will analyze your excess tension, your alignment and movement and how and where the balance lies and how it can be done better.
2. Lights out – have a third party or a automated cue to open and close your eyes. Examine first your balance and then go from top to bottom and self-explain how your body is aligned, sifted, turned and so on and how does it serve you.
3. Pull the rope – have a rope tied to a limb and have a friend pull on it as you first walk, roll and jump. Continue to a contact with a partner as your rope handler pulls whenever the opportunity for a lesson arises.
4. Tension play – A little finger or a little toe is usually out of mind and that is a pity. Start by performing regular movements while holding tension in a small part of the body and then repeating without the tension.

Continue to tensing the entire body and letting the tension go as contact is made. Allow the body alignment to collapse and in a ladder of tension, find how your alignment serves you best in different situations. This requires first to let go of structure and then see what comes naturally in the moment without excess or pretense.

Go deeper by running through movements and contact using different levels of tension in different parts of the body. This will bring greater awareness and dispel the myth of relaxing. There is no use in relaxing or in telling someone to let go of tension they are unaware of. Bring your tension to the surface and then let your body and aim guide it to the proper level the moment requires.

• Breathless – Tell someone to inhale and they will inhale. Tell someone to keep breathing and it will dissipate in a few minutes.

Start by letting yourself move only as a continuation of breath. This forces us to start all with the breath or from within.

Continue by choosing to either inhale or exhale as a partner gifts you with contact. This dispels the wrong assumption that there is just one right answer and allow the body and mind transition from react to act with proper application and mindfulness.

Dive deeper here