Instinctive
Response
(Extracted from Aikido-L)
Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 22:28:42 -0500
From: Mike Bartman
Subject: Re: pix again (was Re: Next Seminar (was Re: pix up - beta test)
I've been off the mat for just over a month now (though I get to go back on
Friday, so long as I start slow and watch for flashes and other problems), but
apparently something has stuck around anyway.
Yesterday I was leaving a fast food place, when I got to see what my
"instinctive" reactions are these days. It wasn't a major issue...just a young
employee running around a corner unexpectedly, apparently from another employee
that he had just played some trick on. I'd just gone out the door, and he came
around the corder of the building about a foot to my right, not expecting there
to be anyone there. It wasn't an attack, but it was unexpected...I heard his
footsteps a fraction of a second before he rounded the corner at a run.
In the past when this sort of thing has happened I've just put up my arms to
fend the person off, pushing on them to slow them down, or keep the impact at
arm's length. I'm not usually in danger of getting knocked down, so I don't
tend to think of dodging out of the way as a smaller person might. In this case
it was different.
As my peripheral vision saw something move to my right, and my ears reported
sounds of running, my right arm came up, with the left sort of following a bit.
It wasn't to fend off or push though...the hand turned palm toward the person,
and I started to turn to face him, while a feeling of hooking the back of his
neck and doing a tenkan to my left appeared. That's as far as it got, as he
grabbed the door handle, as he'd apparently been planning to do, and whipped
himself around into the building. I'm not sure he really noticed me as he went
past...he was concentrating on escaping whover he thought was chasing
him...which seemed to be nobody close. My total physical reaction was the arm
raise and a very slight twist that was the start of the tenkan...by that time I
realized he wasn't going to collide, and aborted the whole thing to keep walking
to my car.
[ * Moderator: Cut * ]
I don't know of any technique with a name that fits what I was starting to do,
but it does seem to be in keeping with several principles. I'd planned (ok,
started to do...I figured out what I was starting to do afterward, not ahead of
time :^) to hook the back of his neck with my right hand as I tenkanned to my
left to make way for where he would go, thus supplying a "pull" to keep him
moving in the direction he was headed, since my arm is only just so long. The
left hand could supply more push if needed...and there was a wall about 6-10'
away in the direction he'd be headed, if he managed to stay on his feet. I was
also relaxed, not tense, and didn't tense up at any point....at least I don't
think I was...felt relaxed.
Like I said, not a technique, but it involves some principles (like don't
oppose, add to, don't block, spin, get off the line, etc.). The neat thing was
that it was my initial reaction to an unexpected situation, and it's not the
reaction I've had in such situations in the past. Maybe I am learning something
after all? Now if I could just learn techniques, ukemi, and the names for
everything...
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Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 18:35:34 +0100
From: "James R. Acker"
Subject: Re: pix again (was Re: Next Seminar (was Re: pix up - beta test)
From: "Mike Bartman"
> reported sounds of running, my right arm came up, with the left sort of
> following a bit. It wasn't to fend off or push though...the hand turned
> palm toward the person, and I started to turn to face him, while a feeling
> of hooking the back of his neck and doing a tenkan to my left appeared.
> That's as far as it got, as he grabbed the door handle, as he'd apparently
> been planning to do, and whipped himself around into the building.
It's pretty cool when that happens. I hav had similar experiences but they are
still novel enought that I stop and think "hey...that was a much better response
than I used to have".
The other side of the coin is once in a while I notice when instinctively I do
the wrong thing, for example turn a corner and almost run into someone and offer
my back instinctively as I go by.
Even just language-wise...about 50% of the time when I really am surprised I say
the american "oops", and 50% of the time the noewegian "Heisann"...
instinctive reactions take time to change...
Jim
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Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 13:22:25 -0500
From: Mike Bartman
Subject: Re: pix again (was Re: Next Seminar (was Re: pix up - beta test)
At 06:35 PM 3/25/02 +0100, James R. Acker wrote:
>It's pretty cool when that happens. I hav had similar experiences but they are
still novel enough that I stop and think "hey...that was a much better
response than I used to have".
I'm just taking it as a clue that some of the principles are getting
implanted...and yes, it's pretty cool. ;^)
>The other side of the coin is once in a while I notice when instinctively I do
the wrong thing, for example turn a corner and almost run into someone
and offer my back instinctively as I go by.
Yow! I've never done that! I always face folks as I pass them (except in
packed crowds of course). I guess that one got implanted a long time ago.
Probably in Jr. High.
[ * Moderator: Cut * ]
>instinctive reactions take time to change...
Yep, but they do change if you keep at it.
Tends to make me think they aren't so much instinctive, as just learned very
early in life.
-- Mike "there are probably some truee instincts at the 'urge' level though"
Bartman --
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Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 19:47:25 +0100
From: "James R. Acker"
Subject: Re: pix again (was Re: Next Seminar (was Re: pix up - beta test)
From: "Mike Bartman"
> >The other side of the coin is once in a while I notice when instinctively
> I do the wrong thing, for example turn a corner and almost run into someone
> and offer my back instinctively as I go by.
>
> Yow! I've never done that! I always face folks as I pass them (except in
> packed crowds of course). I guess that one got implanted a long time ago.
> Probably in Jr. High.
The strange part is, I didn't used to do that either. I think it is a new
thing....although, I do remember when I was in kenpo karate, in the 80s, my
first full contact fight with a much taller, bigger opponent....he started a
roundhouse kick like from Cleveland, I had all the time in the world and
yet...somehow I though shifting so it "only" hit my back was the thing to do...I
think I got a hairline fracture in the tailbone...ever since then I sit in a
seat more than an hour or so and I get practically crippled when I get up again.
Maybe is IS a habit...not a good one anyway.
[ * Moderator: Cut * ]
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Date: Tue, 26 Mar 2002 00:03:43 -0000
From: Simon Watkins
Subject: Mike flows (was pix//
[ * Moderator: Cut * ]
> 's not the reaction I've had in such situations in the past. Maybe I am
> learning something after all? Now if I could just learn techniques,
> ukemi, and the names for everything...
>
> -- Mike "anyone else notice this sort of thing in themselves?" Bartman
yep thats what its all about. sometimes you do it without any training. But
hopefully the Frequency with wich natural Aiki responses kick in will improve
with practise. I know It doesnt kick in As often As I would likeand Isuspect
That When It Does kick in It would often not flow.on. The moment when It hits my
Internal Censor the ones that say hang on Its just a lad dodging his mates stops
the flow dead I suspect. Somehow flow and evaluation must be combined.
Simon
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Last updated on 13 Sep 2002