Protective Arts

ARTIFACTS OF TRAINING

I have used the phrase ‘artifacts of training’ sporadically to refer to conditioned responses that result from improper training assumptions and methods. One of the most notable is the ‘sensei effect.’

The sensei effect works on both teacher and student – the student ‘over-reacts’ to the instructor’s input (making any given technique look more effective) and this only further reinforces the perceived divide between them in skill. It is a psychological barrier at best and at worst it can lead to delusions.

Numerous ‘habits’ can betray a student – where they learned by their mannerisms. Do they raise a tepid hand to stop an atemi without moving the target – trusting that the symbolic block will be respected? Are students cutting through the target or reflexively stopping short? Do ukes anticipate the technique and start to move into position prior to being moved? I see all these artifacts of training and worry because they impede development.

A recent meditation by James Keating illustrated more subtle artifacts of training – including the simple act of wearing a gi.[1]

The current vogue in self-defense training is ‘reality based training’ which usually has a ‘force on force’ component. I agree entirely. It is impossible to argue with the training theory that the closer the encounter is to reality that it will provide invaluable experience. The only challenge with reality based training is the map and territory problem.[2]

I do not have a solution. Artifacts of training, I suspect, are inevitable. The phrase for me usually implies a ‘bad habit’ but all training instills a conditioned response. Our goal is to be continuously aware – honestly aware – to discern which habits are correct responses and which are false. Which are bad habits and which are good. And never forget that correct and good = life whereas false and bad = death.

_____________________________________________________

[1] wearing a gi:

The Fireside Chat w/ JAK

In my own (personal) world it has always been about the end goal. That for me was true “performance”. The ability to actually do advanced things as if they were easy. High performance – never miss application and creation within the midst of the battle frenzy. That was the plan anyway. A calm within, a storm outside. Early on in the fight game I had an experience that altered my perceptions about uniforms, training gear, functionality and reality. It was after training in Karate for some time that I had a real fight. Kid shit really, a minor dust-up if you will. But in street clothes the entire encounter seemed so out of place and out of control. I had unwittingly became belt & uniform dependent. In the dojo your rank spoke for itself. Your uniform (gi) made training easier and the heavy canvas popped as you moved. It was a neat thing. The realization that I encountered was that I felt so damn “weak” without the “right attire and the right location” of the dojo. It was a noticeable loss of psychological confidence. Not high performance. It needed fix’in pronto! So I set to it.

After that small enlightenment I began to work & train more in my regular clothes. Experimenting constantly and learning my path as I went along. At some point I accomplished my task and became forever free of any dependencies of gear, weapons, environment or apparel. I was comfortable with being me. It became more of a game about me than ever before after that – a refinement of self. For after all it is ME (you) that empowers the clothing, the weapons, the place and the moment; not vice-versa. The more accoutrements one deals with the weaker you become. To learn the path of simplicity and find divine guidance in battle one must develop the eternal self. Only by this means can the hidden YOU be released into realization. It starts with small things day in and day out. It eventually leads to all things. Believe in yourself!

Today in these “selfie” saturated times we see that uniforms of every kind are now the gateway drug to the ridiculous, embarrassing shit that adults seem to crave anymore. In times past martial arts wore a uniform, it was accepted. On Halloween some costumes were uniform-like, that also was accepted as normal. Today, it has became more about looking cool. Cosplay, video games, movies, reenactors and fantasy buffs all play dress-up to some degree. I am not against cool clothes or uniforms. But too much of a good thing can become tasteless and childish. We’ve hit that point of abnormality some time ago. Playing at survival has overtaken training for real survival! One glance through the internet and you will see what I mean.

At one point in time learning sword or pistol was about survival. Now it is about dress up, playing and posing. Advertisements abound for gadgets, gear, guro’s and games. 100% questionable commercial combat content. Period. No gain, just material reward in place of real personal gain. A con. Give up depending upon external things to aid in your quest for martial ability. Know the secret to achieving your goal is found within yourself. The gifts the creator has blessed you with can thus be understood and embraced. Martial arts are the whetstone, you are the blade. They are meant to sharpen you up to face the challenges life throws at you. They were never meant to a dead-end or trap. But through cult-like ideals it is easy to have it happen to you. The best martial arts require little more from you than your sincere “being-ness”!

Whether I use a sword or pistol, fight with empty hand or blade. It will be in real time, a setting that will reflect reality as it is. When I think like this, when I train like this I become stronger on several levels. My actual combat root in this violent world is stronger because I train in this mode all of the time. My technique and skills are unfazed by the lack of dojo setting or complimentary cult clothing . If I do choose to wear a uniform my energy is quite powerful unlike the other dojo-ites who see the uniform as a type of martial cosplay to make learning the art “fun”. Seek high performance from yourself, why train for anything else? Dodge the tee-shirts, the man-dummies, the colorful clan costumes, ring trunks and samurai hatchimaki’s. Just be you as best you can be. Irregardless of your clothing or lack of it your job is to kickass and that is what you’d better do when the SHTF. Less is best, more is poor. Train yourself austerely, for your own good. It’s a tough planet ya know! All of the many martial ways eventually lead to the same mountain, some get you there quicker and others take a bit longer. Just do your best and I’ll see you sometime at the foot of the great mountain! We’ll climb it together and talk of many things

[2] The Map / Territory problem is well illustrated by Borges and Lewis Carrol. Borges succinctly and Lewis Carrol in a longer meditation, outlined the problem of maps, scale, and representations. The problem was more formally described by Alfred Korzybski – but the conclusion is that to accurately represent a territory the scale needs be greater than 1:1. For a martial artist that would require experiencing combat as ‘training.’ Augmented reality training is the logical next step and is in development – VIPE. But it is impossible to train for every scenario and therefore we will never remove the fog of war. The uncertainty and unpredictability of every encounter requires that success is always achieved through adapt, improvise and overcome.

July 4th 2017

The iconic picture of Washington crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze. While fraught with inaccuracies, the image is a powerful reminder of the total commitment the rebels had, pledging their fortunes, lives and sacred honor to the cause.

Now used as a parody of saccharine inspirational posters. It translates the 18th century ideology to current parlance, a simplified version of commitment.

Washington defeating the Hessians at Trenton proved that the rebel army could defeat professionals. Washington developed a challenging battle plan – crossing an ice choked river in the middle of a very cold winter night to surprise the Hessians – it required three separate and coordinated landings. Only the men in Washington’s command were able to execute the plan, but they were sufficient and the Americans won the battle.

It is far too easy to forget what total commitment meant to these Patriots. Paine’s words chided the sunshine patriots who only fought during their enlistment because they were not truly committed. Washington, however, risked everything. If captured he would have been hanged as a traitor. He pledged his family fortune – spending his own capital to support the war effort. The raw physical endurance – years of cold, fighting for supplies, battling discipline, the infighting among his generals, and the lack of support by the Congress – Washington exhibited the power of will and a steadfast commitment to character to endure it all. Imagine carrying the courage of your convictions through the winter encampments, the long years of toil… In an age where entitlement is the norm, the value of sacrifice is unknown. With one-day shipping even delayed gratification is a quaint concept.

I spent July 4 watching my boys celebrate with fireworks. Oregon regulates the sale of fireworks to sparklers and snap caps so I did not worry about the explosives (thank you Nanny State). I do worry, however, for their future. Try as I might to instill the importance of history, discipline, patience, and gratitude, I fear that the inept and sanctimonious narrative that is the current zeitgeist will poison them: make them believe that they are owed something.

The 4th of July should celebrate the determined spirit of independence and reminds us of the high price that was and must be paid for it.[1] I only hope that my children at least learn that lesson.

I also hope that you all find a greater degree of self-reliance and independence through your training. Martial arts should inculcate more than physical skill. Training should forge the spirit. No one gave you the skills you are acquiring – your skills are yours by your efforts alone and you are setting yourself on a higher path. A path that requires dedication, perseverance, and leads to greater independence.

___________________________

Required reading

Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) is most often read by economists because of his work on popularizing free markets. His emphasis on the unintended consequences is seminal, greatly influencing Friedrich Hayek. Bastiat’s pamphlet on The Law is a great reminder of the use and abuse of legislative power and should remind us all of the nature of Liberty.

Too few read history with purpose: that is; to learn the lessons oft painfully earned by our ancestors and thus avoid Santayana‘s admonishment, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

____________________

Of course, even the great among us has their flaws and we love to parade their lesser moments in order to feel closer to par, but the sad truth is, we are not. Read the biographies and more:

Podcasts by Joseph Ellis Revolutionary Summer, His Excellency, and NPR

____________________

[1] Only decades after I graduated did I learn of the sacrifices some of my teachers made; ones I could never have understood as a teenager in high school. I remember learning that our new principal was coming to our small regional high school from New York. I have a distant memory of his introductory speech which seemed overly harsh – bringing big-city draconian discipline to our small (graduating class of 65) school. I vaguely recall he had been in the military. A reminder that we may never know the true spirit that lives in others. Col. Roy Conklin – R.I.P. (2019).

_______________________

Another Barker reflection on July 4th

Long Forgotten Fourths of July

July 4, 2019

I rarely think about my brief military career, but July 4 brings it to mind. It was on the first weekend of July 1961, that I reported for training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, along with a busload of fellow reservists from Northwestern Connecticut.

I was supposedly ‘in charge’. As the oldest recruit, with the most formal education, I had been given the temporary rank of ‘Sergeant’ complete with easily removable chevrons. Nobody listened to anything I had to say. It was a raucous bus ride that ended outside some run-down WW 2 barracks which would be our ‘home’ for following eight weeks. We were hustled off the bus and chivvied into the barracks by the training sergeants, who took the opportunity to teach us some of the basics of Basic Training–like how to get into a line, and which foot was the left.

But we were left alone for most of the following day, the Fourth of July. In those happy days, even soldiers were allowed to enjoy the national celebration–unlike today’s service members who must march through the heat and humidity of Washington D.C. to feed the ego of our contemptible Commander in Chief, ‘Bonespurs’ Trump.

It happened that one of the training sergeants was a black man named Sergeant Barker. He was delighted to greet me as I got off the bus, with my removable stripes. “Ah,” he greeted me, “another Sergeant Barker…” From then on, although not in charge of my platoon, he took a ‘familial’ interest in my military career, sometimes addressing me with ironic courtesy as ‘Sergeant Barker,’ although I was as miserable a recruit as any that ever served.

In those days (and I hope still today) the army selected its training sergeants from among the best it had to offer. Sgt. Barker was a veteran of the battle at the Chosin Reservoir. My own platoon sergeant, Sgt. Mastrovito, a small Italian man, not a great deal taller than his M-1 rifle, was also an admirable example–a veteran of the Battle of the Bulge–a first class leader and teacher, well able to turn recruits into something resembling soldiers.

At the end of Basic Training most of us were sent to Fort Sill for Basic Cannoneer Training. This course was run by Captain Wing, a Chinese-American officer, and his Battery ‘top’ Sergeant Rodrigues–who warned us all to remember that although born Mexican, he was “A U.S.Army citizen.”

Again, he and the other artillery training sergeants were outstanding teachers and leaders who returned us to our Reserve Unit eight weeks later as reasonably competent artillerists. Several months later I returned to Ft. Sill for OCS training under Captain Dawson, a professional soldier, and his ‘Tac Officers’, Second Lieutenants, who had been outstanding graduates of an earlier OCS training cycle.

I was certainly not destined to be a soldier but tutored by these men I came to realize that there was honor and satisfaction to be had in a military career. I admired them, and I still do. It has not escaped my notice that many of them were minorities. Contrary to those who mock the military and suggest that professional soldiers lack the qualities required for success, ‘in the real world’, I admire that great institution for nurturing and utilizing abilities which might otherwise have gone to waste in a less ‘color-blind’ civilian society.

I wonder what happened to them later.

I would not be surprised if Captain Wing became a general–and I dearly hope that Sergeant Rodrigues achieved his retirement dream of processing and selling Mexican food–which, in those long-ago days, would have been a new thing.

IKKYO – SOLVING FOR THE INFINITE

There was a time when students paid their teachers for each technique. At first glance that may seem expensive – especially if you believe the hyperbole that Aikido’s techniques are infinite – but that would be to confuse naming conventions for patterns of movement.

Ikkyo. The first technique. The first teachings form the pedagogical foundation but to draw the connections and show the range of expression of the technique is to begin to understand.

There are no kata in Aiki budo. All phenomena of this world vary constantly according to the particular circumstances and no two situations are exactly alike. It is illogical to train using only a single kata, thereby limiting oneself.
-Morihei Ueshiba

Wrong.

Earlier I suggested heretically that the lack of kata in Aikido is a limitation. Properly used kata allows a student to learn a pattern of movement that can manifest as a technique in any number of expressions. But the critical element in learning is the pattern of movement – the kata.

Aikido dojos usually use a brute-force (rote repetition) method to instill competency and while it can be highly effective, more often than not, it seems to lead to years of fumbling precisely because “all phenomena of this world vary constantly” and the teachers either don’t show or (more likely) don’t know how to show the universals: to draw the connections.

So ikkyo as a kata: (1) assume migi hanmi – hands in neutral position at your sides (2) right foot moves laterally as the hands are raised directly up the center line (3) left foot moves 45-degrees forward with a slide-step and the hands are brought down – timed so that the hand come to waist level as the left foot stops. Repeat on the left side. That is it.

Learn that kata and really understand it as a pattern of movement that can express itself as necessary to contend with the constancy of flux (Heraclitus). We are pattern-recognizing animals par excellence – so avoid the limitations of the specifics and learn to see the universals.

Tonight with ikkyo we explored the range of expression it contains. From suwari-waza shomen-uchi ikkyo we develop hip stability and see that first we must not be hit – the intercepting arm must learn to take a hit because moving off the line laterally from suwari-waza is slower than the opponent’s strike. Then moving to standing – moving off line (zoning out) to avoid the strike is possible, but one must still control uke’s striking arm, so back to the R-R or L-L intercept. Once contact is made, the one-hand control is achieved because the counter strike to uke’s head inspires uke to receive strongly without collapsing. This then locks uke’s elbow allowing nage to flow to that joint. Now with two joints locked, uke’s center is compromised. If uke blocks remember this is a fiction of the dojo – the breeding ground of blind confidence and insipid ego. Bypass the second hand control on the elbow and flow immediately to a palm-strike/eye rake through the low gate. The entire reason uke doesn’t stop nage’s lock flow is because uke is avoiding the more devastating hit. Now that uke understands why they should move, the ukeme becomes responsive, because uke now understands the logic-chain (and that by responding in flow uke can counter).

From this kihon presentation of the unarmed expression we explored the paired bokken. Nage gives gedan kamai which invited uke to strike shomen. Moving exactly like the kata, nage takes uke’s kote with a secondary strike. The subtle refinements that follow do not materially change the ‘technique.’ The basic form is still ikkyo: await a committed attack, then zone to the inside line and counter-strike. The refinement of performing a rising strike to the underside of uke’s descending kote, then at the apex of the rising cut, to snap turn the sword and return on the same line just delves the depth of the technique. The cognate in empty-hand is to see the difference between intercepting with the ulna and shyuto edge alone (one bone block) and using a rising back-hand and the flat of the forearm (two bone block). In tonight’s class I only showed the one timing – where uke’s strike is committed and descending as opposed to nage catching it on the rise (as in the terminal move in roku-no-tachi) – but the principle would not change, just the timing and target (the tricepts instead of the wrist).

Then the presentation with jyo. Uke deliver’s shomen – and using the same body movement, nage zones off-line, allows the blow to slide down the receiving/protecting jyo, glides to the end of uke’s jyo and performs a snap strike back to uke’s head. Ikkyo is makiotoshi. Of course there are refinements – the rising action of nage’s jyo, the pressure necessary to keep the strike connected, any number of details that correct repetition will expose. Keep training! But most importantly, see the connections.

Then the sword vs jyo expression. Uke strikes shomen with a jyo. Nage with sword in sheath zones out and draws straight up and out to ward the blow with the flat, only to perform a snap cut. Repeat the action with uke striking with a sword and nage with a shielding jyo. Same pattern of movement. It’s all ikkyo.

In an earlier post I assert that there is no ura. The difference between the inside line (omote) and the outside line (ura) is a positional relationship – not a difference in technique. In the second class I illustrated that concept.

Remember the matrix – if ikkyo is a R-R/L-L encounter on the inside line is ‘omote‘, then that same encounter on the outside line is ‘ura.’ As a weaponized presentation of ikkyo-ura: uke cuts shomen – nage innocently had his sword in the sheath. As uke makes a committed cut, nage zones outside line, extends his sword (still in the sheath) to use the pommel to trap uke’s sword with a strike at uke’s hands. Ikkyo in one of its numerous manifestations.

The essential lesson I tried to impart and impress is that the pattern of movement – the kata – is the antidote to the infinite details. With poetic inspiration, O’Sensei may have known the exact response for each and every unique experience, but that is a failed pedagogy. One cannot teach the infinite. But one can discern the universals – the antidote for the infinite!