Technical Questions 2

Never thought I'd need to put up a second page for these questions but it's nice that so many students and visitors have put their ideas forward. Eventually these pages are likely to say everything which there is to say within the system so might act as a useful reference source for years to come (eg to track how the system changes and transforms). Maybe if I shortened some of the answers I could keep them all on one page ! However, here's the second instalment anyway. Feel free to E-mail me if you need any more detail.

Ken MacKay has once again pointed out that these Technical Question pages are a bit inaccessible for visitors and asked for a Glossary of terms. Good idea and I'll get it done soon.

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Question : Steve Hodges 16/10/01

Dear Doug, I watched the video of Sundays session last night with Steve to try to understand the differences in movement you mentioned. The main fault I could see with some of my moves appeared to be when my weight was projecting forwards taking me off balance at times. I think some of this may have been caused by going from fast time (block) to slow time (continue). When we discussed this afterwards, we agreed that both of us are struggling to understand the anomalies between being totally natural and correcting faults in our moves (which we assume are natural) when we go out of balance or make a trained/martial/deliberate step. If we for instance need to take smaller steps or let our leg swing and drop without consciously placing it, how do we correct that in slow or fast time without deliberately trying to correct it when we are in the totally impassive/unthinking state and not thinking about
attack/defence/what happens happens, in sung/pang etc. I assume that faults that are spotted in our movement are natural anomalies of our movements. When we practice slow time I have noticed that Ruth, Steve and certainly myself; after the first block, we all have to consciously think where the tension is rather than feel where it is naturally, and as a consequence I think a lot of the moves that follow are what I would call thinking where the tension is rather than possibly where it actually is so the moves may not be totally natural in slow time. In
fast time you do not think about where the tension is because you are moving so fast and I think the body probably automatically moves out of tension via the series of moves that follow the initial strike. Perhaps, when we practise the slow time moves we could try first an initial block, then in slow time let the attacker make a second move/strike, then defend, then return strike etc to try to develop more tension in the defender to see if that leads to more natural slow time tension driven moves. As long as we do this in slow time it should be relatively safe. Otherwise, I think the moves we do slow time will not be the same as those fast time flowing similar attacks/defences. A difficult subject to explain so I hope I have explained it clear enough. Regards Steve

Background To Question :

Steve was having one of those "not so good" days during training which we all have once in a while. Generally, his movement was very weight orientated without movement from the centre. We video each week's lesson to give students (and myself !) the chance to see how they have got on (and in my case whether I've been talking rubbish (again !)). I let Steve have a look at it so that he could come to his own conclusions about his performance and why he thought he was less effective than normal. The result was the question above (and subsequent answer below).

Answer

Dear Steve, thanks for this and I'm glad you and Steve have had time to look at the video and that you have come up with your own ideas about what had changed. Sorry for the slight delay in getting back to you about your question but hopefully this will help to unravel some of the confusion. As it's quite a complex /detailed question (with a similarly complex / detailed answer), I could just go all sagely and nod to suggest that within a confrontation it is important to always be "within the Tao". The correct response to this is for you to nod wisely too but I don't think this will help with the specifics ! The question can be answered on a lot of different levels so the answer is likely to be a bit tortuous (but I'll try to keep it as short as possible). Hope it still makes sense at the end.

I think the question breaks down into 4 main parts :-

1) What is the difference between shifting weight, taking a deliberate move / step and being "natural" ?
2) How do you "self check" to see whether you are within a natural move or not
3) How can moves which are made during movement not be natural, and
4) How do you relate slow and fast techniques

As it normally takes me about a page to answer one question, rest assured that this is likely to be a long answer ! However, I'll try to keep on the points you've raised (or at least try to cover them within a wider discussion !).

Q1. What is the difference between shifting weight, taking a deliberate move / step and being "natural" ?

Well, first of all I have to go all "internal" and talk about brain function and go into depth about what "natural" means within the system. As you know, Peaceful Fight works in a "no-thinking" mental state trying to just "be" at all times (regardless of whether the situation is a fighting one or not. As such, violence is just part of life and not any more or less special than any other factor). In this state, actions or non-actions are based on what the subconscious, intuitive mind believes needs to be done for the situation at hand. This is a natural, animal state, free from considerations and anxieties caused by the "what if" view of the future. The actions you take are driven by the situation that occurs around you and you are just part of that situation (ie within the Greater Tao). You get feedback from your opponent and act / react accordingly. He's driving the situation, you just happen to be there. As such, he chooses his own destiny. If he pulls you then accelerate towards him, if he pushes you then let his force go past you, if he grabs you then use his grab to lock his joints etc. The harder he fights (which is his choice), the more damage he takes (which is the consequences of his attack).

Just for visitors to the site, let's take a martial example to show the background to why there is a requirement for a "non-thinking" state (Visitors please note that this could equally be applied within a healing scenario so think about it in those terms too). In this martial example, an attacker strikes towards you. Obviously, you might react in a multitude of different ways dependent on who the attacker is (drunken friend, knife wielding lover or aggressive mugger), what they attack with (fists, knife, frozen haddock), where the confrontation takes place (in a dark alley, in a lovers embrace, frozen food counter in Safeway) and how you are feeling at the time of attack (in the thrall of love, after just having had an argument with your bank manager or after the third pint and the second curry). Now, add to these variables other options about timing, angles of attack, attacking body weapon and target on your body and you would eventually have all possible actions, reactions and non-actions to deal with any type of confrontation. If you were a robot, programmed to do a specific response against a specific attack then the number of variables which would have to be programmed to deal with would obviously be very large. We are not robots and although many possible options can be discounted as being "unlikely" in a real situation by prefight strategies (eg body positioning/ distance/ not being there in the first place etc) we are still left with a seriously large number of options. How are we possibly going to plan to deal effectively with all of these possibilities ? Are we going to try to "mix and match" a trained martial response against this chaos ? The chances of pulling out the absolutely perfect and correct technique to counter the attackers chosen attack would surely be very low. However, within the martial arts (and even more so during real life fighting) this is what we need to be able to do. To achieve this you need both intent and intuition and to be within both your personal Tao and the Greater Tao (I'll come back to these later). As far as I am concerned, the only way to achieve this is to develop a centred stillness within your mind and body that you then utilise it to protect and guide you. This stillness links your intuition to action or non-action and allows your intent and energy to move in a "natural" way in the same way as an animal fights. No conscience, no glory, no embarrassment, but just acting as part of the Tao. Ever noticed how a fight often gets easier after the first strike has been thrown ? This is because you move part of the way away from confusion (ie the decision of whether a fight is going to start or not has been answered) but sadly this doesn't move you far enough (especially if you were in the wrong mental state to start with). Ever "woken up" in the middle of sparring and realised you have not been thinking about defence or attack nor reacting to what your opponent is doing ? Some people think this is stillness but its not. Here you've separated yourself from the Tao and are standing outside of it. This is not stillness, but is isolation and it is not the same thing. In isolation your Kung Fu is trapped within you and you are "dead" to any feedback etc. from both your intuition and your opponent and so is limiting itself. Stillness is more attuned to the wider field energy "burn" you feel after coming out from a successful exchange of blows and feeling your opponent's discomfort and getting satisfaction from it (but again, this really isn't it but only one very small part of it). I'll come back to this in a bit and try to explain it some more.

One of the best modern descriptions of this mental state that I've read was in "Light of the Kensei" by George Bluestone (Kensei meaning "warrior sage"). He describes the state as "A mind which has intensity yet is not tense" and later suggests that "Pure intent is the ability to remain broad and unchanged by acting (from stillness). It is to intend without tension and the Kensei must train to become skilled in its use". He also suggests that this stillness achieves a mind that is just "ready" not just ready for any specific action to happen. The state relies on not thinking of what to do but just knowing, deep down within your spirit and trusting yourself sufficiently to "go with it". No thinking of "clever one liners", no thinking "if he punches like this, I'll go this way", no thinking of how the media portray this type of maniac as any of these thoughts put you one step from picking an inappropriate technique. You just do what you do. Being "right" or "wrong" isn't the issue but being true to yourself and in tune with your natural spirit is. In more general terms, from this central "stillness" state you can link your microcosmic world (ie that which lives inside you) to the macrocosmic world (ie everything that lives outside of you) and allow you to control or remove the barrier between the two Worlds. This is the internal "stillness" which most martial arts masters talk about or Reiki masters relate to when taking and channelling energy feedback from their surroundings. When I talk about a fight living between the combatants and that there is no "you and him" but that you are one, this is what I mean. You are fighting at the level of the Greater Tao and the Kung Fu which lives within you is coming out (this is the critical issue why Kung Fu must live within a student and not within an instructor : without it first being inside you cannot join with the Tao). Your fight is both a reaction to and a driver within the Greater Tao. The waist shake and strike we do (the only move) joins all of this intent, intuition and energy together and moves us from conscious to unconscious action, just flowing within the Greater Tao. Fighting within the Tao is very hazardous as, although you are in the car, the subconscious animal nature is driving. Until you have it all under control, it's much too easy to stick your finger in someone's eye or disrupt his or her energy flow without really meaning to. Not things to do to your friends within the club ! The harder /faster / more prolonged the attack, the greater the probability of serious injury to your opponent. This is the explanation of why an opponent chooses what happens to them. The harder the fight, the more serious the consequences to themselves. This is also why we only ever use the "soft" intent mind state when we are practising between students : full intent has no control mechanism as it doesn't care one way or the other what happens; as such, it is truly within the Tao. A student needs to understand themselves deeply at all levels before they undertake "continuous" or fast fighting. However, how is it possible to teach this concept without hurting each other? The way is to first teach self-understanding and control in slow time. Over time this ensures that the feedback from the Tao that you receive predicts, for example, the elbow breaking before you have pushed it too far and also that you understand the feedback sufficiently to stop yourself before hearing the crack of the joint. Similar feedback is understanding when it's the time to let an opponent go in order to get a better grip, to go "yin" and let him go past you, if he pushes against you, to feel the muscles lock and then apply a bone lock etc etc. The feedback from your opponent is "outside pushing in" knowledge whilst the understanding is your "inside pushing out" knowledge. Yin / Yang pair? Think so and this is why you need to understand the no-brain state. What you do with the opponent after getting the feedback (ie break the elbow, let him go, pressure point restrain him, throw him, throw in a witty one liner, discuss the merits of the Peaceful Fight system etc) comes from your intuition for what is the right thing to do within the situation in which you have found yourself (ie taking into account all of the other infinite variables which are possible). At the first grade level you act very much within yourself being driven to a much lesser extent by the actions of your attacker. This just allows you to fight like an animal but in some ways this is in isolation; it works but there are better paths to take. There is a long way to go for all of us to perfect the feedback / intuition / natural system but that is the path of Peaceful Fight. This full yin / yang, in and out knowledge at full combat speed is where we are ultimately going in the system (whilst continuously linking this with the healing / martial pair). However, it's the wrong time to try to achieve this at this point of training. Rest assured though it will happen. "Why is it not the right time ? " you might ask. Apart from the obvious risks to fellow students, to answer this I need another diversion.

When you visit most martial arts clubs, knowledge is passed on by the repetition of drills or set moves. Initially, the purpose of the repetition is to get the move "into your head" so that it becomes second nature; someone attacks a certain way and your body / mind will instantly "switch on" the right defensive / aggressive move to counter the aggressor because you have done it a thousand times. Sometimes this works but it depends on the system. Often students learn one way in the safety of their training hall but do something totally different in a real life situation. For me this is because the student does not have their art "within themselves" but it is stuck at a higher conscious level (rather than the deeper, ingrained subconscious level). At the moment you are at a level between the two extremes but this will deepen with time and training. As things are not yet ingrained at the right level, I believe it is the wrong time to "speed things up" else this bit of the training gets lost. If this is taken too quickly and intuition assumed to be present too early, I think this is partly responsible for the loss of fighting spirit that sometimes occurs with students of other arts after prolonged training. I've seen truly natural fighters (great balance, effective techniques, great attitude) come to a martial arts club and subsequently become less and less effective as they progressed with their training. This is partly because they are trying to "do the system" rather than just linking into their intuitive natural fighting ability. They assume that martial artists know more than they do so ignore their intuition in preference to their training (and so often lose their "edge" when it comes to the crunch). Surely better to merge the two than lose the effectiveness of both ? So, again, this is a good reason for not progressing too rapidly.

Anyway, back to the question and the point of not solely learning a set response to a set attack and instead aiming for a no-brain state. If the transfer of knowledge was solely via repetition, then even dedicated exponents of the arts would only be able to undertake those moves that they had learned. This is obviously not the case as most systems can "freestyle" to deal with any type of attack. So, what it the underlying purpose of
repetition ? There are obviously many reasons for doing it, some of which are muscle memory training, co-ordination training, muscle development and perfection of technique. These all have importance but without what is often termed "fighting spirit" they are close to useless. This animalistic fighting spirit allows the internal development of technique to react in a suitable fashion to any type of attack regardless of whether it has been "trained" or not. This is the ultimate aim of repetition. Sound familiar ? Should do, it's a "no set trigger, no set response" system working in the subconscious. The main difference between Peaceful Fight and other systems is that the system teaches this first and then technique after. Believe me, training repetitive technique is easy, training the brain is significantly more complex ! This is why the Peaceful Fight system initially appears so basic but is a very difficult path to follow. One move, one mental state and one concept; how complicated can it be ? I suggest any more complicated and we'd never get past meditation studies ! Perfect the basics and everything else will become so clear to you that you will be surprised at what you know (and you will no longer need to put out £4 / week to hear me waffling on about the system but will be able to do it on your own !).

So how do you train someone to get the Peaceful Fight system and why ? "How" is by learning to fight in this intuitive state and "why" is because it is the same mental state that you need for high level healing work. Why is it taught during combat rather than during healing as healing is obviously of greater interest to me ? Well, the faster an event, the higher level of intuitive thought and response to feedback you need to deal with and recognise it if you wish to remain within the stillness. In slower events (eg healing) you have time to mentally consult theories and cross check them against what you think intuitively. If needs be you can then reassess your intuitive thoughts to fit in more closely with known theory. This isn't available in combat as it is probably the fastest situation in which the mind has to work (with the possible exception of a traffic accident or air crash) so intuition has to take over (and so can be developed in the combat realm for use within the healing realm). Always remember that Peaceful Fight only teaches combat martial arts as a means to an end (ie to be able to affect the World in a positive way) and does not see martial arts as an end in themselves. This is why fighting within the Peaceful Fight system is neither pleasant nor forgiving as this is the "natural" state of fighting (rather than what most people perceive as being the nature of fighting). You have to understand the nature of violence in detail before you can understand the nature of healing. I believe that both of these fields (both martial and healing) live within all human beings at some unconscious level; the training of Peaceful Fight just tries to get students to comprehend it within themselves. Techniques are done within the slow movement stage in order to prolong the intuitive stage so give you more time to feel it. Strive to retain the stillness all the way up to the "finish" and this will make much more sense.

Q2. How do you "self check" for naturalness ?

So, you've achieved your "no thinking" state but things are still not working. How come ? One of the problems which underpins your question is how do you know when a technique is "right" or not within the realm of naturalness. Normally in martial arts classes it takes the course of a student thinking they have got it right and the Master then coming along and showing how to get it "more right" ! However, within Peaceful Fight, the measurement of being "right" is based not on a physical technique but based on how it feels so only you know for sure (once you've worked out what "natural" feels like). We are still in the process of getting an understanding of this feeling (and it's limitations if it has any) so I have to "tweak" things every now and then to make it better. Whenever this happens don't just remember the technique but remember the change in "feeling" of the technique. The basic process behind the tweaks are that, in a nutshell, any issue that degrades this central stillness is acting against this "natural" state of being "right". For example, shifting weight (eg leaning rather than translating the centre forward) leads to the brain going into its "got to stop falling" response. The central stillness has gone. Over stepping beyond the length of your leg does the same (normal walking is a process of falling forward but martial movement must be controlled at all times in case you need to reposition yourself so must strive to be within the movement of the centre). Using muscular power to move a limb also removes you from the centre stillness (as the mind is now consciously concentrating on diverting your intent to the grip / movement / strike). This is why any movement has to be intuitive. The technique itself is of no importance at all but trying to get the feeling behind it is. Sometimes it's obvious to an external viewer that a move takes you outside of your stillness, other times it's not so obvious. This is why sometimes I ask you if it feels right or not and at other times point out that there was a better movement. Obviously this can only be done in slow time. The first grade has already shown you how to fight in this state, second grade onwards shows you how to understand and expand it (and so ultimately understand yourself, the Tao and others).

Generally, those movements that degrade the stillness show themselves as

1) muscular efforts (usually within the shoulders / arms / hands),
2) over stepping (ie out of the "swing length" of the hip joint) which results in a shift of balance which is not centred,
3) striking beyond the length of movement of any body weapon (ie over reaching or stretching for a "conscious" target)
4) balance moving forward from the centre (eg by leaning) and not by the correct movement of linear translation of the centre
5) performing set "martial" moves (eg an overwhelming desire to get to a certain position or to strike to a specific target with a specific body weapon so as to look like Jean Claude Van Damme)
6) Repetitive moves regardless of the natural flow of a reattack (suggests that moves have been prearranged in your brain and so is on a "if he does this, I'll do this" level)

Q3. How can moves made not be natural ?

This brings us onto another point of your question, that of how the movements that you do (which you assumed were natural) had to be corrected (ie the anomalies that you mention) . Well, you can probably answer this yourself now but in a nutshell it is much easier to move in ways which degrade or divert your stillness rather than moving within it. Next time we are training, try to feel the "loss" of stillness that occurs. This is partly why we have to practise in slow time before we speed it up. Another reason why we have to do it slow is that the exact same move should never come out twice and so every movement has to be assessed internally to "feel the next move". This feeling of the move is intuition and feedback training. Initially it is difficult but quickly comes easier with practise as you feel more both within your own skin and the feedback from your opponent. Doing the first part of the move fast is so that you can deal with a "real speed" attack; slowing it down afterwards is to protect your training partner. We will continue with the opponent's attack but again, this is the wrong time until everyone has more self-understanding. The start of the move (ie the mental state within sung with pang) is intent and stillness training. We have never built this level of intent to the level of intensity you use within do-or-die combat as if you do this, its likely to seriously damage your opponent when you let it go. (As an aside, practising this extreme intent too often is also likely to leave you partially impotent and possibly limit your life overall (so don't do it !). This is because the body recognises the intense mental state as an extreme "fear" state and decides it needs all the energy it can get. It shuts down all unnecessary functions and starts transforming jing from your kidneys into energy to get you into an "all guns blazing" state. From the body's perspective, if you lose you won't need the jing anymore so better to use it now than have it die with you. This might be why if you win, violence is supposed to act as a serious aphrodisiac, possibly as the energy flows back into your kidneys. If any visitor got any thoughts on or proof for this hypothesis I'd be interested in hearing from you).

To let you have a go at "self checking" I'll send the video back through to you and maybe have another look at your movement and assess them against the criteria above. However, no move is ever "wrong" (as all things that occur naturally are within the Tao) but there are often moves that are "better". For me, the only things which are not in the Tao are when they go against your natural state (eg laughing when you want to cry, following someone's lead to undertake actions which you know are not your own conviction, telling someone you love them when it's not in your heart etc). So, although for example, falling out of balance is not ideally within the Peaceful Fight system, it is within your own personal natural state so still exists within the Tao. So use it when it happens but consider that there may be better ways and these should be where we are aiming to go.

Most things in life are on this continuum between not being wrong nor right but on the edge of "better" and transformation; its not just in the martial realm. This brings me back to the nature of your personal Tao and also the Greater Tao (told you I'd get there eventually !). (Somewhere in that last two paragraphs I think I answered Q4. If not, let me know !).

So, what is the nature of the Tao ? The Tao has no form and is simultaneously both nothing and everything and all states in between. It is also in the process of constant transformation, good to bad, hot to cold etc, flowing back and forth between the two extremes. Some transformations have "order" whilst others have only chaos. This inevitably means that the Tao means different things to different people (and so will frequently change when I use it to justify different arguments!). Because of the width and breath of the possible interpretation, the Tao can only be described by allusion and often then only as a point in time in its flow. By attempting to describe the Tao anyone is destined to fail dismally as any description of the Tao is fundamentally imprecise (but thankfully has a very small grain of precision within it). This "imprecise / precise link" is one aspect of the duality of the yin / yang pair which permeates through everything within the Tao. Everything has both opposites within itself and there is no absolute. That means that however bad my allusion, something of the nature of the Tao should be seen within its reflection. If it is a really, really bad allusion, you should see the "holes" in it and fill them with your own better understanding, possibly only triggered by the "badness" of the initial allusion. If the allusion is good, you can say, "I already knew that" as describing the Tao is often like stating the obvious ! But even within this "good" allusion there would be areas that you perceive from a different perspective; this is the "bad" bits of any generally "good" argument. In some ways this duality / transformation quality of the Tao is why it is sometimes possible to diametrically "change your mind" within any viewpoint / argument and still see yourself as being "right" all along ! This duality is also what makes us unique and why it is important that any student has their own views / opinions and not just ape those of any instructor. No two people see things in exactly the same way. There will be other "holes" in some arguments as to detail every yin / yang perspective view would take a lifetime! However, when you read it, see the allusion in such a way that all views should be (and can be) present and acceptable, all simultaneously but might not be specifically stated. Make up your own view. It's not a competition so if I've only got "5/10" right in your view, just put it down to me still learning and developing. There is no "right" answer and I've never claimed to be infallible!

Anyway, with the above provisos, this is one allusion by which I envisage the Tao.

The Tao is like a fast flowing, turbulent river with numerous eddies swirling apparently either backwards or forwards (but in reality always moving forward within the main flow of the river). Some of these swirls are large and others are infinitely small but, en mass, they make up the flow of the Tao.

The water of the Tao is made up of all actions, reactions and inactions of all people (including yourself) both past, future and present who are alive or dead or will be alive or dead during your lifetime. It also has a stronger underlying current which is all those things which are within the natural world (ie humanity and its actions are only one part of nature and the Tao would continue regardless of whether we were here or not). This "river" is the Greater Tao; the World turns and the Greater Tao flows regardless of how hard we try to stop it or change it. Within this water there is no part that is static, no place where there is not movement and flow. Just before you are born you are stood on the bank of the river with the Tao thundering past. At birth you are released into this apparent chaos. You are then held within the flow of this greater Tao, going forward trapped with the flow for the 80 or so years that we are alive.

For each of us, we have a personal centre and this is in the "eye" of any eddy. The swirling which moves outwards from the centre is the consequences / affects of any action or inaction which we take; bit like dropping a stone in the water. This eddy, its centre and its ripples are our Personal Tao. Most of us generally live within a very small circle of influence and the effects of our actions / inactions are comparatively minor. As a consequence, we generally only generate small eddies in the greater flow. That is not to say that our Personal Tao is not important but only that, in comparison to the Greater Tao, it is insignificant. However insignificant though, our Personal Tao does always affect the Greater Tao. It's like navigating a ship going from A to B. One degree error on the compass looks trivial on the dial but after 100 miles in the wrong direction, you would probably miss your destination completely. Similarly, small "ripples" can cause large changes / effects / impact on the past, present and future. Such can be the effect of our personal Tao on the Greater Tao. Obviously, all people affect the Tao regardless of whether they know they are within it or not.

For me, the optimum position to be within the Tao is to recognise that you are within it, being drawn along with the flow whilst simultaneously getting feedback from the Greater Tao. This might be seen as riding the invisible "boundary" in the Tai Chi symbol between the Yin and Yang aspects. This isn't just in a martial aspect but in all aspects of life; this is why pursuit of the martial arts should have a real and active part in the wider World. From this optimum position it is possible to be aware of much of the reasoning about the past, future and present and why things have turned out how they function at any point within the Tao. Whilst seeing the Greater Tao, it is important to feel the ebb and flow of your Personal Tao within the Greater Tao and vice versa. Your movement with the greater Tao is a reaction to this external force balanced against the turbulence (eddies) caused by your internal actions / inactions and any consequences thereof. It's a matter of welcoming the Greater Tao and seeing that every action is both critically important (within the Personal Tao) and totally insignificant (ie within the Greater Tao) at the same time (its that yin /yang duality again !). This realisation is important as one aspect of the nature of life. This, for me, is spirituality and why this is so important. It clears your mind and allows you to understand yourself both within the Greater Tao and your personal Tao. Thus you are able to get feedback from the wider World, both past, present and future and plan a smoother course through your 80 or so years.

So, why do I suggest you need stillness rather than isolation ? Well, at first glance isolation and stillness seem very similar. Both are like a cork bobbing on the surface of the Tao, going with the flow from birth to death. However, one gets feedback from the greater Tao whilst the other is cut off from it. Thinking back to our duality issue, if we have the property of stillness it must be balanced against a property of action. Isolation is introverted and has no concept of the Greater Tao. As such, it lives within the limits of its own skin. So, for completeness, the balancing chaos must live there too. The mind is comparatively cluttered and can't settle. This state doesn't allow the isolated person to consistently think clearly and in some ways limits their potential (as all of the chaos takes up valuable energy / effort to contain). Stillness is different. In this state, the stillness allows the person to look outwards to conceptualise the Greater Tao and the chaos within it; there is no barrier between the two. Thus the chaos may live within the Tao and the stillness may live within the person. This duality links the person to the Tao (as a Yin /Yang pair) and so the person is part of the Tao and not separated from it. This is why stillness is not a "soft" state (in a similar way to how the relaxed "sung" state is not a "floppy" state) but is a dynamic, active state.

However, (no, I'm not finished yet !) you have to consider that all things are in a constant process of transformation due to the yin /yang continuum. This means that there must be times when we have to appreciate and embrace isolation. However much we pursue stillness as the optimum when would this be ? Well, let's go back to our "river" allusion.

If you looking closely, some eddies in the river appear to be static. Look closer still though and in reality these eddies have water in an ever changing state over it; only the position of the eddy stays constant not the water flowing over it (like a rock sticking up in the flow). The static eddies are fundamental life changing events which the majority of us have to deal with within our lifetime. Some of these are positive and others are negative. These might be the death of a loved one, falling truly, madly, deeply in love, feeling embarrassed or frightened, fighting to survive, recognising our mortality, feeling loved, feeling an all consuming rage / hate, dying, etc. These appear static in the flow as most of these situations will come to us regardless of what kind of life we lead. These static eddies are where stillness can transform into isolation. They tend to make us shrink back into ourselves and lose overall perspective, moving us out of the feedback from the Greater Tao. Feel that "emotional shutdown" when someone you love dies ? Feel that all engrossing fear when your opponent pulls a knife ? Feel how past, present and future all shrink down to just "you and her" when you meet the girl of your dreams ?
These are all isolation but the last one shows that some of them are more pleasurable than others and so it's not always a "bad" thing. Given the choice of what type of isolation I had to encounter, I'd go for option 3 everytime ! However, all of them shrink you back into yourself and out of the Tao. This is the feeling of isolation. So, however much you try to live within stillness, there will always be times when you are not. Don't chastise yourself, just accept them as part of the duality of the situation and try to eventually recover your centred stillness. This inevitability of hitting a static eddy is one very good example of how the Greater Tao affects the progress of your Personal Tao.

Finally (yes, the end cometh !) also consider that it is possible to be too far into the Greater Tao such that you lose your perspective of your Personal Tao. Some people argue that "what happens, was destined to happen so can't be changed so I'll just go with the flow." Possibly true but taken to an extreme you abrogate your responsibility to your Personal Tao in preference to "going with the flow" of the Greater Tao. An undercurrent of the Tao is that there are times when individuals are "bad" (but eventually they may transform into "good" people : a bad child does not necessarily become a "bad" adult). These "bad" people might want to use your face for target practise just because you and them happen to meet. It might be the Greater Tao that you happen to meet "bad" people but it doesn't mean you have to let them dance on your head ! Get your Personal Tao going and defend yourself by any means necessary. We all have a place in the World and yours is as valid as anyone else's is. Everyone should be allowed to live whatever life they wish without interference as long as the life they choose does not infringe in a negative way on any other person. Want to be a recluse? Fine. Want to party hard ? That's fine too. Want to beat me senseless because you don't like my hairstyle or I have the audacity to walk the streets of my own town after dark? Sorry, too negative for my liking and I'm going to take you with me if you try. This is why I often say that violence is part of life and that is one reason why we learn Kung Fu. However much we might like to ignore it, violence is here and will be within the Greater Tao forever. It's part of the natural undercurrent of the Greater Tao so has to dealt with if and when it arrives. However, it also helps us understand our Personal Tao so is not altogether a "bad" thing. Did I point out that everything transforms and has value, however difficult the value is to see ? If not, then don't get me started !

Health, wealth and happiness to anyone who understands all of the mysteries of the Tao (because I never claim to!). (On rereading this last bit, and in a blatant attempt to curry favour with visitors to the site who do not understand the mysteries of the Tao who are likely to be more numerous than those who do, I wish health, wealth and happiness on anyone who has even bothered to consider it !).

Question : Stuart Mitchinson (Warrior Escrima) 17/11/01

Doug, Qi ; what is it? Just the loom of the body or far deeper? Mitch.

Background to Question

Stuart asked this question after I lent him the Erle Montaigue "Qi Disruption" video (reviewed on "recommended books / videos" page) to try to help explain how this part of Chinese theory works. Stuart is a very experienced martial artist and has a wide appreciation of martial theory and practise but was interested in the "internal" work and micro / macrocosmic explanations of Peaceful Fight theory and application. As for the question, it might be one of the shortest I've received but possibly one of the most complicated to answer ! Qi is one of those concepts which should be considered on a very superficial level and very deep level simultaneously. Very much a character of much of Chinese philosophy ! The answer only scratches the surface so if any reader has any a desire to know more depth please feel free to E-mail to ask subsequent questions.

Answer

Dear Mitch, nice to hear from you again. Mark said that he had sent through the "Qi Disruption" video and I'm glad it's spurred your interest. However, what a question ! "What is Qi" has probably been asked for the last 2000 + years and still no one is quite sure ! I used to say that qi was the difference between a bag of bones, blood and brain which was dead and the same bag of bones, blood and brains which was alive. However, as my studies have deepened, this is much too simplistic. Ted Kaptchuk in his book "The Web That Has No Weaver" gives as good an explanation as anyone else in the TCM field and sums up the actions of qi as :-

1) Qi is the source of all movement and accompanies all movement
2) Qi protects the body
3) Qi is the source of harmonious transformation
4) Qi ensures stability and governs retention
5) Qi warms the body

In number 1, the "movement" it describes is not just external movement (eg walking) but also the movement of fluids (eg blood) within the body. In this guise, Qi acts as a pushing force, forcing the body forward.

Number 2 relates partially to the "wei qi" which is governed by the lungs are is at the skin level. This energy wards off disease (caused via what are called pernicious influences or evils) so keeps us free from negative influences. This is partly why the skin often looks "lifeless" when you are very ill as the wei qi has been defeated. However, again, this works internally as much as externally. Insufficient qi in, for example, the spleen will leave it open to disease internally (generally dampness for the spleen, leading to gastric problems).

Number 3 details that the action of the body is in continuous flow and transformation. For example, without this transformation, food would not pass through our system and waste be expelled (and the valuable bits retained). This is potentially one of the most important issues within martial theory and qi disruption (and also within the healing realm). In both instances, you are trying to affect the balance point of the transformation, one to disrupt the smooth flow of the qi around the body, and one to harmonise the flow.

Item 4 relates to keeping things in place and in order rather than just retention. For example, weak spleen qi can lead to prolapse of the intestinal tract as the spleen governs the function of "holding". The stability is the balance of all things within the system which is our bodies. For example, there is a cycle between blood, qi and fluids. If this cycle comes out of balance then you might be deficient in one element and excess in another. Not a good situation as the body was made to run within a specific cycle and being away from this leads to disharmony. Bit like having the wrong grade of petrol. You can run your car on it but eventually it burns through your manifold !

Item 5 highlights that without qi the body goes cold (which is why dead people feel this way). As soon as qi is extinguished within the body, life stops. No transformation = no flow = no heat being generated = no life.

The energy flows through all areas of the body both on the surface and within. If this was not the case then flow (eg of blood) or transformation (eg of food to qi) would stop in certain areas. However, there are surface channels where the qi can be most easily affected. These meridians are related to the internal organs and affect those organs when pressed. So, when people talk about Gallbladder 20 they mean point 20 on the GB meridian. However, these points are just the highest area of concentration of the qi on the body. Think of it as a wide river, in the middle its deep and on the outside shallower. Such it is with pressure points. The centre of the point is the deepest and affects the energy in the greatest way but being off the point can still be effective. Less well known is that the internal connections of the body which link the external to the internal (and also all of the very fine meridians which link the main meridians together). These "extra" meridians generally use the same pressure points as the surface channels but also connect directly within the body or between surface channels. Thus the internal / external balance of the body energies are maintained (principally by the function of the triple warmer which is the function attributed to the torso). Well worth looking at the Erle Montaigue books on this in the "recommended books" page for more details.

Within energetic martial arts, strikes are targeted to follow the energy patterns of the body. As such, they generally "seek out" the weakest path within the body and attack these points. So, if you have a bad back, all strikes, regardless of where they hit you, will cause your back to hurt. This is obvious and we have all experienced it but the strikes will also seek out a weak heart or bad spleen which is what we don't see. This is partially why they do not strike "through" an opponent. Striking through hurts a lot but generally does not affect the internal workings of the body (as it isn't energetically based striking). Dim Mak (and energy disruption) take it a step further and deliberately move the qi around in ways which are bad for the body. For example, GB20 at the base of the skull or GV24 under the nose both release yang energy into your system . This can be quite useful if you are dying (which is why GV24 is a revival point). However, releasing this much yang energy during striking floods the brain and makes it feel like is it going to explode. This causes shut down of the brain function leading to either KO or death. The energy field of a person extends beyond their physical limits (which is why you get a "hairs on the back of your neck" feeling when things are not right) and so can be affected without touching the opponent (which is what Erle Montaigue demonstrates) . This is why a person affects the wider World just by being alive. Your external energy field is part of the flow of life which you affect (and it affects you) in equal measure (for a more general discussion of this theory, maybe have a look at Steve Hodges' question above on this page which discusses Taoism and martial concepts).

Hope this helps. If not, feel free to get back to me as it is always a pleasure to talk to you. This is a fundamental issue within Chinese healing arts and underpins so much of how the body / World works. All the best. Doug

Question : Mark Lashmar (Warrior Escrima) 11/12/01

Do you see your natural moves to be suitable for use in public service environments (eg the Police) ? Also, how do your students learn knife defence? I can't see how you could effectively defend on purely "natural" moves (without for instance using a grab from certain angles - and could a grab be natural?) because of the nature of the weapon. Doesn't every system need to have some "underlying" physical techniques to be able to "mix and match" ? Hopefully I haven't missed the point of the "naturalness" (and even if I have at least my questions are longer than Stu's !!).

Background to Question

Mark asked these questions in a series of discussions that we had. The first part comes from Mark trying to understand the Peaceful Fight mind state better. The second part comes from Escrimadors being experts at knife fighting (both in attack and defence) and Mark being interested in how this area of the art is understood and practised within the system. The issue of learning "techniques" is a very important one and not one which I've gone "into print" about before. It also helps to tie in many of the issues related to training (ie objectives, training time scale etc). Hopefully the answer will help give a clearer view of what "techniques" Peaceful Fight does have and also some other underlying issues.

Answer

Dear Mark, very incisive questions as ever. Very interesting point about always needing some learned / practised techniques and I think it all comes down to timescale, situation and what are the items which are important to be learned. Can't put it succinctly (can I ever ?) so have to answer by giving an example.

Let's envisage two students starting off on their path of training. One of the students goes to an art which has strong punching and kicking techniques at middle to long range (eg Tae Kwon Do) whilst the other goes to an art which teaches fighting at all ranges and martial strategies for all eventualities (eg Escrima). If you compared the techniques of the two students after say 6 months, the first student will have superior punching / kicking technique because that's what most of his / her time has been taken up doing. However, the Escrimador would have a better "all round" understanding of martial issues, being able to fight at all distances and possibly apply locks / holds / pressure points etc as well as fighting against weaponry (eg knives, clubs). So which student has developed the techniques which should have been "learned / practised" ? Geoff Thompson suggests that it is better to get one devastating technique perfect (eg his right hook to the jawline) rather than having 1000 poorly executed ones. This is a very, very good strategy for the situations that he is teaching to deal with (eg door work, bouncers etc) but might not be quite what most "artists" want. Thus, it's not just techniques that have to be considered but we need to relate techniques to situations. This then comes back to what situations the separate arts see their likely usage.

In some martial arts clubs, they have a tendency towards only including martial issues associated with fighting within their optimum range because they think that they can control the fight in such a way to maintain it within this range until it is "finished". Everything else that doesn't fit in with this range is claimed to "not be in the system" and so ignored as if it will never happen. This is especially so in arts biased towards competition or clubs that are insular and do not look around to see what everyone else is doing. The chosen range might be close, intermediate or long range but they place their main strength / training into these areas as these are the areas where it is "acceptable" to fight as specified by their federation rules or just "how things are done here". The down side of this type of thinking is that other important issues (eg grappling, floor fighting or just fight / situation awareness) become relatively "sidelined" as they are not see as part of the "core system". This so often happens when martial arts clubs claim to be teaching self defence but only touch on "real life" issues once in a while whilst assuming that their "taught" techniques will deal with most "unexpected" events. So you get students who can't punch anywhere apart from straight in front at full extension or can't defend anything that doesn't charge at them; others still just hope things will stop when it goes to ground (as it always does in the training hall !). The good bit about this type of training is that by repeating the core techniques over and over they become true experts within the range that they choose to fight. Only problem is if the core techniques are the "wrong" ones for the situations you are going to encounter ! If you walk into one of their "taught" techniques it'll hurt like crazy and you'll probably be out on your feet but do something unexpected and they have no response. This is the down side of this type of approach is often that the system is inflexible and cannot "mix and match" techniques until an exponent has completed many years of training. This is OK if you don't have to defend yourself for real until this time but a bit of a pisser if your "real life" opponent won't wait that long. This is why Peaceful Fight chooses to work on mind state first and technique later. These "mind state" issues are the techniques of the system and, once achieved, is what underpins mixing and matching the "physical bits" so allowing exponents to adapt to situations in an infinite number of ways. This adaptation might be in the martial field or in other "life" situations as the mind state works in both. The only problem with this is how long it takes to get it "in your head". I was really concerned about this when I first started teaching the system as I've a responsibility to my students that what the system teaches will work for them and help them lead a happy life. However, taking Ruth as an example (she knew nothing of martial arts except a very small bit of Judo at the beginning), it appears to take about 6 weeks to get the basic, dispassionate mind state in place that is used in the martial arena. This won't work in absolutely all situations (eg meeting someone who fights in the same way as we do or who feels absolutely no pain) and there is still a lot to learn / perfect but by getting this state the student seems to be starting to trigger "natural" responses after this length of time. Put another way, this is six weeks when the students are "at risk" if they get into a confrontation. This seems a reasonable amount of time based on the principle that they knew less when they came in (so were potentially more vulnerable), are only going to fight 5 or 6 times in their lifetime (so the probability of it happening in the first 6 weeks of training are quite low) and are getting "better" each week. Peaceful Fight takes the stance that you have to have the mind "on-board" before you can start making contact with all of the innate, internal knowledge (both martial and healing) which we carry inside us. By training this as one of our "trained techniques" we should be able to pull out the right technique at the right time. So, the system does teach basic techniques but they are mental not physical (formal instruction of technique comes later as an adduct to understanding anatomy etc). Also, the internal mental contacts which are made during this "martial art training" are exactly the same ones students will need to do their healing work. Training this way kills two birds with one stone (and helps to get the important bit of the system, ie the healing / making a better World bits, into place without spending too much time hitting the books).

You mention about training for the Police and in this situation the pure Peaceful Fight system would certainly be inappropriate. However, some of the underlying concepts could still be applied successfully and safely. MacYoung talks about Law Enforcement being like a civil army given the responsibility of keeping civilisation running smoothly but are (generally) restricted from the use of lethal force. As a consequence, the physical side of Police self defence training has to have "authorised" techniques to protect any attacker from injury during restraint (and also the Police from being sued). Obviously a lot of Police time is sent verbally defusing situations so that restraint is not needed in the first place. As a consequence, I imagine that they spend a lot of time learning these verbal skills. Again, the type of training the Police receive comes down to the situations in which the techniques are expected to be used (ie for the Police, initial verbal defusion followed by restraint of uncooperative, likely armed and violent / frenzied individuals, none of which are expected to die during the melee). This is where the Police requirements and Peaceful Fight diverge. The Police are not able to react totally "naturally" as this might easily result in serious damage to an attacker (especially where the opponent is armed). For the pure Peaceful Fight system, the attacker ultimately determines how heavily the fight back from a defender occurs (or even if there is any need for the defender to use any technique at all). If you spit in my face, don't be surprised when I try to smack you one. Put me in fear of my life (eg by bringing a machete or other lethal force to the party) and don't be complaining if it ends up sticking out of your chest rather than mine. If I see you smash the windows of my local chippy, I'll be on the 'phone to the Police before you can even start to shout "grass". It's not victimisation and the response is not unreasonable; in all these situations, the "opponent" has the choice not to undertake their chosen actions but are doing it anyway. I'm just reacting to their initiating stimulus.

However, the Police response has to fit in much narrower boundaries of "acceptability". This is partly because they have to deal with conflict more often than most of us would wish to and also because of the need to use "minimum force" to restrain uncooperative opponents. Going into Peaceful Fight mode would probably result in them going "over the top". Their training is biased towards restraint and so they are "outside their system" if they do anything else which causes more damage. However, it is possible to link the Peaceful Fight mind set and feedback training to the area of restraint as this is one of the feedbacks which the students have to understand (ie when a restraint technique is close to happening and whether they choose to use it or not depending on the situation). As such, this part of the art would be available to the Police.

On a personal note, I'm always rather saddened when people knock the Police. This might be for using "excessive force" or just because they make a mistake. We are all human so mistakes are inevitable and I've said all the way through these pages that violence / conflict is an undesirable but real part of life. None of us can avoid coming across it at some time in our life. When the people complaining about the Police have obviously never had to deal with an uncooperative attacker in a frenzy, how can they judge the action taken ? Easy to complain from the sidelines but would they want to have to deal with this type of behaviour day-in, day-out ? I certainly wouldn't and am happy that the Police do it on my behalf (even if once in a while they might get it wrong). Also, what would be the "arm chair complainant's" strategy for dealing with conflict once reason and discussion (and any other non-physical intervention) failed ? There are a number of people nowadays who are their own worst enemies and just feel the urge to keep pushing things to the absolute limit and beyond to see what happens. These people are not reasonable and do not follow the same "socially acceptable" rules as you might. Most probably any "arm chair expert" would quickly ignore the problem, walk away and hope it happens to someone else instead of them. So the problem just moves on and never gets resolved. I'm glad the Police are there so that firstly I don't have to fight / do conflict on a regular basis and secondly so that they protect the "undesirable" from vigilante or individual action. Criminals often forget this "Police protection" that they get from public anger. The wrath of a mob of individuals looking to instil their own personal slant on the "Law" is normally ultraviolent and bloody against persistent offenders. In comparison, being restrained by the Police is an "easy option".

Just as an aside, I don't support vigilantism and it might be that people could confuse "intervention" with this type of response. However, there is a significant difference between the two approaches. For me, if I'm on my way home and, for example, by the action of "wrong place, wrong time" happen to run into someone who is predisposed towards rearranging my face then that's just the Tao in action. I'm actively happy to support any actions undertaken (be they violent or not) as they just happens as you go with the flow of the Greater Tao. The response is to just have to deal with it however I see fit at the time (as driven by the opponent's actions), if and when it comes. However, if I was to wander aimlessly around the "rough" part of town for hours on end trying to find someone to confront then that's just forcing my Personal Tao in the wrong direction. This is bad because it generally relies on a predetermined mindset against a specific stereotype of miscreant. Much too easy to target the wrong people in this type of mindset (often via redirection of frustrations in other parts of your life into the conflict) and overall is just causes diseases within your energy. Most of us have sufficient problems without having to go looking for more of them. Only possible exception is during war where pre-emptive strikes are more vital. Students of Peaceful Fight will not purposely initiate actions which affect someone else in a negative way (be that violence, verbal or socially unacceptable actions) but make a choice as to intervene or not when they come across these type of situations. That's not to say we never get it wrong but the core intent is always to "do the right thing" as often as possible. As a consequence, for students most "negative" issues that the students come across should be driven primarily by external forces (ie other people). Overall, the view which the system is aiming towards is that any person, regardless of race, sex, age, religion etc should be able to live whatever life they choose as long as it doesn't affect anyone else in a negative way. This is true equality when everyone can be an individual rather than living like some sort of stereotype. Sadly though, you have to consider that there is good and bad even in this, on the surface, positive view. For example, want to be a recluse ? Fine, please enjoy your meditation (but don't bitch to me about it that you are going to die alone). Want to be a drug addict ? OK, be blissed out as often as you like (but don't hurt your family and certainly don't use your chosen lifestyle as justification for stealing my TV). Want to try to convert people to your chosen religion ? Got to be admired for your commitment (but please accept that I might not want or need to be saved or that there may be other equally valuable life paths for other people to lead). As such, from a Peaceful Fight perspective, we all reap what we sow and have to deal with the consequences / benefits of that lifestyle, both good and bad. We all have this responsibility to ourselves and also, to a lesser extent, to other people. We do not have to care about everyone but should care about those people with whom we feel that caring is the right thing to do. We also have to consider that what is initially good / bad will transform over time so in some ways it's better to keep moving our internal goalposts rather than binding ourselves too tightly to any specific view (which again gives credence towards going with the flow and not being overly "stuck"on any one set of values being "right"). By being flexible but prepared to stand up against those things which do appear to be wrong, it should help to maintain a "centred" lifestyle (not self centred, just centred). Overall, although as individuals under true equality we will still be able to infuriate each other immensely, we might just be able to be inclusive of both sides of the views when this happens and leave as friends agreeing to differ !

Just as a second aside, I think the frenzied state is one that it is all too easy to kill yourself via energy depletion / over exertion and so should be avoided as much as possible. During this state, the body's energy all goes into overdrive (which is why you get to be so much stronger then normal) with it's sole purpose being to prolong the frenzy as long as possible. Down side is that when your body decides to stop, you've got no energy to fall back on to keep your body ticking over. As a consequence, coma or death are the body's main choices. This is a bit like the revival of patients just before they die. The energy of the body recognises that it's on its way out an thinks "might as well use up the energy which I've got: no use to me when I'm dead" so it sets up a spurt of lucidity before turning out the lights. If someone dies because of frenzy, is this really the Police's fault ? For me, the best way to avoid this happening to you is to stop being a dick before the frenzy starts and so avoid the confrontation.

On the subject of knife defences, we initially still work on the underlying basic of the system ie natural movement driven from intent / stillness. During feedback training (or any other type of 2-man training really) the students have a knife in their waistband which the "attacker" can pull out at any time during the practise. This is to try to change the dynamic of the fight (which is what would happen in real life) as another type of feedback. Generally, if the knives come out, it's normally either straight away at the start of the fight (when the defender is then triggered by the "reach" for the knife and tries to defend before it comes out) or after the students come out of a melee and get distance (this distance gives the attacker time to think of going for the knife which is why it's better not to give an opponent distance after the initial contact). We generally seem to end up with a grab to the knife hand (or less often redirection of the opponent) followed by body movement to facilitate strikes against vital areas, out of reach of the knife hand. Seems to work OK but I'm not the greatest knife fighter so might not be stretching the students far enough. When you next come, maybe you could have a go against the students to see how they get on against yourself ? Escrima is so good at this type of thing that if we can deal with you, we can probably "do it for real" if needs be ! Hope this will be OK for you and I look forward to seeing you again soon.

Continued Answer to Question Following Further Discussion with Mark Lashmar (14/12/01)

Background to Further Discussion

Mark wrote back after the first answer given above but still thought that underlying techniques might be a quicker route to getting the students to knife fighting proficiency. He was a bit concerned this might come across as critical or suggesting that he knew better in this field. However, without trying to make him too bigheaded, he does ! I'm not the greatest knife fighter in the World (more of a psycho stabber than Escrima's technical elegance) and the only way to see if the Peaceful Fight system worked was to have someone of Mark's quality come over and try the students out. When he did come, it became evident that the students needed to be "acclimatised" to how a good knife fighter moves / strikes. Think this might have been due to the extra "joint" caused by the knife flexibility that Escrima use. This might have confused the "natural" feedback which the students have been working on. Using a fixed knife (like I generally do) means that it is just an extension of the hand and so moves in the same "natural way" as the body would be expected to (so the students can fight against it more easily). By rotating the knife and using the hilt as a pivot point, it falls outside of the "natural" moves of the body. Need to assess this idea more and without Mark's input I wouldn't have thought of it. Mark was kind enough to do this for us and I (and the students) are very grateful to him for doing so. (Since I wrote this introduction, Mark also added that he thought that the "non-knife" hand also had a big part to play in the confusion of the opponent. Again, I think he's right. We are to hoping work on this more in future visits and assess the relative importance of each item and I'll update this answer with the end results when they arrive). Hopefully next time Mark comes over, he will see that the work he stimulated has "bedded in" with the students and they might be more of a handful for him !

If you are another visitor and have criticisms, comments or suggestions but feel like you don't want to offend me by putting them forward, then don't fret, get typing and send it through to me. Just don't mention my lack of hair or that the students are better at the system than I am !

A second strand of Mark's reply was whether Escrima drills (both stick and open hand) got to the same mental state that Peaceful Fight starts in. Having seen some of the drills I think this is almost definitely true but there's a bit more detail below.

Answer

Dear Mark, thanks for writing again and I'm always glad to hear your views. On the assessment of Peaceful Fight front, any student from an art of the quality of Escrima, taught to the standards which exist at the Pete and Dave's clubs (see recommended clubs for details), will be able to give an opinion of Peaceful Fight or any other art (almost independent of their grade within Escrima). Good training and martial theories give you the respect from other arts for you to be able to comment and be listened to. Add to this your personal standard and we are talking about comments to be taken seriously from a senior martial artist. I've always got the option to ignore any comments but it's usually better to ignore those people who don't know what they are talking about rather than those who do ! Escrimadors are certainly in the "those who do" category. Obviously, my enthusiasm to accept your comments might be biassed because you say only nice things but I really don't think so ! Always feel free to comment one way or the other as it really does help me to "tailor" the system and keep it moving forward. Such is the difficulty of teaching a "simple" system ! Two lessons and everyone should be an expert ! Why do students keep coming back ? Maybe its to do with my fashion sense or maybe someone else wants to hear my really long version on the nature of the Tao (don't even think about answering that !).

There is absolutely no doubt that flow drills and all the other bits of Escrima training gets you to a "natural" state. Certainly one of the best ways to get there. Rest assured that we will meet in the middle sometime ! Not quite sure about the knife techniques :let's see how the students get on on Sunday and if we don't do well you might be teaching it next week !

Only thing I haven't mentioned for a while is that Peaceful Fight doesn't really have the objective of being a martial art, it just looks that way ! I'm hoping (and bear in mind this is an unproven concept so could easily change over the years) that all the aspects of the Peaceful Fight "way" extends the Kung Fu of the students into their wider lives. The mindstate control should help students navigate their way through life and do "good works" whilst they are going along. Doesn't change the issue of techniques etc but I'm trying to get people to deal with everything they encounter (from bereavement to birth) rather than just the "fighting" bits. This does angle things towards mindstate a bit more (but still doesn't quite get me off the hook when answering your question !).

Never worry about recognising that you are better or worse than anyone at the club; it's an inevitability as we all have fortes (not all of which will be in martial arts) so we are never all going to be "equal". Better to recognise where we differ and be glad to have friends who are happy to pass on what they know / think / dream of. Everyone should be proud of whatever they are good at (whilst not being too vainglorious about it) whilst also recognising their limitations (but not being obsessed with them). I recognise your ability (even if you don't sometimes !) and am happy that you challenge issues concerning Peaceful Fight. How else is it going to develop ? I've always said that I stand at the front by coincidence rather than because of my ability (it's mainly because my name is on the insurance !). That's not humility it's just I've met so many artists who have a deeper / better / different grasp on the arts than me that I see my place (in the Greater Tao indeed !). Doesn't mean I'm rubbish, (no comments please !) but I'm where I'm supposed to be. I'm happiest when me and the students can learn new stuff and have new stuff to consider ! I'd hate to think that I'd peaked so young (again, no comment please about my age please !)

Let's talk more about it all on Sunday but, in a nutshell though, neither of us are wrong with our view on the World ! Thanks again for all you ideas and please keep them coming. Doug

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