Last night, the old Filipino blackbelt (Mr. Olivar, 78 I think) was showing us a "double technique line". We have something called a technique line where everybody lines up to attack one person. The person being attacked gets to see and feel the same attack by different people and see how the self-defense technique has to be applied differently on different people and their ways of attacking. So Mr. Olivar had one person stand in the middle with two lines out to either side. We were supposed to look straight and use periferal vision to pick up incoming attacks from either side. And instead of a specific attack and technique, both attacker and defender could do whatever they wanted. An exercise like this teaches you very quickly what happens when things are not "scripted". I found myself falling into a pattern of using the same motions, even for different attacks (it seems I am very comfortable with blocking or parrying and whipping a backfist to the head). I hesitated after the first defesive move and strike when I should have been nailing follow up strikes. It's amazing how the neatness and precision just falls apart for everybody! I felt very clumbsy, awkward, and unskilled. I react very quickly, but then it's like I don't know what to do next. I'm probably thinking too much. When I got a fights as a teenager, before taking martial arts, I never thought about what to do, it just happened.
One girl had a large frame and a fist like a man's! When I attacked her, she kicked me pretty hard in the stomach and nailed my back ribs with her big knuckles. She took Kenpo years ago and she's just starting again, with her dad who is like a big, good-natured bear. Rainheart said she got him pretty good too. I think, as whitebelts, we are afraid of making contact when practicing a technique on other students because it might be too hard, and some people can take more than others. One higher ranking student told me to hit harder. I said, "Are you sure? You know I'm a whitebelt and I haven't learned control yet." She laughed and said "I'm keeping my eye on you!" The concept of control, and being able to strike quickly but with light contact, is something most whitebelts don't fully understand. I'm cautious, especially when chopping the neck or kicking the stomach, ribs, or knees. All it takes is for another person to step or lean slightly forward into your kick or strike, and you end up delivering way more force than you intended. On the other hand, you can't always pull punches or do "Air Karate" as Mr Steinman calls it, because if you have to use Karate on the street, somebody is going to be pounding on you without mercy and you can't let it distract you from taking them down. Making contact also increases accuracy. The edge of your hand and your knuckles get used to feeling where they need to penetrate.
The was a tiny little girl standing next to me last night at the end of class. Barely 5 feet tall and probably 80 pounds, even though she is 19. We were doing a Kenpo tradition of backfisting the person next to us in the stomach. We pass it along the line and then it comes back to the instructor (Mr. Steinman qualified that, officially, the backfists only travel from black to white, not back up the line). It is supposed to be like bowing, or showing respect. Yeah, I know, strange ways. The instructor kicks you hard enough to knock you off your feet if you're not prepared when you get promoted, another tradition. Anyway, Mr. Steinman made us start the the backfisting progression over twice because I was hitting the guy on my right harder than the little girl on my left. The second time she turned away so that my forearm hit her arm instead of her stomach. Mr. Steinman didn't hear the whack sound, and we had to go the third round. I finally got a solid hit, but not too hard, and he was satisfied.
After class, Mr. Steinman showed me technique I had previously been shown my another student. I commented that I had missed a couple points completely when learning it from someone else. He always shows the targets and how they are supposed to be used, how the angle of a block or chop can direct the opponents body and movement. (Hammering straight down on someone's arm when they grab you may cause them to headbutt you.) He explained that the techniques are like basic building blocks. You have to learn them first, but then they are made to be adapted and expanded. He said it is "the ideal" but in real combat, instead of blocking, kicking and chopping one person, you might hammer block one person's arm, chop someone else in the neck and then kick the third person coming in. Same moves, but out of sequence and in different directions. So the ultimate goal is to teach your body the moves, and then get creative and spontaneous. Whew! I have a long way to go!
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