Key #4: Sensitivity and Freedom

Key #4: Sensitivity and Freedom

Defensive scenarios are dynamic and changing events.  The threat of harm comes in many shapes and sizes, and your training must allow for all manner of situations.  It is not enough to respond in a linear fashion as the assault occurs.  It is far too dangerous to be one step behind the attacker and attempt to catch up through a block and punch sequence. 

Often the attacker will make contact through an initial aggressive move.  This is where your defense begins.  This is the realistic moment of response and the point at which the majority of your training should take place.  Sensitivity is an important element to defensive training because this initial contact is so reliable.  Fear and anxiety can cause you to break contact in an attempt to escape.  But as we have discussed elsewhere, this can place you in harm’s way by keeping you in striking range with a violent attacker. 

By keeping a point of contact with the opponent, and learning to avoid becoming overly tense, you can move with the attack and nullify the advantage of the attacker.  Through training your body to sense movement and shifting in your opponent, you can begin to respond and counter in a dynamic way.  This is the only way to get out in front of your attackers technique.  You can defeat the attack as it occurs.

Freedom of movement is essential to responding to a dynamic threat in a way that provides the best chance for survival.  You must learn to strike from any angle and avoid any change in attack.  As we have said, holding only the necessary tension is the key to achieving this.  Too much tension can lock up the body and prevent the natural movement in response to a changing attack.  But when your body is free to move in a natural way, you can maintain alignment and positioning for the ultimate defense.  Your attacker will not even know what hit them. 

There are many ways to develop this sensitivity.  Let me present one example, but you can get creative and experiment with other methods, as long as you keep the essential concept. 

Blindfolded drills:

Sometimes our eyes can prevent us from experiencing our training the way we intend.  Therefore, a blindfold can keep the reactions true, as you cannot anticipate contact with timing.  Some students are frightened of being hit to such a degree that they will cheat themselves out of the attainment of defensive skill.  Let a strike (light and slow) land on the body and feel how you can move and flow with it.  Learn to relax parts of the body such that you can escape the force of a blow and counter simultaneously. 

Work against a partner who continues to throw slow strikes which contact the body and provide resistance.  This allows you to learn how to sense the initial touch of contact and develop a means of moving initially in the same direction as the strike, and then redirecting or shifting the momentum in order to escape and strike back.  You will be surprised how quickly your body will learn to relax and move, and the position and location of the opponent will be more obvious than you realize. 

If you prevent panic from setting in and bringing tension into your body, you will flow with the situation.  Once the attacker touches you in trying to strike or grab, keep a point of contact.  This point of contact is like a direct line to the every move of the attacker.  You will know exactly where the next attack is going because the tension and intent of the opponent will be communicated through this point of contact.  Alter your position relative to the attacker, shift into and away as he brings each strike, and don’t be scared to let a strike touch you.

When you feel a strike make contact (remember your partner should deliver them slowly but with full follow through) experiment with simple and natural movements that reduce the force and impact of the attack.  Find ways of keeping the opponent close and discover how to position your weapons for counter strikes.

Have fun and embrace sensitivity resulting in physical freedom.

Stand!