Karate, Taekwondo, Kenpo or Whatever–You Must See the Thought Before the Action in the Martial Arts
August 17th, 2011 Posted by: Al Case
It doesn’t matter which art you study, Karate, taekwondo, Kenpo or whatever, you simply must see the thought behind any attack. I have written about this subject since my first articles in the martial arts magazines back in 1981. I find it odd that nobody else writes about it.
I originally described this idea by analogizing somebody driving down a street. Drive down that street enough time, and you start to know where the kids are playing, where the lights turn, and so on. In the martial arts, do the forms application enough times, and you know what it means when the opponent lifts his shoulder, turns his foot, and otherwise sets himself up.
I was teaching a class once, and this visitor was watching, and he said, “What if they do a punch instead?” I’d dealt with the ‘what if’ personality many times, and I told him to punch me. He half turned towards me.
He settled his weight, and I knew how he was going to turn, the angle of his arm, everything. And, I experienced a cartoon overlay of him punching me–I saw it happen before it happened. And then it didn’t happen.
He just gave up and didn’t even bother trying to strike me. Well, of course. I had seen the idea behind his attack–I had defeated his idea, and that had pulled the plug on any physical manifestation of that thought.
Over the years I read of other people doing this. Foremost among the martial arts anecdotes was the experience of Morihei Ueshiba, who saw a bullet coming out of the barrel of a gun. He saw the thought before the action, and so was able to handle the action.
Now, why doesn’t it happen for everybody? The answer is simple, because everybody is not a fanatic. Or, let me get personal, you are not a fanatic.
Are you willing to give up education and a high paying career, endure meatloaf instead of steak, spend all your off hours sweating in a training hall with other like minded individuals? Are you willing to spend all your time and money practicing, reading everything ever written on the martial arts, delving into the oddities and weaknesses of your own individual personality? Are you willing to endure starting over again in art after martial art–Kung Fu, Taekwondo, Ninjitsu–then maybe you’ll make it; maybe you’ll actually gain the ability to see the idea before the action.
