Keeping your cool

Discussion in 'Ninjutsu' started by Dunc, Oct 17, 2016.

  1. TomD

    TomD Valued Member

    I find different ways of pressure testing interesting. It's probably different for different people, yet very often I find weapons training - preset kata - more demanding than sparring with rules. I have done various types of sparring in the past, semi contact, full contact, striking, striking and grappling. Lately it's judo once a week with some out of bounds nastyness thrown in :)

    Yet most of these sparring exercises feel more like "playing" to me then a full-on kukishin ryu bo kata where my teacher is really going for it. The presence of the weapon - for me - is a very good psychological training implement.

    competition sparring is very good for learning to control your anger and fear though, especially your anger in my case :( Getting pumped up and angry works quite well until you meet your better, then you get your ass handed to you...

    Regards, Tom
     
  2. garth

    garth Valued Member

    Dunc posted

    Absolutely.I have been on this forum for many years now, and have taken a lot of flak but I have avoided making insults at anyone. I do not see the need for profanity or to directly insult even when you are losing an argument.

    I think (Or at least I once believed) that your rank in Ninjutsu did not just represent your skill but your maturity. I now know that the former is certainly no longer the case and i'm beginning to think differently about the latter.

    If you get angry because of what people say to you, or because they have opposing views it leaves an opening (Suki) as Dunc says. Interestingly many of the people I have had debates on here with, where they disagree with me, have been banned, one even a very high graded 15th dan who was banned for as the mods called it "for what is arguably MAP's most disgusting personal attack"

    Now the attack was not on me, but regardless. If you are a 15th dan you should be able to keep your cool especially when you know the rules. And following on from that if you cannot keep your cool on an internet forum how will you operate in the face of danger, working in security or as a law enforcement officer when someone is screaming obscenities in your face, or they are resisting your ability to bring them under control?

    What are you going to do, strike them, give them a kick when they are down? because you can't keep control of your temper.

    And some of these same people claim to be experts in the fields of security, law enforcement and self defence.

    Makes you wonder.
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2016
  3. pearsquasher

    pearsquasher Valued Member

    The head of a certain Irish ex-Bujinkan early-days group in the 80's/90's was a very angry chap. Thankfully he didn't teach me in those days but rather I was under his senior teachers who one day all left the org. When he started taking their classes, I left the day he lost whatever cool he didn't have and slapped a student.

    In my experience in general, MA's don't not have a monopoly on respect in physical activities. That's an utter fallacy conjured up because of the relative perceived discipline of Asian cultures. Respect and discipline is actually earned/gained through proper training no matter the art/sport/activity. And ALL these things are open to human weaknesses.

    Just be "engarde"!
     
  4. Dunc

    Dunc Well-Known Member Moderator Supporter

    Yeah - I sometimes find that folk who enforce strict etiquette are often the worst offenders outside of the little controlled garden of the their dojos
     
  5. RoninX

    RoninX Valued Member

    I'd still take a "sparring evironment" over a 100% no resistence evironment. I'm still waiting to see someone who doesn't spar showing any sort of ability to keep up with someone who spars.

    You won't know how to deal with pressure unless you're used to dealing with pressure. If you live a pacific life where no one ever tries to harm you in any way, i guarantee you that you will feel like a fish out of water once someone actually jumps at you. That's why sparring is important. Competition is also important. They don't 100% replicate real life situations, but at least they put you under some serious stress and make you a little more comfortable with the idea of someone trying to hurt you. If all you do is to drill techniques BJK-Style, i advise you to always RUN if someone tries to hit you, because you're not prepared to deal with any sort of realistic fighting situation. Just run and don't try anything you have learned in your dojo, because there's a good chance you're gonna get yourself hurt.
     
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2016
  6. aaradia

    aaradia Choy Li Fut and Yang Tai Chi Chuan Student Moderator Supporter

    I have an example of how martial arts training helped me in other parts of my life.

    Yesterday, I had an endoscopy. I have OCD and anxiety issues, and my OCD has a tendency to obsess on really stressing over medical issues.

    But I (and my sister) were really amazed at how calm I was before the procedure. It was great. I dunno. I just reached into that mindset where I keep calm before a match or before performing a form, and I just got my mind in that same place. My nerves were like 95% better. And it was all about my MA training training my brain to have some control over staying calm. I was in a good mindset.
     
  7. David Harrison

    David Harrison MAPper without portfolio

    I've found a general rule of an inverse efficacy to etiquette ratio.

    The more real and pressure tested the training, the more jovial and relaxed the atmosphere.
     
  8. Dunc

    Dunc Well-Known Member Moderator Supporter

    Hi RoninX

    I think you're falling into the habit that a few posters here have of gravitating towards the "I think that the Buj is ineffective" rhetoric

    There's another thread for that, which I see you're also posting on - which is great BTW

    Thanks
     
  9. garth

    garth Valued Member

    I don't for a minute believe that what Ronin X posted is true anyway. The history of war is full of people who never once took a martial arts, performed well under pressure and became heroes. Just been reading about a tank commander in the desert who was raised as a single child in the slums, respected fellow soldiers like his children and performed his duty without fear in the face of danger.

    Sometimes its just a mind set.
     
  10. newblack

    newblack エピクフェイル

    In fact, one of the Daishihan told me back in 2007 that learning to control your adrenaline was the main point of training.
     
  11. Dead_pool

    Dead_pool Spes mea in nihil Deus MAP 2017 Moi Award

    Being raised In the slums no doubt comes with an experience of violence, plus there's always the 1%'ers, and a selection bias.

    Just because x% of heros come from x background, it doesn't mean everyone from that background will be heros.
     
  12. gapjumper

    gapjumper Intentionally left blank

    I would still would question RoninX on his background and training history tbh.

    Originally they came here with doubts on another thing, was it Kawakami or Koga ryu, or something.

    Who knows?

    Not as some logical fallacy, simply because they carry an agenda that appears to question everyone without knowing their actual training background.
     
  13. Pankeeki

    Pankeeki Valued Member

    I have done some sparring and competitions in my youth before I started training in the Bujinkan. Since i started my training in ninjutsu i havent sparred or entered competitions.

    I lived in Japan for a while and was the head of security for a famous and seedy nightclub in Tokyo know for it violent clientele. In that capacity Ive had many fights with drunks, sailors, soldiers, marines, pimps, bouncers and semi professional fighters.
    I dont think sparring or competitions really helped me prepare for those fights.
    It is my believe that my training helped me survive those fights.
    I was hit, hurt and thrown by my teacher so much that i didnt believe anybody could hurt me in the way he could. That made me less afraid.

    For me there was a defining moment in one of my first fights that changed me.
    In training i learned not to fight but to be creative and free. Not to resist but to let go and move.

    There was an incident where a couple of sailors were making trouble and i stepped in to break it up. One of them attacked me and i grabbed him by the neck, my arm around his neck, his body at my side and I was holding him strongly with all my power. There where two more sailors closing in on me and i felt the adrenaline racing through my body and i felt stuck.
    And in that moment where I was desperatly hanging on to that one guy I could, thanks to my training, relax, let go and i was calm, and fought the three of them in a state of tranquility, it was like everything in my training coming together, it flowed, no thought, just action.

    If my training had not prepared me to let go I and relax, to trust my training and my body, I probably wouldnt have made it through that fight unharmed.

    After that I have had many fights and always I would find a tranquility in me, almost like im the center of the storm, and survived because of it.

    That doesnt mean I think pressure testing, sparring or resistance training is wrong. I think that everybody who is truly dedicated to learning how to fight should experience sparring etc.
    I tell all my students to at least try some competitive sports martial art to get used to being attacked and in stress situations.

    I know there is a big difference between a real fight and competition, and sparring is only a small factor in your ability to survive. Learning to relax, to not be afraid, to let go and trust, and to never give up are much more important in my opinion.
     
  14. holyheadjch

    holyheadjch Valued Member

    Huge if true.
     

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