Physical & Mental=Yin & Yang?

[The BB of C]

I believe that one should not totally clear their head during a fight. I often get discouraged by other martial artists for this. But there is a method to my madness and I'm wondering if there is anyone here that my agree with me or give me some advice.

I use sparring to develop reflexes and an ability to take hits. But I try to keep my head clear of everything else but my thoughts on my opponent and what he is going to do next. My reflexes work with my knowledge of who he is and what he might do. For example, everyone except me and maybe 20 others (out of 1,500+) are boxers and/or wrestlers. I know they're probably going to punch me in the head and their swings are going to be strong as hell to be frank or they're going to take me to the ground. Now that I know this, I can easily tell when someone is going to swing or when they're going to make a jump for my legs and as soon as I see them even suggest they're going one way or the other I react and coutner before they can do anything.

I do the same thing against martial artists. I try to absorb basic fighting techniques of as many styles as possible so that I'll be able to identify one in a self defense situation and be able to know what they are most likely to do before they do it. For example, I fought a Tae Kwon Do black belt once. After his first kick flashed and the next thing I knew I was on the ground and my neck was sore, I was able to tell what he was using and he didn't touch me again the rest of the fight because every time he swung his leg up I knew what kind of kick it was and that he was going to do it in the first place and I'd have that leg in my grasp. That has helped me a lot in the past as well.

In a nutshell, I use my physical reflexes and speed as well as my mental understanding, strategies and thinking in fights and they work together like Yin and Yang. Do you agree this can be an effective style? Or do you believe that I should not be thinking at all during a fight and if so, please explain what you think.

[DWx]

Thinking is essential but you must be thinking the correct things. I've always interpreted the whole "empty your mind" saying as emptying your mind of everything but the situation in hand. You're right to think about your opponent and use your knowledge to beat them. If a fighter cannot adapt then they are poor fighter in my opinion. You can train your body until you are 100% efficient in all of your techniques but I believe that to be able to use these techniques to your full advantage, you must switch your mind on.

Going onto the "in a real fight" situation, I always been taught that awareness of your surroundings and opponents is the key to survival. What good is it if you manage to subdue your opponent but then have to look around for an escape. If you had noticed the exit points, no. of people, useful features in your surroundings first then you should have no problem defending yourself if you have the right techniques.

[The BB of C]

So there are martial artists out there that do agree with me. That's cool.

[DWx]

There will always be at least one person who agrees with you, no matter how weird and twisted your opinions are.

[bushido_man96]

I think that the idea of mushin, or "no-mind," gets kind of obscured at times. In order to use stragegy, you have to be able to think and react. The idea of training something to the point that it becomes reflexive is relative to the mushin idea. However, when things change, it will cause you to think of how to react to it.

[The BB of C]

There will always be at least one person who agrees with you, no matter how weird and twisted your opinions are.

I finally feel accepted.

Bushido_man96, that is very interesting what you said. I'm not sure if I completely understand it. Did you say that the "mushin" idea is good unless a situation goes beyond your training or what you've prepared for and in that case you should think about your strategies to react?

[bushido_man96]

I just think that the concept of mushin is taken too literaly at times.

Let me put it this way; we all train a little differently. The basic idea behind most of our training, however, is reaction to a stimulus. We are taught: if the attacker does this, then do this (or try to, anyways). However, the attacker will not always correspond with what we want. When we are conditioned, and the attacker has time to figure it out, then we can be baited. Then, our concept of mushin must change, because our instilled reactions are not working. You have to change it up. In order to do that, you have to think a little bit.

Now, check this out. Just because you are thinking of a strategy, it doesn't mean that it is slowing you down that much. You want to side kick, but you are thinking of how to make it happen. You still know how to do the kick (you don't have to think about that part=mushin).

I think mushin is great, but it I don't think it is the end-all, be-all of fighting. It is just another concept, to be used, adapted, and experimented with.

One could even argue that mushin=natural reactions. I don't know, what does everyone else think???

[The BB of C]

I see what you're getting at now. I did not know the Mushin concept before you said anything but judging from your description it does sound like a tuned natural instinct that would work as the mental part of a fight or spar.

[bushido_man96]

Mushin is actually the Japanese term for no-mind, or the idea of clearing your mind when in a conflict. It describes what you were talking about in your initial post.

[The BB of C]

I see now. Thanks a lot