Whoa! I can do <enter style here>!

[DoctorQui]

Cast your memory back to first starting your art (I know, its further back than some of us can manage ) and being taught, what seemed like disjointed, random and complicated techniques, learning your first kata which was so complicated that you'll never ever be able to do it, being told that you will grade in 3 (or so!) months and thinking 'Are they kidding, I'll never be ready' and still having the above issues for the next, maybe 2 gradings.

My question is, does anyone remember the time when you did a technique or move which surprised even you to the point where you thought 'Whoa! I can actually do '?

For me it was when I was sparring and I did a maegeri/mawashi geri combi followed by a ushuri geri and gayaku zuki and then foot sweep for the take down (all hitting theire target and against a higher ranking belt). I will always remember that 'Did I really just do that' feeling.

Did this ever happen to you?

[darksoul]

It has happened to me, however it wasn't in a positive environment like yours.

I was attacked after a show, and I defended myself.

Funny thing is, this was 8 years after I had stopped due to a knee injury. It's also what sent me back into the dojo.

[jaypo]

Mine was when I was probably a green belt. My old Shotokan instructor drilled perfect tecnhique into us. We rarely sparred, but when we did, I'd usually pair up with a black belt. After a round of uninspiring sparring from everyone, sensei was pretty upset, so he had each student take a turn attacking him with 1 attack. He would block each attack. Nobody could get a point on him. So my turn came. I did a backfist to the face (which he blocked), a reverse punch (which he blocked), and I shot a lead hand punch back to his face. It totally surprised him, it got thru, and the wind from the punch got him in the face! His eyes got as round as saucers, and he screamed "YES!!" I thought he was about to nail me, so I fliched! But he was actually proud of the technique and told everybody that he was looking for that kind of thing.

So I was surprised that I could actually land a simple, bread and butter technique against a multiple time nationals champion and world champion.

[FangPwnsAll7]

I broke my very first board yesterday in class. It felt great, because I'd never thought I'd do it. Oh, and I did Hyung Sam Bu (form 3) without any mistakes in the first day I learned it. I know that feeling.

When I first walked in that dojo, I saw people doing form 1, and I was thinking to myself "Are you kidding? I can't do that!" Now, I'm already on form 3 and I'm very confident about form 4.

[Dobbersky]

I was doing Muay Thai and it was a combination, which included a jumping spinning back round kick.

We had "gradings" in the Gym I attended, I thought for weeks, I'll never get this correct! But on the grading I got it perfect.

Another occasion was on learning an Ashihara kata, Kihon no kata sono no. I nearly gave up because I just couldn't get it right, told my sensei, who the next class did the bunkai, it clicked and not looked back since

[TravsintheMartialArts]

I have absolutely had a couple of these moments, and what an unexpectedly sweet reward they were. Never have I been more assured of my training and more motivated to continue.

I think one of the first was after teaching an Aikido seminar at my college and receiving a friendly challenge from a guest who was a state champ wrestler. He had been throwing my friends/fellow martial artists all over the mat for most of the seminar (not in a disrespectful or disdainful way) and was sincerely concerned that maybe the techniques we were practicing wouldn't actually work against a really intent attacker. If he had been particularly aggressive or belligerent, I don't think I would have accepted his invitation, but he was earnest about it and I accepted.

We wrestled for four or five rounds, basically until we were pretty much exhausted. We agreed there would be no rules, but in the first round I knocked him off his feet with an atemi, and we agreed we wouldn't allow striking. The next three-four rounds went by in a flash, but I remember he had incredible difficulty actually bringing me to the ground, and couldn't throw me at all; I practiced everything I had taught, and did not resist or fight him, which seemed to pose a huge problem for someone so used to struggling against strength. When things finally went to the ground (a realm in which I was scarcely trained at the time) I acted on instinct and both times secured a rear naked choke before I knew what was going on.

Satisfied, he shook my hand and said he was interested in taking up the martial arts; now he is president of the club I left behind. Respectfully solving matters of disagreement in the martial arts, not backing down from conflict, and turning these conflicts into constructive results. For at least one moment in my life, I "did" Aikido!

[evergrey]

OSU, great story, Travis!

I've only had little moments, here and there. I still consider myself to be a beginner in my style, but I've had moments where suddenly things just seemed to "flow" and just be "on."

I mean I've had moments here and there where a Shodan has gotten a surprised look on their face, and even a couple where I sent someone flying, hah. But for me, it is difficult to describe.

I am loving the stories though, please continue, folks!

OSU!

[Shizentai]

I remember being a wimpy 15-year-old yellow belt. I had only been training in the adult advanced class for about two months when I got really sick and ended up missing a whole week of training because of a severe allergic reaction I had to a medicine I was taking. When I came back to the dojo I was really worried, we had been working on basic sparing combinations a lot and I had brought myself nearly to tears in frustration before my time off. Much to my disappointment, in my absence we had changed over from sparring drills to full out free sparing.

First I had to spar a brown belt woman who beat me easily without even moving at full speed. Next I had to spar a green belt that easily won as well. Then, of course, I had to spar my beginners' class sensei, a san-dan who was all muscle and weighed about twice my 100lb self. If I was expecting some sort of kind-treatment I knew I wasn't getting it from him. As I waited to hear "hajime," something odd came over me. It was almost as if I had reached my threshold for negative thoughts and my natural reaction was to feel and think nothing at all.

The fight lasted a split second. As he barreled in with oizuki, instinctively I turned into a deeply-planted hip throw, sending him flying over my body and onto the floor on the other side, where he hit with a thud. Before I knew what happened, I had already stopped the punch my free hand had launched centimeters from his temple and the entire dojo was looking at us. I had never performed or seen a hip-throw... just felt it.

It was the first time I had ever even felt better than deficient at any form of training. After that, no matter how bothersome training might get, I was eager to push myself to that point again, where nothing bothers me any more, where I can be at my best.

It has happened to me, however it wasn't in a positive environment like yours.

I was attacked after a show, and I defended myself.

Funny thing is, this was 8 years after I had stopped due to a knee injury. It's also what sent me back into the dojo.

OSSU!

[Drew]

I had never performed or seen a hip-throw... just felt it.

That is interesting, my first moment where I executed a flawless technique was also a throw I had neither performed nor seen before.

A guy had come up behind me and wrapped his arm about my neck in rear naked choke fashion. I reflexively grabbed his choking arm, dropped level, and popped my butt back while leaning forward like I had just dropped a hundred dollar bill. The result? A throw of grand amplitude whereby his feet must have been ten feet in the air. He didn't let go, however, and he pulled me into a front flip. It probably would have been better for him if he had let go, because the impetus of the throw meant that when I landed, I landed hard, and it was right on top of him. He did let go when I landed on him though, and I still had enough momentum that I rolled (read: flew) to my feet without trying.

So there I was, dazed and unsure of what I had just done, while this guy held his gut on the ground. The funny thing is that no one present even saw it happen. One second we were walking in the same direction, me in front, him directly behind me, and another they looked back and we were in a similar orientation to one another, only he was on the ground looking like something heavy had landed on him.

[ShotokanMaster]

when i was in taekwondo i knew my techiniques in 1 week and even my kata they be like whoa and when i did shotokan i did a jumping round house kick they like whoa hahahaha