Manipulating the Structure

In Gene's class on Friday and our group meeting today, we covered some good ground on manipulating the structure with respect to breathing--both in us and our partners. We worked on manipulating the structure with pushes, strikes, joint locks/shearing, and a little bit of psychological work if the situation presented itself. In today's group, we discussed the simplicity of this type of work--If the leg needs a push, push it. The mind can become locked away from the clarity required to work as though "buttering the toast". All of the guys we're training with come from previous martial arts backgrounds, and so they feel that the reality of the situation is skewed by their previous training wanting to impose its own will--often apart from reality. I think all of them have felt the ease of doing good work. It comes and goes to some extent for all of us, but we get exposed to a higher standard when we feel (and let) ourselves do the work without inconsequential effort. Exposure to that standard keeps us training--we've all tasted a little bit of freedom in doing this type of physical work.

From my perspective, without any previous martial arts background, the reality of the situation is skewed by my own frustrations. There are situations where I shut down and feel very inept. The funny thing is that some of these situations are where my partner is waiting or frozen in a vulnerable position for me to work on him. One example is where my partner is bent over in somewhat of a squatting position with their head towards me. A little neck crank or push away from me on their head are just a few examples of how easy a take down might be in this situation. I seem to gravitate towards the most difficult or impossible way to take them down. I am trying to approach this from two directions: 1) I remind myself that I don't always see the easiest option, and try to train in such a way that I explore and 2) I do my breathing, praying, pushups, living, etc. I lack the discernment to tell whether these situations where I go brain-dead are from lack of training experience or stem from some muddle in the psyche. Either way, there seems to be a little progression out of this phase, so I'm happy enough. I'm actually extremely happy for our little group. It's grown since I've been away all summer (Gene is a good salesman). Everyone seems interested and seems to enjoy the work.