Here are a few of my own personal refection on the usefulness of
centerline theory....

I have been a student of the martial arts since I was a very young
boy... It was also as a young boy one of the most important lessons
regarding the martial arts was given to me by my master Sensei Layne
when he sat me and his son down and described centerline theory to us
as such ... "When one finds themselves locked in combat with another a
skilled fighter should imagine that their body has been divided in to
two by a line that runs vertically from the top of the fighters head,
down the fighters torso, between his or her legs and into the ground
upon which they stand. In so doing a fighter take the first step in a
process in coordinate the fighters body movements in a way that make
even the smallest of movement a more effective tool for combat as well
as the economics of defending one's self as a whole. This is know as
the centerline theory.. "

Now for an thirteen year old boy this isn't the easiest of ideas to
really wrap your mind around. But as I got older and I gained a better
understand of physics, human anatomy and geometry the wisdom of
understanding and effectively employing the centerline theory in order
to become a more effective fighter became clear to me... Well I should
actually say when I stoped thinking of the centerline as just a line
dividing my body but when I started to think of it also in terms of
being a system of organization for my body and as a cental point to
pivot off of that would alow me to seamlessly make a transition from
defensive moment to offensive counter strike as well as generating
power for that strike.

Now for those of you who are reading this post that are still
unconvinced on how critical it is to understand this simple fight
principle well permit me to shed some light on the subject. For I
honestly do belive the centerline theory is one one the most needed
tools in a skilled fighters bag of tricks.

Now as I have said before I have been a student of the martial art
sine I was a small boy... So now that Im in my late 20's I have both
read and heard far too many people say that the centerline theory only
works due the logical fact it enabled a fighter to see fastest route
to a target as well as making one's attacker take a longer route to
his target. That being a straight line for the artist who understand
centerline theory... And a long drawn out curved line for the fighter
that must deal with this wisdom. Which really if one sits brakes down
theory into plane simple terms is true, but in all honesty a martial
artist that thinks of centerline theory along these terms fail to the
true beauty found in centerline theory. That being as I said before
when one thinks of centerline theory more so as a system of
organization to use in battle with another.

You see it the chaos and mental fog that comes when a fighter must
fill his or her mind with questions of from where an attack may or may
not come from so that he or she may launch an effective defense to
that strike... Well in the end this slows down the speed of the
response needed to keep the fighter alive in a fight. It is also do to
this delay in mental speed which enable ones opponent a sure victory.
For a response that comes too late is just as effective as no response
at all. So how dose a student of the fighting arts clear his or her
mind of all this mental clutter so that an effective defense may come
when needed? Well in the words of my Sensei "Look towards the
centerline for the answer to that riddle my young karateka"...

If those of you who are reading this haven't figured it out yet my
Master was a strong believer that a good teacher should always be more
or less willing to let his student go discover their own answer to a
question after the teacher in question had push his or her students on
the right path to finding the answer. See by let us his students
unravel the truth or knowledge we where seeking Master Layne also
wanted to make sure we hard grown up enough by seeking out the answer
to our question so that when we did find the answer we would also be
adult enough to respect and understand that wisdom in the form of the
answer for which we his students had worked so hard to get...

So it should as come as no surprise that it wasn't in a dojo that the
real beauty of centerline theory suddenly became clear to me but in my
ninth grade science lab.

It was right before the start of winter brake, and like most high
school freshmen I was sitting at my desk franticly trying remember
the names of all the bodies organs and systems when I notice some odd
about how the human body was arranged. as far as I could tell your
body really was divided in to two vertically.. leavening you with a
right and left side. Also most of the soft organs like your eyes,
kidneys and genitals if your male where for the most part left open to
getting damage due to even the smallest amount of impact one might get
if he or she was kicked or punch in a fight. In f act ones brain and
ones heart where the only organ safe to some degree from being damage
if one had to defend oneself . This was because these organs had
evolve some leave of protection because the had been to some degree
encased by a protective wall of bone. It was also at this time I
notice how close all these organs where to this inviable line we call
the centerline.

So by placing your hands so at all times in a fashion that allows you
to protect your centerline you instantly rase your ability to defend
yourself. For by defending you centerline you limit the effectiveness
of any attack brought upon you by another in combat. The observance
centerline theory as you act and react in combat allows a student of
the fighting arts to generate even more power in his or her techniques
then normal for it serves to give fluidity of movement to both the
the legs of arms that are being use to strike or counter-strike in
relation to the body.

Yet an understanding of centerline theory also enabling a student to
employ his entire body weight with each strike as the force of his or
her own mass echos out from the center of gravity which is also where
centerline can be found. So these fluid revolving movements from ones
trunk or should I say hips create a most effective strike. In fact
most arts make use of this type of body mechanic for there more
powerful kicks or punches. Don't belive me? Look at any of the kicks
use in karate or teakwondo that generate a great deal of power
sufficient enough to stop ones attacker cold all make use of a
pivoting off the center line via the hips to generate the power use in
the kick.... Same can be said for the hook punch or cross punch used
in kick boxing... Even some of the striking moves found in the stick
fighting art of Modern Arnis make use of centerline theory. So as far
as striking power goes the use of just one's own arm force alone is
not enough to land a punch with real stopping power.

It is also from one's centerline we are able to see the nucleus that
makes up one true center of gravity. And as anyone who gone or watched
one roller skate if your center of gravity is in the wrong position
because your lean too far back or too far forward... Well you fall.
The same is true in fighting. For a center of gravity that actually
off center means your fighting off balanced. This leaves one who
studies and practices any form of martial art vulnerable to being
toppled over with just the smallest of outside stimuli given by an
attacker. So yet once again understanding of centerline theory aids a
student of the martial arts. For it understanding why and how to place
the centerline or should I say one's center of gravity in the correct
position to defend one's self at all time.

Well these are just a few of my own personal refection on the
usefulness of centerline theory. I invite all of you who have taken
the time to read this to sit down and refect on how the you may or may
not use the centerline theory in the different fighting arts we all
study. I also thank each and every one of you for taking the time to
read this....

Tecnogoblin